Wetlands Under Threat

Picture showing a tourist resort build on a fertile swamp at Fethiye, Turkey.

I came across this article under the WWF website. This article cought my attention as it highlighted the threats facing by the world's wetlands. This mainly due to agriculture, housing and industrial developments. Wetlands are source of fresh water and human can't live without freshwater. Though developments are necessary to improve our living standard, it must not be allowed to establish until it alters the landscape and the ecosystem functions. Wetlands have been retarded from functioning as water retention and flood coontrol measures. According to this article agriculture is the main reason that caused disappearance of wetlands. The amount of water used for irrigation is very high and to date 235 millions of hectares of land are currently irrigated worldwide. Besides that along with the water souce deficiation, there is also threats to native species. Due to aquaculture industry and large fish consumption the ecological balance has completely transformed. Pollution affects drinking water source and biological diversity. Pollution are mainly caused by pesticides, fertilizers, high level of sediment due to removal of vegetation cover in catchment areas. Algae formation and high turbidity blocks sunlight and changes water chemistry and oxygen level.

However there is no single solution for this problem. The high threat to wetland can be avoided by maintaining the valuable wetlands we have and restoring lost and impared wetlands where possible

What are can be carried out to overcome this problem?

Below are some examples:

i) Conserve and restore the available wetland and fresh water source;i.e; Paya Indah Wetlands.

ii) Avoid wetland alteration or degradation when development activities are being carried out i.e.;

construction, sand mining and agriculture.

iii) Conserve and protect the wetland through law and ordinance that protect and restore the

wetland

iv) Maintain wetland & adjacent buffer strips as open space.

v) Support local wetland and watershed protection initiatives.

This article can be viewed at http://www.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_freshwater/intro/threats/

Panimalar Baskaran

Put People First! - on view of Japan to build a low-carbon society.

Hi All,

I came accross an article from 'The Japan Journal' magazine which I subscribed when I was there few years ago. The magazine without fail will reach me avery month in my post box. Usually I kept the magazine still in the package but just now i found it tempting since the cover picture shown a handsome young kid smiling at me. So, I take times to read through the news inside.

There's an article written by Professor Uchiyama Yohji from University of Tsukuba that stated his worries about the seriousness of the Japan Government on the implementation to build a low carbon society. His concern more of the people in view of the low carbon movement in society.I will put the report of his concern for us to share.

The Energy Supply and Demand Subcommitte of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy heard a report last August on climate warming measures of the kind required in a low carbon society. The report focused on how much carbon emissions would need to be reduced in each sector of the economy to achieve the previous government's target of cutting emmission 15% (now 30%) from 2005 levels by 2020. Compared to the consumer sector, reductions imposed on the business sector are the most stringent.

Slashing emmissions in the consumer and transport sector will require stimulating demand for low-carbon products, including highly efficient household appliances and lighting as well as hybrid and electrical vehicles. That would contribute not only to creating new environmentally friendly industries but also , if Japan's outstanding low-carbon products are exported to controlling global CO2 emmissions.

However, there will be a downside too. Activities aimed at moving toward a low-carbon society also raise possiblity of lower demand for the materials and energy industries. If that happens , the energy and materials industries will have to maintain or even streamline present plant facilities. They cannot be expected to have the leeway to make large-scale investments in plant and equipment involving technical and economic risks. The government most conservative estimate projected a 0.6% decline in real GDP, a loss of 110,000 jobs and a 30,000 yen increase in the annual utility bill per house hold.

In creating a low-carbon society, basic problems lie on the energy supply and demand sides. On the supply side, most important are measures in the materials and energy industries,which produce CO2 in large quantities. On the demand side, meanwhile the vast majority of people already own cars and household appliances, and as the share of older people in the Japanese population increases, there is little chance that the overall stock of such product will increase. But with their incomes on the decline, consumers have been tightening their ourse strings.

Japan has championed policy measures aimed at achieving a low-carbon society through development of advanced scientific technologies. However, such a society must also be one in which people can live their lives with peace of mind. If the public is saddled with excessive economic burdens and job instability, they will be so concerned with how to survive to tomorrow that efforts to achieve a low-carbon society will be out of question. The government should therefore give first priority to public livelihoodand employment and only then draw up low-carbon society measures to support those priorities.

JULIANA ABD JALIL

Clothes and The Environment

I come across this article in The Star (March 2, 2010) and I find it rather interesting. It is regarding the fashion industry and environment. So ladies better be more cautious whenever you shop for new clothes.

It talks about the fashion industry that leaves behind a huge environmental footprint, from the pesticides used in growing fibres to the chemicals leached from the textile industry, the energy required to produce and transport each piece, and the clogging of landfills when clothes are discarded.
According to the non-profit Earth Pledge, some 8,000 synthetic chemicals are used globally to turn raw materials into textile.

