What is your carbon footprint?

Very interesting site. It calculates the carbon footprint you're leaving on this planet based on your current lifestyle. Unfortunately, it's only catered to Australians and Americans (sigh) but hopefully, one day they will expand to other continents. Anyway, it was a good exercise for me though. Other than some questions related to living in Australia, the others were pretty generic and can be answered (truthfully) regardless of whichever part of the world you're living in. Here's my result:

Obviously I'm one of the culprits who are leaving a much heavvvvier imprint on Earth than I thought I am. God needs to recreate 3.3 Earths to cater to people like me. Anyway, that aside, what I think is most interesting is the fact that the portal provides a clear understanding of which part of our lifestyle that contributes most to global warming (understanding that different individuals will have a different lifestyle anyway) so that we can tackle it separately, one SECTION at a time. The best part is, it provides opportunity for us to explore other scenarios - if I did this or if I didn't do this - and see how it changes our impact on nature. One SECTION at a time. Pretty cool.

100 ways to save the environment.

I'm not sure if every one of them in the list is applicable, but at least we know there's effort being done. Someone compiling little things we can do to try to live more ethically. I wonder if there's something similar done in this country, or as a matter of fact, in this region? Since we as Asians, live drastically different lifestyles and it seems like we've got more wet waste than our Western counterparts. Wouldn't it be great to have a place for people to meet and share ideas and at the same time, receive credible and trustworthy information to live a better quality life?

Real time simulation of CO2 emission.

Quite fascinating, although it's just a simulation. I think the amount of deaths and births are really exaggeration. Does it make me wanna do something? Hmm, I don't know. But it does make the culprit of heavy emissions surface. Is it fair for requesting developing countries to control development just because they are 'late developers'? Hmm.

Eco Knights

We did an interview with Yasmin of Eco Knights last week. Eco Knights is a socio environment organization and they started 2 years ago because of demands on more programs in saving the environment. She started Eco Knights from scratch and the funds all came from her at the very beginning stage. She is really one big environment enthusiast! So much passion and energy! They only have 3 full time people working and the rest are volunteers. Yasmin’s background is in environmental science and she had been working with places like WWF and she’s a technical person.

Their upcoming event which is the Eco Film Feast will be held on 1st and 2nd November, at the National Art Academy. This event is first of its kind in Malaysia. They will be showcasing foreign environmental films and of course the 6 finalists of Eco Film Feast. There will also be companies showcasing their green technology and there will be some cool artist like Mia Palencia and One Buck Short performing that night. This will be a whole day event. For more information, you can check it out at http://www.ecoknights.com

I have learned that people in developed countries are more concern about the environment as compared to people in developing countries. This is because, for people living in developing countries, their priority is different. They care more about their financial status, being able to buy a home, a car and when they get older, they might start thinking about reducing their carbon footprint and treating mother earth better. That is also why, here in Malaysia, people who are at their 40’s tend to care more about the environment. These are the group of people who will learn how to make garbage enzymes, eat organic and recycle. The younger generation is more concern in how much money they make and if they are able to put food on the table for the family, making sure that they can afford to send their kids to the best college in town. There is nothing wrong about this; I think this is just a phase that everyone of us has to go through. My little advice is, you might not be a “green” person that picks up everything you see on the street and recycle them, but, I think everyone can help reduce waste. Don’t simple throw things away. Give it to the needy instead of throwing them straight into the bin. AND minimalism is the KEY.
On the bright side, I found out that there are certain kindergartens here that are starting to teach kids on how to take care of the environment. They actually teach kids how to plant organic plants. We are trying to go to these schools and see what these kids do and if that happens, we will definitely share it here.

We were refused.

It was quite unfortunate that we were refused an interview with One Utama regarding the environmental-related event which they had in collaboration with One Academy. The person we contacted felt uncomfortable with this research. Well, we thoroughly respect that but once again, would like to reinstate our purpose which is to investigate the awareness and effectiveness of green campaigns for better targeting and sustainable communications in the future. Yes, we are running a business and we never said we are a non-profit organisation neither is this a non-profit project, however we wish to include everyone whom we've talked to and visited and encourage them to be actively involved in this research. We are happy to share the findings and insights of this research with all who have participated at the end of the journey - we just need to figure out the most effective way. Till then, it'd be just The Green Chronicles :)

P/S: This post is not meant to make anyone look bad, but we would like to keep everyone informed on the progress of this research - the good, the bad and the ugly (hopefully, we never have to go there).

Books on eco-living.

I was surfing the e-commerce site of a local reputable bookstore today and I realised that they don't have a category for eco-living/sustainable living/ethical living. I wonder if it is about time, we do?

We do have a lot of publications on different lifestyle preference - for those who love to travel, for those who are looking for some self-improvement points, for those who are decorating their new home, for those who are interested in pursuing arts and crafts, for those ... and the list goes on. How about one on how to live 'right' today? Not to be mistaken as a book of moral values, but something which provides a guideline on how to live 'responsibly'. There are books which are available now, mostly in the UK and developed countries...

