Meter Group: Made in Fukushima

Serviceplan Innovation and Serviceplan Solutions collaborated with METER Group on 'Made in Fukushima', a unique book made out of rice straw grown on decontaminated farmland designed to reinstate trust in the agricultural industry in Fukushima. METER is a US-German manufacturer of sensors used in agriculture and environmental science, and has been supporting farmers in Fukushima since 1996. METER work in the areas of science and humanitarianism to find sustainable solutions for the negative impact of climate change and human intervention on nature, and following the 2011 nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant, caused by a Tsunami, METER worked with the University of Tokyo to devise a way of decontaminating farmland and facilitate the safe framing of rice again. The 2011 Tsunami triggered a nuclear disaster, with wind and rain carrying radioactive material inland and contaminating 25,000 hectares of farmland in what used to be one of Japan’s most important agricultural regions. Environmental technology specialists from METER, together with Dr. Masaru Mizoguchi from The University of Tokyo and the NPO Fukushima Saisei, developed a sustainable decontamination method that allows farmers to grow perfectly safe rice again. Although the objective scientific data proves that the rice is safe, a dark cloud still hangs over the 'Made in Fukushima' label, because people don’t understand the complex data and are afraid of buying products from Fukushima. Serviceplan Innovation and METER Group worked together to come up with a strategy to turn complex scientific data into understanding by making it tangible, and worked with Serviceplan Solutions on the book production, Moby Digg on the design and Nick Frank for photography. ‘Made in Fukushima’ is a book made of rice straw from the decontaminated fields in Fukushima. The rice straw was harvested, dried, cleaned, cut and crafted into paper. The book helps people understand that the decontamination method works and that the rice from Fukushima is safe. To tell the story, the book uses a wide range of resources: photography, interviews, reports, background information, data and its visualisation. In every aspect of its physical makeup and format, the book engages with the environmental stakes and scientific processes behind its production. There is an interactive element of pages that can be unfolded to reveal previously hidden data on the radioactivity.