ABSTRACT
In this 2005 dispatch from Kyoto, Berg summarizes a talk that he gave at Seika University. Berg attributes his title, “Colors Are the Deeds of Light,” to a phrase by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. By comparing the show of hands on questions such as how many students own television sets or cellular phones or have seen a trout in a creek or a fox in the wild, Berg awakens the students to the fact that, unlike their grandparents, they were born into the Industrial Era. Statistics on waste (the average Japanese young person will discard thirty-five computers and mobile phones and twelve washing machines in his or her lifetime) cast a pall over the room that even Berg’s positive alternatives for the future could not lift. The evening is redeemed at dinner over bowls of soba noodles and glasses of beer when two of the quietest students in the class confront Berg with challenging questions, showing that they have learned to think for themselves. Their questions press Berg to further articulate the bioregional perspective.
