Keep your hopes alive

my fav nieces turned two over the weekend. yes, the same devilish one I blog about ever so often. she looked so yummy in that red satin dress with big bow I got her. will post pictures later.
I'm going to write about my previous Sunday. watched the 11th hour documentary in KLPac in honor of the Climate Change week sponsored by YTL with Nat and some other friends. told Nat i'll blog about it. Despite my scepticism over the 90 minutes documentary on environmental awareness, I found it very educational. the environment, yadi yadi yadi (as a friend would say) blah, blah, blah.. how many of us actually take a moment to think about it? I don't. or I didn't. don't think the amount of billboards put up, or with the adverts on saving the earth have done much. the seriousness hasn’t sunk in.

To be honest, I’ve never heard of 11th Hour till Nat mentioned it. I’ve watched the Al-Gores version of same sort. The documentary was narrated by Le0nardo DiCaprio and shot mainly on interview snippet, one after another, dozens of scientists, activists, gurus, and many presenting arguments, data and criticize the current situation. putting words to some of the images that were heartbreaking to see. the gasping children, disappearing animals, gushing oil, billowing smoke, dying lakes, emptying forests, warming weather were some of them. they were very familiar stuff. we hear of them day in day out. but i never actually saw. thats the issue. Every now and then, DiCaprio appears, giving a couple of pointers and passing to the next topic. (did I mention that he was quite charming?)
there were also a lot of things I learned. Like “we’ve lost 90 percent of most of the big fish in the sea.” I never knew. how ignorant. Look at the local weather in Malaysia lately. gone bonkers. sometimes we have incredibly hot weather with bright unbearable sunshine first half of the day, and by late afternoon the skies turn grey and it starts pouring. and the last week has been terribly hot and humid. not a day goes by without reading or hearing about strange weather around the world. it was snowing in Brussels after Easter. so its not just us. and the favourite word to follow any discussion has been 'Global warming'.. classic.

One can't deny the fact that we live an very materialistic world. lots of technology invention. We want all the latest, more powerful cleaning agents, faster and bigger cars.. I can argue that many of these enhances our quality of life, making lives easier and allowing us experiences beyond our wildest dreams. But have we ever stopped to consider the impact on our planet earth?? not really. thats why we need this kind of documentary. to help us take a moment. take a step out from that 'material' world of ours and look at things from the other side of the river. I'm sure we all agree that we want a cleaner and safer earth for our children and grandchildren. we may not be in any position to make the massive changes necessary to reverse things overnight, but we can play our part in changing the world one step at a time and collectively making changes that will help before it is too late. you and me and him and her.

What much can this documentary achieve that the others couldn't? if you ask me, It may not change your life, it didn't mine. but it inspired me. i saw the root cause, affect and solution at once. how I can help as an individual. made me also realise that if I cannot be part of the solution, i should at least try not to be part of the problem. Keep your hopes alive...

So, what am I going to do now? just being informed isn't going to make a difference if I don't do something positive with what I've learned. Here it is. while I wish I could do something more drastic (or dramatic) like book a smart car or Hybrid tomorrow or swear never use a plastic bag ever or change the air conditioning system at home, i'm going to be more realistic... some of my short term actions..

1. Use the Air-conditioning wisely. mine is usually ON all the time i'm at home.. keep the temperature wise. i used to sleep at 20 degrees. you know what i mean.


2. Use electricity wisely. Turn it off when not in use. This applies to everything, lights, water (while I brush my teeth which i normally do), television, radio, battery operated appliances, microwave oven.. i've been bad at this..


3. Bring along recycling bags when shopping. reduce use of plastic bags. Try as much to buy products in recycled/recyclable packaging. and Never throw away shopping bags. this i'm already doing, just need to re-emphasize.


4. Get and pay bills on line. i do that fro a few bills now but am going to look into the rest


5. Recycle everything possible: plastic, newspaper, magazines, glass, cardboard, aluminum, paper board. There is a bit of issue with the town council garbage collectors who don't care much to separate them even if we do, unless there are bottles or papers they can get some money out of recycling. . they just collect the whole junk and dump it in. sad truth. means i now have to bring the recyclable stuff to the open garbage dump nearby and deposit it into the recycling bins allocated. a bit of hassle but worth. i'm going to do it weekly.


6. Never to open-burn. My gardener used burn the excessive grass so we can use the burned soil for planting. I'm going to make sure he doesn't anymore.


7. I work for a chemical company. one of our key product produced in Malaysia are pigments. Our plant i situated in the east coast for easy disposal of wastage. Our Global EHS team are very serious on the environmental issues around this, not to mention the legislation we are required to fulfill. While i'm confident that we are taking every measure to ensure least possible damage to mother nature, i'd like to know how we do it. have asked a colleague of mine from EHS who promised to explain when he is in town next..

I also came across this excellent website called "Erase My Footprint" a site dedicated to reducing our impact on Global Warming. There is a calculator for us to work out our own carbon footprint and an opportunity to plant trees to offset the footprint should we wish. its an UK site and the figures are in pound sterling.. it may sound or look silly, but try it, you'll know..