Living in Japan over the past year has been great. I've been able to eat healthier due to the abundance of seafood and vegetables. I don't know why, but I never ate as much vegetables when I was living in Vancouver. On the downside though, i've been noticing some habits that the citizens here rarely practice or have not been able to even give a try. I'm about to rant because it seems to be more apparent to me here than when I was in beautiful British Columbia.
I've noticed that taxis constantly idle their cars here even while they're waiting for customers. Even when they're talking with their colleagues and hanging outside of their vehicles, their cars are still on. WHY, I ask, WHY!? Another thing too is that businesses, retail, restaurants, whoever, package shit like crazy. Do you really need a bag for your drinks? A tray is not good enough? I know customer service is top notch compared to other world standards, but the usage of plastic and paper consumption needs to be reduced. Carpooling? Does it exist?..... Maybe. But so far I see a good handful of people driving by themselves. You know what? Japan's got a great transportation system; TRAINS. Like i've read in a post, cars are a necessity back home, but is a hobby/ luxury in Japan. Yes transit costs are a bit expensive, but they're so accessible and convenient. These are just some of the pet peeves I have about living here. Yes, yes, they have good recycling programs, but it seems that they consume and waste more than reducing and recycling.
We need to educate on a local level. We need to teach our youth and educate them more on reducing, reusing and recycling. Many people of our world are not aware of the global impact that our actions make. I am not perfect in my practices, but I try to make less of an impact on my carbon footprint. I carry an eco-bag (reusuable), a tumbler for my drinks and use my own chopsticks when I can. I rarely drive here and I use mass transit. When I leave a room, I turn off the lights to conserve energy. So i'm basically trying to practice these habits and teaching my family and my friends too. I'm not changing people, i'm just trying to help change habits. We need to be more conscious now than ever. We are in a time where Mother Earth is suffering and if she dies, WE DIE. Get it?? Mother Earth can heal over time and she can be here forever, but we won't if we don't act now.
Act locally, think globally. We only have one Earth. Try and do your best to make better practices and choices. Teach others, show others by example. Have you watched "An Inconvenient Truth"? "The 11th Hour"? Reading news about the environment? Are people even aware of some the phenomenons that are happening around the world? There are some weather patterns which are not even normal nor natural. Summer's coming late; Winter's coming early. Let's do this people!
I don't know if what i'm saying makes sense, but I do know that it's only a matter of time before something horrible happens, and then people wake up and realize what's happening around them. Get conscious.
I'm done for now. I've never done anything like this before on my blog. I've never felt strongly about something such as this before. But living here and seeing it all around me, made an impact on me.
I hope what i've said will help others and make them act. Just trying to help the Earth that WE all live on.
Here's a link I found from Japan Today. This is an article by Hiromi Matsubara.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/commentary/view/living-sustainably-easier-than-you-might-thinkThanks for listening.
Peace.
When you pick up groceries or you go to your local convenience store, do you think twice before getting a plastic bag for your goods? When you go to the store and you pick up a bottle of water or gum, do you tell the store clerk you don't need one? Plastic bags are great because they're convenient but we tend to use them a lot. We buy something, gets put into a plastic bag and then it's thrown out. We are conditioned that we don't even think twice about some things that we use and consume. I know it's not a perfect world, but we can make small changes to make it a better one. Try and reuse your plastic bags when you go grocery shopping; use an eco-bag if you have one, or two or three. Try to reduce your waste.
