"Treat the earth well. We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children." This is a famous ancient Kenya proverb that is used in different part of the world to create awareness that each and every single individual living on earth is responsible to take care of the earth, cultivate it and ensure the entire environment is taken care of.
First woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova spent a total of 2.95 days in space and orbited the Earth 48 times in June 1963, giving Tereshkova more time in space than all of the American Mercury astronauts combined. She quoted the followings.
"Once you've been in space, you appreciate how small and fragile the Earth is."
"Again the pressure pushes me in the chair, shuts my eyes. I notice the dark red tongues of the flame outside the windows. I'm trying to memorize, fix all the feelings, the peculiarities of this descending, to tell those, who will be conquering space after me."
"Anyone who has spent any time in space will love it for the rest of their lives. I achieved my childhood dream of the sky."
Fast forward to 2012, despite the human race has achieved tremendous development in science, medicine, technology and economy, we are struggling to build a sustainable environment and to tackle the progressively trying and complicated environmental issues. There are so many natural disasters being reported in various parts of the world in the recent years, such as volcanic eruptions, earth quakes and tsunamis that have taken millions of lives and left many homeless. These caused tremendous climate change, combined with human-induced alterations of the natural world, these effects are currently causing global warming.
Lately, the sky is enveloped by thick layer of haze throughout Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore as a result of forest burning in the neighbouring country, the air quality of some areas in Selangor are even declared to be at dangerous level and many are advised to stay indoor to avoid health hazards. To make the situation worse, some ignorant and irresponsible people are still doing open burning to clear the rubbish at their own convenient.
The temperature has also increased and the heat is unbearable, this leads to more usage of air-conditioners at lower temperature. As a result more chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are released into the air and further deplete the ozone layer that serves to prevent the ultraviolet light (UV light) from entering the earth's atmosphere. This might lead to a series of undesired consequences such as increases in skin cancer, cataracts, damage to plants, and reduction of plankton populations in the ocean. Do we really want to live in this vicious cycle? No! Thanks to the advancement of technology, now we could opt to buy eco-friendly or green air-conditioners (where manufacturers phase out ozone-depleting refrigerants in their air-conditioners to meet new government regulations) from the stores.
The list of environmental issues could go on and on, have we ever thought how could we best contribute as individuals to preserve our environment? To name a few, let's begin with recycling our waste. First, we could segregate our domestic waste into a two groups, recyclable and non-recyclable. We could then put the recyclable waste such as papers, plastics, aluminiums and glasses into the dedicated bin respectively.
Second, we could reduce the domestic waste by producing garbage enzymes that could be used as cleaning agents later. Instead of throwing away the orange rinds, pineapple skins, lemon rinds or vegetable leafs and stems (basically anything organic), let's learn the process in fermenting these waste. Three months later, we could use the enzymes in cleaning the floor, cutlery, kitchenware, or even removing the stains in the toilet bowl and washing basin. You will be amazed about the outcome! We could also reduce the use of air-conditioners, if we couldn't at least we could increase the temperature to 24 degree Celsius and above instead of lowering the temperature to 16 degree Celsius. We could also set timer to a few hours instead of switching on the air-conditioners through the night till morning.
Third, we could reuse the items found at home for different purposes. Before throwing away those items, let's think how they could be reused. To name a few, we could reuse carrier bags as bin bags around the house and nice paper bags could be reused as wrapping paper while twist ties can be used to secure loose items together, such as computer wires. We could use envelopes by sticking labels over the address or scrap paper to make notes on. By cleaning glass jars and small pots, we could use them as small containers to store odds and ends. Pringles containers are just nice to hold spaghetti as the height could fit spaghetti completely.
Interestingly some items could be reused to create decorative lamp. We could use one-liter plastic bottle and plastic spoons to create a hanging lamp. The plastic bottle could be cut at the bottom so that a bulb could be inserted from the bottom. The plastic spoons could be cut so that only the spoons could be reused while the sticks could be sent to the recycle bin. Use superglue to paste the spoons around the plastic bottle row by row until the end of the opening. There it is the decorative lamp hanging from the ceiling. Creative?
Besides doing all these ourselves, we could encourage others to do the same and to create awareness in our circle to respect and to treat the environment right. Let the change starts from within so that it will create an impact outside to affect our environment in a positive manner. Let's show that we really care!