City floating in the sky of China.

This is one sight to be seen.

I would want to have the experience to see a floating city...just like how I want to one day watch an aurora in the Arctic sky.

The 'floating city' over China's Jiangxi and Foshan scientifically are known as Fata Morgana (learning something new today), a rare type of mirage, an optical illusion caused by specific weather conditions. According to scientific explanations it occurs when the Sun heats up a layer of the atmosphere but the layer of air below it remains cool.

The occurrences was actually caused by different layers of the atmospheric temperatures that generate certain gradient, and our optical senses are playing their roles in giving us all these illusions -- although there are some skeptics who believe this was caused by China's scientists testing their stuff, or an emergence of parallel universe to something called Project Blue Beam, a conspiracy theory which involves NASA and the Illuminati and their One World order -- personally, I'm leaving a few percentage of doubt aside too.  

Anyway, while Fata Morganas are quite rare, the most common optical illusions is called Mirage. It happened in hot area such as desert or quite frequently I see here, along the 20 km stretch highways from Doha to Dukhan, Qatar.

It occurred when light waves from the sun travel straight through the atmosphere to your eye during hot weather because light travels at different speeds through hot and cold air and our brain will in return do their function accordingly.

But my question is -- from where the copy of that floating city over Jiangxi or Foshan came from?.
It must be from near city...or at least the buildings depicted over the sky must really exist nearby.

Otherwise, it is still questionable.

Cigarette that cost USD15,000.

This is brilliant news captured just few minutes ago via Reuters.
This is how it should be to keep things in order, which on the other hand would bit a little way difficult managing if the country is bigger than this small island.

Singapore smoker fined $15,000 for throwing butts out of window.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore has fined a smoker S$19,800 (9,899 pounds) for throwing cigarette butts out of his flat window, the National Environment Agency said, the highest ever such fine.
The man was fined S$600 per cigarette for the first 33 offences, and ordered to do community service for the 34th, all committed within four days, the agency said.
The 38-year-old smoker, who was caught on surveillance camera, will have to clean a public area for five hours wearing a bright vest bearing the words "Corrective Work Order".
Singapore, famous for its cleanliness, cracks down hard on even minor crimes like littering and vandalism, which is punishable by caning, and bans the import of chewing gum, in part to keep its public areas spotless.
The agency said on its website it deployed surveillance cameras at nearly 600 locations and took 206 enforcement actions against offenders for high-rise littering in 2014.
It did not say which floor the smoker lived on.
(Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Act of God

Living in the GCC had somehow made me appreciates where I came from.
It definitely made me matured certain aspect of life and know how to thank God for what I have been blessed and accept what's not supposed to be mine.

Honestly, the summer is bearable once our body is accustomed to the temperature but the sand storm is the worst. It will come blowing when spring comes knocking...and get worst during the transition to summer .

It certainly made me wonder how those people hundreds of years ago living and breathing the sand, where in this modern age, staying in house fully closed-up, and curtains drawn still the smell and you can even taste the sand in your lungs. Like I said everytime -- no where to hide and no where to run...and the extensive cleaning begun!


Duuuhhhh......

Gulf sand storm closes schools, disrupts air traffic.

A powerful sandstorm blowing over the Gulf has disrupted air traffic in Yemen, and closed schools and sent hundreds of people to hospital with respiratory problems in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi ministry of education announced on Monday the closure of schools in the north, east and south-west of the desert kingdom, a day after similar measures were taken in the capital Riyadh, the official SPA news agency reported.

In Riyadh, hundreds of people, mostly children with Asthma and allergies, were treated for breathing difficulties triggered by the storm, according to official statistics released late on Saturday.

The storm also affected other Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, where national weather centres warned drivers to use extra caution due to poor visibility and strong winds.

In Yemen, the sand storm severely disrupted air traffic in and out of Sanaa's international airport.

At least two flights into the Yemeni capital were cancelled on Monday morning while several others were either delayed or re-routed to the southern port city of Aden, the official SABA news agency reported.

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Nuclear Power

Nuclear power plant to cost RM8 billion upwards.


