Green Jobs: Selling Chopsticks to the Chinese

Selling Koa chopsticks to the Chinese was an example of the green jobs advocated by candidate for Kauai County mayor Joanne Yukimura. As a visual aid she displayed a set of Koa chopsticks she said she purchased 20 yeas ago and took with her everywhere so she didn't have to use the petroleum based plastic spoons, and forks which are environmental unfriendly and become non-decomposable landfill fodder.

Is it this sort of thinking the will provide Kauai the green jobs for a sustainable future? While I applaud Joanne's chopstick toting sensitivity and her taking individual action to reduce the waste stream, is selling Koa chopsticks to Chinese consumers a viable plan or indicate a fundamental flaw in logic?

Koa is a beautiful slow growing prized wood while bamboo is a fast growing grass traditionally used to make chopsticks. As chopsticks either would serve equally well in terms of functionality and durability if properly cared for. Koa chopsticks are a luxury or a value added item with the value added being the status of the possessor of a pair of Koa chopsticks.

The annual income of the average Chinese citizen would no doubt limit the ability of the majority to afford Koa chopsticks limiting the sale of Koa chopsticks to the upper crust of Chinese society.

I also have a twenty year old pair of Koa chopsticks given to me as a gift by one of Kauai's master furniture makers. He made fine Koa furniture and the Koa chopsticks were made from scrap left over from the furniture making process. I value the chopsticks not for any status they may impart, but rather the beauty of the wood and the memory of the maker.

If one is looking for green jobs perhaps one should consider bamboo. From chopsticks to furniture, from charcoal to construction materials bamboo so fast growing it is termed invasive, but invasive is not a bad word if one can use all one can get. Prolific is a better descriptor. Given the price of shipping a furniture, arts, and construction industry based on bamboo could fulfill the needs of a local market right here in Kauai. Two Thousand acres of sub marginal sugarcane land planted in bamboo could provide a plant to produce 1/8", 1/2", 3/4", or 5/8" 4x8 ft epoxy laminated bamboo sheets for a homegrown construction industry.

Nothing wrong with Koa chopsticks but my hope is people will have a larger vision of green jobs for Kauai. A vision that will have more substance and solve more pressing problems facing us right here on Kauai than selling designer Koa chopsticks to Chinese consumers.