Finally, something to complain about Singapore

Many teased me about how I kept praising this new land I am in. Perhaps I was a bit over-board there hence I paused and try to keep a lookout for things that I do not like about Singapore.

Finally found it…

The other day, Jules went to purchase something from the supermarket and had to “insist” that she doesn’t want a plastic bag. Apparently, the cashier was puzzled as to why she doesn’t want to take plastic bag.

Packing food for lunch is a culture, the amount of plastic and styrofoam containers used during lunchtime is mind-boggling. If you buy coffee, it will come in styrofoam cup and on top of that, you will be given a little plastic holder to carry it.

Heck! I was out for lunch yesterday and I ate at the restaurant… they gave me plastic cutleries. The drinks and desserts came in plastic containers.

I have to say, Singapore is terribly un-environmental friendly. Usage of plastic bags, plastic cups, styrofoam containers, disposable plastic cutleries are as rampant as corruption in Malaysia. When I told them I used to bring my own container to pack food, they were astonished.

I suppose Singapore is such a fast pace country, washing kitchenware or cutleries would be a waste of time. Time, which can better used to generate more money. It is a bit sad. I am glad Malaysia is a few steps ahead of Singapore in this department.

And being a country with limited source of land, I do wonder… where do all these non-biodegradable thrash go? Being recycled?... Have yet to find out…


1 year ago… 1 of the 50 facts… Sex 101: Basics are essential

2 years ago… More struggles… A time travelling twist… Do you have sweaty chest?

Together for tigers

I remember my A-levels economics lecturer once told the class that one day, mankind will have to go to the museum to see how leaves look like. Yes, that green product of nature which we lay our eyes on everyday may well one day be a specimen in the museum in the name of economic development.

But that “one day” has not reached yet, though it is not very far away.

The same cannot be said about tigers though. Traditionally, we do need to head to the zoo to catch a glimpse of this magnificent creature. But with their numbers dwindling to only about 500 in the Malaysian wilderness, they may soon disappear even from our zoo.

As Malaysians, we have all read or heard about tiger attacks in the country within the last decade. While lives have been lost, we cannot deny the fact that the destruction of tigers’ natural habitat is the sole reason why they need come out and hunt for us. Our action ultimately led to the lost of lives of our kind, ironic isn’t it?

Mother nature certainly needs a huge dose of replenishment in many areas. But for this week, A.Z.A.I.G. proclaims full support for Tiger Blogfest 2010 – an initiative to create awareness for this beautiful mammal called tigers. Let us do all that we can, as insignificant as it may be, to collectively put an effort in the preservation of our tigers.

Our tigers is our heritage and we must do our part in ensuring that our children will have the privilege to see this creatures with their own eyes and not via a google image search.

Malaysians – together for tigers.


1 year ago… Why specialise?

2 years ago… Songs re-engineered

3 years ago… A trap on both sides… An accent mystery

Short & Sweet: Episode 6 - Environment

Last year, I initiated a “bring your container to tah-pau” exercise and most of my colleagues follow suit. I think I prevented about 100 Styrofoam containers from polluting the environment last year.

Did you do anything for the environment lately?


P/S: Earth hour and pausing for the environment while posing for camera doesn’t count.
P/S/S: Though most of my colleagues have lost the momentum, I have not.


1 year ago… 12C 4 HE

Today

Did you feel it today? I did… for a good 40 seconds or more. It was much worse than the previous one. I actually felt giddy and had to sit down.

The relevant people kept calling building management, asking for instructions. But my gut feelings tell me building management has got absolutely no idea on what to tell us. In the end, we were told to stay put. Most of us left…

Sand storm in Sydney… Typhoon in Taiwan… Typhoon and tsunami in South East Asia --- Vietnam, Cambodia… earthquake and tsunami in Samoa and Tonga… and just a while ago… earthquake in Indonesia which sent tremors to Singapore and here… Perhaps mother nature was screaming at us. But I wonder who will hear her…

Lastly, certain quarters will be collecting donations for the victims. As generous as we should be, let us be mindful on who we donate to. Let us not forget that in the last tsunami, “certain people” collected a huge amount of donation and it went missing.

