Dream Seed Farms
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Yoga
    • Dream Seed Yoga
    • Moon Yoga
  • 和紙あかり
    • Washi Akari Shop
    • DIY Workshops
    • Photo Gallery
  • Share House | シェアハウス
  • 網地島王国
  • About Us
    • アメ〜リカな時間チラ見!
    • つつじ野
    • EDE >
      • EDE Report English
      • EDE Report Japanese
      • EDE Pictures
      • EDE Farewell Video
    • Contact

Ajishima Clean Up - Day 7 - Week 1 - Special Edition!

1/21/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
One mean motor scooter!
Today's list is short and sweet:

One 50cc baby blue motor scooter

In yesterday's post about toilet seats, I mentioned that the commodes ended up elsewhere, while I saved several seats for a future project. This scooter is headed to the same place.
Picture
I have even found old cars out in the woods, but I cannot lift them into a truck by myself...
I do not have a picture yet (I will post one soon), but the garbage I collect over the next month that cannot be repaired, reused, repurposed or recycled is ending up in an impromptu dump in the center of the island. After the disaster two years ago, heaps of debris started washing up on shore all around the island. At first, some islanders gathered it up and burned it all right on the spot. But, eventually there was so much washing ashore everyday that they could not keep up. They began gathering it up with big construction machinery and hauling it to a wide open field in the center of the island.

Over the summer of last year a private contractor was hired by the prefectural or national government to gather up the rest of the tsunami debris and to also tear down those houses damaged by the earthquakes. They piled up a gigantic mountain of trash and then hauled it in dump trucks little by little to the port and loaded it onto a huge garbage barge that sailed for Ishinomaki City on the mainland. From there it was distributed around the country to be sorted at various garbage processing centers and eventually to be recycled (metals: like parts of today's scooter), incinerated (all burnables, plastics and organic matter: like all the food and sweets wrappers) or dumped in the ocean (everything else: like the toilet commodes).

The demolition crew took an early winter break and are now back on the island to finish tearing down several old houses. So, at this point for about the next month or so until they are finished and the last barge sails away, I have access to the dump. I am bringing all the junk I find but cannot use to the dump. And, once there, I am desperately searching for anything of potential use. I have rescued all kinds of great and useful materials from the shores and dump over the past two years. I will blog about them later on, maybe when it rains/snows and I cannot get out for my daily garbage clean up!

The majority of the garbage I am gathering was here long before the disaster. But, it is exactly because of the disaster that we have the opportunity to rid the island of as much junk as possible. After the effort I put in to dragging the scooter out of the forest and lifting it into the back of the truck all by myself, I do, however, doubt that I will have much overall impact. The demolition crew is here for the old houses, not the old junk littered about by the people of those households. Once the last garbage barge sets sail, it will be infinitely more difficult and expensive to take care of all the scattered junk. I will do the best I can, because that is all I can do.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Dream Seed Farmers
    夢の種光房

    Rick & Michie labor in love, tending their fields, creating, enjoying, and living on Ajishima, a tiny island off the northeast coast of Japan.


    和紙あかり Lamps

    Washi Akari
    Check out our Dream Seed line of Washi Akari Lamps. Custom order or make your own at one of our many workshops.

    言語を選択できます
    日本語コチラから↓

    Archives

    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    June 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    September 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

    Categories

    All
    ヨガ
    ヨガ
    Ajishima
    Ajishima Clean Up
    Ajishima Park
    Ajishima Summer Festival
    Ecovillage Design Education
    Ede
    Festival
    Fuyukoi
    Garbage
    Ishikoi
    Justgiving
    Lamp Making
    Rainy Day Edition
    Recycle
    Reduce
    Refuse
    Repair
    Reuse
    Share House
    Snow Day Edition
    Washi Akari
    Workshop
    Yoga
    冬恋
    和紙あかり
    和紙あかり
    石恋
    石恋
    網地島公園
    網地島公園
    網地島夏祭り

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.