| From The Newspaper (17) Environment (7) |
January 13, 2023
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| The TV program '2030 ~ Crossroads for the Future' gave him more information about plastics. ・Every year about 30 billion tons of plastics (10% of newly produced plastics) are estimated to go into the world's seas. ・Plastics are broken down into pieces, like sand, after long exposure to the sun's rays while floating in the sea water. These pieces are called 'micro-plastic'. As fish eat them, mistaking them for plankton, those fish grow smaller and unhealthier, which will make the sea food resources poor. ・If plastics are exposed to the sun's rays and/or sea water for a long time, they will start to emit methane. These days he could see some changes about using plastics. When he bought electrical appliances, in the cardboard boxes as cushion, Styrofoam was normally used, now they use layers of cardboard, instead. Supermarkets recommend 'my bag', and plastic bags need to be bought. Some coffee shops quit using plastic straws. But, the change is minimal. He was disgusted about this country's over wrapping. When he was very young, tofu was sold by a peddler who sold tofu and sheets of deep-fried tofu, putting them into our pan brought from our kitchen. At that time, milk bottles were delivered (this custom has  been revived now), we bought fish at a fishmonger, meat at a butcher, and they wrapped things with old newspapers. Those methods are ok even now, at least for him, but business efficiency makes it difficult. So, the government should show their leadership.The TV program next mentioned food waste. In this country, there are 6.12 million tons of food waste a year, which is 1.5 times as much food as the UN food supportive action for starving countries and people per year. In the program, a company which is dealing with wasted food was introduced. Food wastes are carried every day from convenience stores and processed food factories, the company makes feed for livestock using those materials and sells it to farmers. The president of the company explained that convenience stores have to prepare a certain amount of rice balls, lunch boxes, sandwiches, etc. for 24 hours. If some of them aren't sold by the expiration day/time, they have to be thrown away. As uncountable convenience stores exist, the remaining food is staggering. In the case of processed food factories, there appears a certain number of not perfectly shaped foods in the process. As people's demand for products in this country is strict, consumers avoid bent ones, non-perfect shaped things. Surprisingly, in the process of food production, 20 percent are judged as not perfect, and are thrown away. Agriculture also has problems. Lands for agriculture in the world have been getting worse every year for two reasons. One reason is deep cultivation and the use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides. Since machines and chemicals were invented, they started to cultivate deeper, using a lot of chemicals, and can produce a lot of food. But, after the repetition of those, there are no bacteria and earthworms in the ground. And they will lose moisture, then will be flown by the wind. Once the land loses its original functions, it's difficult to return, the researcher explained. The other problem is water in the ground. In a lot of major crop producing areas, groundwater has been used in the world. Researchers recently announced that groundwater in various points is less than before. Once groundwater becomes depleted, the area will have to be given up for farming, meaning it will be a desert. Healthy lands keep CO2 because of bacteria, so if the land becomes a desert, the world's CO2 problem will worsen. In the Amazon and other tropical rain forest areas, they have been cultivating new farming lands, planting single crops like corn, palm oil, etc. And single planting is creating damage to the lands, cutting woods making CO2 problems bigger. Farming lands have become drier and unhealthy. Present warming temperatures will cause more floods and droughts, and it will make harvest poorer. Growing livestock is said to consume 1/3 of the world's grains. It might be time to seriously think about what one eats. |
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No. 504
*peddler :行商人
*fishmonger :魚屋
*butcher :肉屋
*feed :餌
*staggering :膨大な、あ然とさせる
*fertilizer :肥料
*pesticides :農薬
*depleted :激減した