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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: ENFORCEMENT, NOT AWARENESS, NEEDED TO DETER LITTERING Your recent reports, “ Warning for outdoor holiday-seekers ” and “ Doc: Malaysians need to be more civic-conscious ” (The Star, 16/3/2015) highlight the challenges faced in keeping national parks and other outdoor recreational areas clean and free of litter. Littering is not just a matter of aesthetics, but one with serious environmental, economic and health implications, especially in light of the increase in leptospirosis and dengue cases. As a volunteer with various environmental organisations, I have coordinated and participated in public clean-up programmes for over 20 years. From my experience, Malaysians are fully aware of the health and environmental problems associated with littering, yet are not motivated to keep recreational and public areas clean, as the prevailing attitude seems to be that “someone else is paid to clean up after me” and “I don’t live here so it’s not my problem”. Once, at an ecotou...

PENCINTA ALAM APRIL 2015 GREEN LIVING COLUMN   LIVING GREEN IN AN APARTMENT By Wong Ee Lynn ( wongeelynn@yahoo.com  /  gl.mnselangor@yahoo.com )   A surprising number of people seem to believe that you need to live in landed property in the countryside in order to live a more environmentally-responsible lifestyle. Members of the public often say to the Green Living volunteers that they will start 'living greener' when they retire and are able to move to the countryside where they can plant trees, install solar panels and grow their own vegetables and fruits.   No-one ever has to wait to take steps that will make a positive difference to the environment or community. Many studies have shown that apartment dwellers in busy cities often have a smaller carbon footprint than those who live in houses. Some of the reasons for this include the following:   1. Apartments take up much less physical space than a home. Hundreds of people can live in...

PENCINTA ALAM APRIL 2015 ECO KIDS COLUMN   TOYS FROM MOTHER NATURE: STICKS By Wong Ee Lynn <wongeelynn@yahoo.com / gl.mnselangor@yahoo.com>   Children have been playing with sticks since prehistory. You can pick up, throw, retrieve, bend, break and carve sticks. You can use sticks for digging, poking, building, fighting and creating new tools with. Even animals such as wolf cubs and dogs will throw, retrieve and play tug-of-war with sticks.   Many urban parents, however, are worried that playing with sticks will result in injury, especially to the eye. However, just as with climbing trees and crossing streams, the more often you play with sticks and other objects in nature, the more skillful you become at handling them, and the less likely you are to get hurt by them. You learn through experience what is the correct height to lift and throw sticks, and at what distance is someone safe from getting hurt.   As a general rule, however, do not lift any sticks highe...