Eco Kids Column November 2016: Meet Hailey Fort, 9-Year-Old Humanitarian and Eco Hero

PENCINTA ALAM NOVEMBER 2016
ECO KIDS COLUMN

MEET HAILEY FORT, 9-YEAR-OLD HUMANITARIAN AND ECO HERO

(By Wong Ee Lynn <wongeelynn@yahoo.com / gl.mnselangor@yahoo.com>
Compiled and edited from Bored Panda at www.boredpanda.com. All photo credits: Bored Panda)

 

 

 

 

Although Hailey Fort is only 9 years old, she has already done more to help the homeless and needy than many adults ever have. This inspiring young lady spends her free time building mobile shelters for the homeless, and even grows food and provides toiletries for them.

 

 

 

 

When Hailey was 5 years old, she asked her mother, Miranda, about helping a homeless man she saw in Bremerton, Washington, where she lives. Her mother said yes, and now they work together to help the needy. The man she helped, Edward, has become her friend. She builds the shelters, “so then you don’t get rained on and you feel safe and stay dry.” “It just doesn’t seem right that there are homeless people,” Hailey told King 5 News. “I think everyone should have a place to live.”

 

 

 

 

This year, Hailey's goal is to grow 250lbs (113kg) of food, build 12 shelters, and delivers thousands of toiletries and hygienic items. You can help her by contributing to her GoFundMe campaign at https://www.gofundme.com/vp9h9h5g

 

 

Green Living SIG's Tips for Helping The Homeless Community In Your Area:

 

 

There are homeless individuals in Malaysia as well. Many people become homeless due to illness, family problems, abandonment by family members, lack of education, or problems with employers or business partners, among others. Many of them work at low-paying jobs in order to send money home to their families in their villages. They cannot afford rent in cities and towns. Here are ways you can help the homeless and poor, even if you do not have Hailey Fort's carpentry and farming skills!

 

 

1. Collect, wash and sort used but wearable clothes, bags, blankets, towels and shoes. Donating and reusing clothes and similar items is good for the environment as it keeps usable items out of landfills and reduces the need for the homeless and poor to buy themselves cheap clothing of poor quality.

 

 

2. Collect unopened bottles of shampoo, soap and toiletries from family and friends, especially those you get as samples or from hotels. Collecting and donating toiletries is also good for the environment because it helps you declutter and find a use for assorted toiletries.

 

 

Donate the abovementioned items to organisations that assist the homeless in Malaysia, such as:
(i) Kedai Jalanan, managed by the Gender Studies Faculty of University Malaya (https://www.facebook.com/Gender-Studies-University-of-Malaya-233365060180586/?fref=nf)
(ii) Reach Out Malaysia
(iii) Kechara Soup Kitchen
(iv) Dapur Jalanan Pulau Pinang (https://www.facebook.com/dapurjalananpp/?fref=ts)
(v) Dapur Jalanan Kuala Lumpur (https://www.facebook.com/dapurjalanankl/?fref=ts)
(vi) Dapur Jalanan Ipoh (https://www.facebook.com/dapurjalananipoh/?fref=ts)
(vi) Dapur Jalanan Muar (https://www.facebook.com/dapurjalananmuar/?fref=ts)
(vii) Need To Feed The Need (https://www.facebook.com/needtofeedtheneed/?fref=ts)
(viii) Pertubuhan Amal Seri Sinar
(ix) Yellow House KL (https://www.facebook.com/YellowHouseKl/?fref=ts)

 

 

3. Contact the organisations listed above to inquire what food is suitable for donation. Cooked food has to be very fresh, hot and wholesome to be suitable for donation. Please do not donate any expired or stale food, or anything that you would not yourself eat. If someone you know works for a food manufacturer, a bakery, a fruit/vegetable store or a grocery/convenience store, ask if they are able to donate any items (e.g. buns, biscuits, drinks) that are close to their expiry date but have not expired yet. Many such items are delivered back to the manufacturers for destruction. Redirecting them to the homeless feeds the hungry and prevents waste.

