Saving the Earth

Going green is easier than you think. There are little things you can do every day to help reduce greenhouse gases and make a less harmful impact on the environment. Taking care of the Earth is not just a responsibility -- it's a privilege. ­There are  several things you can do to help save the Earth.

1.­ Pay attention to how you use water. The little things can make a big difference. Every time you turn off the water while you're brushing your teeth, you're doing something good. Got a leaky toilet? You might be wasting 200 gallons of water a day. Try drinking tap water instead of bottled water, so you aren't wasting all that packaging as well. Wash your clothes in cold water when you can. 

2. Leave your car at home. If you can stay off the road just two days a week, you'll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,590 pounds per year. Combine your errands,hit the post office, grocery store and shoe repair place in one trip. It will save you gas and time. 

3. Walk or ride your bike to work, school and anywhere you can. You can reduce greenhouse gases while burning some calories and improving your health. If you can't walk or bike, use mass transit or carpool. Every car not on the road makes a difference. 

 

4. Recycle.You can help reduce pollution just by putting that soda can in a  different bin. If you're trying to choose between two products, pick the one with the least packaging. If an office building of 7,000 workers recycled all of its office paper waste for a year, it would be the equivalent of taking almost 400 cars off the road. 

5. Compost. Think about how much trash you make in a year. Reducing the amount of solid waste you produce in a year means taking up less space in landfills, so your tax dollars can work somewhere else. Plus, compost makes a great natural fertilizer. Composting is easier than you think. 

6. Make your home more energy efficient (and save money). Clean your air filters so your system doesn't have to work overtime. Get a programmable thermostat so you aren't wasting energy when you aren't home. When you go to bed, reduce the thermostat setting -- you won't miss those extra degrees of heat or air conditioning while you're asleep.

7. Maintain your car. Underinflated tires decrease fuel economy by up to three percent and lead to increased pollution and higher greenhouse gas emissions .Underinflation also increases tire wear, so it will save you money in the long run if you're good about checking your tire pressure.

8. Drive smarter. Slow down -- driving 60 miles per hour instead of 70 mph on the highway will save you up 4 miles per gallon. .Accelerating and braking too hard can actually reduce your fuel economy, so take it easy on the brakes and gas pedal.

9.Turn off lights when you're not in the room and unplug appliances when you're not using them. It only takes a second to be environmentally conscious.

EARTH HOUR !

It was lights off by 8.30pm at the Petronas Twin Towers and the buildings around it as Malaysia observed 2010 Earth Hour.
All non-essential lights at Suria KLCC, including the retail centre’s facade, were turned off for a full 60 minutes.
Many retailers and restaurants also joined hands in the global conservation effort and patrons were seen dining by candlelight.
By 7.45pm, thousands of people had al­­ready converged at the compounds of Suria KLCC eagerly waiting for the lights of the twin towers to be switched off.

Earth support: Petronas Twin Towers and KL Tower disappearing into the night as Malaysians observed Earth Hour from 8.30pm to 9.30pm last night (main picture). — EHFAN SHAH / The Star

There was a loud cheer as the lights went off section by section, starting with the upper section of the towers.
A group of six college students who were among the thousands who came to observe the moment carried tea-light candles, arranged in the shape of the figure “60” to symbolise the Earth Day hour-long lights-out.
Meanwhile, in support of the effort, TNB is advising its 7.6 million customers to switch to energy-efficient appliances.

A ‘before’ picture taken from Bukit Permai shows a much brighter Kuala Lumpur skyline. — EHFAN SHAH / The Star

Its chief executive officer Datuk Seri Che Kha­tib Mohammad Noh urged consumers to switch off electrical appliances when not in use.
The 2009 Earth Hour saw a 550MW dip in nationwide electricity consumption.
The amount is sufficient to light up 14 million 40-watt light bulbs.
Another organisation which joined the 2010 Earth Hour was Petronas. It switched off non-essential lights during the hour.
In George Town, thousands of bulbs lighting up City Hall were switched off, but the Esplanade was alight with flames from 10,000 flickering candles.
Hundreds of people gathered at the field to celebrate the green initiative while others participated by turning off non-essential lights at their homes and businesses.
Crowds also gathered at several different spots in the state to participate in the global Earth Hour.
The lights at the two iconic triangular structures at the mid-span of the Penang Bridge were also switched off.

Meeting - 22/3/2010

Hi, guys!