The article mention the raw material for our clothes contain high percentage of cotton. Cotton is marketed as clean and natural but conventionally grown cotton is anything but. In fact, cotton is among the most pesticide-sprayed crops. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, 47% of the chemicals used to grow cotton are possible or known carcinogens.
Organic cotton, unfortunately, is not common locally although designer Melinda Looi has just launched one such line. Also, be vigilant to ensure you’re really getting clean, organic clothes because, although the cotton might have been organic to start with, the apparel could be laden with processing chemicals and metal-based dyes. Look for organic labelling and certification.

Eco-washing

How you launder your clothes can make a difference in your wardrobe’s environmental impact. Research shows that the greatest eco-burden from clothes is not in their construction and distribution, but in their use, specifically the laundering thereof. Washing clothing guzzles water, energy and chemicals. A Cambridge University study found that 60% of the greenhouse gases generated over the life of a T-shirt comes from its typical 25 machine washing and drying.
The solution? Wash your clothes on cold cycle as using hot and warm temperatures suck up electricity. And use phosphate-free and biodegradable detergent. Then line dry instead of using the dryer to save even more energy.
Avoid buying clothes that require dry-cleaning as most laundries still use perc, a known carcinogen, for the job. Or choose a cleaner employing “wet cleaning” or other non-perc dry-cleaning techniques.

Buy pre-loved

Buying seconds is one of the easiest and most effective ways to keep clothes and other fashion paraphernalia out of landfills and to avoid the energy costs that go into brand new stuff.

Wearing a second skin

Buy leather bags and shoes only if you intend to keep them for years. The tannery industry is among the most polluting and water-intensive industries. And that snakeskin shoe or bag? It might have cost the life of an endangered species. Under newly enforced wildlife laws on trade in endangered species, goods made from parts of endangered wildlife cannot be traded without permits – so, be wary when purchasing handbags, shoes, wallets, belts and other accessories made from animal skin.

Green is the new black

If last month’s New York Fashion Week is any indication, green threads are definitely in style. Eco chic was evident on the runways, with several designers emphasising organic materials and sustainable designs.

At the concurrent GreenShows Eco Fashion Week, designers showed clothes that will make Mother Nature smile – newspaper ballgowns, recycled plastic sandals, coats made of wool from “happy and free” sheep, parkas made of yam-dyed Chinese silk, suede-like recycled polyester micro-fibre dresses, and silk dyed with pigments derived from pumpkins and red fruits. So, it will be a matter of time before such eco-friendly apparel becomes the norm.

Do give your comments on the above issues especially ladies...... :) Save mother earth buy going green with your clothings

SUSTAINABLE WATER FOR THE FUTURE

SUSTAINABLE WATER FOR THE FUTURE

Source: (Isabel C. Escobar, Andrea I. Schafer. Sustainable Water for the Future: Water Recycling versus Desalination, 2010, Elsevier B.V., UK)

In many arid and semi-arid areas, providing large volume of water required for industrial, agricultural, recreational, and potable applications are very difficult where existing water supplies may be limited in quantity or quality for meeting the increasing demands from population growth and industry expansion. Municipal wastewater, which generally comprises between 75% and 80% of consumed water in most cities, is one of the most reliable sources of water, since its volume varies little throughout the year. Through suitable treatment, reclaimed wastewater can meet various water quality requirements for potential wastewater reuse or recycle in numerous applications to satisfy many water demands such as agricultural and landscape irrigation, industrial processes, toilet flushing, or replenishing a groundwater basin, depending on the level of treatment.

Seawater and brackish groundwater are important sources of drinking water in a few arid countries of the Middle East, such as Kuwait or the United Arab Emirates, which depend heavily on desalination. Few years ago, desalination plants were limited to the water-scarce but oil-rich countries of the Middle East and North Africa, and to some tropical and subtropical islands. Nowadays, desalinated water has become a commodity for many countries in order to satisfy their growing demand for water. This newly emerging desalination markets, driving factors are more diverse, including economic and demographic growth, prolonged droughts, climate change, or declining conventional water resources in terms of quality and quantity due to overuse, pollution, or salinization. Moreover, as conventional water production costs have been rising in many parts of the world and the costs of desalination have been declining over the years, so that desalination also becomes economically more attractive and competitive source of water.

Policies to stimulate water recycling in an industrial can be possible deploying by increasing taxes on wastewater discharge, development of wastewater treatment techniques that result in enhanced removal of a wide range of contaminants, and use of alternative water sources. Therefore industry itself can working actively on water reuse projects, mainly for economic reasons, but also from the perspective of environmental responsibility. The benefits of water reuse for the industry can be a supplemental and reliable water source to augment or replace existing freshwater supplies; reduction of the net amount of water consumed; and reduction of wastewater generation and associated costs of wastewater treatment. Besides that, these policies can drive the progress and stimulates the new projects to academic community by investigating feasibility on a small scale and suggesting new processes and approaches.

