Rent - don't buy unless you NEED it!

Recently, I been yearning to watch movies from the past... and I decide to rent instead of buying them. Why?

The main reason I choose to rent is I don't really want to 'keep' (leave it lying around) the DVD after I purchase it. In fact by renting, it is relatively much cheaper.... for the price of a DVD, you can watch so much more titles. And by renting, you actually don't contribute to the demand of the item as much as buying a new item... therefore the production of that item is reduce... hence lowering the toll on the resources and energy required in its production! In the long term, if people practice renting over purchasing... we might even affect over all production trends.

So what other things can we rent?

As a general rule of thumb... anything that you might under utilize. Stuff like bicycles, cameras, books, CDs and a lot more... wait a moment... where are you going to rent such stuff? Surely you can't rent it from a shop... but you can 'rent' (share or borrow) from friends and relatives! This way we can reduce the total amount or goods that are BATA (Buy and throw away/aside). haha.

Well... this post is not to encourage a total stop to purchasing ... there are some things we cannot rent, personal or stuff that concern hygiene, things that you want to collect (please don't over do it) or stuff that you see its utilization higher then its cost... means things you would fully or constantly utilize.

The bottom line is... please be considerate and save our planet! Before you purchase any item... think if you can adopt the option of renting it or consider whether you will utilize it or simply dump it after you have used it.

There is nothing strong then the human effort.

Desiccants - stop wasting it

D0 you know what is lime desiccant? Or just a desiccant?

Go wikipedia it... and you will realize that we are under utilizing these small packets of desiccant that come with your foodstuff (I personally feel, Japanese food products enjoy giving you obsessive amount of it haha). And please, many products are guilty of these... foodstuff like seaweed (4 ~ 10 slices of seaweed and a packet of desiccant is need? a bit over doing it right) ... electrical appliances like radio systems can come with large amounts of these. Once you take your goods out of their packaging what do you do with it? You throw them away in fear of it poisonous qualities.

Why are we seriously under utilizing desiccant? Because they are reusable once they are dehydrated. So instead of throwing them away... why not reuse them... they aren't easily broken down as well...

How do we reused desiccants?
1) Use to absorb the moisture in shoe cabinets ... instead of using commercial desiccants like hungry elephant... haha
2) Put them in your car... in your boot... so it will not be damp in the night... and the heat in the day can 'auto' dehydrate the desiccants ... its a close system... you need not trouble yourself to sun the desiccants yourself... haha
3) use it to protect objects from mould, moisture or humidity... clothes? certificates?

Well... things to keep in mind before you starting using desiccants...
1) These methods are recommended by me... not really scientifically proven yet... but then again indigenous knowledge is not scientifically proven but is efficient and sustainable.
2) Look out for WARNING labels... some restrict you from smelling... please do not used this highly toxic desiccants... there are many others that are not so toxic.
3) Use a container/ cloth bag with holes to store your desiccants so they don't get messy all over the place.
4) Sun the desiccants to dehydrate them... try not to oven heat them... you waste energy doing that.

So yar, another simple way to reuse something that may help you save environment and save some cash along the way. It gets the job done as well.

Light Pollution?

I know that natural sunlight (not the one people try to imitate in tanning salons) provides us with vast sustainable energy. You know that too right. Yar you do. But the problem is do you know about light pollution?

You can learn about it from The Pinky Show
http://www.pinkyshow.org/archives/episodes/070118/

The idea that I get from the video is...
1) electric lights are good and helpful to humankind... but lets conserve it.
2) Humans (aka us) need to be reminded of our position and that we are part of the global ecosystem,
3) We do not have the right to disrupt other living forms natural way of life and
4) We at the top of this global food chain and biggest 'creative destroyers' have the greatest power to save planet earth.
5) Lastly, which all of us tend to forget... Nature is the most beautiful object... not our commodities that we madly chase after... such as cars, watches, fashion
and a whole lot more.

Well... ask yourself... is point 5 true? If it is... reconsider points 1 - 4... I believe we can all help to protect/ conserve mother nature and share the space with our distant friends... the specimens of the global ecosystem.

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.