What really goes on in Dentsu Utama.

An email conversation on any day...

Jeremy>
As many of you know, thanks to Sue Yin’s “Turn off your main switches” and “Polystyrene-Free Office Starting Tomorrow” e-mails, Dentsu Utama is now eco-friendly!
And to add to the list of “Green things to do”, we’re also conducting a “No lights lunch time” initiative. Don’t worry, it’ll be only done once a week, on Fridays.
So, from this week onwards, the office will be in the dark during Friday’s lunch time.
If you must work, and REALLY, REALLY, REALLY (You get the idea) need a light, then you may switch on a light. Only one.
First ‘No lights lunch time’: Friday, 11th September 2009. 1pm – 2pm.
Thanks!

Sue-Anne>
I supply candles la!

Amirrul>
Open BURNING!!!....

Jonn>
Hmm candles huh? Used previously for what ah?

Jeremy>
Dear all,
“No lights lunch time” will commence in 10 minutes… Get ready to sit in the dark….

Sue-Anne>
http://thegreenchronicles.blogspot.com/
Should have taken a photo of darkness…

Amirrul>
Photo of darkness....sue anne...we can still take picture one..i'll switch off the lights for you..want or not? it still looks the same...

Jeremy>
I’m famous! I’m on a blog….
Congrats people. I know this mail is a little late, but….. good one on the “No lights lunch time”!

The Green Buddies' Experiment

Ok, here's what happened to the second seed. It didn't grow. So we sowed another seed and we had little plant-lets. It's so cool. We were so happy to see them emerging from the soil. And it took a long while to wait.

Now we know how it feels to wait for something to grow.

I learnt that it takes a lot of patience to grow a plant and i think Mother Nature is patient enough to wait a few million years to see her forests grow into green canopies that spread across continents. And only to find out in the end that those canopies are beginning to disappear because of industrialisation and capitalism.

New division launched!

It's been a crazy week at work. The stuff you do every day and should be doing every day, the stuff that brings in the dough and feeds the mouth, the stuff that lifts morale and sparks passion, the stuff that is right for the nature of our business and nature, period.

We've finally got around launching a new division in my employer's company which is called Sustainability & Change Management. While we're not claiming to be the experts, but this certainly seals a serious commitment for Dentsu to move towards a sustainable future. Not just for ourselves, but our clients and the community which surrounds us. IMPORTANT: This is beyond going green. I think the key word is BALANCE. Our world is too extreme which is why our eco-system is tipped and screwed up.

Get wired here and police us ;) We welcome that. Oh by the way, our new batch of namecards is 100% made from recycled paper. How bout that for a start?

Meanwhile, if you're interested to know more. Get in touch.

A very cute mail ;)

A very cute email just arrived in my inbox ;)

***

Title: We want your rubbish.

Dear all,

Please bear with the mess behind the creative area for a bit more. I’ve contacted the man in charge of the pick-up schedule (Yes, they actually have such position) from Alam Flora. We’re looking at sometime next Monday or Tuesday. It’s a bit painful to get those guys to call back for confirmation but the promise is by early next week!

In the meantime, the Green Buddies could use more of your contribution. *BIG GRIN* If everyone in the office brings a small bag of recyclable rubbish. Imagine how much we can recycle as a group. I’ll spare you the nagging if you would be so inclined to give us your rubbish from your house. Papers, cans, plastics, glasses….send them over this way please.

So, you know the drill: Gather your rubbish and place them accordingly into the bags, dump them into your car, and put them at the Recycle Corner behind the creative area (If you see Erman then you’ll see it) He’s in charge of giving you the right direction. And if ever you need assistance to carry your stuffs, he’d be happy to help you. Hey, anything to help that new daddy to reduce his waistline.

Remember, you have one week to contribute. Thank you in advance for reading this and your kind consideration to recycle.

Don’t be lazy,
The Green Buddies

***

Hey guys at Alam Flora! Buck up yo!!

Responsible seafood consumption.