I am going to talk about what happened during our meeting on the 22nd of March . We had our meeting in the computer lab at 4.00 pm. At first Farhanah spoke about needing two people (seniors if possible) to help her make our trademark aloe vera drink to be given out as samples for our forthcoming exhibition in UPM.  Those who are interested were asked to see Farhanah ( u guys get ECO POINTS!!) On top of that, each segment was given a newly planted fruit tree to be taken care of. 


Soon after that, Mr Paul, who has kindly agreed to lend us a helping hand conducted an interesting presentation filled with tips and information regarding the proper ways to take care of a plant. Some of the more interesting tips he gave us which in my opinion, should most definitely be used, include making compost out of weeds and using a plastic pipe cut along an edge to protect newly planted plants from external dangers such as grass cutters. On top of that, he also suggested using   diluted liquid soap as a pesticide which doesn't disrupt the chemical composition of the soil in any way. 

The following is what tree care consists of:
TREE CARE ♥♥♥

1.Prunning 

2.Weeding

3.Plant protection(insects and pests)

4.Fertilizing

And after that a lady taught us how to use their website containing information of every plant we have planted,  jentik-jentik and ceri Terrenganu, just to name a few. Each segment had to register an account on the website, and we were taught how to properly utilise the website. As the meeting was drawing to a close, Farhanah demanded that we attend the next meeting as these two helpful representatives would be returning to pick up from where they left off on their presentations. Farhanah reminded us (once agaaaainnn -.-) that those who did not attend more than two meetings would find themselves no longer a part of Toyota Eco Rangers. Ah, our beloved revered leader :)

Eco Post #1 ; orang utans :)

Hello, there everyone.
People often say that the government should open more rehabilitation centres for the orang utans. But, do we know anything about rehabilitation in the first place? Well, in this blog post, I would like to give you a brief intro on the rehabilitation process.
The process starts off with the admission process where the orang utans are admitted to the rehabilitation centre. It is something like going to the hospital, you see...
Then, the orang utans will be quarantined for a period of 3-6 months to eliminate the risk of passing on diseases to other orang utans. During this period of time, medical examinations will be carried on them.
The orang utans will be sent to the nursery. Here, they will be thought the necessary skills for survival. The Outward Bound School (Platform A) will then be the place for these animals. This is where the orang utans are given freedom and are encouraged to stand on their own feet. Their natural forest diet is suplemented with milk, minerals, vitamins, and fruits twice a day. This is to ensure that they grow healthy.
Lastly, the orang utans will be sent for their "Survival Training". Sounds scary right? This process actually determines their future. It allows them to be fully independent in the forest. The orang utans in the rehabilitation centres will then live happily ever after ;)

Stanford College Recycling Competition

Our school's recycling team  is joining an inter-school competition organised by Stanford College in conjunction with the Go Green Campaign currently held by the college. Schools from other states such as Putrajaya, Malacca, Seremban, and Kuala Lumpur would also be participating in this competition, making the total number of competing teams 45.

The competition's launching ceremony was held on the 23rd of February and the competition begins officially on the 1st of March, ending on the 31st of May. Our recycling team has been keeping themselves busy by organising numerous recycling-related activities and competitions which would serve to raise awareness about the importance of recycling amongst our students.
 

One of the activities our recycling team has carried out is holding the inter-house recycling competition. Every sports house would have to compete against one another to see which house collects the highest number of recyclable items, and the house colour that wins this competition would be awarded a substantial amount of points.

This is an extremely creative way of finally getting the spoiled princesses attending our school to recycle :)

Lovely Disabled Home Recycling Event (20/3/2010)

On the 20th of March, a recycling project organised by the final year TESL (Value Education) students of University Malaysa on behalf Lovely Disabled Home was held in Lovely Disabled Home from 8am to 1pm. Lovely Disabled Home depends on resource recycling to support their centre's expenses, and it was established with the vision of providing a place to care for the physically handicapped, the mentally challenged and children with special needs. 

Its' vision is to save resources by recycling trash, thus making the community a better living place. Thus, volunteers were needed to help go around the neighbourhood (Jln SS 2/5 to SS 2/55 & Jln SS 2/75 to SS 2/113, PJ) collecting recyclable items before sorting them into different groups once they're done with collecting them. 

The purpose of this project was to create an awareness on recycling and let people understand more about the disabled. It also aimed to get as many people as possible involved in the recycling program organised by Lovely Disabled Home. Finally, they hoped to convince more people to partake in this event and be a volunteer.

100 volunteers were needed for this event.

