In the news recently we learned that Professor Manabe, who is a teacher of physics at Princeton University in America, won the Nobel Prize with Professor Hasselmann of Hamburg, Germany, and Professor Parisi of Rome, Italy.

Of course, we know that many great scientists and Nobel Prize winners come from Japan. That is no surprise. Japan has a long and excellent history of scientific research and scientific discovery. The levels of science education in Japan are among the highest in the world. The students at Otemae are receiving an excellent science education compared to most countries in the world.

The topic of Professor Manabe’s research is about how higher levels of carbon dioxide in the air affect the temperature of the earth. Professor Manabe started his research long long ago, back in 1960 and was the very first scientist to study global warming. Other scientists followed Professor Manabe and worked together with him so that all people could understand our earth better. It is a wonderful and amazing thing.

Thanks to Professor Manabe, and other scientists like him, we are learning more and more about the effect of carbon dioxide on our planet. We know that too much carbon dioxide is very dangerous to our world and we need to make efforts and take action to keep our planet safe. We need to understand where most of the carbon dioxide come from, and what countries are causing the most damage. We need to find ways to cooperate and control this problem so that our earth can continue for many, many more years to come.

Professor Manabe was born in Shingu-mura, in Ehime Prefecture. The town he was born into has only about 2,000 people. It is amazing when we think about that. Professor Manabe is from Shikoku, just like you. He came from a small place, and from a small part of the world, just like you. He woke up in the morning, ate breakfast, washed his face, and went to school to study every day, just like you. He comes from Shikoku, just like you.

And from this small-town student, who grew up to be a Professor in the future, we see that great things come from small things. Big trees grow from small seeds. Small ideas can grow into big inventions and discoveries.

This is really such a great story for us living here in Shikoku. Professor Manabe is from this area. He knows the land here. He knows where you live and in what kind of place you come from. Long ago he was just like you. He was a boy in a house in Ehime. He had a family here. He had friends and teachers here. He grew up and he saw the world. He followed his passion in science and study. He worked hard and made a great study of the world. And because of his study and research we are much safer today.

So what are the things that you and I will do to grow and to learn? Will we study science more seriously? Will we work hard to understand our earth more? Will we learn how to keep our earth safe and healthy? Will we decide to work hard so that our earth will be safe and clean and whole for the children of the future?

Many thanks to Professor Manabe, a local boy from Ehime, who made a big difference in the lives of people in Japan, and all over the world.