I call upon the leaves and the trees,
to bathe the gobbling haze away,
to start anew,
to end devastating drowns from devils in over-run factories.

I call upon the wind and the clouds to shower the earth in golden falls,
to fly away,
to run into oblivion of the skies,
to end fowl farming,
that bleed the earth of its precious gems and juices.

I call upon the steady, sturdy mountains and the limestone hills,
to shake and rattle the ground,
to startle ignorant minds,
to wake these souls up from dreams that drip our caves and lives away from us.

I call upon all!

I call upon the leaves and the trees,
the wind and the clouds,
and the steady, sturdy mountains and the limestone hills,
to huddle around the forests,
to engulf all sacred hope and love into newborn trees,
baby trees, ancient trees and all trees.

In trust and worry that tomorrow,
and so it shall follow,
you will still be here.

In new hope, I call upon,
in new hope.

RECYCLING COLLECTION DAY

Salaam / Hello to everyone! There will be a Recycling Collection Day this week. Please refer to the following details!

Time and Place

Date:Friday, June 13, 2008
Time:9:00am - 5:00pm
Location:PG Room (Below the KAED cafeteria), Kuliyyah of Architecture & Environmental Design
City/Town:Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

For now, we will accept aluminium, plastic and paper!

This is the first collection day for the Green Team (that is establishing itself on the campus). So do come and support us! All money received from the recyclable items will go to the students’ fund!

Do come and play an important part of the environment and the welfare of the students!
Merit-point system will be awarded!

Please refer to the attachment. For further details, do contact Kim (017-4184819).

Thank you.

Firstly, I apologize for not updating… But it doesn’t mean that I haven’t been green-ing along!

It is now the semester break before my friends and I go into our first year degree in university. One of my goals during this break is to have another ‘Green Gathering’ with my friends. -Go to the beach/park, pick up trash and chill at our gathering place or the nearest Mamak stall :).

The first Green Gathering ‘Pick Up Your Act’ was at one of the beaches before Batu Ferringhi with my good friends Aishah, Farhana, Shalini and Sangita. We spent an hour or so bending down, reaching for un-identified objects and some identified ones such as bottle caps, toothbrush, burnt plastic and medicine bottles. There, we saw some people who were responsible (or paid) to clean up the beach, but it didn’t look like they aimed to recycle any of those trash -plastic bottles, glass bottles, aluminum cans, etc. So, we washed and seperated the recyclable materials and recycled them.

After picking up the trash, we had a nice, green picnic -no plastic bags what-so-ever.

If you’re interested and will be in Penang for the next Green Gathering, do let me know. For now, the details:

-Place: to be decided (give me some ideas, people!)
-Date / Day: 12th April 2008 / Saturday
-Time: 8.30AM - 12 noon (latest)
-Do bring: a good pair of gloves, your own water bottle/drink, and an open mind!

Most of us know that we should reduce the use of plastic bags, or plastic anything, because plastic takes a very long time to degrade. And when I say that, I don’t mean a couple of decades but 500 to 1,000 years and even forever according to a few sources.

San Francisco appears to be one of the first cities to have ban plastic bags. Hoo-ray for SF! And tsk, tsk for the rest of the world? Tut-tut, we’re not about blaming here. Here are countries that have already taken the plastic problem into their own hands (not all have banned; some simply discourage the use of plastic bags): Australia, Bangladesh, Bombay (as I watched on the news earlier tonight), India, Ireland, Italy, South Africa, Taiwan and Zanzibar Islands.

We know plastic bags are bad for the environment, especially marine life. According to a report by BBC News:

“We have to put the environment above everything,” Zanzibar’s Director of Environment Ali Juma said. “Besides being an eyesore, plastic bags are very damaging to land and marine life and we are already threatened by the rapid pace of development.”

Plastic bags are also bad for our health. An easy calculation revised again and again in my head when ever I think about using plastic to contain food- PLASTIC+FOOD=POISON. Now who wants poison for lunch? It is a slow suicide I am not willing to partake in.

Personally, I don’t use plastic bags to carry my groceries. I carry them in my bagpack. If I’m not carrying a bag, I manage with my things until I reach my car or room. Before I had knowledge about the dangers of plastic, I would just collect and accumulate plastic bags I’d been given to from the grocery store, or where ever I was shopping. I thought to myself, “We should re-use, what a waste if we didn’t!” So you re-use. And you re-use. And you re-use.

Then what?, after that?

You throw it away. It never really occured to me what would happen to those plastic bags, or if it did, I chose to ignore it. It was only when I read up more about plastic and other environmental issues did I realize what I was doing. -I was killing the Earth, the people around me and myself! What are we doing?

