Have you ever seen anything like this?

I saw this on the BBC news this morning and it actually made me leave the house 40 minutes later than I'd intended because I just had to see it again.

Pink Tentacle has written about it (I couldn't find it at all on the BBC World site).

You have to watch the video.



I can't help but wish it weren't dying.

What do you know about disposable chopsticks?

So I was doing a lesson on the environment yesterday in a Discussion class and the topic of disposable chopsticks (わりばし/waribashi) came up. One of my students said that there was no problem with using disposable chopsticks because they were all simply the trimmings of lumber intended for housing. I didn't believe her and gave us both homework to find the proof of our convictions.

Here are 3 articles I've found that shed more light on the subject. All 3 say that most (96-98%) of Japan's disposable chopsticks come from other countries (mostly China). While a very small percentage of disposable chopsticks come from domestic sources which support anti-erosion and reforestation efforts in a very roundabout way, the use of disposable chopsticks is on the whole, simply a waste of natural resources.

Even using domestic sources, the fuel used to transport the billions of chopsticks from their manufacturers to their distributors detracts from any other justifications I've found.

The 3 articles are in PDF format from:

The Times Online

ABC News

Planet 2025 News

My student's assertions were not the first of the sort that I've heard. Even some very well-educated folks have been convinced that using disposable chopsticks is actually good for the world of soil and trees. This idea that "using small-diameter logs thinned from tree plantations as a raw material for disposable chopsticks would contribute to protecting Japan's steep mountain forests" seems very narrow-minded to me. Wouldn't these trees be better put to use in some non-disposable fashion? Surely someone has a better idea than this.

It seems to me that the Japanese media has been working overtime to justify an addiction to wastefulness.

A haiku on the meaning of minimum wage

If "minimum" can't

feed and support families,

it's just not enough.

Happy New Year!

I always enjoy the beginning of the New Year as a symbolic fresh start.

One of my many New Year's Resolutions for 2007 is to begin regularly posting again.

So here's to a New Year and a fresh start:

In the Chinese Zodiac, 2007 is my year, the year of the wild boar.

I hope this sign is an auspicious one for all of us.