KUALA LUMPUR: A 1,000 megawatts (MW) nuclear power plant will cost US$2.5-US$4 billion (RM8.3-RM13.3 billion) to build, Dewan Rakyat heard today.
Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui said the amount did not include research and development in soft infrastructure like human capital development and improvements to support the nuclear plant.

"The cost of operating a nuclear plant is lower than that using oil, coal and natural gas," he told Lim Guan Eng (DAP-Bagan) who asked about the plant planned for 2021 and its impact on the environment.

Chin said the nuclear plant's exact location had yet to be determined but it would be built in peninsula to meet rising demand for electricity post 2020.

The government would use international standards when choosing the location by considering factors like population density, environment, hydrology, seismic, teutonic and geomography.

He said as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the government would ensure that all safety regulations would be adhered to.

"Licence for the plant project site will only be issued after all studies including environmental impact assessment and radiation are done."

Chin allayed public fears over safety concerns as nuclear technology had improved in recent years.

"The reactor will stop quickly, in several seconds, in case of unforeseen incidents," he added.


Radiation from nuclear plants were also lower than those at background radiation areas as they had five safety layers to prevent radiation. - BERNAMA

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The nuke issue again.
We hope the government won't be too ambitious in building nuclear power in Malaysia....not that soon.

Not wanting to be a sceptic towards finding an alternative to the ever increasing demands of electricity but it is much more important for people to know about the effect of it on the enviroment and be well informed about it affect on human at large.

Ash Slows Air Travel Across the Atlantic - NYTimes.com

Unexpected aftermath...

Big guns on the grill...oucchh, it's HOT!

You know, literally no one can do anything to CEOs or Chairman of a company, now, we're talking about those superhuge multinationals.
They're tough headed, gets what they want even if they want it immediately.

But comes certain time, especially when it is concerning the law or government policies....this is when you going to see them breathing thru their mouth gasping for air answering and thinking hard to answer to all those authorities.

I was watching the grilling of the British Petroleum (BP) America Chairman Mc Kay on the telly during his 'question and answer' at the Capitol Hill over the recent oil spills.

Yup, the BP 2010 Oil Spills....and with the rising USD350 million inquest, with their shares plummeting, the catastrophic explosion is really going to cause both the Gulf of Mexico and BP double trouble.

The oil spill from BP offshore drilling rig in the Gulf has recently reported to reach the shoreline and killing and endangering marine habitats, wildlife besides it's effect to human health and livelihood.

The leak was reportedly releasing about 5,000 barrels of oil per day and efforts to manage the spill with controlled burning still unsuccessful.

It will, if continue until certain curable measures took place, this oil spill will become the worst oil spill in history. A larger damage was in 1989 when Exxon Valdez tanker spilled 11 million gallons of oil into the ecologically sensitive Prince William Sound off Gulf of Alaska.

The different between these two oil spills was ~ the tanker held a finite capacity of oil but BP's rig is tapping oil and will continue pumping more oil into the ocean indefinitely until the leak is plugged.

Besides all the hoo-haas with people demonstrating asking not to purchase BP oils and environmentalists running shores, I found one interesting matter-of-fact statement to this already hot issue made by Sarah Palin, the gorgeous Alaskan governor ~'don't trust the foreign oil company'.

And we all long know the ergghh thing between the Brits and American....

Fresher Air

This, i got out of some reading regarding improving indoor air quality.
Well, not that your truly is into some sort of new realisation, rather it is some questions i had lingering in my head and i guess it is affecting my daily life more now since im spending time at home with the kid due to the current situation, weather reasons, and some other 'excuses'.....hehehe....

While we might think that indoor air is far better than the outside air, think again.One researcher carried out ‘off-gassing experiments’ on everyday products such as carpets, plastic toys and electric shavers to analyse their toxic gaseous emissions.

Some of the worst offenders include vinyl wallpaper and flooring, laser printers and photocopy machines (the toner dust can be easily inhaled) of course this is applicable in the office, glues, paints and household appliances such as TVs and washing machines.
His verdict? ‘Indoor air is much worse than outdoor air,’ he says. ‘Inside, you have chemicals in a sealed building.

