Fake Plastic Trees

Sometime ago, Joey, a good friend introduced me to a song by Radiohead called 'Fake Plastic Trees'

The title is rather suggestive right? Yar, the song is about the capitalist situation. And I think Radiohead did very well in portraying the emotions and mood for the song. Go on, listen to the lyrics... It always reminds me that I should be careful with what I buy and how we slowly impact the world with our obsession on material commodities. So this song always signal the duty that we should uphold, to protect our natural environment.

Mother Earth is tired... what the capitalist machine is doing is wearing her out.

Her green plastic watering can
For her fake Chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth
That she bought from a rubber man
In a town full of rubber plans
To get rid of itself

It wears her out, it wears her out
It wears her out, it wears her out

She lives with a broken man
A cracked polystyrene man
Who just crumbles and burns
He used to do surgery
For girls in the eighties
But gravity always wins

It wears him out, it wears him out
It wears him out, it wears him out

She looks like the real thing
She tastes like the real thing
My fake plastic love
But I can't help the feeling
I could blow through the ceiling
If I just turn and run

It wears me out, it wears me out
It wears me out, it wears me out

If I could be who you wanted
If I could be who you wanted all the time

All the time...
All the time...

Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead

Plastic Surgery

Yar, cut down on the plastic, fellow earthlings!

Today I went for hall dinner and I was guilty of committing an act against the 'green' movement. I took a plastic spoon. Yar it is as simple as that.

I shall not explain why plastics are harmful to the environment... generally it is due to their non - biodegradable nature... It is more of the act that needs to be explained. Well, if you didn't realize, most people just dump/chuck their plastics some where after it was used once... even if they made a point to reuse... do they/we/me/you ever really get to reuse it? I don't think so right? It just sits there long enough... till it gets thrown... and ends up in some landfill dump.

In the mean time, consumers like us, just use/buy/take more plastics... So yar yars, my point... it is the act that encourages an unsustainable action... cos by they time we pass away... the plastic is still there. Not forgetting the capitalist industries see the need for plastic and continue producing them.

So what can we do?

Well first obviously is take less plastics... If you are taking away food back home to eat... refuse to take plastic cutlery and use our own cutleries. We can also help by reducing plastics by bringing our own bags to the super market or refuse to take plastic carriers if you can when you buy takeaway foods (I know my Sheares Hall friends practice this act when we go to the supermarket or takeaway food) If all of us practice this... then the capitalist minded stalls and supermarkets would not need to order more stocks of plastic stuff, like plastic bags or cutlery... this will in turn help a lot.

O... some supermarkets give a small token of you use your own bags... Ikea in Singapore charges you for plastic bags as well... If the food stalls ofter paper packaging... take those instead.

Second. Reduce the need for plastics by confirming you do not have the items already lying at home. What I do is, after every BBQ, I will consolidate all plastics and other reusable stuffs and keep them in a giant box to be reused at the next BBQ... so we save on the cost of the BBQ and we help reduce plastic consumption. Well you could also reduce the need to buy plastic cups or containers unless you really need them... Most households have too much plastics cups and containers anyway.

Lastly educate your friends and family members... Help spread the news and idea! That is always the last step... practice then preach... then people will believe in what you teach... these lessons above have been all taught to me by friends... come on share your creative ideas with your pals!

We need everyone if we are going to get on with this war to save planet earth... so start today!

A Greener Apple

Well guys, simply another reason to be a proud owner of a Mac... Apple company is committed to reducing its waste(especially harmful materials), recycle and ensure better technology that cuts down on energy consumption!

Don't believe me? Go to their website
http://www.apple.com/environment/

Furthermore, from my personal experience and many other friends who are satisfied with their Macs ... Macs do last longer then normal PCs! You saving money, cut down on the need to purchase new parts for upgrading your old computer parts and you need not replace your Mac with a new one for a long, long time.

So yars, if you peeps out there are considering a new desktop or laptop... why not consider a Mac? I am sure you will learn to appreciate it more and appreciate the fact Apple does care about the environment. Support environmentally friendly brands/companies!

"Environmental protection is a priority for the conservation of
precious natural resources and the continued health of our planet.
Apple recognizes its responsibility as a global citizen
and is continually striving to reduce the environmental impact
of the work we do and the products we create."

Apple Website

Lets talk about trash

What trash? I don't mean the physical substance you placed in your bins. That one is obvious, recycle as much as possible. This trash has more to do with email trash. Why emails?

To answer that why not consider what happens to 'supposed trash' aka mails that are not important? What happens to them actually?

Answer: they get stored in some server in god knows where... and as your 'supposed trash' grows... so does the physical space and numbers of servers needed. You will question... its only a few megabytes right?

Not really... because there are millions of people out there with this bad habit in everyday life. That is millions of megabytes being wasted. And that amounts to millions of dollars needed to produce those chips. Well, imagine what happens to the millions which could be channel in the global economy to help others... or the wasted millions needed just to start a production line which could help to reduce energy needed as well...

I can go on and on... but yars I think that is enough. Main point is start deleting past emails... Furthermore, with the clash of the Giant Email Providers: Yahoo vs Google etc. unlimited email space has been provided... well that makes the problem worst right? Do not take what is given for granted, that happens in our screwed up capitalist societies. Start saving the Earth and encourage sustainable living from small everyday practises, like clearing trash... and cyber trash.

The 11th Hour

Yes, Welcome to my 3rd blog.

The title of the blog is self-explanatory (I wanted to take the 11th hour but it was taken already by another blogger). As a geographer, I always believe that the world has been degraded due to human action. Most of the harm comes from us, consumers of the capitalist world. Of cos, the state apparatus and dominant social production system, capitalism, are just a few forces which have continuously allowed this to carry on.

I believe like a whole bunch of green people out there, we need to find a more sustainable way of living so our mother earth would not be affected to such an extend that living quality and nature will be affected beyond redemption.

Inspired by my lecturers, such as Dr Carl and Dr Obard, world political and influential figures, the likes of Al Gore, Green revolution academics, groups and enthusiasts, and of late, Leonardo Di Caprio, the maker of the documentary, 'The 11th Hour'.

This blog will feature debates on nature and society or nature and culture conflicts, ideas or definitions on the green movement and my experience on going green.

Well, if you haven't figured why I decided to create this blog, why not catch the documentary 'The 11th Hour' and you will understand why I was so inspired by it, so much so I decided to be join the green revolution.

'It's our generation that gets to change the world... forever.'
The 11th Hour