Be generous and yet wise, we want our generosity to reach the victims. And now, let’s say a prayer for those who lost their lives…

Picture taken from CNN.

1 year ago… Why I prefer it to fail

Mo-de-rate???

2 weeks ago, I went and played football in an open field and fell sick on Tuesday. Since then, I have been hearing stories about friends who are falling sick after jogging or any other physical activities in open air.

I believe it’s the haze.

It’s very bad today. While on my way to work, I could not even see the Twin Tower and on the way home, I could not see the greeneries behind my house. When I wind down my window to pay toll, there is a stale smell of smoke. It is bad!!!!!

And hence, I check out the Air Pollutant Index (“API”) based on our very own Malaysian Department of Environment. Ya’ know, it’s the department who said “… hazy but it doesn’t mean the haze is back…” Yes, “that” department.

According to them, the API is moderate! The second column indicates index taken at 5pm and it showed mo-de-rate.

Really?
Only mo-de-rate?
Reallllllllly?

I don’t know about you but I can't bring myself to believe that the API disclosed there is true. While there may not be much that we can do, I think to the very least, we deserve the truth.

I still remember in the late 90s when the haze was really bad and there was a time where the API was “very unhealthy” and we were told that we should only worry when API hits “hazardous”. Lo and behold, it did hit hazardous and I clearly remember that a statement was issued saying something like… “hazardous doesn’t mean it’s dangerous”… something like that.

I guess that is why things are best maintained as mo-de-rate.

Fucked up country. But of course, it doesn’t matter because you can still enjoy the best nasi-lemak, bak-kut-teh and char-kuey-teow. Yay!


1 year ago… Between myth and truth… It’s not about blogs or blogging

Please scold your parents

“Nowadays, my daughter will raise her voice and scold me!” my big boss said.
“Yeah, my son also did the same thing to me” my second big boss continued.

I was standing right next to them and intentionally blurted…”Serve your right”

As assertive as I am, you must be thinking that I have just committed a career suicide. Well, not entirely accurate.

The notion of that day was “usage of plastic bag”. Both the big bosses were talking about how they return with plastic bags after buying groceries of other stuff and their children will be screaming at them.

If you think that the “scolding” was made in a friendly tone, think again. Apparently, their children were seriously giving their parents (i.e. my big bosses) a piece of their mind, citing reasons such as --- all the money earned by the parents will not compensate for the damaged world that the parents will leave behind for them.

This is not the first time I heard of such incidents.

I was in a posh Italian restaurant last year when I overheard a similar conversation. The father was telling the daughter that using paper instead of styrofoam cups is expensive while using the cutleries in the house instead of plastic cutleries is inconvenient. I assume the topic then was some private party.

The next thing I heard was the daughter saying…rather loudly… “Dad, you are so freaking rich. What’s wrong with spending more for paper cups? And we have enough maids to clean the cutleries. Please think about the environment which affects us, the next generation”

You know what is the best thing about all these?

The freaking-rich-dad and the 2 bosses (who are also very rich) are all loving parents and hence, they all agreed to change their habit. I am not sure whether the freaking-rich-dad did use paper cups and house cutleries, but I can tell you that the 2 bosses are seriously reminding themselves to bring their own environmental bags when they go groceries shopping.

So… what are you waiting for?

1 year ago… Rich-ology

2 years ago… Debit affluence, credit conscience… Ponder and find the peculiar time

Eco Enzyme - what I did for the environment which you can do too!

For those uninformed, Eco Enzyme is about using your plant based kitchen left-over such as fruit skins and vegetable roots to create an cleaning enzyme that benefits the environment. The process of making this Eco Enzyme takes 3 months. The best thing about the process is that it releases Ozone (O3), replenishing our depleting atmosphere.

The result is a very powerful cleaning substance that you can use for almost everything and …it’s totally CHEMICAL FREE.

I have just done the harvesting of the enzyme today… have a look…

The big tank that we used to store the enzyme for 3 months

We only used orange peels. The whole thing smells like orange juice. Of course, I don’t think it’s drink-able.

Jules filling up the bottles with the powerful and chemical free Eco Enzyme.

All the plastic bottles that you disposed which pollute the environment can also be made to good use.

