Green Chopsticks

Glossary

[Note: the glossary, as you can see, is still far from complete. If you'd like to help out, please submit entries to the email address below.]

-bashi:

The form that the Japanese word for chopsticks, hashi, takes when combining as a suffix with other words, as in waribashi, disposable chopsticks.

boreal forest:

From Borealis, the name the ancient Greeks gave to the north wind, boreal refers to things northern, in this case the forests of northern Euarasia and North America. Sometimes circumboreal is used to refer to something that occurs throughout the north; aspens, for instance, have circumboreal distribution.

clear-cut:

A type of logging in which whole sections of forest are cut down to the last tree; the subsequent collection of the trees usually destroys the forest undergrowth as well, leaving cleared areas. In some cases, when young growth requires fog-drip from the older trees, or when the soils need rotting trees to replenish their nutrients, this method of logging is devastating to a forest. Nevertheless, it is favored by large timber companies greedy for short-term profit. Methods which leave just a few trees standing are little better. The alternative is to cut trees individually to meet local needs, but this kind of traditional forestry wouldn't be able to meet the demands for disposable export items like chopsticks.

disposable:

fog-drip:

habitat:

hashi:

The Japanese word for chopsticks, literally meaning "bridge," which a pair of chopsticks laid across a bowl evokes. Chopsticks can also be thought of as a bridge that these two sticks create from the natural to the cultural world, and a bridge that ingredients cross to become food. Cf. waribashi.

old-growth:

Said of forests in their maturity, referring to the old age of many of the trees. Because most forests contain trees that live hundreds of years, old-growth practically means forests that haven't been intensively cut for the last few centuries. In the time it has taken these forests to mature, they have typically developed very rich and diverse habitats for many species; younger forests tend to be less diverse.

waribashi:

Disposable chopsticks; from the Japanese verb waru, to break, and bashi,, the combining form of the noun hashi, chopsticks, this literally means "breakable chopsticks." However, since hashi means bridge, wari-bashi can also be read as "broken bridge," an apt description of the failed ecological relationship that these throwaway chopsticks represent.