Fingernails

Collectively, our bodies use up a significant amount of the world's energy in producing our useless human fingernails. Every year the average person's fingernails and toenails grow 5 centimeters each. Multiply that by twenty and you have a full meter of nail every year! In their lifetime the average person clips off seventy meters of nail. Now multiply that by the world population and you see where I'm going with this.

I think we should all save our clippings and donate them to an organization specially designed to process that strong, fibrous material and use it in a practical way.

Perhaps we could build low-cost housing for the poor. Or turn it into fuel. Maybe soles for shoes. Something to put inside maracas. I welcome your suggestions. After all, a cavalier attitude about discarding our nails can only lead to careless waste of other natural resources. In fact, maybe that's where it all started. I'm sure Native Americans found some practical use for their clippings. (Did they?) Let's try to reverse this pernicious trend and build something beautiful that future generations can be proud of. At least we could make some kind of sculpture/memorial to the memories of our ancestors, and the nails they left behind.