 

 

4. Grow fruits and vegetables for the homeless. Even small amounts of sweet potato leaves, Brazilian spinach, long beans, winged beans, cucumbers, kangkung, bayam and spinach can be donated to organisations that cook for the homeless to be added to noodles, fried rice or soup.

 

 

5. Ask for donations of dry food items (e.g. rice, canned food, biscuits, beans, buns, beverages, dried fruit) instead of presents for your next birthday party. If you plan to go out the same day/night to distribute food with any of the organisations that help the homeless, you can ask for donations of fruits and baked goods from your guests as well. 

 

 

6. Volunteer your skills. Perhaps you or someone in your family are able to give hairwashes or haircuts to the homeless (Contact Yellow House KL about their Street Salon programme). Perhaps you or someone you know happens to be an animal rescuer, and can help the homeless get their pets neutered and vaccinated. If you are an amateur musician, magician or performer, you can volunteer to perform at the parties held by charitable organisations for street folks during the festive season. You can volunteer with these organisations as street store helpers, food distributors, cooks, kitchen helpers and cleanup crew.

 

 

Letter to the Editor: Halt Logging In The Terenggun Virgin Forest Reserve

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

HALT LOGGING IN THE TERENGGUN VIRGIN FOREST RESERVE

The Pahang Menteri Besar’s statement disavowing responsibility for logging in the Terenggun Virgin Forest Reserve (VFR) in Kuala Lipis defies logic and the principles of accountability and transparency.

If, as the MB stated, no logging permits have been issued for the Terenggun VFR, then the tree-felling activities must necessarily be illegal, whether the logging is for the purpose of the timber industry or for road construction, as claimed in his statement dated 20th August 2016.

Based on observable facts and basic civil engineering practices, there are no instances in which timber is utilised in modern-day road construction in Malaysia. It follows therefore that the trees were felled to clear the way for road construction and the timber became just another source of income.

Either possibility is an alarming one, as neither logging nor road construction should be permitted in a forest reserve, especially one with such high biodiversity as the Terenggun VFR. Logging and road construction in Terenggun would affect air and water quality, destroy vital watersheds leading to the increased risk of flash floods, landslides and drought, fragmentise and annihilate wildlife habitats and hasten the extinction of wildlife.

There is no environmental or traffic impact assessment report to indicate that there is a necessity for a road to be constructed through the Terenggun VFR. Opening up a road in a forest reserve would simply create access for illegal loggers, hunters and wildlife poachers. Constructing a road through this ecologically-sensitive area would not alleviate any traffic problems or improve the quality of life of Pahang citizens in any way. It would instead cause both human and animal populations to suffer adverse effects from the reduced air and water quality and increased carbon emissions, human-wildlife conflicts and traffic fatalities.

It is clear from the ambiguous response of the authorities on the issue of logging in the Terenggun VFR that the forest-clearing was carried out in a highly irregular manner without complying with proper procedures or without any proper assessments or reports.

As a concerned citizen, I therefore urge the Pahang State Government and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) to put an immediate stop to logging in the Terenggun VFR and other forest reserves, and take steps to protect forests and wildlife.

Tropical rainforests have more economic value intact than degraded, due to the ecological and sociocultural services they provide. Pahang stands to gain more economic benefits from keeping its forests intact and biologically diverse, than from issuing permits for logging, mining and road construction in forested areas. Pahang is well-known for, among others, its national parks and great ecotourism potential, and therefore there are economic and cultural incentives for conserving its forest reserves and promoting sustainable use of its forest resources.

The state forestry authorities are entrusted with the honoured duty of monitoring and protecting forest reserves and gazetted areas. There are no defensible reasons why the state forestry department would condone or be ignorant of any intrusions of such degree.