About a year back, I questioned if we're depleting our protein source faster than we can say fish. Because of our disgustingly huge appetite for all things natural and swimming, our grandchildren may really think all fishes look like Nemo in decades down the road. Here's a really interesting article which I'd like to share. Snippet originally from TimeOut KL, July issue: All you can't eat, pg30.

***

“Eating a bluefin tuna is like eating a rhino,” claims WWF Hong Kong conservation director Dr Andy Cornish. Extreme as this might sound, the comparison is accurate. The world’s relentless demand for seafood has pushed many fish to the verge of extinction.

Humans rely on seafood as a source of nutrition and as a livelihood. According to London-based international charity the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), established by the WWF and Unilever in 1997, the diets of 2.6 billion people depend on fish as a source of animal protein. They estimate that 52 per cent of fish stocks are ‘fully exploited’, which means they are being fished at their ‘maximum biological capacity’.

Human consumption of fish has risen from 93.6 million tonnes in 1998 to 100.7 million tonnes in 2002. The MSC doesn’t want people to stop eating fish. Instead, it wants people to ensure consumers source their seafood from a well-managed fishery, which in turn guartantees a future for the industry and all those who depend on it for their livelihood. Shoppers who want to minimise the environmental and social consequences of eating fish should look out for MSC-certified products, which display a distinctive blue fish on the packaging.

Nevertheless, there are other ways to reduce your impact on the the world’s fish supplies. A few years back, WWF survey released a pocket-sized guide (visit http://www.wwf.org.hk/ to download it for free) that categorises 60 types of fish according to their sustainability. Alaskan Pacific salmon, North American black cod and Western Australian rock lobster (which are also availale MSC certified) are fine for consumption because they are not over fished. But shoppers should steer clear of Chinese shrimp, Hong Kong grouper and orange roughy (which share the endangered list with the bluefin tuna).

But with so little MSC-certified fish in our supermarkets, and even fewer restaurants serving it, the onus still lies with the consumer. But experts believe that even though change must come from the consumer, it is also the restaurant’s job to make sustainable food appealing and to supply their customers with information about the source of their seafood.

It is recently discovered that people are slowly becoming more proactive. In Hong Kong for example, it’s the younger Chinese generations that place around 60 per cent of the orders for MSC fish. Similarly in KL, with more youngsters refusing to consume shark’s fin, it’s a matter of time before we move our environmental consciousness up another notch.

***

(Bold mine)

Statistic from: http://www.dof.gov.my/

Also just to give you a clearer picture of where your fishes are coming from if you're living in Malaysia. Just remember, aquaculture good. Overfishing bad. We're not saying you should stop eating. But hey, keep your knack for exotic endeavours somewhere else perhaps?

The Green Buddies support responsible seafood consumption.

The Buddies' Entertainer

It's amazing how the Buddies' have talented friends...particularly this one :D

The Green Experiment

This is probably our first experiment. Well, our paper supplier was kind enough to supply us with it.

We thought that this so called green paper technology would never arrive here in Malaysia. But it did. And we were thrilled. What the supplier did was to fabricate a few pieces of recyclable paper and crush a few packets of seedlings in the midst of the process. The result, you get a few sheets of paper with crushed seedlings in it. And the good news is, you can plant that piece of paper after you've used it. So the more paper you use, the more trees you'll be planting. Isn't it brilliant.

The Greenbuddies decided to experiment with this piece of paper that the supplier gave. We got ourselves a small flower pot and planted the paper. And so it began, the Buddies' first experiment.

We watered the plant for 2 weeks and we saw its tiny little leaves sprouting from the soil (well, actually there were only two tiny leaves). We were thrilled. And it felt good to have grown something. At least for some of the Buddies.

Sadly, a certain Buddy forgot to water the plant for 3 days. The plant died.

So we're starting the experiment again. Hopefully this time, no one forgets to water the plant.

We'll be updating you on the progress of the experiment.

Thank You Conqueror paper for supplying us with the paper. Now we know how it's done, we'll spread the technique to other eco-conscious citizens.