If you had visited Japan's Sabo Island at any time during the 2nd half of the 20th century or the first part of the 21st, you would see many images of toki (the local name for the crested ibis) printed on postcards, stitched onto t-shirts, frosted onto elaborate pastries, and carved into hashioki (chopsticks rests). You might even bump into a huggable, human-sized plush mascot. The only toki you wouldn't see were the live ones that had been flying over the island for eons, had become very nearly extinct, victims of the herbicides and pesticides used on the island's specialty rice crops (Sabo Island was home to several specialty breeds of rice used for sushi).
When a typhoon in 2004 wiped out all of the Sabo Island's rice fields, farmers were encouraged to rebuild using the toki-to-kurasu-sato program, a crop certification that functions similarly to an “organic” label, but with a highly specific purpose—it verifies that a rice farm is a safe haven for toki.
Now the population of toki has grown to more than 500 and is growing steadily every year.
People still have a great reverence for the natural world, and many are willing to take big steps to preserve it.
Our source for this meme is Mother Jones magazine.
When a typhoon in 2004 wiped out all of the Sabo Island's rice fields, farmers were encouraged to rebuild using the toki-to-kurasu-sato program, a crop certification that functions similarly to an “organic” label, but with a highly specific purpose—it verifies that a rice farm is a safe haven for toki.
Now the population of toki has grown to more than 500 and is growing steadily every year.
People still have a great reverence for the natural world, and many are willing to take big steps to preserve it.
Our source for this meme is Mother Jones magazine.
Meme, Ibis, Crested Ibis, Toki, Sabo Island, Japan, Extinction, Recovery, Industrial Agriculture, Rice, Typhoon, Organic