There are countless concerned and civic-minded citizens and environmental organisations who are willing to assist the government and forestry authorities in monitoring and protecting our rainforests and wildlife, should the need arise. Civil society’s readiness to play its part in conservation efforts must now be matched by political will on the part of state and federal authorities and enforcement agencies to protect and conserve forest reserves.

WONG EE LYNN

COORDINATOR,

GREEN LIVING SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP,

MALAYSIAN NATURE SOCIETY

Helping Hands at the MNS Urban Community Forest

PENCINTA ALAM AUGUST 2016
ECO KIDS COLUMN
HELPING HANDS AT THE MALAYSIAN NATURE SOCIETY URBAN COMMUNITY FOREST
By Wong Ee Lynn
<wongeelynn@yahoo.com / gl.mnselangor@yahoo.com>

"Take care of the land and the land will take care of you."
~ H. Bennett.

 

 

What if we told you that you didn't have to go on a long holiday to a place far away in order to help volunteer for a project that helps the environment? What if we told you that you could volunteer any weekend you please, and still have time for your other activities, tuition classes or music lessons after helping out for a few hours on a Saturday morning? What if we told you there is a place in the city where you can volunteer to help the environment and plant rainforest trees on Saturday mornings and learn more about trees, gardening and the environment? What if we told you there is a place in the city where your club, society, class or Scout/Guide troop can visit and volunteer and learn about trees and nature, without much hassle or expense?

 

At the MNS Urban Community Forest located at the Malaysian Nature Society Headquarters in Jalan Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur, you can do just that!

 

There is an ongoing initiative by our MNS Head of Conservation Mr. Balu Perumal to plant Merbau saplings from seed at a nursery set up at the MNS Urban Community Forest. Merbau trees are endangered due to logging and deforestation. The Merbau saplings grown at the MNS Urban Community Forest will be replanted in forest reserves, parks and other places upon request from schools, societies, and volunteers.

 

Planting over 5,000 seeds is a lot of work! Some trees will make it to adulthood. Some will not. The important thing is to keep planting as many as we can, in the best conditions possible to improve their chances of survival. Merbau trees need sunlight but not too much water. They do not grow well in soggy and muddy soil.

 

MNS Selangor Branch's Green Living Special Interest Group has been asking Mr. Balu for young trees to be replanted at the Kota Damansara Community Forest in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. So far we have replanted over 70 trees.

 

On 28th May 2016, Green Living held a "Give-Back Day" at the MNS Urban Community Forest to help Mr. Balu plant Merbau seeds and transplant Merbau saplings at the nursery to return the favour for all the lovely young trees he has given us. Mr. Balu plants the seeds and tends to the plants at the nursery every Saturday morning from 9.00 - 11.00 a.m.

 

Around 18 volunteers, including 5 schoolchildren and their dedicated teacher, Cikgu Aminah, and another 2 children accompanied by their father, Dr. Sanath, came to help us on Give-Back Day.

 

Merbau seeds look like pebbles, don't they? They are hard and need to be soaked before they can be planted. (Photo credits: Sunrise Seekers Sayli)

 

 

 

Very young Merbau seedlings. Don't they remind you of the giant beanstalk in 'Jack and the Beanstalk'? (Photo credits: Sunrise Seekers Sayli)

 

 

The schoolchildren admiring the pebble-like appearance of the Merbau seeds.

 

 

Mr. Balu explaining what we need to do for the day.

 

 

The Merbau saplings in the nursery are arranged according to the month they were planted. Some need more sunlight than others.

 

 

The cheerful young volunteers helped us move the 3-month-old saplings to another area where they can receive more sunlight, so that we can free up space for the new saplings we were about to transplant.

 

 

The children used spades to help break up and loosen the soil for better drainage, so that the tree roots can breathe and would not be waterlogged in heavy clumps of soil.

 

 

 

The children filled up each planting bag halfway through with soil and carried them to the adult volunteers, who had to carefully dig out each young plant and transplant them into the bags.

