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PENCINTA ALAM MAY 2014 ECO KIDS COLUMN CONIFER CONES AND CRAFTY FUN By Wong Ee Lynn FACTS ABOUT CONIFERS: 1. Conifers (often called "pine trees") in tropical countries have their origins in a landmass known as Gondwana. India was detached from Gondwana approximately 90 million years ago. India then collided with Asia 30 - 45 million years ago and exchanged species. Later, as Australia - New Guinea drifted north, the collision of the Australian and Asian plates pushed up the islands of Wallacea, which were separated from one another by narrow straits, allowing an exhange of plants between Indomalaya and Australasia. Asian rainforest flora, including the dipterocarps, island-hopped across Wallacea to New Guinea, and several Gondwanian plant families, including podocarps (i.e. Southern Hemisphere conifers), moved westward from Australia-New Guinea into Southeast Asia. (Many of the conifers you see in parks and gardens in Malaysia, however, are introduced species. Someone probabl...

MNS Green Living visits the CETDEM DDC CETDEM ( Centre for Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia ) is known for its organic gardening initiatives and periodic Hari Organik farmers' markets in the Klang Valley, but not many members of the public have visited its Demonstration and Documentation Centre (DDC) in SS2, Petaling Jaya. Formally known as the Demonstration and Documentation Centre for Sustainable Energy Solutions for Urban Households , the DDC was initially set up as a 3-year demonstration, monitoring and result-sharing project on urban household energy efficiency funded by the Danish International Development Agency ( DANIDA ) for research and education purposes.  MNS Green Living organised a visit to the CETDEM DDC for 26 members of the public including MNS members on 22 March 2014. While the powerpoint presentations were a bit too heavy on facts and figures for some of our youngest participants, nevertheless, everyone managed to learn a little more about envi...

Letter to the Editor:  Water Rationing Not The Best Way To Manage A Water Crisis Public response to the news that water rationing in Selangor would be extended until April 30 has been largely one of anger and frustration. Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Green Living   is strongly of the opinion that household water rationing is not the best way to manage a water crisis. There are serious doubts that the month-long water rationing exercise thus far has created any significant dents in water usage and wastage. Most households would have merely rescheduled their cleaning, laundry and water-intensive activities to days in which water supply is reconnected, and would have stored large amounts of water for use on dry days.  In fact, it is observed that in most households, water wastage has even increased during the rationing period as taps have to be allowed to run for at least 10 minutes each time the water supply is reconnected to get rid of the muddy and contaminated ...