DID YOU KNOW ?

How long does it takes to decompose ?
Banana peel - 2 months
Aluminium cans - 350 years
Plastic bags - 400 years
Leather glove - 4o years
Glass bottle - maybe never, undetermined

TAK PERCAYA ?

20 percent
of the oxygen needed by the world come from the Amazon.

BETWEEN FEEDING THE MASSES AND SAVING THE EARTH

It's easy said than done. We can continously berating the authority about saving the earth, but it always fall on deaf ears. They always complain about the budget. The money to feed the masses, the subsidies for the skyrocketing fuel price. This ackward situation sometimes can overthrow a ruling government. We see increased tension in Bangkok and Jakarta, when people take to the street to protest the high cost of living.
Crops for human consumption like maize / corn are also now being used for alternative fuel. Sugar cane cultivation is also on the increase for producing ethanol. Now people has to pay more for this two product as farmers are more interested in supplying the new industry.
While we are proud to soften the impact of oil price, using alternative fuel, at the same time we are paying more for food, taking away the right of the poor to live. At of course by opening new plantation, more forest will be cleared and eventually increase global warming.(ends)

I EAT RUBBISH !

Barge that collects rubbish that floats down the Thames River, London, England. Millennium Bridge, Globe Theatre and Tate Modern in the background."This device restores vitality to the Thames by collecting 40 tonnes of rubbish every year. That's the equivalent to 800,000 plastic bottles."

DID YOU KNOW ?

For every ton of paper we recycle, we can save 17 trees from being cut down to make new paper.

NARGIS AFTERMATH

According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) report, up to 90 percent of the schools have been damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Nargis, totaling some 3,000 primary schools and affecting more than 500,000 students in the Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon division.

UNICEF said it plans to set up temporary tents for school children and provide "child friendly spaces" for a safe and secure environment in many of the resettlement areas.But there are too many children still in of need life-saving relief in Burma, says the UNICEF report.

Meanwhile the government of Burma has announced the reopening of schools in seven townships in cyclone hit Irrawaddy division have been postponed by a month, while in the rest of the country schools will open in June.

But for some children, schools and education is no longer a priority as their main concern now is survival.What they need now is food.(MIZZIMA)

DID YOU KNOW

The energy saved by recycling 1 aluminium drink can is enough to run a television for three hours

UBAH PERSEPSI

Kempen sayangi dan selamatkan sungai di Malaysia sukar sekali menambat hati masyarakat untuk sama-sama menjayakan. Entah berapa ratus ribu telah kerajaan habiskan untuk kempen komersil di TV dan akhbar. Di penghujung harinya, kita masih merasa kecewa, kerana masyarakat tidak endahkan langsung apa yang telah dilakukan.

Cuba kita jenguk ke sungai Han, di Seoul , Korea Selatan. Bagaimana pihak berkuasa mengubahkan persepsi peranan sungai kepada masyarakat. Ada added value pada sungai. Mereka mengubahsuai tebing sungai menjadi taman, padang bola sepak, bola keranjang, baseball, trek berbasikal, skate board dan untuk bersantai.

Secara automatik persepsi masyarakat berubah. Sungai untuk rekreasi. Sikap sayangkan sungai juga berbeza. Tanggungjawab mereka untuk menjaga sungai supaya tidak dicemari meningkat. Komitmennya lebih kolektif. Ia muncul tanpa paksa.

Malah kerana usaha ini, Sungai Han secara tidak langsung menggiatkan usaha-usaha memajukan beberapa jenis sukan di Korea Selatan. Setiap hujung minggu, kelab-kelab bolasepak dari sekolah-sekolah dipimpin oleh para guru memenuhi tebing sungai ini. Sebab itu standard bolasepak Korea Selatan jauh lebih baik. Kerana komitmen ini. Dan kerana kewujudkan idea menukar persepsi terhadap sungai. Para pentadbir dan perancang negara kita kurang observation setiap kali mereka melawat ke luar negara. Banyak yang boleh dipelajari tetapi nampaknya kesedaran untuk membawa perubahan masih lemah.