Green technologies only available in developed nations, I can understand. But books?

Meeting with the One Academy

I met up with Jane of One Academy yesterday. It was very nice of her to spare me sometime even though she was running on a very tight schedule. Thank you Jane! One Academy is an art and design school. They offer courses like multimedia design, digital animation, illustration and interior design. You must be wondering how a design school has anything to do with the environment. Well, they had a Go Green Eco-Design competition in June this year and it was held in 1 Utama. 1 Utama was very generous as all funds and venue for display were provided by them. This project is a graduation project where final year students raise fund for their graduation day. There were a lot of cool stuff invented like hamster cage and also a “lamp” from recycle materials! Cool!

One Academy also has an art school for kids call DaVinci Creative Kids. They have about 30 centers nationwide. Recently, they tie up with Kuntum magazine and organize a workshop where they teach kids to make art and crafts from recycle materials. They have also tie up with Tetra Pak in teaching people how to recycle the packaging by turning them into art and crafts.
It was a very short meeting with Jane, but from here, we gather that there are efforts made to educate college student and kids from young. I remember those days when I was in school; during pendidikan seni classes, we were also though how to make crafts from toothpaste boxes, plastic bottles, the chocolate milk boxes, old newspapers and all sort of recyclable materials. We also have recycle campaigns during school time where all students actively bring old newspapers, bottles and aluminum cans from home because it was a battle between classes. The class which has the most junk wins. Then we will sell the items and have a small “makan” session. I still remember once, we even made a national flag from aluminum cans. We colored them and stuck the cans on to the fence to form the national flag. Wow! Come to think of it, recycling was so much more fun back in school.

I am sitting here right now; in my mid 20s wondering why what I learned in school did not turn me into someone who actively recycles. I did not even remember all the efforts until I started writing here. Is it because what I learned from school doesn’t stick in my mind strong enough to turn it into action? Is it because of the gap from school days and now made me forget all about recycling? Or is it because it is very inconvenient to recycle? I wonder…..

Work from home.

"If everyone who could perform a job remotely did so just 1.6 days per week, $4.5 billion worth of fuel would be spared. That would prevent the release of 26 billion pounds of carbon dioxide each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency."

Original posting at here.

It does sound a little extreme. Before MDs and CEOs start jumping like they're on frying pans, maybe we can tone it down a little. For those who can work remotely, for heaven's sake, WORK remotely. Perhaps we're all stuck in this little system where within the workforce, if one person or a team of people are not there physically, the output becomes inefficient. Is it true? Or is that an urban work myth? What's the point of having all these fancy multi-sharing tools and softwares if we're not able to work remotely anyway?

Something to think about.

Eco bins.

I'm thinking of getting a bin for my home to recycle stuff - realistically separating the dry waste from the wet waste, the paper from the tin, the plastic bottles from the glass. Something aesthetically pleasing and something which is simple, doesn't take up too much space and most importantly made out of eco-friendly material. I don't really mind forking out a little more although yes, I will feel the pinch if I have to start paying a little more for everything. But okay fine, for OUR unborn grandchildren.

And then I realised that I don't know where to go to purchase one! I don't know where to buy stuff which are considered eco-friendly. I don't know? Jusco? Isetan? Metro? Those specialty shop peppered in traffic jam malls? Hmm. Help?

Climate Change Initiation Day 2008

I was at the climate change initiation day in Putra Stadium Bukit Jalil last Saturday. It was a real eye opener as I was exposed to things that I never knew. The event started with video snippets from the Inconvenient Truth, Six Degrees Could Change The World and The 11th Hour. In between the snippets they played music video from Linkin Park and Melissa Entheridge .

The talk started with Earth Saving Diet by the funky Dr. Lim. He talks about how we can we help mother earth by having more vegetables (as in green leafy vegetables and not the fake meats that are made from flour) and cut down on meat. I was thinking how by eating vegetables can help save mother earth directly? Apparently, waste from poultry and garbage release a type of gas call methane, and this gas traps 21 times more heat compare to carbon dioxide and it directly contributes to global warming. Next was a talk by Mr. Yahqappu who is an organic farmer.

After the talk we break for lunch. There were people selling organic stuff, recycles bags, environmental DVDs and garbage enzymes. Some might ask what are garbage enzymes. Enzymes - any of numerous proteins or conjugated proteins produced by living organisms and functioning as biochemical catalysts*. In layman’s term, garbage enzyme is basically fermenting kitchen waste to re-use them. And you can make your own garbage enzyme at home by using water, brown sugar and kitchen waste, put all “ingredients” into a bottle/drum, close it, wait for 3 months and taaadaaa…. You will have your very own garbage enzymes! You can use it as household cleaner, use it to wash vegetables, use it as fertilizer and also for body care. It might be gross to a lot of people, but trust me, the people that attended this event are serious about using this enzymes to help reducing global warming. These enzymes have some properties that helps reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. During the break we spoke to some of the participants and here is what they say.

