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PENCINTA ALAM DECEMBER 2012 ECO KIDS COLUMN   THE ECO CHRISTMAS TREE CHALLENGE By Wong Ee Lynn (gl.mnselangor@yahoo.com) The lives of humans are so closely intertwined with trees and nature that we frequently observe a festive holiday by bringing a tree into our homes. People decorate their homes with pine trees and other evergreens at Christmas, banana plants during the Tamil New Year and cherry blossoms and pussywillows during the Chinese New Year. However, in environmentally aware times, many people are beginning to realise that chopping down live pine trees or putting up plastic Christmas trees are wasteful practices. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, you may be asked to help in putting up a tree in your classroom or an organisation that you belong to, for the purpose of spreading holiday cheer.  How do you then come up with a Christmas tree that is within budget, not destructive to the environment, and not made of wasteful plastic parts that are not durable?  He...

PENCINTA ALAM DEC 2012 GREEN LIVING COLUMN YEAR-END STAYCATION IDEAS By Wong Ee Lynn (gl.mnselangor@yahoo.com) The end of the year is approaching, and for many, this is a time to clear their annual leave days or just take time off to be with their families, particularly school-going children who are on their year-end semester break. The word "staycation" is a combination of "stay" and "vacation", and describes a vacation at home or near your home and within the same state or area. Staycations are getting more and more popular for environmental and economic reasons. These are some of the advantages of staycations over travelling abroad: (i) Less stressful -- Let's face it. Not many of us enjoy the hassle of having to with travel insurance, missing luggage, delayed flights and other disappointments. (ii) Less expensive, but better for the local economy, especially if you are creating opportunities for local and indigenous communities. (iii) Less travel a...