Reading about the cardboard bridge reminds me about the old Oriental story that I heard when I was a kid. Apparently a giant had asked a little girl to bring him fire in paper. If she failed, he would eat her up. The poor girl went hunting for something she knew that was impossible. She came across a wise sage who helped her make a paper lantern and place a candle in it, thus the giant got his fire in paper and the girl was free. My point in this story is that we often underestimate the strength of paper. Now take the case of the very resourceful architect Shigeru Ban, who has built a bridge across the Gardon River (southern France) that, is made out of cardboard. It is made out of 281 cardboard tubes and is strong enough to carry 20 people at a time. The steps of the bridge are constructed from recycled paper and plastic. The foundation however is made up wooden boxes packed with sand.
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