Sungai di Malaysia terus dijadikan kawasan pelupusan sampah, najis ternakan, bahan toksid dan seribu satu macam sisa. Mahu untung berjuta ringgit tetapi lupa akan alam yang memberi oksigen untuk kita terus hidup.(ENDS)

THE ANIMAL INSTINCT

In Khaolak on Thailand’s Andaman seaboard some 50 miles north of Phuket, a dozen elephants that were giving tourists rides became agitated and started trumpeting hours before the tsunami came. This was around the same time the submarine earthquake occurred off the coast of Sumatra. Just before the tsunami hit, the elephants fled for higher ground – some of them escaping from their fetters – taking with them four very surprised but fortunate Japanese tourists. An official from the Khaolak National Park commented that they have not found any dead animals in the park – the animals had all fled to the hills and he believed not a single one perished in and around the park from the tsunami.
Similarly, in the south-eastern part of Sri Lanka in the Yala National Park, wildlife officials likewise reported that its animal inhabitants – tigers, elephants, buffalo, and monkeys amongst others – had escaped mostly unscathed. This was despite the tsunami which had battered the coastline bordering the park.
At the Point Calimere sanctuary on the southern coast of India, flocks of flamingos which should have been breeding at that time of the year had fled their usual breeding grounds for safer forests inland.
Fishermen from Malaysia’s tsunami-affected Kuala Muda area had reported of large numbers of dolphins swimming very close to shore – some as near as 200m – two days before the tsunami. The marine mammals were leaping into the air and flipping their tails, as though trying to catch the fishermen’s attention.
Interestingly, these same fishermen had reported hauling in up to nearly 20 times their usual catch for three straight days before the tsunami struck. It is now surmised that the fish had been fleeing from the epicentre of the coming submarine earthquake which would later generate the tsunami.
Not all animals escaped unscathed, however. Larges turtles were found dead amongst the debris along the shores of Indonesia’s devastated Aceh province. ( Animal Planet)

FROGS AND THE EARTHQUAKE

On May 5th, many Chinese locals noticed thousands of frogs on the move. They were seen traveling without fear of traffic as they crossed streets in mass floods.

Many Chinese sensed the migration as a bad omen of a coming natural disaster, but the Chinese government told them that it was just a natural migration for the purpose of propagation. This calmed the people and no one took the omen very seriously.

On Monday, 12th of May, at about 2:45pm, central China region recorded a 7.8-magnitude quake which occured near Wenchuan County, Sichuan province, that killed nearly 10,000 people.

Many civilian houses and roads were collapsed and damaged. In one Dujiangyan city middle school, 900 students and teachers were buried in the collapsed building, at least 50 were killed.

The quake was the largest the region has seen for over a generation. It was so strong, even countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong felt the shake.

Many people are now calling the Chinese Earthquake Test Centers “useless”, as they were unable to even detect the earthquake before it happened. When they finally announced the earthquake had occured, it was 12 minutes after the disaster, and 2 minutes after the US had announced a large earthquake in China.

As for the Frogs and their omen, Chinese scientists stated animals have much better sense than human on detecting the natural disasters like this.

So much for “migration for propagation”.

CHAO PHRAYA

Siapa yang tidak pening melihat kesibukan trafik di Bangkok. Tetapi kalau anda tinggal di Oriental Hotel dan bersarapan di Verandah, di tebing sungai Chao Phraya, anda tak sedar pun akan hiruk pikuk Bangkok. Pekerja di Bangkok telah menukar kepada boat taxi untuk ke pejabat, lebih murah dan cepat. Chao Phraya kini menjadi laluan alternatif dan rangkaian sungainya menjadi semakin sibuk. Chao Phraya kini lebih bersih dan menjadi habitat kepada banyak spesis ikan air tawar.
Pada waktu malam Chao Phraya menjadi lebih indah, dengan barisan bot-bot tradisional yang menawarkan pakej cruise dan makan malam yang romantik.
Chao Phraya sebenarnya telah berjaya menukar lanskap kota Bangkok yang sibuk menjadi lebih santai. Sekurang-kurang ia mengurangkan sedikit rasa stress di kalangan penduduknya. Ini menjadi tanggungjawab para perancang bandar yang peka kepada keperluan penduduk. Bukan asyik meluluskan pelan membina struktur bangunan sehingga nafas kita sesak .
Kerana tidak begitu mengendahkan peranan sungai, banyak kawasan mengalami banjir kilat. Siapa yang pernah peduli samada kita perlu ada lanskap sungai yang indah, Siapa pun tak kisah kalau kualiti air kita menjijikkan. Kita juga tidak pernah terfikir mengenai pentingnya sungai kepada sistem ekologi, yang juga mempengaruhi sebahagian besar daripada kehidupan kita. Apabila sungai berhenti mengalir, ketika itu wang berjuta ringgit tidak lagi mampu membeli setitik air pun. (ends)

