Waste: a word of only five letters but with a frightening character. Why? Because the world has always been faced with the problem of waste. During the Middle Ages, the glittering capital city of Paris was also a"capital of garbage," and a site for illegal disposal. The Mayor of Paris announced that anyone caught in the act of illegally disposing of something would be hanged. However, since this did not lead to any reduction of the problem, the mayor gave up the idea. France today still has a garbage problem, and it is a huge issue for Japan as well. In a nutshell, waste disposal is a serious problem for the entire world. Before we realized it, waste grew into a monster, and is a major factor behind both global warming and environmental problems.

We have achieved abundance and convenience, which we are not at all prepared mindset to lose. Our abundance and convenience are directly proportional to the amount of waste we produce.

When the "expiry date for consumption" of abundance arrives, things change into waste. And then, waste has its revenge.

Ecology puts a brake on the greed of humankind, which is continuously evolving. How well are human beings now able to apply the brakes? The word "environment" will surely prove to be a testing ground for that question.

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