Another report by a BRE specialist in indoor air quality, says indoor concentrations of VOCs are typically 10 times higher than outdoors. To make matters worse, the gases get trapped indoors. Thanks to the airtight and energy efficient nature of many modern buildings, there is less ventilation in the form of drafts. Also trapped can be chemical contaminants from the outside (such as pollutants from exhaust fumes), which can seep through windows or poorly located air intake vents.

At worst, high levels of contamination can cause ‘sick-building syndrome’. Headaches, dizziness, disorientation, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, eye, nose and throat irritations are all symptoms. Newly built or remodelled buildings, in particular, tend to off-gas a higher level of chemicals than older ones.

Thus these are some of the things that we can do.....

•Freshen the air - naturally
Unless you live next to the M25, the cheapest and most effective way to allow fresh air in and toxic air out is to open a window. Ban air ‘fresheners’, a source of VOCs, and use natural odour-eaters such as a bowl of baking soda or naturally fragranced alternatives (see www.natural-house.co.uk). Avoid using perfumes, deodorants or products containing ‘parfum’, a word which hides the identities of as many as 100 potentially persistent or allergenic chemicals.

•Clear out cleaning chemicals
Recent studies have linked cleaning sprays with a new onset of asthma in adults and linked cleaning products, when used by pregnant women, to persistent wheezing in their offspring in early childhood. Use a range based on natural plant ingredients or experiment with simple cleaning solutions made from lemons, vinegar and baking soda.

•Breathable particles?
Dust is just dust, right? Wrong. A 2002 Greenpeace analysis of house-dust samples vacuumed from 100 UK homes showed that hazardous chemicals such as phthalates, brominated flame retardants, alkylphenols and organotins were widespread contaminants. Regular cleaning can help keep levels of breathable particles down along with dust mites, pollen and other allergy-causing agents. Keep humidity to a minimum to discourage the growth of mould which has the potential to cause allergic reactions when inhaled.

•Plant power
Living, green plants can remove toxic chemicals including formaldehyde, benzene and carbon monoxide from the air, according to a two-year study by NASA scientists. The following plants are particularly effective: areca palm, lady palm, rubber plant, dragon plant, English ivy, peace lily, gerbera daisy, snake plant, spider plant, weeping fig.

•Contaminated carpet
Carpets act as a reservoir for dust, which leads to a build-up of dust-mite allergen, an important trigger for asthma and other allergies. They also trap toxic pollutants. A 2001 Greenpeace UK report, ‘Poisons Underfoot’, found that new carpets contain significant levels of hormone-disrupting, brominated flame retardant BDE-209, the pesticides permethrin and tributyltin (an immune- and reproductive-system toxin) and formaldehyde. Vinyl (PVC) floors, made with phthalates, a hormone-disrupting chemical also linked to asthma and allergies in children, are no better. As a general rule, choose natural fibre carpets and rugs made from organic wool or cotton, coir or jute, instead of synthetic carpets (typically made of nylon or polyester), though check they haven’t been treated with unnecessary chemicals or glues (see www.healthyflooring.org for suppliers). FSC-certified wood flooring is another option. If you do have a carpet, avoid toxic carpet cleaners – use a steam cleaner instead. Take off your shoes to keep dirt and bacteria from the streets at bay.

•What not to paint with
Conventional paints can include acrylic, polyurethanes, PVC and VOCs. When they off-gas, the fumes are likely to include the emissions from VOC solvents. Choose natural and non-toxic water-based or clay-based paints instead. Check that it is ‘solvent-free’.

•Electronics
Ban electrical appliances from the bedroom. A computer, for instance, contains toxic gases, toxic metals (such as cadmium, lead and mercury), acids, plastics, chlorinated and brominated substances. The dust from some printer toner cartridges has been found to contain harmful substances such as nickel and mercury. Greenpeace has an online ‘Guide to Greener Electronics’ which ranks the top manufacturers.

•Protect babies and children
Expecting a child? Go easy when creating a nursery. Often people paint walls and put in new carpets and curtains – so when the baby arrives it ends up in a room full of off-gassing. Myriad Toys (www.myriadonline.co.uk) sells handcrafted natural wooden toys in waterbased colours, finished with natural oil blends.

