Renewable for disaster relief (1): 1 year after Japan earthquake

On March 11, 2011 a 9.0 magnitude earthquake shook offshore North Eastern Japan and triggered a massive tsunami. More than 15,000 people lost their lives and 300,000 people still remain displaced even 10 months after the disaster. Affected communities are still struggling to restore normal life and people are desperate to get back the jobs that were washed away in the blink of an eye.


Energy has emerged as one the most critical issues for recovery. The weather in North Eastern part of Japan is harsh and it snows a lot in winter. Many regions are rural and remote. Right after the disaster many affected areas became energy isolated; people lost access to electricity, natural gas and/or gasoline under the freezing weather. Immediate assistance to provide electricity and heat was critical for survival of the victims. As relief activities intensified, many communities restored lifelines. However, it is also becoming obvious that some seriously impacted areas will be left without grid connection for some more time, if not for good.

Tohoku (the region hit by the disaster) Unity and Warmth Project has been launched to improve access to energy in disaster-hit communities in a sustainable way. Initiated by The Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP), a Tokyo-based NGO that studies measures to promote renewable energy, the project focuses on providing electricity and heat using renewable energy. It also aims to offer much needed jobs to local people through implementation and installation of the projects.

“We would like to provide local, independent power such as solar and biomass in disaster-hit areas where help is difficult to reach. Independent renewable energy can also create local jobs. In the long-run, it can replace nuclear and fossil energy,” says Tetsunari Ida, Director of ISEP.

Since April 2011, the project has been installing small-scale solar and biomass energy systems such as solar panels, solar water heaters, solar street lights and biomass boilers at almost 200 locations throughout affected regions.

Nuno-zori fundraising

Eco-samurai is moving to a new website! 
Updated version of "How to make nuno-zori" will be added shortly.
In the meantime, enjoy new posts.
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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 is now thinking why they had to rely so heavily on nuclear, and what they have been risking by doing so. I think Japanese people are starting to realize what was really going on with nuclear policy.


Anyway, the recovery from earthquake will take a lot more time and money, and also I would like to help support renewable energy in Japan.

Most popular posts in this blog has always been Nuno-zori, so why don't I use Nuno-zori to help support sustainable recovery for Japan?


The company that make Nuno-zori books and kits, Cotton B's, graciously Ok'ed for me to translate "how to make Nuno-zori". My idea is to sell the book and the kit.


I will write more details in the next posts, but if you are interested in this project please let me know.

Tsunami-quake desaster: Think, ecosamurai, think!

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.

Warm ice cream?

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 or frozen. We can reduce or eliminate ice cubes in soda, for example. And it won't change the function of soda that much. Eating less frozen food and cooking by yourself might reduce more GHG than you think, if you think through the supply chain and logistics.

Rethinking cold/frozen food is one of the low-hanging fruits to reduce our carbon footprint.

Thank you Ben and Jerry's for working on this, and thanks for being delicious and green at the same time.

Bright side of economic downturn: People are eating healthier

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://myfootprint.org/
http://www.ecologyfund.com/registry/ecology/res_bestfoot.html
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/

Haramaki! - tummy warmer -

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 ourselves.

But then, it's back! And it's back with whole new look. (see the website I linked below)

My sister said it was super warm.

And it is! I think it is back because people decided, after all, that this is much more efficient and comfortable than its modern version competitors!
....this is hard to explain. Can you imagine how much such a small piece of fabric can do to your body? It's pretty thin and fits your body, and when your tummy is kept warm, your whole body feels so much warmer!

If you are trying to minimize your expense, this small cloths can save your some dollars because you can lower the temperature of your home heater 2-3 degrees! And obivously it'll reduce your carbon footprint. I am serious.

Well, honestly, you can't wear your hip-hung jeans with this, but if you are done with that phase, it's for you. I found some interesting story on Haramaki: Check this out.

Solar Prius?

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