Paper bag

[redbird]

I bought a pound of basmati rice yesterday. It came in a brown paper sack, with a printed label that said PAPER "the natural package".

That bag of rice is a surprisingly good example of the enabling technologies of our civilization. Paper, cheap enough to throw away--as I will when I finish writing this. Cheap color printing. Complex machinery that makes the bags. Containers. The rice in the bag a sophisticated variety, but grain is basic to the Neolithic Revolution. Agriculture gets the attention, but it wouldn't have been an epochal difference without containers for food storage and trainsport. Here and now, we have the technology to ship those containers halfway around the planet at a reasonable price, but the container is older than history, and essential to it.

Comments

Recycle!

[ailbhe]

Of course, given how hard that is for me in my recycling-friendly area, it might be impossible for you...

A.

Re: Recycle!

[redbird]

At the instant, we're recycling metals, newspapers, magazines, and catalogs, and returning some glass. We're promised--or were, that was before the most recent bad budget news--that we'll be able to recycle glass and plastic bottles again soon.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

That is really aesthetically pleasing, isn't it?

:-)

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

Not as aesthetically pleasing as your icon. I adore polar bears.

MKK

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

My friend Stella took that--I think it's from the Cincinnatti Zoo.