OXFORD CANAL VS SUNGAI KEDAH

Pernah saya menyusuri Sungai Kedah satu ketika dulu bersama Mantan Menteri Besar Sanusi Junid, pemimpin yang penuh dengan idea. Sanusi mahu Sungai Kedah dibersihkan, lantas dijadikan sebagai salah satu produk pelancungan. Ketika berada di atas bot bersamanya, beliau bertanya samada Pengarah JPS negeri tahu macamana caranya mahu membersihkan sungai yang warnanya macam teh tarik. Pengarah berkenaan menggelengkan kepalanya. Sanusi lalu mencadangkan agar Pengarah berkenaan membuat penyelidikan mengenai satu jenis bahan yang boleh memakan semua kekotoran dan pencemaran di sungai berkenaan yang digunakan oleh banyak pihak berkuasa air di Eropah. Sayang kehadiran Sanusi di Kedah singkat. Maka Sungai Kedah terus berkelodak.
Saya berkesempatan punting di sebuah sungai di Oxford, UK pada tahun 2002. Punting adalah kegiatan bersampan menggunakan galah panjang menyusuri sungai. Ia menjadi salah satu produk pelancungan. Sambil punting anda boleh memberi makan kepada itik liar dan melihat dari dekat rumah-rumah sampan.

Sayang sekali di Malaysia, malu kita untuk membawa pelancung menikmati keindahan sungai. Mungkin Melaka sudah mengorak langkah bijak mempromosi sungai, sementara di tempat lain sungai menjadi tempat longgokan sampah.

Kesedaran menjaga alam sekitar di kalangan masyarakat masih kecil. Kerana mereka anggap itu bukan tanggungjawab mereka tetapi pihak berkuasa. Jadi peduli apa. Jadi kita akan terus melihat sungai yang membelah kota besar Kuala Lumpur ini keruh dan menjijikkan.(ends)

THE INTRUDERS

Since 1996, deforestation appears to have increased to an average of 2 million hectares per year, an area about half the size of the Netherlands.
Like many tropical areas around the world, the natural forests of Kalimantan, Sarawak and Sabah are being cleared for commercial uses, including rubber, palm oil and pulp production. The increase in these activities is being matched by a growth in illegal wildlife trade, as logging trails and cleared forest mean easy access to more remote areas.
Logging, land-clearing and conversion activities are considered to be the greatest threats to the Heart of Borneo. Today the conversion to oil palm plantations can be considered one of the biggest threats for the remaining rainforests in Borneo and the species that inhabit them.
The arrival of two alien intruders in the 1950s – the chainsaw and the caterpillar tractor – have perhaps made more impact than any other introduced species. Since then, the opening up of new roads has been a key factor changing Borneo. These not only provide access to commercially valuable trees, they also allow immigrant settlers, hunters and land speculators to new areas of opportunities.
Sabah's and Sarawak's vibrant economies have brought palm oil plantations to the periphery of the Heart of Borneo, and created markets for forest products. In Kalimantan, human population pressure is bringing the frontier of smallholder forest concessions uneasily closer and closer to the Heart of Borneo.
The lure of illegal loggingUnfortunately, illegal logging has become a way of life for some communities, with timber being taken from wherever it is accessible, sold to collectors and processed in huge sawmills. In the absence of sufficient alternative economic development, this is an irresistible lure for the local communities...
Between 1950 and 2000, forest cover in the whole of Indonesia fell from 162 million to 98 million hectares. Since 1996, deforestation appears to have increased to an average of 2 million hectares per year (an area about half the size of the Netherlands), and this alarming figure threatens to rise due to a growing population and the needs of international markets.
Furthermore, satellite studies show that some 56% (more than 29,000 km²) of protected lowland forests in Kalimantan were cut down between 1985 and 2001. Protection laws are in effect throughout Borneo, but are often inadequate or are flagrantly violated, usually without any consequences.
Oil palm development contributes to deforestation - directly and indirectly. About half or 3.3 million hectares of all presently productive plantations (6.8 million ha) were established in secondary forest and bush areas in Malaysia and Indonesia.
A 2001 World Bank report predicted that all of Sumatra’s forest would be destroyed outside Protected Areas by 2005. The prediction was quite accurate.
Since 1980, over 25% of the island's remaining forest is gone. The report predicts the lowlands of Borneo will be destroyed by 2010 in Kalimantan.
In the Heart of Borneo effective forest management can still be achieved at a big scale, before all that is left are small, fragmented forest patches.
If one could wind back the clock 20 years and launch a "Heart of Sumatra" campaign, what would that be worth in conservation terms today?
During the forest fires of 1997/98, plantation expansion was one of the main causes of the rampant forest fires and subsequent haze that spread from plantations into adjacent natural forests. Six and a half million hectares of land were burned in Kalimantan alone, nearly half of which was forest covered.
Without the maintenance of very large blocks of inter-connected forest, there is a clear risk that hundreds of species could become extinct. Large mammals such as orang-utans and elephants are particularly affected because of the vast areas they require to survive. For example, the Borneo elephant has come into conflict with human agriculture activities.
Other smaller species, especially small mammals may not be able to recolonise isolated patches of suitable habitat and thus will become locally extinct. Road construction through Protected Areas leads to further separation of habitat ranges and provides easy access for poachers to some of the more remote and diverse tracts of remaining virgin forest.
Most of Borneo's major rivers originate in the uplands. Maintaining the forests in good condition is critical to ensuring the island's water supply, to moderating the impacts of droughts and fires, and to support ecological and economic stability in the lowlands. (WWF)