Tree Planting Event at Raja Musa

The event I was asked to attend today alongside Jo Ee and Aliya was an eye opening experience for all of us, to say the least. The event today organised in conjunction with World Forestry Day Celebrations took place in Raja Musa, which as far as I knew, was rather long way from Wisma Hing in SS2, where we met up to carpool with GEC volunteers. We left Wisma Hing at approximately 7.30 am, and arrived at Raja Musa about an hour later.

The pothole ridden, muddy path leading towards the planting site proved to be much too big of an obstacle for a car filled with food and people, so everyone except for Regina, who drove had to get down from the car and walk a short distance to the planting site.

There, every volunteer was then treated to breakfast, which was a pleasant surprise for me as I didn't expect to be served breakfast out in the wilderness surrounding by weeds taller than I am. We had a large selection of food to choose from, ranging from curry puffs to sandwiches and even apples. After a scrumptious breakfast, we were led into the planting site where a basic introduction to the Raja Musa Peat Forest Rehabilitation Programme before instructions on what we were supposed to do for the day and how we were supposed to go about doing it were given.

Raja Musa Peat Forest Rehabilitation Programme is a long term project currently implemented by the Selangor Forestry Department and Global Environment Centre. The project aims to rehabilitate a total of 1000 ha of degraded peat swamp in Raja Musa Forest Reserve through community based enrichment planting as well as regular monitoring of illegal encroachment. The Raja Musa Peat Forest Reserve is a significant block of remaining peat forest in Peninsular Malaysia and is important ecosystem for freshwater source and carbon storage. The protection of this ecosystem will significantly secure the storage of carbon in the peat, a key greenhouse gas which contributes to climate change.

That was an excerpt from the invitation they sent us, by the way.

Each fair maiden was accompanied by a parang-wielding, dashing lad, and those who wielded parangs were in charge of clearing the horribly dense, impossibly tall weeds so that the fair maidens could poke bamboo stakes four steps away from one to another on the ground. These bamboo stakes would serve as an indication of where each tree was to be planted later. Trust me, going around poking stakes in the ground is easy, but it's navigating through the logs, over-sized roots, damp grass, and sudden drops in the ground hidden by grass that makes this experience a real eye-opener. This fair maiden can only imagine what slashing through the thick, prickly weeds feels like, especially after seeing numerous scratches on the arms of those who wielded parangs. ( I have two tiny scratches too, I hope they don't heal before I could show them off to Farhanah)

Oh, did I neglect to mention the fact that being the only secondary school students in the ocean of college and university volunteer made us stick out like a sore thumb?  

The fact that our club had a name like 'Eco Rangers' made us appear much 'younger' in their eyes, and because we 'lacked muscles', the people in charge of the programme kept asking college boys to help us. We ended up barely doing anything at all.

After we were done poking 400 stakes into the ground (Don't worry, the workload was distributed evenly amongst the volunteers), we were asked to take a short break whilst awaiting the arrival of the stars of the day-the trees. We didn't have to wait for long before he sound of gravel crunching beneath tires greeted our ears. Each group carried about 5 or 6 Marcots to the planting site where we had to track down the bamboo stakes and plant the marcots beside them. By the way, Marcotting (otherwise known as grafting) is a process whereby the epidermis of a tree bark is sliced off and removed, before the area is covered by a ball of soil. The ball of soil covering the sliced-off area would then be secured by plastic bags and ties, and the Marcots are then left to sprout roots over the duration of 45 days before they are finally removed and replanted once again.

Using this process, the Raja Musa Peat Forest Rehabilitation Programme has seen a tremendous increase in their yields.

Planting trees is much harder than I previously thought it would be. Poisoned by the media with images of smiling ministers using ribbon-adorned spades to insert pretty plants into ready-made holes while standing on a carpet, planting proved to be an immensely difficult chore for me. Merely carrying the basket of 6-feet tall plants on my back already proved to be a difficult chore for me, and when I attempted to dig a hole in the ground... let's just put it nicely and say that my efforts were pathetic.

Under the blazing sun, planting 380 marcots took around an hour and a half, and by the time we were finally done, I was starting to rethink my decision of painting my room green. Despite my complaints, I still have to admit that meeting the volunteers was a great experience and planting was rather fun. Had it not been for this event, I might have spent the rest of my undoubtedly long life under the misguided impression that gardening was done in an air-conditioned room using spades in pristine condition.