The orange peels will be left to dry and we are going to use it as fertilisers. Chemical free fertilisers!

I truly believe that this is one thing we can all do and contribute into preserving the environment. Think about the amount of Ozone that will be released to the atmosphere if we all do a tank?

With this, you will use less detergent which also means less pollution to the environment. Better still, lesser usage of detergents may also results in those manufacturers having to manufacture less. Less manufacturing from the factories also means… less pollution!

For those who want a detailed write-up on Eco Enzyme and how to make it, leave your e-mail in the comment box. Or you can drop me a mail. My mail is at the side-bar.

What are you waiting for? Start releasing some Ozone to the atmosphere today!


1 year ago… Walk the talk

2 years ago… Grass anyone? … A look at India… Of hip hop to diet and a search

Haze?????

There are numerous occasions where I see things or read the news and they continuously remind me the need to migrate. Nothing beats what I read yesterday over the net.

The Malaysian Insider reported that our very own Director General of Department of Environment made a statement regarding the haze... “Since it is the dry season now, the air becomes dry and hazy but it doesn’t mean that haze is coming back”. This is truly the mother of all statement. Why doesn't he just said... "Looks like haze, smells like haze, feels like haze. But it's not haze"? At least we can laugh about it.

Open burning… 99% of buses emitting black smoke… 3 in every 5 motorcycles emitting white smoke… How much improvement do you think we will see if all these are curbed? Alas, no action is taken. Rather, an anti-intelligence statement is shoved down our throat.

But for most, the throat can take it, for it has been numbed by the chilly of the tasty nasi lemak… numbed by the lard of the sumptuous bak-kut-teh… numbed by the prawns of that wonderful char-kuey-teow.

I truly missed the time when I was breathing clean air for 10 days.


I year ago… Romancing the oil

Full support for the hour

In case you are not aware; 8.30pm to 9.30pm this Saturday, 28th March 2008 will be the earth hour in Malaysia. All are encouraged to (at least) turn off your lights for one hour commencing 8.30pm on that day. This is not some glamour event that ask you to freeze for a minute so that you can pose for pictures, this is the real thing.

But please, do not turn off the lights at home and head to the cinema for a movie, or head to the nearest cyber café gaming away. The true spirit of earth hour can only be achieved when you and I cease to consume energy of any form during that hour. No internet too ya? I will even forgive you if you decide not to read AZAIG for the whole weekend.

I am rather extreme, I would consider going to the mall to window shop as consuming energy. As I have said, let us shut off everything for just that hour. I heard that some buildings in town have decided to shut off everything commencing 8.30pm onwards and it’s really encouraging.

Are you against global warming for real? Prove it! Go primitive for at least an hour!

2 years go… 2nd chance with Mom

The pouring that’s keeping us alive

Nobody likes it when it pours in KL. Gone are the time when it pours and you think to yourself… “great time to sleep”. Not anymore; for when it pours, the streets will be congested. This is most significant as it affects most protected habit… our driving. Scan around facebook and you can see quite a number of people complaining about the rain in their status update.

Although the rain has indeed made me spent additional time behind the wheel, I prefer to have it keep pouring. Let me tell you why…

On my way to work everyday, I have to drive through this particular highway that gives me a rather good view of the KL skyline. I have noticed that for the last month (could be more than a month), the visibility of the KL skyline has been rather poor.

No, the haze is not back. The haze has always been here for the longest time, we are just too occupied with other things till we are not aware of it. And for the most part, the very one thing that has been cleaning our air on a daily basis is the one thing which many of us are complaining about… the rain.

Anyway, I am on leave today and it poured cats and dogs before I decided to go out and run some errands. Despite the heavy downpour, the visibility is still poor. And I am very sure it’s not because of mist. It is bad air quality.

One very simple way to see the air quality is to look at the sun. Normally, one cannot look directly to the sun, but if you manage to do so in a particular day, and that the sun looks beautifully orange, it is a sign of highly polluted air. I saw such sun yesterday.

I am inclined to think that when the dry season hits us, we will see the haze craze all over again.