 

 

 

A group photo of some of the volunteers who had worked so hard all morning! Never underestimate the difference children can make! Little hands do important work, too!

 

If you would like to assist and volunteer, please contact the MNS office at 03-22879422 and ask for Mr. Balu.

 

The MNS Urban Community Forest and office is located at  JKR 641, Jalan Kelantan, Bukit Persekutuan, 50480 Kuala Lumpur.

 

If you or your parents are on Facebook, please visit and click 'Like' on  MNS Urban Community Forest's Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/MNS-Urban-Community-Forest-134370753634265/?fref=ts

Green Living Column: Alternatives to Antibacterial Soap

PENCINTA ALAM AUGUST 2016

GREEN LIVING COLUMN
ALTERNATIVES TO ANTIBACTERIAL SOAP

 

Maybe you’ve heard how the overuse of antibiotics is causing the rise of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.” The same can be said of antibacterial products such as antibacterial shower gel, hand soap and hand sanitisers.

 

As epidemiologist Allison Aiello explains to Scientific American, most antibacterial soaps contain the ingredient triclosan. When the bacteria are exposed to triclosan, they can undergo genetic mutations. These same mutations not only protect them from triclosan (or whatever other antibacterial product you are using), but can make them more difficult to kill with antibiotics!

 

In animal studies like this one at the Journal of Toxicological Sciences it was found that triclosan altered the hormones in rats, causing an estrogenic effect. The FDA says that animal studies aren’t always indicative of what will happen to humans, but even they recommend reviewing the risks further and say that concerned consumers should use regular soap instead.

 

A study, reported in Smithsonian Magazine, found that triclosan “hinders human muscle contractions at the cellular level and inhibits normal muscle functioning in both fish and mice.” The researchers weren’t even exposing cells to super-high dosages during the study. They used levels of triclosan similar to what we experience every day.

 

Further, there are a lot of theories about why allergies are on the rise, and one is that the overly-sanitized environment that we live in is harming the development of our immune system. A study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology furthers this theory. It found that the triclosan commonly found in antibacterial products causes mutations, which may lead to food allergies.

 

Antibacterial soap is not only bad for human health, it is bad for the environment. When you rinse your hands of antibacterial soap, it doesn’t just disappear down the drain. It gets into our environment and could have disastrous consequences. As Eco Watch reports, the antibacterial chemicals in soap aren’t completely removed by wastewater treatment facilities. The chemicals get transferred into sludge, which is then put on agricultural land and could contaminate surface water.

 

Several studies,including one published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and another in the Oxford Journal of Infectious Disease, have looked into the effectiveness of antibacterial soaps. It was reported that antimicrobial soap was “no more effective than plain soap” at preventing infectious illness.  This shouldn’t be too surprising considering that most diseases are caused by viruses and NOT bacteria, so antibacterial soap isn’t effective.

 

Alternatives to antibacterial soap include the following:

 

1. Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently. It’s not the type of soap that prevents the spread of bacteria and viruses, it’s how you wash your hands. Lather up and rub hands together vigorously for 20 seconds. Don’t forget the spaces between your fingers, your wrists, and under your nails. Rinse thoroughly. Dry hands well and launder hand towels often in hot water.

 

2. Choose a nontoxic cleaner: Shop for biodegradable, plant-based, environmentally-friendly cleaners that do not contain triclosan, triclocarbon, chlorine, lye, glycol ethers, and ammonia. You don't need these strong disinfectants to get surfaces clean.

 

3. Disinfect objects that come into contact with raw meat, fish, or eggs, such as cutting boards and utensils. Scrub cutting boards and wipe down kitchen counters with a non-toxic disinfectant. You can find such cleaning products in the organic products sections, or make your own by using white vinegar followed by 3% hydrogen peroxide (available at the pharmacy). Keep the liquids handy in separate spray bottles. It doesn't matter which one you use first, but both are much more effective than either one alone.

