When people consider relocating simply because of the health threats air pollution brings up, there is something wrong with that city. We’re talking about large metropolis like Hong Kong where a study conducted by the think tank Civic Exchange revealed that 1 in 5 citizens – a total of 1.4 million – are considering fleeing the city, while 500,000 of these are “seriously considering or already planning to move”.

Most of those aware of the air problem include highly affluent, top earners and educated professionals who care about their health – and Singapore (long rivalry) wants them. Though breathability is a highly important chapter for cities to compete for, Hong Kong agrees on the fact that air quality is a “matter of life and death” but there aren’t any real measures taken.

Would you move out if you were living in Hong Kong?

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Japan is not always first out of the gate. Okay, not usually first out of the gate but they do know how to take an idea and run with it, make it better and make it more expensive, too.

Enter the eco-coffin and if you need 5 reasons to buy an eco-coffin in Hong Kong … and anywhere else let me know. You may also be interested in eco-funerals if they are green enough for you.

Japan is just now making the idea her own. Tri-Wall K. K. is challenging funeral convention in Japan and asking customers to make a final statement, to think outside the box. Instead of expensive wooden boxes, how about one made from cardboard…an ecoffin. Good word, eh?

The ecoffin uses half the wood of a conventional coffin and requires half the energy for combustion.

What’s more, the company plants ten red pine trees in Mongolia for each coffin that is used in a carbon offset mechanism.

99% of Japanese are cremated. Japanese laws do not require crematoriums to report levels of CO2 emissions either. And everyone in Japan is going to die sooner or later.

Japan’s Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has given guidelines to crematoriums requiring them to improve their incinerators and reduce emissions.

The part I don’t get is Tri-Wall’s ecoffin is more costly than a regular pine box. Um, why not just use a refrigerator box? Seriously. And what about recycling the boxes? I guess I can’t see that happening.

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