Some cynic once mentioned to me that the cycle of life today seems to be “work, sleep, consume, die”. It’s a bit of a depressing way to look at it but it seems to sum up the way a lot of us lead our lives nowadays. However, recent events have shown us that the culture of excessive consumption financed by large amounts of debt is close to coming to an end although I suppose it’s quite a consolation that this has happened before even more damage could be done to the environment because of such excessive consumption.

In these times however, with the threat of higher unemployment looming, I don’t expect society to continue on its consuming ways. It’s a way of life that just isn’t sustainable anymore, although it probably never was in the first place. There are only limited resources on this planet and excessive borrowing was only a way of deferring the payments until later, whether it is later in our own future or to our descendants. Read the rest of this entry »

As the author of these blogs, I’ve been asked several times by friends and family: “Why are you writing these articles? Won’t you run out of things to say?” which are all legitimate questions and I’ll take some time out of all the weighty environmental issues to answer these questions. It’s not entirely for selfish reasons, and I think that some of these answers might help you answer similar questions such as “Why do you want to read these articles?” or “What can one person possibly do about something as big as the environment?”.

Some people may think that your involvement stops with donating some used clothes or recycling your old drinks cans. These are all noble things to be doing and they will help but the fact remains that the Earth and the environment is a tremendously complex system that works in very complicated ways. We don’t think we even understand half of how the world actually works. But what we do understand is that our lives are changing things in very profound ways, and Read the rest of this entry »

I have a confession to make – recently, a relative of mine has fallen into a state of depression. Although the common view of depression is that it’s something that a person can “simply get over”, clinical depression is actually quite a serious mental state that will take time and professional care to help the patient recover. I managed to speak with a professional psychiatrist who has said that, with the state of the economy as it is right now and with many people worried about their jobs, he’s seeing an increase in the number of cases of depression and is concerned that the cases are going to continue increasing as the financial crisis plays itself out.

The normal treatment of depression includes counseling as well as a cocktail of powerful drugs that reshape the brain chemistry. It’s something quite necessary if there’s a serious case of depression but we think there is room for people to take some natural antidepressants early on before the symptoms get any worse, to avoid having to take expensive medication that has drastic effects on the health. Here are some of the tips I’ve gathered from the Internet: Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve always been telling our readers to try and get involved in the environment and we’ve tried to find ways that you can live in a more green fashion without hurting the wallet too much. So, we are extremely pleased to hear about a budding young entrepreneur in Malaysia who’s not only convinced that it is important to live green, but he’s trying to make a business out of it too. Yes, you certainly can make money out of being green even though it takes a bit of creativity and out of the box thinking.

I heard about Mervin Low from the Nescafe Kickstart programme when he became one of the top 20 finalists for the prize. Do check out his entry video. The programme is essentially a platform for many creative young individuals to come up with their business ideas and pitch them to the world, and I was instantly taken by Mervin’s idea – not only because it’s a green idea that can help to make our world a better place, but also because of his obvious passion for environmental preservation. Read the rest of this entry »

Anybody who has paid attention to the news in the past few weeks should know that a financial stimulus package to the tune of RM 60 billion has been passed to shore up the local economy and prevent the country from slipping into a deep recession. We won’t get into the details of this financial stimulus package, since this isn’t a financial or a political blog and it’s been covered extensively elsewhere, but we’re pretty sure most people haven’t read through the details of the package. So, most of us would have missed out the fact that this stimulus package will also be used to help the tourism industry in Malaysia, and one of the key areas identified by the government is ecotourism.

We think this is a great effort and goes along with what we’ve been saying and trying to encourage our readers to do all the while. Malaysia has many wonderful natural treasures and it’s excellent that the government realizes this and is planning to develop this because it’s one of the factors that differentiates Malaysia from other countries in a crowded Southeast Asian tourist market. Although the actual details on the way the stimulus money will be spent are scarce, and we think it will take some time before the spending plans will be made public, this is probably a move in the right direction. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve blogged before about the ability of lemons and other common natural products that can be used in a variety of ways around the house. In this article, we’d like to talk a bit more about specific, natural ways to keep pests away from the house. Sure, we’d like to think that we’re all good housekeepers and can keep the house clean enough so that the cockroaches and the other insects don’t come but the truth is, living out in the Tropics as we do, we can’t get away from the insect infestations that live in between the cracks and hidden spots in the home.

Here are some suggestions that we’ve gleaned from old wives’ tales and other stories around the Web for keeping your house under control, the green way. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve noticed that there is an increasing trend towards shift work in Malaysia and longer working hours in general. This is particularly significant in the manufacturing and the IT industries where the technology and Malaysian skills are improving rapidly enough for Malaysia to supply cheap and high quality labour for the rest of the world. However, we note that while this has been creating greater employment for Malaysians, working night shifts can be extremely damaging to the health if they are done for too long and without taking appropriate steps to remedy the problems.

If you’re working shifts or in an office where such working hours are required, you should get yourself educated on some of the best practices on shift working around the world and try and persuade your colleagues or management to take appropriate steps so that the damage to your health is minimized. Here are some suggestions that we would like to share with you: Read the rest of this entry »

Since it’s the Year of Natural Fibres, we thought we would highlight one of the fibres that most people have probably never heard of. Yet this is an important natural fibre as the Malaysian government has already designated it as one of the key crops to be planted in the country to replace tobacco. In fact, the decision was only made recently (as reported in Bernama) but if the government really does keep an even hand in implementing this throughout all the economic challenges that lie ahead for the country, it’s probably useful to know a bit more about kenaf.

Kenaf has actually been cultivated for a long time in countries like Bangladesh, India and neighbouring Thailand although it certainly has never been very significant in Malaysia. The fibre is actually pretty similar to jute and can be used for the same purposes – making rope, twine, very coarse cloths, paper, packaging material and fibre boards. In fact, some researchers from the US Department of Agriculture Read the rest of this entry »