Visit www.treadlightly.me today, January 14th, for the launch of Tread Lightly's teacher toolkit and online platforms in no less than 9 languages. The newly revised and translated material will make climate change education accessible to more teachers and youth around the world. Measure your ecological footprint and compete with your friends to reduce it; access lesson plans to teach your students about climate change; and enter the eco-art contest; now in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Danish, as well as English and French! 

CYD Cancun podcast test post

We want environmental laws to be implemented and enforced. We want the authority and relevant agencies to go after anyone and everyone who are cutting down trees in protected forest areas and such. Yet, sometimes, it might not be that simple.

That day, I visited an Orang Asli (indigenous people) village in Tapah, Perak with a group of awesome people whose aim is to educate the Malaysian public and create greater awareness about the Federal Constitution. Several topics were being brought up: orang asli rights as stipulated in the constitution, unfair land purchase, standing up against corporations or entities that violate their rights, exercising rights and being recognised as Malaysian citizens… … here, I’d like to elaborate on the issue of how the Forestry Act has caused the orang asli to feel restricted from using their tanah adat (indigenous land).

Malaysia is a multiracial and multicultural country; I myself, though a proud citizen of Malaysian, am of the Chinese race. As Malaysian citizens, none of us, regardless of race or religion, should be neglected. The orang asli are people who naturally exist in this country; they belong to this land.

I respect the Constitution, and respect the rights of orang asli over tanah adat. As the tanah adat could consist of forest areas, at times orang asli cut down some trees to use the land for farming as a form of small scale, self-sufficient economy. This is one of the very few sources of livelihood for them.

“Yet, if we cut down some of the trees for farming, the authority will fine us. We cannot afford to pay the fine, yet we have to maintain our livelihood.”

This predicament that they face is due to the Forestry Act, which aims to protect forest areas.

Initially, I felt caught in between advocating the orang asli rights and the Forestry Act. As a Malaysian who upholds the Constitution, I believe the orang asli should stand firm on the issue of their rights over tanah adat. But as an environment activist, shouldn’t I support the enforcement of the Forestry Act as well?

However, the bottom-line question is: Why aren’t strict laws being enforced when it comes to illegal logging and large scale deforestation? What about Samling Global*? What about the Rimbunan Hijau group**?

The ultimate aim of environmental laws is to serve humanitarian purposes, not otherwise, and to protect our rights to live in a beautiful and sustainable world.

*Norway divested itself of its Samling Global shares recently
**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimbunan_Hijau_Group

Photo credits to Loyar Burok

Once upon a time, Ann* and KP** were engaged.

They couldn’t live without each other. Ann needed KP to be safe and feel a sense of security, and to discipline herself to maintain a sustainable and green household.

On the other hand, KP would be nothing without Ann. KP needed Ann to carry out life targets and aims.

Yet, word had it that Ann was not ready to commit to the relationship. In fact, Ann had not been fulfilling the sweet promises between them.

At the same time, KP couldn’t wait forever. KP would leave Ann soon, or would eventually die of heartbreak.

It had been long suspected that the relationship will end soon, but things took a turn during the UN Bonn III meeting recently.

Ann and KP got married!!

Wedding Video Part 1 (Bonn III Action)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGltBKiX8RE&feature=related
Wedding Video Part 2 (Bonn III Action)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZCve8QXqQw

For the media, journalists, paparazzi, and those of you who wanted to see More Pictures!
http://adoptanegotiator.org/2010/08/05/true-love-needs-commitment/

*Annex 1
**Kyoto Protocol
http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php
------------------------------------------------------
But that was not all.
The day after the wedding was the last day of the AWG-KP Session.

During the session, a youth delegate asked the chair, “Will you marry me?“

Perhaps others would think she was being very demanding, but she was doing so not only for herself, but for the greater good.

“We can build commitment gradually, but it starts now with an adequate 2nd commitment
period with Annex I targets that follow the science to keep temperatures below 1.5°. So this means an aggregate target for Annex I Parties of at least -40% based on 1990, without offsets and loopholes, and a review of its adequacy.

“This means everybody must do their share.

“It means, we need them to make more ambitious targets public before we meet again.”

Nevertheless, she liked leaders who were decisive, and who could make the right choices.

“But time is not on our side, we need to order the cake.

“To do this we need a location, please tell us that we can send the cake to Cancun and hold the wedding ceremony there. Because I am young, I won’t, we can’t wait for you forever!”
For now, let’s watch closely how world leaders will respond to the proposal and demands!
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
True love needs commitment. Do we truly love our world, our people, and our future generations?

Will this end with ‘happily ever after’?

If yes, how long are we willing to make it last?

Yes, it’s possible. Gary Chang, an architect living in Hong Kong, managed to transform his 344-sq-ft apartment into a really amazing living space. He named it the ‘Domestic Transformer’.

http://www.flixxy.com/apartment-transformation.htmy

As we all know, Hong Kong is very densely populated and land is particularly expensive. The people have to learn to live and fully utilise the limited space they have.
Sometimes, I wonder, is it because our earth is blessed with so many resources, that we have been taking them for granted? As Gary Chang can maximise the functions of such a limited space, hopefully someday our knowledge in science and technology has improved to the extent whereby we could achieve the maximum result using minimal resources, increasing the efficiency and reducing usage and waste of resources.

Besides that, one doesn’t have to be dubbed an Environmentalist to address green issues. Some people have the tendency to think that it’s an environmentalist’s job to find solutions, when in fact people from all fields play a part. As people of different expertise or different disciplines play different roles in society, it’s important for all of us to work on combating environmental issues together, in our respective ways.

You may also want to read about the ‘Suitcase House Hotel’ by Gary Chang
http://phayung.blogspot.com/2009/03/suitcase-house-hotel-by-gary-chang-edge.html