 

 4. Disinfect sponges and kitchen rags by microwaving them for 30 seconds on high power if dry, longer if wet -- sponges for one minute, and rags for three minutes.

 

5. Clean bathrooms and kitchen hard surfaces using a store-bought non-toxic cleaning solution, or make your own. Borax disinfects but is milder than bleach. It’s also effective on mildew, especially combined with vinegar. You can make a cleaning solution by adding 1/2 cup of each to a gallon of water. Hydrogen peroxide will reduce microorganisms on surfaces. A 50/50 vinegar/water solution will clean tile, counters, cabinet fronts and soap scum in the shower. A baking soda and water paste will clean stuck on gunk in the shower and tub (use vinegar instead of water for really tough stains). Many people find the smell of vinegar to be unpleasant. You can mask the smell by adding a few drops of essential oils (e.g. lavender, tea tree or citronella) to the vinegar.

 

6. Add essential oils to your natural cleaning products as a disinfectant and deodorant. A few drops of mint or lavender oil added to a natural plant-based hand soap will add fragrance and kill any possible bacteria. Citronella or lemongrass oil added to a liquid cleaning solution can keep insects off your floor and kitchen counters. Tea tree oil will inhibit fungal growth in your bathroom and kitchen tile grout and around your sink. Add a little lavender oil to your laundry detergent to make your clothes smell fresh without resorting to harmful chemicals and artificial fragrances. 

 

(Sources: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/6-reasons-to-stop-using-antibacterial-soap-now.html and http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/antibacterial-soap-do-you-need-it)

 

 

 

 

 

Making Cheap Furniture Last Longer

PENCINTA ALAM JULY 2016

GREEN LIVING COLUMN

MAKING CHEAP FURNITURE LAST LONGER

By Wong Ee Lynn

<wongeelynn@yahoo.com / gl.mnselangor@yahoo.com>

 

We all know that inexpensive furniture has a high environmental cost. Most affordable furniture is made with particleboard, medium density fibreboard (MDF) or laminate wood.

Pros of cheap furniture:

·         Mostly made using sawdust and lumber scraps, and thus reduces waste.

Cons of particleboard and MDF:

·         One of the components of particleboard is formaldehye, which is considered a "probable human carcinogen" by the Environmental Protection Agency.  Inexpensive furniture is thought to emit higher levels of formaldehyde because it's cheaper to manufacture particleboard using glues that are higher in formaldehyde versus low-formaldehyde options.

·         It also takes more energy to produce particleboard than it does to manufacture lumber boards.  The process typically begins where scraps of wood are broken down, dried, mixed with adhesives and heated.  It is then pressed into particleboard.

 

Above all, one of the main rules of green living is to buy quality items that won't need to be replaced often.  Particleboard and MDF furniture doesn't usually last very long.

Buying solid wood furniture can be very expensive, and we are not often able to find secondhand furniture of good quality. What, then, can we do to make our cheap furniture last longer? How can we take care of things and put them to use long enough to delay dumping them at the landfill? Here are some tried and tested tips:

 

1.      First, decide if you really need to purchase a new item of furniture. Minimising the units of furniture you have means fewer things to pay for, maintain, clean and find space for. Tidy up your closet and put storage boxes inside to eliminate the need for a chest of drawers. Make your dining table do double duty as the family work table and desk. Rearrange the sofa and armchairs to bring them closer to the coffee table to eliminate the need for side tables. Choose beds with underbed and headboard storage so you won’t need to purchase separate nightstands. Wait a month before you decide to replace a broken item of furniture. By the end of one month, you might decide you coped just fine without it.

 

2.      Find alternatives to cheap particleboard and MDF furniture. Steel, canvas, cane/rattan and bamboo are all good alternatives to particleboard and MDF, and will usually last longer.

 

3.       Another affordable alternative to particleboard/MDF would be unfinished wood products. Paint or stain them with the most environmentally-safe paints or wood finishes you can find.