•Bedding
Cut down on off-gassing in the bedroom – Greenfibres (www.greenfibres.com) sells chemical-free natural latex, coir and wool mattresses and organic cotton bedding. See www.soilassociation.org/textiles for more suppliers.

Energy Saving.

Some tips this summer to save money(energy) and stay cool.:-)

Keep your energy bill and your pollution output low this summer by taking a whole-house approach to cooling.


•In warm climates, where summertime heat gain is the main concern, look for windows with double glazing and spectrally selective coatings that reduce heat gain.

•If your air conditioner is old, consider purchasing a new, energy-efficient model. You could save up to 50% on your utility bill for cooling.

•Keep in mind that insulation and sealing air leaks will help your energy performance in the summertime by keeping the cool air inside.

•Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units but not to block the airflow. Place your room air conditioner on the north side of the house. A unit operating in the shade uses as much as 10% less electricity than the same one operating in the sun.

•Don't place lamps or TV sets near your air-conditioning thermostat. The thermostat senses heat from these appliances, which can cause the air conditioner to run longer than necessary.

•Consider using an interior fan in conjunction with your window air conditioner to spread the cooled air more effectively through your home without greatly increasing your power use.

•Don't set your thermostat at a colder setting than normal when you turn on your air conditioner. It will not cool your home any faster and could result in excessive cooling and, therefore, unnecessary expense.

•Set your thermostat as high as comfortably possible in the summer. The less difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall cooling bill will be.

•Whole-house fans help cool your home by pulling cool air through the house and exhausting warm air through the attic. They are effective when operated at night and when the outside air is cooler than the inside.

White Roofs Catch on as Energy Cost Savers

He or his wife would race to the thermostat and turn on the air-conditioning as their four small children, just picked up from day care, awaited relief.
All that changed last month. “Now we come home on days when it’s over 100 degrees outside, and the house is at 80 degrees,” Mr. Waldrep said.
Their solution was a new roof: a shiny plasticized white covering that experts say is not only an energy saver but also a way to help cool the planet.

......From Dubai to New Delhi to Osaka, Japan, reflective roofs have been embraced by local officials seeking to rein in energy costs. In the United States, they have been standard equipment for a decade at new Wal-Mart stores. More than 75 percent of the chain’s 4,268 outlets in the United States have them.

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This is particularly interesting and has some sort of relation to where I'm staying now.
Not that this country will be implementing any solar energy or any sort of alternative energy whatsoever, but more of the vast different of behaviour and mindset between the people living /residing in this country and that of those people of developed countries such as the United States.

Since it is a summer holiday here, hoards of expats and workers whom make the majority of the people in this little oil rich country left their home and head back to their home-country for a long vacation.

I am not quite sure though, whether this habit is carried out elsewhere in this country itself or any other Gulf countries, but here in this vicinity where expats working with the government's oil company reside, the practice of leaving the air conditioning units on is somewhat a customary actions.

Well, when we just started to move here, i have heard about this exercise being carried out by some of my countrymen, and the rational behind this practice is 'that you'd spare your furniture from cracking due to the intense heat'!
As absurd as it sounds, me and a couple of people chose not to follow this unwritten practice which we initially thought 'might not be done by all of the people'. We were wrong because eventually, after few summers here; i know that only a handful of families here who did not subscribed to this habits and leaving the A/C running 24/7 for whatever period we'd be on leave. Average leave for the people here would be one and a half month.

In the long run, we got to know that some of the other nationals also practice the same thing; and the first thing that went thru my head was 'perhaps we are the idiots and NOT them at all!!....funny especially after having to know that the person who is in charged with the facilities of this area also practise this bad habits reason being "to avoid the house tiles from cracking" which is more accepted than " cracking furniture".

If you may ask me what is my conclusion about all; this people are just blind followers of ignorant and oblivious person who subscribed to obtuse practice. God knows who that may be!

Leaving the A/C on for long period of time would pose risks.

1. The risk of electrical short circuit .

2. The risk of fire (which if only burnt their belongings; i seriously don't give a damn, but it might affect others nearby too)

3. The lack of consideration towards energy saving whereby people from developed countries are already in rush to acquire other alternative.

