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Signs Of Mother Nature's WrathMay 08, 2006 16:24 PM
Disasters And Catastrophes, Signs Of Mother Nature's Wrath
By Melati Mohd Ariff
KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 (Bernama) -- When a catastrophe strikes, we are too quick to blame it on mother nature and made her the "scapegoat". It is rare for us to be bold enough to admit the guilt and accept that the " misfortune is due to our own folly"!
We would go almost berserk whenever there are flash floods. Our anger hit the roof when the tap water smells foul.
In the aftemath of these "disasters", do we ever bother to take a look at the rivers. How we had, over the years, neglected and ravaged their existence.
Do we ever care about the trash in the rivers as we are among the culprits who dumped the garbage. Who are going to clean them up?
When hills and highland that got denuded and flattened in the name of development eventually giving way and killing innocent lives, can we still say it was nothing more than a natural disaster and still continuously punished mother nature?
The fact is the environment had been ruined and destruction prevails. Do we ever care or continue this waiting game until we become victims.
But then, would it be just too late?
GLOBAL WARMING
Almost everyday we are not spared from alarming news on the environment, within our shores and beyond. An issue is global warming, that could cause ice on earth's opposite poles to melt this century.
According to an AFP report, the study on Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change collated evidence presented by scientists at a conference staged a year ago ahead of the 2005 Group of Eight (G summit.
The consensus among the scientists was of a large-scale and irreversible disruption to the planet's climate if temperatures rise by more than three degrees Celsius above current levels.
The United Nations (UN) in 2001 published a landmark report confirming that temperatures were rising and putting the blame on carbon emissions disgorged mainly by burning oil, gas and coal.
In another development, the UN Economic and Social Committee for Asia (UNESCAP) issued a statement in January this year that the current pattern of economic growth poses a major threat to environmental-sustainability in Asia-Pacific region.
According to its Executive Director, Kim Hak-Su, the region was experiencing serious and increasing ecological imbalances resulting in higher levels of air and water pollution, forest and coastal ecosystem degradation, soil erosion, fresh water flow alterations and problems in solid waste management.
FRAGILE ENVIRONMENT
The local scenario is nothing short of worrying.
The speech made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on efforts to "Enhance Water Supply Systems and Overcoming Floods" when he tabled the Ninth Malaysian Plan (2006-2010) without doubt offered some comfort to many including associations that champion environmental issues.
The Prime Minister, among others, said: "This is the Earth's retribution against cruelty of mankind. Overlogging, encroachment into water catchment areas, unrestrained greed, indiscriminate waste disposal in rivers and drains are among the root causes."
"Our environment is getting fragile, the level of tolerance to disturbance is very low," that is how Prof Dr Zaini Ujang, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's (UTM) Environment and Water Resources Management Institute (IPASA) Director, summed up the whole siuation
What he meant by "tolerance" is "the environment which is becoming more unstable."
"The instability is already there especially in the urban areas. Klang Valley will be hit by flash flood each time it rains. There is no higher degree of tolerance to disturbance, the disturbance is rainfall.
"We'll always have rain, the only thing is that our drainage system is not able to cope with it," he said.
Prof Zaini said the Department of Environment (DOE) and enforcement agencies focussed more on what go into the environment such as pollution and trash.
"On my part, my priority is more on the low-level of tolerance and what needs to be weeded out from the development process and society.
"That's what the strategy now if we want to fix the situation and if we no longer be satisfied with what we can remove. We also need to examine and fix the tolerance level.
"For an example, let's say there's a wooden bridge and the bridge is getting fragile. Initially the bridge was designed to accommodate a weight of one tonne.
"When it aged, the bridge could no longer accomodate the one-tonne weight and must be repaired.
"In the context of environmental-management, we need to revive it accordingly in line with environmental-sustainability," he explained in an interview with Bernama here.
Prof Zaini said the approach to manage the environmental issues need to be changed.
He said this must include laws which were enacted when the environmental- biodiversity was still at its level best 30 years ago.
"Or else there'll be a rupture," he said.
