Reading report

Of January 8th 2008

I’ve been going to the library and reading a lot lately. The library system in Sado is so much better than I had expected: they not only get books from other branches in the island for you but also from the main library in Niigata city on the main island. I want to make use of the library in Sado more from now on.

In the last 3 weeks, I’ve read books on jogging and triathlon training, sport science, yoga, brain science, aging, the environment, macrobiotics, female bodies and sexualities, etc. The encyclopedia of current world situations such as terrorism, environmental issues, underground markets, globalization and corporations, was pretty interesting.

I read a book on food mileage today. Food mileage is a multiply of the quantity of food and the distance the food had to travel to come on your plate. I knew that Japan is importing so much food (about 60%) from overseas but I didn’t know that half of it is corn to feed cattle. That means if people in Japan cut back on meat consumption, we can be much more self supporting on food source than we are now, and reduce ecological foot print that results from food import. It’s so sad that the diet of most people in Japan has changed completely from pretty-much-vegetarian to meat eating in the last fifty years or so. I personally don’t eat meat but still there is so much I can do to reduce the “food mileage” of what I eat daily. I can think of the following 3 ideas now. I’d appreciate it if you have any other ideas and possibilities. Thanks!

1. Eat locally:
There’s abundance of local, seasonal, fresh food around me. Persimmons, apples, kiwi, fig, mandarin oranges, lots of kinds of vegetables, beans, seeds, nuts, sea vegetables, sea salt, etc. are available on the island. My dad’s friend grows brown rice organically so we get brown rice from him. We can also go foraging in the nearby woods for wild plants and mushrooms mainly in spring and fall. It’s nothing to go without avocado from Mexico or bananas from the Philippines. I don’t think it’s a good idea health wise either to eat food from far away places, especially from different climate zones.

2. Grow my own food:
I definitely should do this. Growing season starts in March or April here but I can start making good soil by taking care of the compost we have in our front yard, NOW.

3. Dumpster dive:
Dumpster diving surely is great as a way to reduce our ecological foot print. It’s not an option for me right now but I do it when there’s accessible dumpsters and food thrown away near me.