4. The mentality of some who got no sense of empathy when electrical and water were provided free by the company, thus making them feel free leaving the bills running. I doubt this would ever happen if the company require electical bill to be borne by the house owner.

5. Don't they ever read about the ozone layers, the rotting environment and energy saving effort and Bills by other developed countries?


Coming from a tropical humid climate such as Malaysia, the occurrence of cracked or loosen-up tiles or parquet flooring is nothing new. This will happened to houses of more than 20 years, or some cases less than 10 years, mostly built by substandard developers.

Tiles and parquet flooring will definitely cracked or even pop up due to lots of reasons among all the climate itself. But the main reason would always be the laying of the tiles and the materials used under them, not forgetting the quality of the tiles or parquet too. Besides that, inadequate precautions and non-skilled people performing the job, will have an effect on the lifespan of tiles (these are some of the advices given to me by my contractors back home).

When development of any house(s) are carried out disregarding quality of works and other aspect of reinforcement required, cracking of walls or tiles will take place. The best installations will need materials and layer of other reinforcement material. Tiles set properly on top of these substrates won't crack, even if you drop something on them.

Coming back to the subject of cracking tiles if A/C not running 24/7, my incomprehension to why they were so concern about the tiles more than the risks it imposed, will never be answered...i guess.

There are no reason to be worried about the house when, the company itself provide monthly maintenance on plumbing, electrical and pest control. What is the big deal if the tiles cracked?

As for me, the few minority not practising this practice here, and have been away on holidays and not leaving the A/C on, my only hope is that, this habits will come to a halt before it jeopardise their own households, and other surrounding neighbour, the cost they and the company will have to bear in case of fire, and not forgetting the environment.

And please help save our earth and the energy, if all of the mentioned justifications on why you should not leave your A/C on 24/7 are chicken feed to the doers.

Missing Green.

I'm not missing any Mr or Ms Green mind you. But I'm missing the greens of my country. The green mountains, the green fields, the green housing estates and the green reserved forests just outside the city centre, Kuala Lumpur, which i will drive to on some weekends for a short retreat savouring the flora and fauna besides dipping in the nice cool streams and water falls.

I guess my missing the green must be because the summer time is here. Fighting with the heat which at times can get as high as 49degree Celsius, battling to clean the dusty and 'sandy' house and surrounding area due to the winds, and obviously, the limited time spend out of enclosed area.

Although Qatar is budding and expanding to become the next Dubai (maybe), i find the effort in greening the area is much slacking. Although they do have mangrove and scarce forests around it's shores, I seriously think that they can do better than what there is now. The largest mangrove (not green but grey) can be found around Al Thakira and Al Khor but others came from plantings by the government.

I am sure if special programmes to be undertaken by the government, Qatar will be greener than it is now. I have read about some trees that is insusceptible to the harsh heat like Qatar being planted in order to halt the spread of desert in countries from Somalia to Mauritania and also a type of tree that have been planted in the Arafat desert in Saudi Arabia to provide shade to pilgrims during the Haj and i don't think why it cannot be done here too except for the only setback -- major water piping system which needed to be carried out for sprinkling.

Go green!

Toxic Air

EPA Says 600 Neighborhoods Have Toxic Air
Wednesday, June 24, 2009


Washington--Millions of people living in nearly 600 neighborhoods across the country are breathing concentrations of toxic air pollutants that put them at a much greater risk of contracting cancer, according to new data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The levels of 80 cancer-causing substances released by automobiles, factories and other sources in these areas exceed a 100 in 1 million cancer risk. That means that if 1 million people breathed air with similar concentrations over their lifetime, about 100 additional people would be expected to develop cancer because of their exposure to the pollution.

The average cancer risk across the country is 36 in 1 million, according to the National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment, which will be released by the EPA on Wednesday.

That's a decline from the 41.5 in 1 million cancer risk the EPA found when it released the last analysis in 2006. That data covered 1999 emissions.