 

4.      Buy good quality secondhand furniture from friends, families and people who are moving away. Very often, secondhand furniture just need minor repairs before they can be used again. You can paint or stain wood with high-quality paint to make it match your furniture. If there are chips, scratches, cracks or minor holes in wood furniture, you can fill these gaps using wood filler, such as Pye Woodfilla. If it is not necessary to repaint an entire item of furniture, but merely touch up scratches, you might not have to buy entire cans of paint. Acrylic paint, such as that left over from mug and coin box painting projects, makes a good touch-up paint. Mix it until you get the right shade or colour, dab it onto the scratches and give it plenty of time to dry.

 

5.      Find ways to make-over used furniture. A badly scuffed table or sideboard can be given a fresh new look with a glass surface, plastic tablecloths, or fabric table runners. For broken cabinet doors, take the measurements to a carpenter and have new doors made. If a sideboard or AV cabinet has broken drawer units but the rest of the item of furniture is still sturdy, remove the drawer units and metal tracks (if any), and put storage boxes in the space that is left (see picture).

 

 

6.      Here in the tropics, humidity (including moisture from mopped floors) wears out and damages cheap furniture more rapidly than in cooler, drier climates. To prevent and delay damage by moisture, place the furniture on risers, bricks or tiles, or attach sliders or castors to the bottom of furniture to keep them off the ground and not touching damp or humid surfaces.

 

7.      If you have already purchased cheap particleboard/MDF furniture, reinforce and line the surfaces (such as table tops and the insides of drawers and cabinets) with adhesive wallpaper, Contact paper or plastic sheets. Although purchasing and using more plastic is hardly sound environmental advice, the plastic covering will protect the surfaces from moisture damage, stains and scratches and help the item of furniture look better and last much longer. Plus, you can always wash and reuse plastic sheets.

 

8.      When putting cheap furniture together, tighten the joints as far as you can. This will stop it from wobbling and falling apart easily. Mark it in your calendar to tighten the joints again every 6-12 months. It would be a good idea to use wood glue or wood filler to fill up the gaps as well, as it would make your furniture sturdier.

 

9.      Use duct tape to reinforce sagging drawer unit bottoms. Check to make sure it doesn't interfere with any rolling or moving mechanisms.

 

10.  Many particleboard cupboards have flimsy thin boards for the backs (i.e. the part that leans against the wall). Use duct tape and Contact paper to strengthen these boards and hold them in place, as these are usually the first parts of the cupboards to fall apart.

 

11.  Use corner braces and brackets to reinforce the corners of cabinets, shelves and drawers so they will hold up better and be able to take more weight.

 

12.  In spite of the above, do not overload shelves and cabinets with too many things. Even out the weight of the contents. Put the heavier items on the bottom shelves and against the corners and walls, not the centres of the shelves, drawers and cabinets where it might sag.

 

 

MNS Green Living Give-Back Day!

MNS GREEN LIVING GIVE-BACK DAY

DATE: SATURDAY, 28TH MAY 2016

TIME: 8 A.M. - 12 NOON

LOCATION: MALAYSIAN NATURE SOCIETY (MNS) URBAN NATURE CENTRE, JKR 641, JALAN KELANTAN, BUKIT PERSEKUTUAN, 50480 KUALA LUMPUR.

Do you know that there is a volunteer-run nursery for meranti trees at the MNS HQ? And do you know that MNS Green Living has taken at least 100 meranti saplings so far from this nursery for our forest cleanup and tree-planting sessions in forest reserves in Selangor?

This 28th May, we hope to give back to the MNS HQ nursery! Come in your outdoor clothes and bring along gardening tools to help us replant the seeds and replenish the stock of saplings! Also, please bring edible plants (e.g. pandan, lemongrass, curry leaves, lime trees) for transplanting in our little edible garden.

Proposed itinerary:

8.00 - 10.00 a.m.: Replant meranti saplings and edible plants. Clean up and weed the nursery and edible garden. Explore Heritage Trail behind the MNS HQ.