COMMITMENT THE ORDER OF THE DAY
As responsible citizens, we should be more proactive by taking the initiative to be more environmental-friendly in every aspect of our life without having to wait for any campaign.
There had been too many campaigns launched by the government, like the "Buy Malaysian Products", Anti-Drugs, Recycling and "Anti-Smoking" campaigns.
It's not exaggerating to say that those campaigns fell short of their objectives.
The same goes with the "Love Our Rivers" campaign. There are still rivers which are dumped with trash daily and the smelly water had to be "over-treated" to cater for our needs.
"What is needed here is sheer commitment," said Prof Zaini who is also the vice-president of the Malaysian Water Association as well as International Water Association .
The environmental-friendly concept, has been in Malaysia since the past several years but to Prof Zaini, it is more for economic gains and legal aspect, not because to sustain the environment.
"In many countries where the society is environmental-conscious, they do so because they know well that if they don't, not only them will be at risk, so does the next generation.
"Countries like Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark, they don't have the religious context of halal and haram in their lives. To them halal and haram is whether they're environmental-friendly or not," said Prof Zaini.
The society in those countries has also made environmental-friendly a way of life, he said.
"A person who rides the bicycle is committed to do so not because he wanted to exercise but more because he wanted to reduce carbon monoxide emissions.
"They had come to a level in which the environment plays a very important part in their lives in terms of ethics, their life styles and in terms of their thinking. To the extent that whatever is not good for the environment, they would reject outright," he said.
According to Prof Zaini, in some countries, environmental-friendly is placed at the higher end of social ethics.
"To them, if a person is environmental-friendly, the person has class. Those who aren't would be looked down as no class and uneducated. This has not taken place in Malaysia. To us, people who have class are the those who have wealth," he stressed.
NEED TO BE ENVIRONMENTAL-FRIENDLY
Prof Zaini related his experience when he visited a kindergarten in Denmark called "The Green Kindergarten" where children as young as three years old are being taught and trained to be environmental-friendly.
The kindergarten has no refrigerator, food is being kept in an underground cellar. Leftovers are recycled.
"After they had their meals, the children would separate what were left in their tray into bio-degradable and not bio-degradable stuff. They know what can be turned into compost to fertilise crops," he said.
Fancy this. There is no car park at the Danish Department of Environment. It may sound weird but that is a fact according to Prof Zaini.
The staff at the agency believed if they drive their cars to work, that would not help the environment. To them, they must take the lead by using bicycles or taking public transport.
"It goes to show that the agency staff are not only making policies but they also practice them in their daily life.
"Another example is when I visited the Royal Academy of Architecture in Denmark. I remembered it was the end of December and it was snowing.
"It was close to Maghrib but the lamps were still not switched on as the light outside can still penetrate the window panes. See how efficient they are in energy consumption," explained Prof Zaini.
He then made a comparison to the buildings in Malaysia.
"Now if there's a power failure, most of the buildings cannot function because they are too enclosed. Strange as we have abundant sunlight. We darkened the rooms with shades and switch on the lights. See, we're not environmental friendly in terms of energy consumption." he said.
Energy is produced through various activities that impacted the environment. From the burning of diesel and hydropower. As demand of energy increases, the need for petrochemical fuel rises and more areas would have to be inundated for hydropower.
"It's all inter-related. That's why in many countries, where environmental-friendly is concerned, it also involves buildings," said Prof Zaini.
He said commitment towards environmental-friendly concept is still low and it should not be borne by one department alone.
"When we mention environmental-friendly in Malaysia, this doesn't mean it's the function of the Department of Environment only. By right it covers all ministries, all parties whether in terms of energy consumption and the use of motor vehicles," he said.
Environmental-friendly is more than the issues on rubbish dumping, air and water pollution.
"It's our way of life," he said.
Using the anti-smoking campaign as an example, he said that campaign is only geared from the health and financial aspect.
"By right it should be also associated with the environment. Even that you can see people puffing (smoking) around," he said.
-- BERNAMA
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