Rain...Rain...

Successfully packed the last batch of compost and started on a new one today. We were joined by Aziemah and Sarah, our form one juniors. Thank you!


An example of the chopped waste that are used in the compost batch.

Aziemah and Sarah digging soil from the surrounding area to be added and mixed with the chopped waste.

Since there has been some confusion about the time the compost meetings are held, I have decided to post the official times and days of the meeting. Please refer to this information for your references.

Thursdays
2.30 p.m. - 3.30 p.m.

Fridays
2.00 p.m. - 3.00 p.m.

Duration of activity may change according to the materials available for processing. Any changes or cancellation of meetings will be informed. Attendance has not been very good, please present yourself during the meetings. Thank you.

Steps In Making Compost

How To Make Compost
kitchengardeners

Hope this video helped you a bit or two in understanding more about compost.

About Compost

What is compost exactly? Well, compost is a mixture of decaying vegetation and manure; used as fertilisers. Why should you make compost? Compost contributes to the reduction of global wastage.
Instead of throwing out those left-overs after dinner, why not make compost? It's a simple task and does not need big budgets. You may ask what can I change by making compost? You may be one person but every change starts one by one. Imagine a world where everybody contributes to the reduction of global wastage by making compost. Think of the many things we can change. To make your own compost is very easy and only takes you 6 steps. Follow the steps below to learn and make your own compost in your own backyard.

1. Prepare a container with holes and the necessary things such as water, waste and soil.
2. Seperate the waste that is suitable for compost (vegetables and fruits; not bananas and
oranges).
3. Chop the waste into small bits and pieces to allow the decomposition process to perform faster.
4. Mix the waste and the soil together into the container.
5. Mix a bit of water to make sure the compost is moisture.
6. Leave the compost aside in a hot and humid area and cover the top to avoid rain water from
going in.

Compost may be an easy thing to make but requires a long time to mature; about six months, and needs a whole lot of attention. Tender, love and care. Remember, worms play a big part in your compost. They help and also allow the decomposition process to take place. Always check on the degree of moisture and turn the soil daily.

A good compost will turn brown and earth-like colour. It will not smell and will look very much like the soil we started with.

Why not get started today? Play your part in saving and protecting the earth that we love. You can make a difference.

Mid-Term Holiday Preparation

Look who decided to pay us a visit! Farhanah checking on things. The Pencinta Alam president in the flash.

Kak Long provided lots of waste for us and fortunately, someone actually remembered to ask her for the waste this time. Chopping the waste into bits and pieces so that it is more suitable for the compost.

Finishing up the last batch of compost for the month. Although very much looking forward towards the mid-term break, we're still working..

Nadiah, Pik Leng and Syaqira adding more waste to the current compost. Pictures provided by Uma. Aisyah..where are you??

Early Preparation

Today was the official and also the first meeting of the year. It lasted for about 45 minutes and many discussion were made. All the AJK's were elected and a small discussion about how to raise fund for the club was held. It was decided that the club would sell bookmarks to raise fund. Apart from that, a discussion about the Anugerah Hijau was also held.

President - Aini Maisurah
Vice President 1 - Sharifah Nadhirah
Vice President 2 - Noor Syaqira
Secretary - Yee Chooi Fun
Treasurer - Nur Farahin
Sale Manager - Nabihah
Info - Uma
Ass. Secretary - Nadiah Roslan
Ass. Treasurer - Leong Pik Leng
Ass. Sale Manager - Aisyah Insyirah
Ass. Info 1 - Noor Aziemah
Ass. Info 2 - Sarah

Save our penguins!!