In water-scarce regions, two sources of water are normally available: sewage and seawater. In the last decade, the reclamation of effluents has developed rapidly as an alternative to seawater desalination for irrigation and indirect potable water reuse. The key in water reuse is to first treat the sewage biologically followed by membrane filtration to remove organic matter and suspended solids. For seawater desalination, pretreatment must be provided if the source is open seawater. Desalination has now been practiced on a large scale for more than 50 years, and in recent decades, membrane desalination has enjoyed tremendous success. Through continual improvements, the major technologies are now efficient and reliable. However, they are still too expensive to address the needs for additional supplies of freshwater in of many parts of the world. On the other hand, water reclamation, recycling, and reuse address depleted water supply challenges by creating new sources of high-quality water supplies. One of the most significant benefits of water reuse is the value created by the inclusion of water reuse in integrated water resources planning and other aspects of water policy and the implementation of water projects, resulting in the long-term sustainability of water supplies.

Is Malaysia ready for renewable natural gas?

By Ooi Tee Ching Business Times Monday, March 1, 2010

In Malaysia, natural gas remains one of the most reliable source for electricity since 1980s, especially to power industries with offshore power plants. Unfortunately, it was reported that after 2010, there will be a need to import natural gas for domestic use. Of course, the government is also considering alternative energy, besides petroleum, such as hydro which requires a huge area of river and biodiversity to be jeopardize. The more preferred alternative would be coal-fired power plants. However, these alternatives cause damage to the environment although it cannot be denied that in terms of economic, it has generated thousands of jobs for the people.

Therefore the government is indeed on the look-out for a better alternative. As known to Malaysians, many palm oil mills had been capturing methane gas from the palm oil mill effluent and converting them to steam to power the operation of the plant. This reduces air pollution and operation costs in the mill. Now there is an idea to amplify this concept of methane capturing for as purified methane and electricity. But research is still on-going to ascertain whether the methane can be captured at a significant volume for sale to the national power grid. Also, can methane be purified and sold as compressed natural gas to industrial like oleochemical producers or as transport fuel for taxis and express busses.

Below are some considerations of using renewable natural gas:

i. Green energy produced from agriculture waste

ii. Natural gas pipelines on a per kilometer basis cost just half as much to build as high tension power cables.

iii. Transmission loss via a gas network is only a quarter to that of electricity via the power grid

iv. Gas Malaysia buying price of renewable natural gas

v. Gas Malaysia selling price of renewable natural gas – potential for green tariffs

Is Nuclear Energy Our Best Hope?

Four years ago this month, James Lovelock upset a lot of his fans. Lovelock was revered in the green movement for developing the Gaia hypothesis, which links everything on earth to a dynamic, organic whole. Writing in the British newspaper The Independent, Lovelock stated in an op-ed: “We have no time to experiment with visionary energy sources; civilisation is in imminent danger and has to use nuclear—the one safe, available energy source—now or suffer the pain soon to be inflicted by our outraged planet.”
The above statement make me to ponder nuclear as a soure of energy. In US currently there is 104 nuclear plant. It is safe if we contain and handle it properly. The three mile island incident in 1979 and Chenobyl disaster in 1986 had caused panic to the people around the world. Due to that, there is no more development of nuclear power plant. However, in the united states 500 power plants using fossil fuel generated 7 billion tons of CO2. Besides contributing to global warming, their pollution has a serious health impact. Burning coal releases fine particulates that kill 24,000 Americans annually and cause hundreds of thousands of cases of lung and heart problems.
Energy is an issue for the world today. Both nuclear plant and fossil fuel plant contribute the damage to the earth. The earth is now at its maximum limit to contain green house gases. James Lovelock approach to switch to nuclear is a way to the future until cheaper renewable energy available.

Tariff guessing game

By Anita Gabriel (Starbizweek, Saturday 27 February 2010)

Since July 2008, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) announced that rise in electricity tariffs in Malaysia to enable the extra cost bourne by TNB to be passed to the end users. However, the public were informed that the higher rates will fluctuates depending on the price of oil, and a review on the tariffs will be done every six months. So in March 2009, with the price of natural gas supplied cut, the public received a reduction in tariff rates. The next tariff review, supposedly in June did not take place and has caused much anxiety throughout the months of September to December of 2009.
With the usher of a new year, the writer foresee that a rise in electricity soon. As mentioned by Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Peter Chin, “the rates will be raised soon given the general policy direction of gradually dismantling gas subsidies in the power sector to reduce the Government’s financial burden as well as to enhance market efficiency”.
According to the writer, tariff rates in Malaysia are affected by two factors:
i) Political motive
ii) Economy crisis
Therefore, since Malaysia had engaged in many events since June 2008, the most significant is the 40% renewable energy commitment to Copenhagen 2009, a review on the June 2008 plan should be made to ensure a better, stronger and more acceptable system. We need to consider factors such as public acceptance, average public income, projected GDP in 2010, and maybe a switch to cheaper supply of renewable energy ie. Biogas and hydroelectric to substitute natural gas to create a win-win situation between TNB and the public.