Meeting 19/3/2010

A meeting was held in Farhanah's house on the 19th of March from 9 am to 12 noon, and every segment was supposed to send a representative to said meeting to hear Farhanah ramble on and on about very important things. Many segments were given 2 waste points because they didn't send a representative. The first thing Farhanah discussed was that we were invited for an eco carnival organised by Universiti Putra Malaysia. It's going to be held on the 30th and 31st of March, which is a Wednesday and a Thursday. Each day would be attended by 5 people, who would be put in charge of managing our booth, given to us for free. Farhanah thanks the blogging segment because it is through our blog that UPM came to know about us. They were particularly intrigued by the fact that we've been making and selling bio enzyme. Farhanah has planned for us to allow visitors to our booth to sample our Aloe Vera juice and Bangun-bangun tea. Our scrapbooks would also be displayed, as well as leave samples of the plants in our herbs garden. We have decided to sell bio enzyme and compost for now.

After that, Farhanah reminded everyone that there was going to be a tree planting event the next day, and asked if anyone else besides Jo Ee and Angela wanted to go for said event. Atikah said that she would try to attend the event, since her schedule for the day is free. 

Soon after that, all the segments present were reminded of their jobs, and all confusion and complications regarding our respective jobs were cleared up. The meeting dismissed at 12pm.

Holiday Herb Garden Cleaning (15th March 2010)

Sri Aman Eco Ranger are very much committed to what we're doing. We love it that people swoon over our ever beautiful herb garden. And that is why, on the 15th March 2010, the first day of March Holiday, our beloved president took the initiative to call up all members who care and free enough to go to the Herb Garden and clean it.

The meeting stars at 8.30 am with Farhanah coming a bit later because she was bringing all the plants. Now, we have morning glory at our herb garden. :) We started our meeting with plowing the fish -like area at the herb garden. There were a lot of worms there. Like seriously. They were crawling under those spades with us. Hmmph. But we got over it and plant the prettiest hibiscus plants there.

We also took out some of the plants from the pot and plant it inside the herb garden. We made a line of plants outside the herb garden and made a shocking discovery there. We found hard cold cement there. Like really hard. We left it alone after that but not without thinking that someone purposely build the cement there in order to stop us from getting the treasure underneath. Hmmph.

We also had a little picnic there. The food was mostly junk food but boy, it was the best food ever for us. (Y) We got to eat them with our friends. It was the best feeling ever.

The meeting ended at 11.30 am. We went home feeling like we have contributed something to the environment. I know, completely vain. But people who come on a holiday at 8.30 am in the morning dealing with worms until 11.30 am deserve to be vain. :)

Yours ever truly,
Elsa

Biodiversity Launch :D

Friday, 11th March 2010 made a history when it was picked as the date for the launching for Biodiversity Programme by MARDI. :)

It was launched by a doctor from Philippine who was a real expert on biodiversity. He talked in a sexy accent. :) He gave speech on how to join online biodiversity programme. It's basically like Facebook. But it matters way more than FB. Unfortunately, I was too busy as the photographer to take notes on everything the doctor said.

After that, we went to the field where the VIPs planted many trees in support of this biodiversity launch. The plant rare fruit trees that can only be found in Malaysia.

All of the Eco rangers members were then treated free food courtesy of the school. Overall, it was a good prgramme to raise awareness about the importance of preserving biodiversity in Malaysia.

PICTURES FOR YOU TO SEEE ;

Biodiversity FTW,

ELSA!

How To Build an Eco-Friendly Pool

Swimming pool is obivously a luxury, but it is very hard to build an eco-friendly one! These pools do not contain any chlorine or chemicals.You will need to line the pool with reinforced polyethylene. If the germs that enter the pool worries you, install a UV sterilizer as a precautionary measure. The tiles of the eco-friendly pool should be made of recycled glass or other suitable recyclabe materials. As for the paint, it should not contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and this type of paint is more long lasting than the ordinary one! For the insulating concrete foam, poleystrene, rastra or drisol should be used. To enhance the pool's embiance, you can use colourful flowers or even natural stones!

So, if you plan to build a pool in your house, please make it an eco-friendly one to

Save our mother nature :)

By,
Syafiqah Adam :)                

Plants buying and 4th March 2010 (Herbs Garden Cleaning)

At an undisclosed time, Farhanah, our beloved president had went to the extreme length of buying new plants for our herbs garden. She bought the plants at Sg Buloh and on Thursday, 4th March 2010 marks the eventful day in which us, the GOOD eco rangers team members who simply have too much free times in our hands clean the herbs garden. WOOOHOO. It was a new beginning. A beginning to a beautiful herbs garden. With beautiful plants and all the pretty colourful FLOWERS. YAY!