Mr. and Mrs Chan (banker and housewife), came purposely to learn how to make garbage enzymes. They are environmental conscious since a couple of years back. Mrs Chan had been making her own garbage enzymes and they are both here today to see if they are making garbage enzymes the correct way. And apparently, the method she is currently using is the Chinese way and the one that they have at the event is the Western way. I think no matter it’s a Chinese or western way, as long as it helps mother earth it’s a good way!

Mr Prasad and family are from Ceylon. They were born vegetarian and he thinks that the event is very interesting .They are consciously conserving energy to help the environment. They have this practice of minimizing electric and water usage and not using plastic bags. According to Mr. Prasad, he will not drive if there is no need to and would rather walk if the place he wants to go is a short distance away. Whilst Louise and Penny who recently just graduated and working on her first job, were around the area and decided to check out what's the fuss all about.

After going around, we went and surveyed what’s for lunch in the organic food kiosk. I had an organic mushroom burger while Sue-Anne had organic lotus rice. We were required to bring our own utensils and water bottle. Here’s what our food looked like. AND the spoon is made out of recycled paper material.

Well, I don’t think organic is really my type of food, but anyhow, we did not waste food and we finished everything for the love of mother earth!

After the break we went into the stadium again and there was a performance and followed by the talk on garbage enzymes by Dr. Joean Onn.

I see a lot of people who were very gung ho toward the quest to save the environment. But not everyone can turn into a vegetarian overnight. Some are born with it, some wants to do it for their future generation and some might just wake up one day and want to pursue in a mission for saving the earth. For people like me, who was not born a vegan, who does not have the urge for the future generation YET and my mission for waking up in the morning is just to go to WORK, the least I can do is just to take baby steps like, not wasting food , trying to REDUCE plastic bags usage and recycling as much as I can and maybe even being a vegan once a week!

A trip to the gardens.

Not the mall, silly.

Sometime in the next few weeks, we will be making a trip to Taman Botani, Putrajaya which was one of Awang's (from MENGO) first projects. I've heard a lot of about the various parks in Putrajaya, with even more varied amenities and activities, so we're gonna check it out for real and Awang was kind enough to offer himself as our tour guide.

Yippie.

*Photo from Virtual Malaysia

Meeting with MENGO.

MENGO which stands for Malaysian Environmental NGO is basically a community of 19 green NGOs formed under the DANIDA-supported (which stands for Danish International Development Assistance) programme for environmental assistance to Malaysia. One of its main causes is to facilitate an effective interaction and provide strategic input to the local government on environmental-related policies.

We met up with Dr. Sundari who is the main coordinator and holds a PhD in Marine Biology (plus a wealth of experience and knowledge on education and research as well) to give us an overview of not just what they do as a unit but also how they are impacting the society indirectly through their involvement in the government's planning process. Aside from that, it was also interesting to note that the members of MENGO come from pretty diverse backgrounds, from technology and development to consumer associations to tree savers to research - all coming together to promote environmental conservation and sustainable living. Shows that perhaps this 'business' is not all about stopping the cutting of trees huh.

It was our first meeting, so the overview opened our research parameters to a lot of possibilities (and work!) and also provided us with an understanding of how MENGO supports the relevant parties and in turn, receives some funding. I think as with the nature of any non-profit organisations, it is rather hard to employ and sustain professionals because they were 'never meant to earn any money'. Is that true at all? It's funny how the society wants the environment to stay clean, safe and ever green, yet when we need money to provide a livelihood for experienced professionals to do just that which is competitive to the business sector, we think of it as greed. To create great, effective and sustainable projects, we must first be able to effectively employ and sustain great minds, no?

The beginning of everything.

Well, that's what they all say. Everything starts from 'me'. In our case, here.

Welcome to The Green Chronicles. This blog is set up to basically keep an update report and archive all material with regards to our current social research project on environmental awareness and conservation efforts in Malaysia. We've started working on this project a couple of months back and are aiming for completion by early November with (hopefully) some great insights and soundbite that will provide an in-depth understanding to anyone who wants to embark on 'green' projects that are effective, more importantly sustainable and while we're at that, dare we say, profitable - *the word which brings much shiver to CSR project organisers, donors and NGOs.

The Green Chronicles project is a joint effort between Sparks and Dentsu Utama. The purpose, other than to investigate the real deal behind all these 'green' hoo hah, is to have quality input from all important parties inclusive the public so that we finally have a clear overview of what's happening in our country and accurate information on this 'environmental awareness and conservation' business before we attempt the next so-called 'green' campaign.

This blog is also designed to elicit response from readers (like you), so please feel free to drop your comment (we pledge no censorship, so be nice). And thank you for reading. May you have a wonderful journey with us towards sustainable future (and we better find out what that really means).

*From Sparks' point of view - we should be innovating into profitable social business - profitable business should have a social conscience (shame on them for those with none), and social business should be profitably conscious (food for thought huh).