Notes:
paddy 稲田，水田;
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I listened to a professor from Gifu University talk about the environment on Sunday. He said that people in Japan used to eat 300 grams of rice per day, but now they eat only half that much rice. Since 1970, farmers have been growing less rice, so there are fewer paddies. This is bad news for Japan’s frogs because more than half of them live in rice paddies. Although you may not like frogs, they are important to us because they eat insects, and they become food for large birds. This professor said that we can help to save Japan’s environment by eating more rice. (by Prof. Douglas Jarrell)
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Notes:
thermos 魔法瓶;
tumbler 大コップ;

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One of my students gave a presentation in class. She tried to answer the question, “What is really ‘environmentally-friendly’?” She made a good point. Sometimes we do things because we think they are good for the environment, but are they really environmentally-friendly? For example, when she was a child, she collected the caps of plastic bottles and took them to school. However, the caps come from plastic bottles. It would be more environmentally-friendly not to buy drinks in plastic bottles. It’s better to bring drinks from home in a thermos or tumbler. (by Douglas Jarrell)
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