This cleaning session started at 2.30 pm until 4.30 pm. It involved pulling out trees from the herbs garden and putting them into empty pots. We have bigger plans for the herbs garden. Farhanah and the members in charge would revamp the WHOLE garden and plant new and more beautiful trees. NGEE :D

So cool, right?

We pulled out plants. We plant plants. And I was particularly proud because I did all these in BAJU KURUNG which ended up muddy. -__- But it was okay. Since muddy clothes is a small price to pay for a greener future. We *gembur-ed the soil so that the generous gardeners could plant the newly bought trees (which Farhanah bought at Sg. Buloh) at the herbs garden.

By the time it ended, the herbs garden looked like a dessert surrounded by hibiscus (since we put the hibiscus inside the tires).
I believe that Sri Aman Eco Ranger would have a totally fab new herbs garden in 3 weeks time. Because the gardeners has already planted the plants. And we are heading the right direction. :)

Pictures!:

Sg Buloh :)

Loads of ECO love,

Elsa

Plant shopping at Sungai Buloh (3/3/2010)

On the 3rd of March, Pn. Yeo, Farhanah and Soo Sun went to Sungai Buloh to do some plant shopping, as Sungai Buloh has a reputation for selling plants and gardening tools at considerably lower prices than other shops. As soon as school ended, the school's driver drove them to Sungai Buloh in the Avanza they rented from the school.

Not surprisingly as it was their first time there, they got lost around the Sungai Buloh area for around half an hour before finding their way and discovering that the area in question was actually located near the Subang Airport. They were greeted by the sight of around 70 shops selling garden pebbles, numerous species of plants, and even gardening tools, though they immediately made a beeline for the nurseries in order to purchase some herbs for our herbs garden.

There, they were pleasantly surprised to note that the herbs were sold at RM 2 instead of RM 5, which is the price most nurseries in the PJ area offer. They bought various herbs such as the morning glory, senduduk, bunga tahi ayam, bunga melur, limau purut, limau kasturi, pokok kari, misai kucing, mulberi and pokok inai before making their way to a shop selling garden pebbles to buy pebbles which they initially intended to use in making a walkway for our Herbs Garden. Unfortunately, they couldn't do so for fear of damaging the car's suspension, and made their way back to the school at about 5.30 pm, getting themselves caught in a rush-hour traffic jam in the process. By the time they arrived at the school, it was about 6pm and they all hoped that the plants would live and grow healthily.

Pictures from the day in question:

Plant Tagging at the Mini Eco Forest (3/3/2010)

On the 3rd of March 2010, the photography segment decided that 2 waste points was too big an injury to their flawless record, and hatched a brilliant plan to redeem themselves in Farhanah's wide, gorgeous eyes (and their Eco Points) They decided to tag every last plant in our minuscule Eco Forest with the names of all the members. Every member would have to take care of the plants entrusted to them, and ensure that they are healthy. The Photography segment was helped by Siti Sarah, our treasurer and two volunteers, Sophia and Thivyabanu. Strings were used to tie the laminated labels containing the names of every member to each of the 80 plants at the Eco Forest. They started working at around 2.30 pm and their job ended around 4 pm. Now, each Eco Ranger has a plant to nurture and take care of!

Pictures speaking thousands of words on my behalf:

Clearing Herbs Garden (2/3/2010)

On the 2nd of March 2010, around 10 members of Eco Rangers were excused from their respective classes from 10 am to 1 pm in order to clear up our Herbs Garden as some visitors were scheduled to pay a visit to our school later on in the day. The members weeded the garden and took out the unwanted and dead plants such as pegaga and kaduk which were growing wildly. The bricks which were placed around some of the plants were also removed. Some of the plants which have ended their lifespan were also removed from the garden, Misai Kucing, for instance. After 3 whole hours of blood and sweat, the garden finally looked presentable enough to be displayed to our school's honoured guests.

Meeting - 22/2/2010

Hey Eco Rangers, so last Monday for our weekly meeting, eco rangers held an interesting activity.We were all divided into two groups to perform two different task. One of the group volunteered to paint car tyres donated by the generous members of Eco Ranger. On the other hand, the other group were asked to water the forest a.k.a the plants in front of the school field. After we were done with our task, we moved on to another activity. We were asked to collect sticks around the field. It was later used to support plants that weren't straight. This activity was monitored by a few seniors. And that was the last of it. Lastly, I would like to express my highest gratitude to all eco rangers who help make Sri Aman a more beautiful school. Thank You.  :)