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

The amount of water in the world is finite. The number of us is growing fast and our water use is growing even faster. A third of the world's population lives in water-stressed countries now. By 2025, this is expected to rise to two-thirds. There is more than enough water available, in total, for everyone's basic needs.
The UN recommends that people need a minimum of 50 litres of water a day for drinking, washing, cooking and sanitation. In 1990, over a billion people did not have even that.
Providing universal access to that basic minimum worldwide by 2015 would take less than 1% of the amount of water we use today. But we're a long way from achieving that.
Global water consumption rose sixfold between 1900 and 1995 - more than double the rate of population growth - and goes on growing as farming, industry and domestic demand all increase.
As important as quantity is quality - with pollution increasing in some areas, the amount of useable water declines. More than five million people die from waterborne diseases each year - 10 times the number killed in wars around the globe.
And the wider effects of water shortages are just as chilling as the prospect of having too little to drink. Seventy percent of the water used worldwide is used for agriculture.
Much more will be needed if we are to feed the world's growing population - predicted to rise from about six billion today to 8.9 billion by 2050.
And consumption will soar further as more people expect Western-style lifestyles and diets - one kilogram of grain-fed beef needs at least 15 cubic metres of water, while a kilo of cereals needs only up to three cubic metres.
The poor are the ones who suffer most. Water shortages can mean long walks to fetch water, high prices to buy it, food insecurity and disease from drinking dirty water.
Millions of poor people spend hours every day carrying waterBut the very thing needed to raise funds to tackle water problems in poor countries - economic development - requires yet more water to supply the agriculture and industries which drive it.
The UN-backed World Commission on Water estimated in 2000 that an additional $100bn a year would be needed to tackle water scarcity worldwide.
This dwarfs the $20bn which will be needed annually by 2007 to tackle HIV and Aids, and, according to the Commission, it is so much it could only be raised from the private sector.
Even if the money can be found, spending it wisely is a further challenge. Dams and other large-scale projects now affect 60% of the world's largest rivers and provide millions with water.
But in many cases the costs in terms of population displacement and irreversible changes in the nearby ecosystems have been considerable.
Using underground supplies is another widely used solution, but it means living on capital accumulated over millennia, and depleting it faster than the interest can top it up.
As groundwater is exploited, water tables in parts of China, India, West Asia, the former Soviet Union and the western United States are dropping - in India by as much as 3m a year in 1999.
New technology can help, however, especially by cleaning up pollution and so making more water useable, and in agriculture, where water use can be made far more efficient. Drought-resistant plants can also help.
Drip irrigation drastically cuts the amount of water needed, low-pressure sprinklers are an improvement, and even building simple earth walls to trap rainfall is helpful.
One kilo of grain-fed beef needs at least 15 cubic metres of waterSome countries are now treating waste water so that it can be used - and drunk - several times over.
Desalinisation makes sea water available, but takes huge quantities of energy and leaves vast amounts of brine.
The optimists say "virtual water" may save the day - the water contained in crops which can be exported from water-rich countries to arid ones.
But the amounts involved would be immense, and the energy needed to transport them gargantuan. And affordable, useable energy will probably soon be a bigger problem than water itself.
In any case, it is not just us who need water, but every other species that shares the planet with us - as well all the ecosystems on which we, and they, rely.
Climate change will also have an impact. Some areas will probably benefit from increased rainfall, but others are likely to be losers.
We have to rethink how much water we really need if we are to learn how to share the Earth's supply.
While dams and other large-scale schemes play a big role worldwide, there is also a growing recognition of the value of using the water we already have more efficiently rather than harvesting ever more from our rivers and aquifers.
For millions of people around the world, getting it right is a matter of life and death. ( From BBC News Online)