"If we are in between 10 in 1 million and 100 in 1 million we want to look more deeply at that. If the risk is greater than 100 in 1 million, we don't like that at all ... we want to investigate that risk and do something about it," said Kelly Rimer, an environmental scientist with the EPA, in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Parts of Los Angeles, Calif., and Madison County, Ill., had the highest cancer risks in the nation — 1200 in 1 million and 1100 in 1 million, according to the EPA data. They were followed by two neighborhoods in Allegheny County, Pa., and one in Tuscaloosa County, Ala.

People living in parts of Coconino County, Ariz., and Lyon County, Nev., had the lowest cancer risk from air toxics. The counties with the least toxic air are Kalawao County, Hawaii, and Golden Valley County, Mont.

"Air toxic risks are local. They are a function of the sources nearest to you," said Dave Guinnup, who leads the groups that perform the risk assessments for toxic air pollutants at EPA. "If you are out in the Rocky Mountains, you are going to be closer to 2 in a million. If you are in an industrial area with a lot of traffic, you are going to be closer to 1100 in 1 million."

The analysis predicts the concentrations of 124 different hazardous air pollutants, which are known to cause cancer, respiratory problems and other health effects by coupling estimates of emissions from a variety of sources with models that attempt to simulate how the pollution will disperse in the air. Only 80 of the chemicals evaluated are known to cause cancer, EPA officials said.

The information is used by federal, state and local agencies to identify areas in need of more monitoring and attention.

The data to be released Wednesday covers pollution released in 2002.

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I do know that the air that i inhale here is a lot worst than those neighbourhood!....

NUCLEAR POWER

1. With the price of oil going up higher and higher, many in this country are thinking about power generation. At one time the Malaysian Government had decided on a four fuel policy for the generation of electric power. We wanted power plants to use either fuel oil, gas, coal or hydro power. We had excluded the use of nuclear power.

2. Why did we reject nuclear power?

3. I am not a nuclear scientist but I believe I know enough of the dangers of using nuclear (fissionable) material.

4. When Hiroshima and Nagasaki were atom-bombed, the scientists who invented the bombs thought that the destructive effect would be only from the huge explosion due to fissionable material. So did their victims - the Japanese.

5. As a result the Japanese entered the destroyed cities to carry out rescue work and to clean up.

6. It was only later that they realised that the residual radiation would cause a variety of radiation sickness and diseases. The radiation remained harmful for a long period after explosion. Even today there are people who had entered the bombed area in those days who are dying of a variety of diseases, including cancer, contracted through exposure to radiation from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs.

7. I think we all know about the Chernobyl disaster in Russia. Despite thousands of tons of concrete being poured into the site, the power plant is still emitting dangerous radiation.

8. Besides this we should know that radioactive material used as fuel for power generation remain radioactive and dangerous to health after the fuel has been exhausted. The waste cannot be disposed anywhere, not by burial in the ground nor dumping in the sea. It can be reprocessed by certain countries only. This requires the dangerous material to be transported in special lead containers and carried by special ships. Most ports do not allow such ships to be berthed at their facilities. Reprocessing means that the nuclear material again becomes active and harmful to health.

9. The fact is that we do not know enough about radioactive nuclear material. Once it is processed it remains a source of danger forever.

10. We have some experience dealing with radioactive material. In Perak we have a site where we had buried by-products of tin mining (amang) which had been processed to become radioactive and which was used to colour television. We had poured tons of cement on the buried material. More than one square mile of the burial site is barred to humans. The site is still radioactive and dangerous.

11. If we have a nuclear plant, besides not being able to get rid of nuclear waste, we may have accidents which can endanger people living even far away because of the material being carried by water (ground water) and wind.

12. I think the authorities should rethink the idea of nuclear power plants. Scientists do not know enough about dealing with nuclear waste. They do not know enough about nuclear accidents and how to deal with them.

13. Until we do, it is far better if Malaysia avoids using nuclear power for electrical generation.


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Salam Yg Bhg,

comment by Concerned Malaysian on May 24, 2009 5:30 PM.