It is such a sad thing that an invention deemed “the material of a thousand uses” can turn into something disastrous, which I am sure was not one of the ‘uses’ intended. “I’ve created a monster!” is what I imagine Leo Baekeland would’ve said if he knew the state of the world today.

Still, it is not to say that all hope is lost. There are people out there trying to educate one another about this issue. And who’s to say you can’t do the same? Easy thing you can do is to think twice (or more, please!) before you do something that could potentially cause harm to yourself, others and the environment.

If you can do without that plastic bag, then why not? It’s not going to cause you anything, except to put a smile on your face knowing that even if it is just ONE plastic bag, that ONE plastic bag can turn into 364 plastic bags for the rest of the year. So you’ve just taken a big step by saying, “It’s okay, I don’t use/need it”.

We’re trying not to be plastic (in all ways intended)… Are you?

When we are sitting in our living rooms,
others are out there
burning our trees
into big mushrooms.

When we are playing with our lives,
some are out there
trashing through fields
and endless mountains of trash.

When we are laughing with glee,
I see people outside
pouring poison
onto our plates.

When we sing and dance outside,
I see those inside
raping our air
with acid, with no care.

Is this where we choose to live?
We can go no where else!
Are these the fruits that we give?
We can provide no less!

When we hold our heads high,
I see children growing into their pods;
Fear diminish their truth
into a powerless few.

There is…
No more land,
Just more plans.

There is…
No more hands,
But more clans.

[for Blog Action Day]

Peace!

Now I am sure some of you out there are wondering, “What is this Green thing all about?” or be honest- “I don’t care/give a hoot about this. Why should I?”

Here is why you should be more environment friendly:

Someone once said to me, “You care more about the environment than you care about human beings”. If someone says that to you, what would you say? That person is not just making an assumption but also a false accusation about what you really do and stand up for. When we say “environment friendly”, we’re not just talking about the animals and plants, flora and faunas out there, we’re also talking about us. Directly or in-directly, whatever we do to this and on this Earth will make a big impact on how we live and how we will live in the years to come. So when you hear “environment friendly”, you’re basically hearing “everything friendly”.

A better lifestyle. Being environment friendly is about how we live. It touches on all aspects of our life- our health, culture, the way we travel, fashion, design and just about anything you can think about. So let’s say you “don’t care” about the environment; you don’t care about your health, you pile your body with junk food, fast food, additives, food colouring day-in and day-out, no exercise, no fresh air, just computer sit-ins during your weekend. Result? Low (not to mention, bad) energy, problems with your digestive system (from all the gunk that you ‘feed’ your body with) and just a horrible state of well-being, in a whole. Do you want to live like that? I wouldn’t want to live like that.

Being human and humane. Being environment friendly is about utilizing the fruits of our Earth in the right way and not exploiting it. It is not wrong to eat meat as long as we do it in the right manner such as, animals in the process, should not be treated with cruelty. Being green is also about not exceeding, and not being greedy. This is especially so when it comes to food. Stop before you are full and don’t pile on more rice or pitas before you’ve finished what you already have on your plate. Switch of the lights when you leave the room. Turn off the tap when you brush your sweaky teeth clean. Ta-da! It’s easier than you know it!

Being happy and free. Be free of chemicals from your body. Want to look at life from a different angel? Take it easy, go organic. Sure, it is more expensive than what you might be purchasing now, but it is worth it and good for your body, mind and soul! Instead of eyeing on that designer bag or pair of shoes that you just don’t need, save the money and use it to get better quality products - natural, organic food!

Less wastage in your home. If you want to reduce your trash, take it easy on the plastics, my friend. Be wary on the packaging when you purchase goods. That plastic bag? Do you need it? Ask yourself that. If you choose to ignore, well, imagine that plastic bag and a million others covering a whole lot of land on a rubbish dump. It takes about 500 years for plastic to degrade into the ground. Heck! I don’t even know if there’ll be real soil or ground to walk on by then!

All-in-all, it is great to be environment (sorry, everthing) friendly because it is just instinctive to me. It is a way to connect on all levels -spiritually, mentally and physically- to our surroundings; to Mother Nature, to be precise. It is a wonderful gift not only to yourself but to the rest of the world, to humanity when you can help better this Earth by acting on your words.

Love and more love,
kookaburra

Peace!

This is my first post on Gila Green. To find out more go to the ‘About’ page.

I am here to let my views go wild about issues concerning the environment, Mother Nature and this Earth!

Feel free to blah along.

-kookaburra