10.00 a.m. - 12.00 noon: Urban Community Forest Introductory Workshop, coordinated and sponsored by Think City, to lobby for the protection and preservation of Federal Hill as an Urban Community Forest. 

Please spread the word among your friends, and spare a few hours to come and help us volunteer. Many hands make light work, and we need all the helping hands we can to ensure a steady supply of saplings for future tree-planting projects!

To volunteer, just show up! For inquiries, please contact MNS Green Living SIG Coordinator Ee Lynn at wongeelynn@yahoo.com / 0132286812. 

Letter to the Editor: Stop Degazetting Forest Reserves for Highway Projects

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

STOP DEGAZETTING FOREST RESERVES FOR HIGHWAY PROJECTS

 

The Selangor State Government’s tenacity in degazetting and destroying forest reserves for tolled highway projects is an outrage to the principles of integrity, transparency and environmental responsibility it had promised it would uphold during the last General Elections.

 

The East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) would brutalise the Ulu Gombak and Ampang forests, fragmenting wildlife habitats and destroying vital watershed areas as it does so. Now the proposed Sungai Besi – Ulu Klang Elevated Expressway (SUKE) would bisect and destroy more green lungs, including Bukit Saga, a nature spot beloved by hikers and campers, while the proposed Damansara-Shah Alam Highway (DASH) would cut through the Bukit Cherakah and Sungai Buloh forest reserves.

 

The plans for these highway projects are seen to have been pushed through with alarming haste, without giving citizen action groups and residents sufficient notice or opportunity to provide their feedback on the same. It has been reported that the SUKE and DASH highway projects were not even formally listed in the local planning documents as required by the Town and Country Planning Act 1976, and as such, the said plans should have been rejected from the start.

 

The destruction of these vital forest reserves in an already overdeveloped state will result in more dry spells and poorer water and air quality for Selangor residents. Constructing roads through previously forested areas would increase wildlife mortality, provide access to loggers, poachers and hunters, and increase soil, water, air, noise and light pollution in ecologically-sensitive areas. Residents in areas near highways would not only suffer adverse health effects, but would also be deprived of recreational areas and the opportunity to connect with nature.

 

As the rest of the world is making its best efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change, the proponents of these highway projects appear to be quite happy to increase carbon emissions and damage to natural areas while paying lip service to the ideas of environmental protection and community engagement. No amount of tree-planting and environmental awareness campaigns can compensate for the loss of vital forest reserves, some of which are centuries old.

 

There is insufficient evidence that highway construction can divert traffic away from congested areas and improve traffic flow. Any road user in Malaysia can attest to the fact that traffic congestion can occur on highways as well as trunk roads and residential areas. If anything, highway projects encourage greater private vehicle ownership and put more vehicles on our roads. Traffic volume will simply rise along with the number of roads if there are no feasible alternatives to driving.

 

The solution to traffic problems is not to increase the number of highways, but to create solid, functional alternatives to driving and private vehicle ownership. A reliable and extensive public transport system (especially a bus service using existing road systems) and increased road safety will benefit human populations and reduce harm to the environment, cost less and take less time to implement than the construction of more highways.

 

Governments need to be responsive to the changing transportation needs of its citizens. Higher urban costs of living mean that fewer people will be able to afford private vehicles. A younger and more educated urban population will also mean greater concern for the environment and greater interest in cycling, telecommuting, ride-sharing, working from home and flexible work hours.

 

Malaysia has the infrastructure and resources to create an efficient and practical public transport system, but we need to improve our service and maintenance culture. We need leaders with the political will to reduce environmental damage and stop wasting public funds on unnecessary highway projects. If these highway projects are allowed to proceed despite the strong objections of citizens, we, the citizens, will have to bear the economic and environmental cost of the state government’s profligacy and lack of foresight.

 

WONG EE LYNN

COORDINATOR,

GREEN LIVING SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP,

MALAYSIAN NATURE SOCIETY