"Nuclear power is viable and safe. Current plant designs will not explode like a bomb, it is not possible. In fact the new plants are able to withstand plane crashes (similar to 9/11)"

With respect to your opinion.
No doubt nuclear plants can be equipped with safety features that adhere to strict internationals standards, but Malaysia is not ready for nuclear power, not for another 50 years and not ever.
Malaysia can be ambitious but not too ambitious as to having own nuclear plant.
Where do you think it will be situated?
How sure are you that the 'tidak apa attitude' would not exist among the people that will be involved in maintaning the plant, how ever high the standards might be?

Yes Chernobyl was a case of poor plant design and negligence, but you must remember that negligence can happen at the most highest security and well planned plant too.

Like Dr M said, it is better if Malaysia avoids using nuclear power for electrical generation until scientist know enough about the accidents and method of dealing with it.

Save earth.

Stop plastic bag usage.

It was my spring cleaning day.
So i decided to start off with the laundry cum store room and the kitchen cabinet.

I cant believe how many pieces of paper and plastic bags accumulated from various shopping trips i had. All type of sizes; from small, to medium, to big and to extra extra big.

Like most people I have been reusing the hypermarket grocery plastic bags for my kitchen waste, bathroom and other trash can liners up to the extend to storing dirty cloth diapers when we were out of the house.

I still remember those time when i was still in my primary years, following my mother to the neighbourhood sundry shop. As far as i can remember she would usually carry home simple brown paper bag home instead of plastic bag. Unlike now, i could not recall when actually the era of the brown bag being taken over by plastic.

I love shopping and even love it more if given paper bag instead of the plastic one.

In fact while I was back in my home country I have had this discussion on trying to promote the usage of paper bags with the help of the local ministry. Nevertheless, due to lack of studies and not enough details together with being occupied with on-going businesses, the idea was just an idea.

It is my dream to want to see paper bag being use widely. I would also want to experience being treated like ordinary person when i bring my own cloth bag while shopping for grocery and not attract strange looks from the others.

Of course we have to be realistic. Totally eliminating the usage of plastic bags are ridiculous. Consumer products in this decade uses more plastic than other material. Name it and most of it will be wrapped in that substance.

We still need it to put away our daily rubbish. We can't be using paper bag to do so. The key word is moderation.

Plastic as we all know are made of oil. It is non-biodegradable and will take 1,000 years to break down in a landfill. Our favourite fizzy drink can of cola or juices in aluminium can would need more or less 100 years to biodegrade.While plastic milk cartons will break down in 5 years.

But paper will only require 2-5 months to biodegrade.

The effort in banning plastic bags have been quite evident in countries such as US and Australia while the United Kingdom is taking effort in cutting the usage of plastic bags by 25%. The time has come for us to start changing our way of life i.e.; the usage of plastic bags and being too dependable on them.

Besides saving the world in the long run, which many of us, including me who initially don't care much what will happen in 100 years from now, the reasons why we need to eliminate the plastic bag is purely because it come from oil. Oil is the main substance of plastic bag thus increasing CO2 emissions. Which will later have an affect to the greenhouse gases that are vital in helping determine the temperature of the Earth.


Without it the world that we are living now would likely be so cold to the extend unable to be lived on. Although many factors such as the sun and the water cycle are responsible for the Earth's weather and energy balance, if all else was held equal and stable the planet's average temperature should be considerably lower without greenhouse gases.
(The gases function in an atmosphere is to absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect.)

Many of us might not be aware that plastic bags also causes unnecessary costs that we have to pay. It is not safe for infant or children if they play with it, it kills wild life and even can kill sea living creatures if they got entangled with discarded plastic bags.

The most interesting effort in eliminating the usage of plastic bags was one moves by Whole Foods in the US when they announce plans to stop offering disposable, plastic grocery bags in all 270 stores in the USA, Canada and United Kingdom from April last year (to commemorate the Earth-day) until end of 2008.

According to the company's spokesperson during that stop-plastic-bag day; roughly 100 million plastic bags will be kept out of the environment.
They offered several options: free paper bags in four sizes made from 100% recycled paper, reusable bags 80% made from recycled plastic bottles for 99 cents and canvas bags selling for $6.99 to $35.
They also encourage consumers to bring their own bags by taking 5 cents to 10 cents off the bill for each.


I wonder when will we start here.....