I read in an article some time ago (sorry I couldn’t locate the article now) and it states that air qualified as “good” in Malaysia does not meet the minimum standard set by Japan. Considering that an average Japanese live the longest in the world compared to the rest, it does speaks something about the quality of their air.

Also, I have got many friends with sinus problem and their problem will miraculously disappear when they live in places like Australia or the suburb in England. The moment they return to KL, so does their sinus problem.

If you have been reading the kind of effect poor air quality has on the people of China, it can be quite scary. Industrial development is killing their people, literally.

Anyway, let’s not talk about that today. For now, I thank God that he has been watering our land everyday and keeping the air quality at a considerably safe level. It is interesting to note that despite the daily heavy downpour, the Air Pollutant Index (“API”) in KL only manages borderline between good and moderate. That also includes the present of “serbuk halus” (fine dust). I wonder how safe is this “serbuk halus”.

Is the forest fire in Indonesia again to be blamed? Maybe… maybe not…

Walk the talk

After giving that speech on environment last week, some of my colleagues have been talking about our ‘tah pau’ habit. You see, a few of us pack food from the hawker quite regularly and I was making fun about how we have been damaging the environment with the styro-foam containers and plastic bags. Today, we finally changed that…
…
…
…
About 4 of us who packs regularly and assuming that we pack 3 days in a week, we now effectively cut down on 12 styro-foam packets and 12 plastic bags every week. That is less 48 styro-foam containers and plastic bags down the rubbish dump every month and that is 576 styro-foam containers and plastic bags in a year!

One colleague who just returned from her honeymoon missed out on this initiative and she failed today, but I am sure she will join us in this mini effort from now on. I have to say, everyone was staring at me when I walked to the stored in my plastic container. I wonder what went through their mind.

Anyway, my colleagues would like to reiterate that they are doing this NOT because they are inspired by my speech. They just choose to do it.

Done anything to change the world lately?

P/S: Early this week said no petrol increase till March 2009. Today said no petrol increase at least till end of the year. My friend still think there will be another increase in Aug. Who to believe? Who to believe?

The speech I made

This is the speech I made yesterday. When I was on stage, I didn’t really follow what I have written as I need to follow the reaction of the crowd. Hence, I have edited it to fit into a blog environment:-


I don’t know about you but when guys come together, typically, we always have a particular code to refer to a particular type of girls. One code which me and my mates once used was “environmental friendly”. It basically refers to girls who dress in very little material. Ya’ know, less material, less harmful to the environment. Or so we thought.

Then there as this time we decided to disclose our ‘code’ to a girl and after telling her and laughing about it she looked at us as though we were a bunch of morons. Do you know why? She enlightened us that using more fabrics doesn’t result in more trees being chopped down or damage the environment in anyway. So for years, we have been using and laughing at something that doesn’t make sense. Quite stupid isn’t it? A girl has to correct us guys on the kind of code we used to categorise them.

I think a lot of us carry the same mentality. We may be doing something we thought will save the environment but in fact, it doesn’t. Or we do one thing that benefits the environment but behind the scene, we do a host of other things that damage the environment.

You bring your own paper bag when you go marketing but then you buy plastic containers and styrofoam cups for your parties, maybe because they are cheaper. You put your air-cond to a timer so that it will switch off by itself after you fall asleep but then you leave your computer to download stuff. What stuff? I don’t want to know.

It’s human nature really. We are only willing to go to the extent that it will not affect our pocket, our needs, our lifestyle. When it costs money, when it creates a hassle, we most probably will not do it. And that is our very own version of ‘Inconvenient Truth’. By the way, many of you have watched the movie right?

Please bear in mind that watching the movie does not amount to any effort in being environmental friendly. Some people have this mentality… what’s your contribution to the environment? Oh… I watched the “Inconvenient Truth!”

I watched another movie called ‘The 11th hour’ before preparing this speech and there was one point in that film that hit me. There was this professor, forgotten what was his name, he said ‘global warming’ is not a problem… ‘pollution’ is not a problem… ‘climate change related disaster’ is not a problem… these are only symptoms to the real problem. And the real problem here is ‘us’. Our mentality, our attitude. That is the problem.

