ecosamurai

I went back to Japan in July for 3weeks. The whole country is still in the state of shock from the aftermath of earthquake and tsunami. In addition people are forced to live with the threat of radiation.....nobody knows exactly how it will affect them, their kids and the environment. Immediate 15% reduction of energy consumption was almost mandatory. And people are making efforts everywhere on a daily basis. And people are starting to think about energy a lot. I mean A LOT. Everybody... Read Full Story

Yes Japan is on the huge subduction area. Yes there are a lot of earthquakes. But this was nothing we've known, this was nothing we could imagine/expect. I am urged to do something. Only thing I can think of is fundraising, but.... What should be done to help them, and in more sustainable way? Of course we are witnessing the world's safest nuclear power plants in trouble. But right now we should focus on the rescue..... If you have any idea please let me know. Read Full Story

This is novel. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is pondering how to make an ice cream that is made, shipped and sold warm, with the consumer taking the final step of actually freezing the product. http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/08/26/fighting-climate-change-with-warm-ice-cream/ I have always thought that we could reduce enormous amount of CO2 by reducing our reliance on cold or frozen foods/beverages. It's almost second nature to us, but there are a lot of things that are unnecessarily cold... Read Full Story

American Diet Changing Out Of Economic Necessity Eating healthier is definitely good. And probably it's time to start thinking about "peak food", just like "peak oil". We only have one Earth to cultivate yet world's population keeps growing so rapidly. Shouldn't it hit the peak eventually? If everyone on earth live the same standard of living of Americans, we need almost 5 earths. Below is the links for ecological footprint calculator. http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.html http... Read Full Story

My sister sent this from Japan and I was very skeptical at first. It's called Haramaki . It's basically underwear that you wrap around your waist. (sorry it's not explicit with this pic) This was an old way to get yourself warm - when building heating system wasn't good. Back then, people used to put on anything they could to keep them warm. Now that we are in the modern society, we thought we didn't need it any more because it's not sexy and we've got whole bunch of cool ways to warm... Read Full Story

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/01/02/toyota-reported-to-be-developing-solar-powered-car/ Read Full Story

Good quality Tofu is determined by its texture and the flavor of soy bean which should be just right. Among those that are easiliy available at grocery stores, Trader Joe's is best considering its price (I think it's $1.29~1.49) and the fact that it's organic. Thank you TJ. Japanese major brand "House" is probably the most widely available Tofu in the US, but I am not a big fan of it. It is either too soft (silken) or too firm (firm), and it's waterly and flavorless. Another option is Korean... Read Full Story

Yamaha unvailed its fuel cell scooter "FC-Dii" at Eco-products 2008, Tokyo, Japan. Fuel cell use methanol as fuel and it can also be charged by external li-ion battery. Well I don't know well about the true eco-friedliness and feasiblity of this technology, but the product looks sort of cool. Probably postman can use this to deliver mails? Read Full Story

Today, California Air Resources Board adopted its historical AB 32 Scoping Plan. This is a huge milestone for California to shift toward low-carbon society. Yesterday, Toyota decided to launch thier new concept car "iQ" (next generation Pruis) to US market. This is a big and nice surprise becasue small cars were traditionally thought to be the last choice by the American consumer and automakers haven't tried to sell them here. If people just choose to drive smaller cars, it's such a simple... Read Full Story

When we say "recycle", we typically talk about "collection effort" -- putting things in recycling bins. This is confusing because "collecting recyclables" and "remanufacturing recyclables" are very different two processes. The effort to increase collection rate is one thing, effort to increase good quality recyclables is another thing, then improving remanufacturing process and marketing secondary products are yet another thing. Interesting story about Japanese plastic bottle recycling... Read Full Story