[1184] Of podcasting on Earth Day

The second podcast, ever.

[audio:podcastEarthDay2007.mp3]

I have celebrated every Earth Day for the past several years by highlighting environmental issues that have — in my humble opinion — captivated the nation. I wish to stay true to that tradition by doing the same thing this year.

There is no doubt that the natural environmental faces challenges each day and there are countless issues that need to be addressed. Sometimes, it is overwhelming to simply list down those issues. It is even harder to prioritize it. So, the issues I am going to highlight here are in no way the only issues we face. Rather, the issues are the ones that have taken the center stage of public attention. Further, in no way this list is exhaustive and it will be updated as we ride on 2007.

Earlier this year, major flooding took the whole nation by surprise. A town deep in the heartland of Johor, Kota Tinggi, despite its name which could be rendered as a city on high ground was flooded for several weeks, cutting simple folks from food and fresh water. It was no less than a national emergency since four states suffered billion of ringgit of losses due to the flood.

The flood attracted public attention to anthropogenic climate change. For the first time in Malaysian history, as far as I could recall, the Malaysia started to take climate change seriously. Or least, the perception of it is there. More importantly, the issue of climate change enters into public consciousness and no longer becomes an issue among small number of environmentalists and scientists in the country.

The government announced that it would produce a report on climate change amid the chaos that followed the disaster. Though I am not sure if the document has been completed, I have not heard the government making the report public. If the government is serious about being transparent, perhaps, it could take the first step by making the report public.

El Niño would have been an issue to be discussed but the phenomenon itself has been mild.

Related to climate change is the intention of the government to increase fuel standard in Malaysia. I welcome such move. The move however might increase gas prices. I would support the price hike but that is just me. I support taxation on fuel consumption and disagree with fuel subsidy. The government plans to adopt EURO II while the current standard is EURO I. For your information, in the EU, the more stringent EURO IV is common.

I am unsure if the adoption of EURO II covers carbon emission. Nevertheless, we are losing significant amount of carbon sink through deforestation. While deforestation is common in Malaysia, so far this year, nothing is more controversial than the one in Lojing, Kelantan. Finger-pointing game is currently being played out but no substantial step towards the conservation of Lojing has been undertaken by any side.

And then, there is poaching. If last year, we had a proud tiger butchered and stored a like a common chicken inside a refrigerator, not too long ago this year, to those that care, to our horror, hundreds of turtles were discovered on the boat. Only a few were alive and saved from the barbarians. The authority successfully arrested several Chinese citizens of whom were responsible for the act.

What gone is gone however. We must take effort to protect what is left, and try to replenish it from what we have. Though controversies have struck the Selangor state government for the past few years, probably in effort to clean up its image, declared a large portion of its eastern frontier as state park. From Hulu Selangor in the north to Hulu Langat in the south, the approximately 90,000 hectare park is a good news. Nonetheless, just as what is happening with Kota Damansara Community Forest Park and many others, this announcement should be received with guarded posture for so many words have been proven to be worthless for so many times.

I wonder though, how would the water pipe link between Pahang and Selangor is going to affect that promise. The pipe will have to go through the park. That is not the main issue however. It is the dam in Pahang that will displace many Orang Aslis off their ancestral home. Dams always devastates local environment. The planned dam in Pahang is no different.

These issues no doubt are large issues and individually, we are almost always powerless to act against it. But when individuals of common interest band together to form a common front, much can be done. But one does not have to confront these issues to make the world we live in a better place for all us. Even gram of carbon we reduce, every consumption we reduce, every time we recycle, we are doing our part for ourselves, for our children and for our home.

Happy Earth Day.