 In the mid-1980s he established the Manzanar Project aimed at attacking the planet's most critical problems as poverty, hunger, environmental pollution, and global warming through "low tech biotechnological" methods in salt water deserts that can be transferred to the indigenous inhabitants.Sato was the son of an "Issei" (Japanese-born immigrant) father and a first generation American born "Nisei" mother in Los Angeles, California.His fisherman and gardener father taught him the basic concepts of how to cultivate and appreciate living things both on land and water.