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Pencinta Alam November 2012, Eco Kids Column Turtles are Way Smarter than You Think By Sheela Prabhakaran (sheelaprabha@gmail.com) Photo credits: Rahayu Zulkifli Here’s an old West African story on why turtles prefer the deep seas to land Long, long ago, shy turtles were quite happy to live on land. That is, until one day, when some horribly hungry hunters pounced on a sleeping turtle. They struggled to carry the astonishingly heavy turtle back to their village, where they proudly placed it before their old chief. “Good job!” he declared loudly. “Errr…how should we cook him?” he pondered as he gingerly touched the tough shell.  You see,  no one, that is absolutely no one, had ever, ever caught, much less eaten a turtle before. “Huh!” said the gleeful turtle! “Go on, give it your best shot! No one is going to part me from my lovely shell,” taunted the bold turtle. “We’ll use sticks and stones,” growled a nasty hunter. “Stick and stones won’t break my shell. Nothing wo...

PENCINTA ALAM NOVEMBER 2012  GREEN LIVING COLUMN WHAT SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT HYBRID CARS? By Wong Ee Lynn   gl.mnselangor@yahoo.com In this discussion of "hybrid cars", we are considering only vehicles that use a combination of petrol and electric power, and not natural gas or other fuels. A hybrid car has a standard petrol-powered motor and an electric motor that provides additional boost using a rechargeable battery. Using a technology called regenerative braking, as the hybrid car decelerates, the system captures this braking energy and regenerates this to charge the battery.  Purchasing a hybrid car can be a very costly investment. While we at MNS do encourage everyone to take public transport, carpool or go car-free as much as possible, for many people, this isn't a realistic or practical option. The two main factors that would influence a purchaser's decision to choose a hybrid car are the fuel savings and reduced carbon emissions.  In considering whether or...