Have you heard of this saying… it’s very famous amongst the Chinese. It says… if a problem can be solved with money, it’s not a problem. And consciously or unconsciously, we are all adopting this motto in our daily lives, including this going green effort.

It’s very hot… I will make enough money to buy an air-cond.
The air is not fresh… I will make enough money to buy a house in nice gated community where the air is fresher.
It’s too far from my work place… I will make more money to buy a big comfortable car.
The house is flood prone… I will make money to buy a place is more secured place.
The earth has already started its journey towards a condition whereby one day, humans will not be able to survive in it. Be it too warm or the air is too toxic. Soon, there will be green spots on earth where humans can only survive in these specific areas. And these areas, will eventually only be available for the rich and powerful.

Knowing this, what am I going to do now? What are you doing to do now? What is ‘Going green’ means to us now? Are we all going to work for more money in order to be the first in the line? Or are you going to make a conscious… a continuously conscious effort to save the environment… to go green?

Besides ‘The inconvenient truth’ and ‘the 11th hour’, I have also watched quite a number of other environmental related documentaries. As you know, they always interview scientist, environmentalist, anti-pollution activist and the lot and do you notice one thing? Do you? I don’t know about you but I observed that 95% of all these people who are very passionate about saving the planet, 95% of them… they very quite old. Maybe 50s and above.

What does that tell you?

To me, it shows that the ‘older’ generation cares about us. They may or may not be around to face the full repercussions of the wrath that the environment is going to cast upon us but they still care. What about us? What are you going to do?

After all that I’ve said, what does going green means to me? It simply means that I will do it, even if it’s going to hurt my pocket, I will do it, even if it’s going to affect my lifestyle, and I will do it, even if it’s going to compromise on my other needs.

To close, I just want to quote what my pastor used to say… in fact, he quoted it from somewhere else but I couldn’t remember the name. Anyway… he said by preaching his sermon, he will not change the world, but the people who listen, will. And today, I don’t think I have done enough to change the world, but after you’ve listened to my ramblings, you will.

Thank you.

When cost is not an issue

When I first mentioned about big corporations doing all the crap in the name of environment, there are those who commented saying that since it will benefit the environment, why not? No argument there.

But…

What I find rather distasteful is that corporations are merely trying to paint their cost cutting measures with the rosy ‘save-the-environment’ picture. And, it is just not any cost cutting measure; it is actually a specific type of cost cutting measure.

My previous entry on the evil side of ‘save-the-environment’ campaign may have made most of you laugh but funny it may be, the situation bears much truth. When cost is involved, to hell with environment. And… when it comes to cost, it must also be specific type of cost.

Consider the following scenario…

Modern Slave: Boss, I have a brilliant idea for our ‘save-the-environment’ campaign.

Big boss: Really? But you know what are the conditions… right?

Modern Slave: Oh yes. I definitely know what are the ‘conditions’. But this is going to a fantastic idea. It’s going to save the environment AND reduce cost!!!

Big boss: Realllllllly? Well, then I am sure it is a fantastic idea. Enlighten me.

Modern Slave: You know the CEO is now using a Mercedes S-Class, then 2 of our directors are on a 7-series and 5-series respectively? Then the 2 head of departments are on Volvo S-40. And of course, you boss… you are on an E-Class.

Big boss: Yeah..???

Modern Slave: All these are company cars and I am sure you know they consume a lot of petrol, which is of course bad for the environment. I suggest we sell of these cars and replace them with the Honda Civic Hybrid, which is an environmental friendly car. Not only we will save money for all the bosses’ petrol claims, I am also very sure that we will make a handsome profit by replacing the current fleet of luxury cars with the Hybrid Civic. Isn’t that a brilliant idea?

Big boss: [again… fill in the blank yourself]

Do you think it’s all about saving the environment and perhaps save some cost?

Your say...

Following my criticism on the real intention of big corporation behind their initiative to ‘save the environment’…

Big boss: We are organising a luncheon next week right?

Organiser: Yes boss, you need anything?

Big boss: Yeah. In view of our environmental thingy, I want the caterer to be environmental friendly too. There should not be any non-biodegradable cutleries and plates.

Organiser: Huh?

Big boss: Yeah… No plastic stuff. Paper cups, paper plates, stuff like that.

