My last blog was about how Chinese factories were closing due to the lagging import market. I thought this blog would be a good follow up. An artist by the name of Michael Wolf has made an art installation using only Chinese-made toys and pictures of the factory workers. The exhibit, which is installed in a gallery in Hong Kong, contains approximately 20,000 toys with faces (his criteria in choosing them) that he gathered over a month's visit to Salvation Army-type stores in the US.

Check out Wolf's webpage for more pics of the exhibit, the process in which he made it, and pictures of the factory workers. It's pretty powerful stuff.

-Jess 

On Thursday, November 20th, Smith College will be celebrating Julia Child Day. The menu will include local turkey, cobbler made from local apples, locally-made ice cream and other local edibles. Presentations will be given by eco-chef Bryant Terry and food activist Anna Lappé. What an event!

-Karen

Unfortunately, the shipping industry is apparently not currently on the cutting edge of green technology. Hopefully, this is changing as companies such as Foss Maritime Co. of Seattle are developing hybrid tugboats.

-Karen

The global economic crisis has reached Asia. And while many people might have thought it wouldn't happen, when thinking about how dependent the rest of the world is on China and other Asian countries' factories, its not suprising that the lack of spending globally would hit those factories hard. In fact, in the first half of 2008, over 67,000 factories closed in China! Wow. The New York Times has written an article on how the Chinese factory worker is suffering from the lack of exports as well as what this means for the Chinese economy as a whole.

I highly recommend reading this as it shows how global this economic crisis has really gone.

-Jess