Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

General discussion about Origami, Papers, Diagramming, ...
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Falcifer
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by Falcifer »

A couple of links which may be of some interest:
Origami: a “Green” Art
Trash Origami: 25 Paper Folding Projects Reusing Everyday Materials (book on Amazon)

As for my own views on the matter, the origami database has about 2500-3000 entries for origami creators. This forum has 5000+ members, the Vietnamese forum has about 2000.
That's 10,000 people. Even if that's only 1% of all origamists in the world (which I think is being generous), it's still only 0.015% of the population of Earth.

A few years at uni left me with huge stacks of paper, in the form of lecture notes, handouts, booklets, etc. Considering the number of students who go to uni each year (close to 2 million in the UK alone), let alone other schools, and all the paper used in offices, as mentioned before, and junk mail, books, magazines, newspapers, etc., the amount of paper that is used for origami is negligible, I think.

If there ever comes a time when the amount of paper used by origamists becomes a real concern, I'm sure the world will be in a very dire state indeed and origami will be the least of our worries.
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Iwvi
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by Iwvi »

You are welcome. Now a new question, would you be part of said "Ilegal Origami Underworld"?
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orislater
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by orislater »

hell yeah. dude i would lead it!
my flickr tissue foil is for noobs! mc FTW!!!!
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BrooksHalten
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by BrooksHalten »

I don't think folding paper is, or ever will be, destroying our supply of trees. There is a growing trend for paper companies to have "tree farms." Yes, tree farms. Spanning many acres, they plant trees bit by bit, so when they get to where they started, the tree is ready to be used. This continues again and again and thus, no paper shortage.
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fernandoperezrojas
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by fernandoperezrojas »

isn't a waste of paper, One day I saw in a convention or fair, an origami stand where they were theaching origami an they were teaching a way to reciclate and there was an advertisment that said: ''reciclate making origami with papers you are going to trash'' it was like that, but origami isnt a waste of time is like to say that books are a waste of paper! origami is an art and is something useful. and yeah I have the same idea as ,Iwvi, if origami would be ilegal there would be a complete origami underworld
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leung_wwy
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by leung_wwy »

What's reciclare?

Do you mean recycle?

(I am not picking on you - it's a serious question. I've never seen the word before).
cjbnc
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by cjbnc »

Image
Ellie Pooh Elephant by cjbnc, on Flickr

Another source of non-forest-destroying paper: recycled elephant dung. The fibers are not very strong for folding mind you, but it gets your attention. :lol:
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Crane89
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by Crane89 »

As BrooksHalten nicely put it, most paper companies today have tree farms, so it's not really a worry. The problem with paper is that it needs HUGE amounts of water in its manufacturing, I've heard it's the industrial product that needs more water to be produced than any other thing. But again, origami is almost nothing compared to ads, newspaper, legal documents...
I'll keep folding until fossil fuels are over, forcing makind to adopt wind and solar energy for good. :D
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by the modern einstein »

Adopting Solar Energy or wind energy is unfeasable, and Nuclear power is more environmentally friendly than either of those two. Consider- what is the ratio of power produced between one solar cell (industrial size) and a nuclear power plant. The nuclear power plant produces way more power, and the fuel is as recyclable as origami paper. now how many solar panels would it take to match the power produced by a nuclear power plant, and how much waste would it take to produce a huge amount of solar panels, covering several square miles? Heaps and heaps. Compared to the emissions, waste and suchlike, of constructing a nuclear power plant, these emissions and suchlike would be enormous. Only when human error occurs in the construction, and running of nuclear power plant does it become dangerous, or even harmful to the environment. Furthermore, a nuclear apocalypse would only affect humans in any serious way. A chicken can withstand twice the amount of radiation than a human can, and a cockroach can withstand up to a hundred times. If this pattern continues, then animals would not be affected by such a catastrophe. The effects on current human population would probably be positive, considering the pressures of overpopulation, which further pressures the stability of the fragile environment existing on Earth. Origami at present is currently in no detrimental effect to the environment, as currently most paper is in some form recycled, and that which is not, is sourced from renewable forests, that are regrown periodically. the loss of water is of no concern, as if research is conducted, it will be found that the fresh water levels on Earth are constant, and will only change with serious alteration to the earths atmosphere, and of our solar system, including the sun, which would have to just disappear, which would be the death of all life in our solar system, and possibly the universe, if we are the only lifeforms present in our universe, which is hardly likely, considering that the bacterium that first appeared on earth were probably carried from space by some form of transportation, such as a meteorite or comet. So no, I do believe that origami is not, and will probably never be detrimental to the environment, at least until the sun explodes/implodes.

Hey; i just voiced my opinion, and in the meantime, given you a lesson in some of life's most random aspects. Have Fun! And please no arguing over my post; some of it is opinion, but all facts I have mentioned are true, and sources for them can be found all over the internet :mrgreen:
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Gerardo
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by Gerardo »

Wow, this is a lot of feedback. And it's really educational. Thanks; so I suppose the manual arts don't have anything to worry about :o.
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by the modern einstein »

absolutely correct- the whole paper industry is not affecting the environment, in the long term, in any way that is so serious it will result in the destruction of the earths environment, in terms of tree felling, though their carbon emissions output may something to worry about, but this applies to just about every industry, and can therefore be discounted as making origami become any sort of unique anti-environmental activity. Even arts and other hobbies that involve the direct manipulation of wood, such as balsa wood modelling, which consumes much more wood than paper do not have anything to worry about, their timber being in the majority from the renewable forests that I have mentioned in the above article. 8)
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leung_wwy
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by leung_wwy »

I agree that paper on its own would not cause much environmental damage since both water and fibres are renewable. howevere foil paper, and sandwich tissue foil both have metallic content, which are not renewable. tissue foil, in particular, with aluminium foil, would be quite energy intensive (since aluminium smelting requires a lot of heat).

My view is that if you are concerned about the environment, use paper but stay away from foil
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ahudson
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by ahudson »

Um, trees aren't exactly a nonrenewable resource. They only take a few years to grow and harvest. Also trees are one of the main sources of atmospheric oxygen, through photosynthesis... If we do start running out of trees, finding something to fold with will be the least of our worries.
SammyTownsend
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by SammyTownsend »

@ the modern einstein:
Really strange information.. Hard to believe solar and wind energy is less nature friendly than nuclear..There were so many nuclear disasters earlier and you still have this opinion.
Wuggums47
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Re: Do you think origami could become anti-ecological?

Post by Wuggums47 »

A lot of the really good papers out there aren't made from wood pulp. Unryu, most recipes of Origamido, and Lokta are all made of other things, most of which I think are renewable. I suppose not many people would practice with those papers, but When making a really good model, you might want to use one of those papers. However honestly speaking I place a high value on the creation of art as part of the human experience. How many pieces of paper can a single tree make? How many priceless artworks is that? I don't mean to sound callous, but I'm not sure I care so much about trees that I would want to limit origami. It's not like we make our paper out of endangered species. A much more destructive hobby would be scrimshaw, they use ivory to make it.
Be who you are, do things because you want to do them, and stop caring what others think. Then you'll be happy.
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