Organiser: Right boss.
An hour later…

Organiser: Boss, the caterer has reverted. They said they are ok with using environmental friendly stuff to be in line with our campaign.

Big boss: That is good to hear.

Organiser: One thing boss. They said paper cups and all are quite expensive compared to plastic and styro-foam stuff. So there will be additional charge to the cost.

Big boss: [fill in the blanks yourself]

Saving the environment they say

Lately, one group of people jumped into the save-the-environment bandwagon and are now actively taking measures to ‘save the environment’. Do you know who are they? No, I am not referring to the bunch of people who gather at Sunway or Pavilion to freeze for a few minutes and believed they have done something good for the earth. I am referring to the corporate players a.k.a. modern slaves masters.

Yes, a lot of big companies are currently actively engaging in environment saving initiative. From the initial look, one would think that they are indeed doing something noble.

Are they?

Well, perhaps we should take a look at the things that big corporations are doing in their so-called ‘save-the-environment’ exercise…

One of the very first things that corporations will do in their environment campaign is to ask their staff to use less paper. Try not to print your mails or your documents, read them from the computer. If you screw up your eyes, it’s perfectly fine; at least you save some trees. And if you really have to print, make sure you print them double-sided.

Next is the famous ‘bring-your-own-mug’ initiative. A lot of corporations are going to stop providing paper or styro-foam cups in their pantries. Styro-foam is of course very hazardous to the environment as it is a non-biodegradable substance while usage of paper cups will of course results in less trees on earth. So, they ask their staff to bring their own mugs to make drinks in office.

Reduction in usage of electricity is also a good remedy in saving the environment and naturally, these corporations have also made the necessary steps in trying to ‘play-their-part’. How if you may ask? Nope… it’s not by turning off the lights after office hour… it’s not by asking staff to shut the computer down after office hour… they are saving electricity by shutting down the……… air-conditioning after office hour.

There are many other things that corporations are doing in their own version of ‘save-the-environment’ campaign. Some are pretty ridiculous and they are always within the ambit of ‘reduce this’, ‘less of that’, ‘stop this’ and ‘stop that’.

I know I am being a cynic but from all the things these corporations have done, I think they are doing it only because it helps in cost reduction. To me, saving the environment is purely secondary. I mean, if they really want to protect the environment, there are a host of other things to do but it will involve huge investment.

One of which is to use recycled paper. This is more effective than asking staff not to print stuff. But then again, recycled paper is expensive so, do you think corporations will do it?

Why only shut down the air-conditioning? Shut down the entire office after say… 7pm, I am sure that will save A LOT of electricity. But that would mean people will not be able to work and business will be affected. Do you think corporations will do it?

The other day at lunch, one of my colleagues made a statement… “If not because it saves them money, I don’t think they give a damn’.
He was absolutely right.

10 November: A day to remember

The govt called it an illegal gathering.
The organisers called it a peaceful march.
International news called it a rally for a fair election.
Some local news called it a riot.
Some blogs called it ‘people power’.
What do you call it?
The comics mainstream news said there were 4,000.
The information minister said there were hundreds.
Blogs said there were 45,000.
Which do you believe?
The historic event made its way to Al-Jazeera news…

Despite such an event, I am still meeting Malaysians who are totally unaware of it. Really, it makes me wonder how ignorant people can get.

Anyway, no matter what you call it and how many turned up, I think the whole thing will mean nothing if the Agong does nothing about the memorandum submitted to him that day. Will he fulfil the call of the rakyat? It will be interesting to see…

I just went over to the mainstream website and the rally is now said to be inciting racial disharmony. And I must say… the above statement worries me. Friends, I think we are living in interesting times… and trust me… ignorance, is no longer bliss.

P/S: Pictures courtesy of Mr.Anonymous.

Ecologically yours

Feeling rather fatigue today and need sleep and hence, going to take an easy way out. Have you taken the ecological test yet?

Do take it here.

Mine was 2.4 planets.
Someone left a comment asking me to blog about the environment. Well, let's just say it's in the pipeline.

How many footprints did you leave behind? How many planet(s) is needed if everyone is to live life like you?