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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
February 28, 2007
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| Febuary 7, 2007 |
Measure Society's Success By Gross Domestic Happiness, Not Gross Domestic Product – Ryuichi Nakamura |
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| Ryuichi Nakamura's slow but steady approach to life helps bring smiles and happiness to himself and others |
If you ask a business leader which animal he identifies with most, he might choose something like a tiger, shark, eagle, or bull. Not so Ryuichi Nakamura. He models himself after the sloth--a gentle, slow, and non-competitive creature whose minimalist habits help keep the environment peaceful and sustainable. Sloth-like, however, does not mean lazy or ineffective. Mr. Nakamura runs his own international fair trade coffee company, manages his own business school, and leads the increasingly popular “Slow Business” movement. He recently joined part of the 55th voyage to talk about the concept of creating businesses that value people and the environment, and that exist to serve society rather than to amass profits at the expense of others. |
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| Mr. Nakamura (Left) visiting one of the growing number of organic coffee plantations |
“I never wanted anything to do with businesses before, because I thought they just harmed society,” Mr. Nakamura told participants. Concern about the fates of others after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, however, eventually led him to start his own company. “A lot of produce in various regions was contaminated by radiation after the disaster,” he explained. “Japan could reject that contaminated produce, but some other countries couldn't because poverty and hunger gave them no choice.” At the time, Mr. Nakamura was working at a consumer co-op in Japan, promoting organic products. Because his conscience was bothered by the fact that some people in the world had choices and others didn't, he decided to quit his job and move to Latin America to work with people there. “I wanted to start something to make the world better,” he said. |
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| Wind Farm's coffee helps promotes environmental sustainability and social responsibility |
In Latin America, he could see the ill effects of industries such as mining, which turned mountains and forests into enormous barren pits that could no longer support jobs, much less human habitation once they were exhausted. He turned his attention to the coffee industry, but this too harmed workers and the environment with its heavy use of pesticides. With the aim of setting up an organic coffee venture that helped sustain forests rather than destroy them, he scoured more than 100 coffee farms, only to be told by all that growing coffee in that manner was impossible. His persistence paid off, however, when he finally met a Brazilian coffee grower who shared his values and vision. The result of their teamwork was Wind Farm – an international fair trade coffee company that prizes the health and happiness of its workers, provides consumers with a high quality, safe product, and gives growers a fair price for their product – a win-win situation for all. “GDP measures how much money is being generated, but it's not an indication of happiness,” he told his audiences. “We need to start thinking in terms of GDH – Gross Domestic Happiness.” |
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| Peace Boat participants interested in starting up their own slow businesses join a workshop with Mr. Nakamura |
Because Mr. Nakamura's approach to business life has resonated deeply with people who care about the environment and who feel loathe to get caught up in the high-stress, competitive, profit-oriented work world, he opened up his own “Slow Business” school in Japan to help fledgling entrepreneurs start up their own slow businesses. During the 55th voyage, participants had a chance to take slow business workshops from Mr. Nakamura and develop their own ideas and interests. They also had a chance to learn about the concept of “Slow Villages” – environmentally sustainable communities that contain slow businesses and that are based on cooperation among people rather competition. Currently, Mr. Nakamura is helping to set up such villages in Japan and Ecuador. For more information about slow businesses in Japan, visit www.shop.slowbusiness.org. |
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