The earth has a bipolar disorder. Global warming threatens the wildlife of both the north and south polar regions. In the north, the polar bears are dying off because the ice shelves they depend on to reach their prey have been melting. In the south, melting ice and snow create huge cracks and caverns which trap penguins and make it difficult for them to travel to breeding and feeding areas.
Skeptics of global warming can point to areas such as the center of Antarctica where there has been no warming, but the evidence is clear now that average global temperatures are rising, and the visual evidence of melting glaciers is there for anyone to see. In the U.S.A., Glacier National Park will have to be renamed Park Meltdown.
In 1998 I wrote on the threats to the survival of the penguins. At that time, oil spills, pollution, and predators were killing many penguins. Now warming is the main problem, as it could destroy the habitat of the penguins in Antarctica.
The various types of birds are classified as “orders,” and the penguin order is called Sphenisciformes. This order contains aquatic flightless birds which live in the Southern Hemisphere. As only penguins are in that order, penguins are quite different from all other birds in walking upright and in some of them being able to live in extremely cold climates.The penguins are dying. Can WE save them before it's too late?
Penguins are dying throughout the Southern Hemisphere. In the Prince Edward Islands by South Africa in the Indian Ocean, penguin populations are shrinking. As the oceans warm up, the prey eaten by penguins move south to cooler waters.
The 900-mile-long Antarctic Peninsula which sticks out from the main continent is warming up at a greater pace than the world average. There the ice is melting rapidly, and huge chucks of ice sheets are braking off. The Adelie penguins there have to swim ever longer distances to get food, and there is also less food, especially krill, small shrimp-like animals that depend on the sea ice. If the warming continues, they will be unable to survive there.
Most of the glaciers on earth have melted. What will happen if this continues?
In the Ross Sea by Antarctica, two huge ice sheets have broken away from the ice sheet and block the passage that penguins use from feeding to breeding areas. They have to walk 30 miles (50 kilometers) more to get to the feeding waters. This creates an extreme hardship for penguins as they waddle on land at only one mile per hour. The population of the impressive emperor penguins in Antarctica has been cut in half during the past 50 years.
The penguin order is not overall threatened with extinction, as some species can live in warmer climates. Nevertheless, penguins everywhere are under pressure, as while there are no predators on Antarctica, penguins further north are threatened by predators such as cats, dogs, and rats.
The warming of the Antarctic Peninsula and decline of the penguins there is a warning to humanity about the looming global threat for humanity. Many people world-wide have viewed the documentary film by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, “An Inconvenient Truth.” It is unfortunate that this persuasive film dwells almost entirely on the problem, with very little on solutions. It’s fine to replace old light bulbs with new ones that are more energy efficient, but there is no good substitute for economic policies that make people pay the social cost when they do damage to the planet.
In a speech at the New York University School of Law on September 18, 2006, Al Gore, proposed replacing payroll taxes with a tax on carbon dioxide emissions. Gore has advocated “the elimination of all payroll taxes -- including those for social security and unemployment compensation - and the replacement of that revenue in the form of pollution taxes -- principally on CO2. The overall level of taxation would remain exactly the same. It would be, in other words, a revenue neutral tax swap. But, instead of discouraging businesses from hiring more employees, it would discourage business from producing more pollution.”
Some Green parties and environmentalists and geoists (Georgists) have gone further and propose a complete green tax shift that would replace all punitive taxes with levies on pollution and land value. By shifting public revenue to land rent or land value along with pollution, the shift to efficiency taxes would benefit both the economy and the environment, as it would eliminate the deadweight loss of the punitive taxation of wages, profits, and trade.
A rapid green tax shift would stop the human contribution to global warming and help save both the penguins and human beings from the looming damage of rising temperatures. The bonus is that there is a great economic benefit from this shift even if human activity is contributing little to global warming.
In cost-benefit analysis, the probability of an outcome has to be multiplied by its estimated cost. The potential cost of runaway global warming, of reaching a tipping point followed by an exponential increase in global heat, is colossal, so even a small probability warrants quick action. So Al Gore and those properly alarmed by global warming should focus on the green tax shift. Anything else, whether greener light bulbs or pollution permits, will only help a little. Regulations and permits impose economic costs, while the green tax shift provides big benefits. Only a global green tax shift will save the penguins, humanity, and the planet from a possible global catastrophe