Earth Day

On Wednesday the 22nd the whole planet celebrated the Earth Day. There were many kinds of celebration. Last night I watched de Caprio narrated and produced a film about it which was aired under HBO channel. Bernama TV organised a chat show. I have the following wishes for the Earth Day Malaysia.

1. I want to see cleaner rivers. Every year DOE reported the increasing number of dirty rivers in Peninsular Malaysia and a lot of public money had been spent to clean these rivers from physical pollutants but not from chemical pollutants. The non-point sources of river pollution are still pouring their greases and chemical effluents into the dying river ecosystem. We really need an auto-monitoring electronic system to take care of this menace.

2. I want to see a proper waste management system. The three zones in Peninsular Malaysia have got their care-takers to manage the waste but I have yet to see them working. After every festive seasons we still saw heaps and heaps of waste piling along the road-sides, much to the envy of cats and dogs. What had happenend to the recyclers?

3. I want to see zero littering in public. I drive from my homes to the campus passing through Bandar Baru Bangi and Jalan Reko and I still observe people throwing litters and wastes from buses and cars. I am sure elsewhere in the country people are still doing this bad habit. I am happy to note that Kuching and Kuala Terengganu are very clean cities.

4. I want to see a better public transport system. I hate to travel to Kuala Lumpur for meetings as I can't rely on public transport and I don't like to drive myself because of traffic jam. When can I carry my bag and travel by bus or trains to meeting like my friends in Tokyo and London and other cities did.

5. I want to see less but efficient use of fuel energy. Many drivers were observed to speed their cars and motorcycles as they approached the traffic lights and round-about and I could not understand their behaviour to waste their fuel this way. Granted they could pay for the petrol but I was told we are still a net-imported of the fuel.

6. I want to see the states taking care of their biodiversity. The rich biodiversity belongs to the state but they don't have the human capacity and vision to harness this green capital to their socio-economic benefits except Sarawak and Sabah. I want to see Biodiversity & Biotechnology Institutes established in many other states.

7. I want to see great public awareness of the environment. The teachers in kindergardens, schools and the lectures in the universities could play an important role incalcating this among their pupils and students. After all they will inherit this earth from us.

8. I want to see a better design of buildings. I am impressed with the green designs implemented elsewhere to save house energy, water and make the house enbironment more pristine. I imagine Hijjas Kasturi and my friend Chris Wong are at this now. I want to see the architects, designers and engineers work together for a better physical landscape that minimise natural resources.

9. I want to see a better earth governance. I hate wars that destroyed cities, towns, dwellings, mosques, museum, artefacts and even pollute water supply to the innocents. I would like to see more Gorbachevs, Obamas, Bruntlands, Gores, etc. However, I don't see among the Malaysian leaders who champion the Malaysian environment and our planet Earth. The majority paid lip services in their respective ministries, after all they didn't even discuss this in their political party meetings.

10. I want to see the governments implement sustainbale development, whatever it means to them. The seeds were germinated in the RM9 document after all.

Thanks and Happy Earth Day.