5 posts tagged “environment”

 

 

 

 

I came across this book in my college library and find it quite interesting. It talks about marine animals that can be found in Malaysia, ranging from the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia to the east coast of Sabah. You can find a lot of interesting and colourful animals here, including the Dugong, which is also called the "Mermaid of Malaysia". Even whales can be found here. A good book for Scuba Divers and those who would appreciate marine animals.

 

I don't know whether this book is sold outside of Malaysia, but if it is, it would be very a very handful guide for nature lovers around the world.

Orang Utans are among the most brilliant creatures in the world. They are the 'people of the jungle' (direct definition from its name), who can act like humans and has almost the similar communication system with human language. However, these creatures are in the verge of extinction -they are losing their home of existence. People had been doing illegal lodgings and farming, which contributes much to this problem.

However, as far as I'm concerned palm oil does not kill these Orang Utans -in Malaysia. As a local, I have seen the plantation area myself. Much of the trees were planted on an existing agricultural ground. I haven't seen one in Borneo yet, but so far there hasn't been any forest clearings reported for oil palm plantation. Some of the trees were even cut down to make highways.

Europeans has been misunderstood that palm oil is 'evil'. Considering the fact that they are  among those who signed the Kyoto Pact, they should try to investigate and not just blame any countries producing palm oil for  killing the endangered species.  We have the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, the board that monitors the production of palm oil. You can check for information regarding the palm oil.

In my recent post on palm oil a friend did mention about moderation. So, what we are trying to do is that we are going to use the existing agricultural land, and not clearing the forests to make new plantations.

Unless there  is corruption  in the business, but that's a different story.

Maybe instead of boycotting, we should find out more about the palm oil plantation in every country involved in the business. I want to save the endangered species as well, but not by trying to pull down other countries' economy which has nothing to do with it. I would probably just look for the illegal companies who are selling the products, and avoid buying from them.

I went to the Green Fest last morning  with my family and it was a blast. It was part of the Star Newspaper and Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) activity which involved non government groups promoting nature. Though the place was crowded with people, particularly locals, I could still breathe the fresh air and feel the mild coldness of the forest. Most of the hundred year old trees are preserved here in FRIM, which is located somewhere in Kepong. Some people went for a jog here. Some even went cycling.

From the parking lot to the exhibition area was quite a journey. A lot of things were going on there. Contest forms, WWF promoters, the BRATs (if I'm not mistaken) and the most important one -free newspapers. You can get a free Star Newspaper just about anywhere. I was introduced to a few new stuff which I found intriguing. One of them is the palm based plates and cups. They were made to replace the paper plates and cups that we use for parties and such. Everything looked almost the same -except for the fact that they were brownish and smooth. The promoters said it could not last very long compared to the paper products. And another thing that surprised me was when we  bought the plates. They put the plates into a sleek and light bag. It was very different from the normal plastic bag that we use, and was not durable. And I thought it was another palm based product not sold in the market. So much for the palm technology.

I

also found a multipurpose bag that could also serve as a mobile phone charger. It has the solar panel to absorb the energy from the sun. It can even charge a notebook, but of course you need to buy a bigger one. There was also an environmental-friendly dish washing liquid and recycled handicraft. They also made instruments out of recycled items. The instruments were later played by the BRAT's -a young group of teenagers doing activities which are supported by the Star Newspaper.

Later I saw some Orang Asli (indeginous people) performing songs with nice melody. They even invited the visitors to play the instruments with them. Our walk stopped at the  waterfall located near the canopy walk area.

Everything was great about the Green Fest except for some of the things which kind of irritates me. Some of the irresponsible visitors did not really understand the concept of the Fest after all. I caught one of them with my own eyes as she purposely throw the easy-to-get newspaper sheets on the road. The promoters were not excluded. Some of them smoke -contributing much to the carbon emission. The hawkers even put up much of the smoke that I could not even see what was coming in front of me. Maybe this was the first time such fest was held, so I can still forgive them. Hopefully the organisers would put these matters to their attention. Maybe put a notice that everyone should keep the environment clean, including reducing the carbon emission. We are trying to put awareness about the dangers of global warming, yet we are the one contributing to it. They should also put the exhibition on the road, since that it had caused quite a damage to the grass.

All in all I was satisfied enough with the joint effort by the Star and FRIM. They have put quite a good show.

In conjunction with the World Environment Day, I just produced a website to talk about things going around my hometown. I don't really sure whether it suits the theme for this year -which is global warming. But who cares? Environment is not just about one theme for each year.

The site talks about the flood that happened in Kuala Lumpur recently and the tragedy that happened in my hometown last year -in photo essays. Feel free to drop by and leave your comments in my guestbook. I would really appreciate it. You can also leave your comment here, in Vox.

Site address:

http://freewebs.com/mfnstudio/green

Thanks!