Shouldn’t you be thinking green by default already?
Posted by JLow on Aug 18, 2010
At the end of this article on green prison (yes even prisons are going green), there is a comment by a reader suggesting that “Environmental consideration should be given to every new structure so that awards for ecological excellence should no longer be necessary. Improvement of existing built stock should be more of an issue.”
And rightly so.
Thinking and going green should already be inculcated into our mindset and lifestyle. It should not be something that is deemed “extra effort”, that then warrants some form of recognition or award. This is of course textbook HR/people management. But isn’t climate change life-related? That the result of our (in)action will be enjoyed/suffered/to be inherited by our kids?
How would you encourage your workforce to adopt green office practises? Should internal procedures and policies start to reflect this corporate direction? Should HR start playing a role in bringing about “forced” behavioural change, by way of adherence to policies (or not), KPI’s of activities?
We could go the Chinese government way and cut power to those who are not abiding! (“China province cuts power to 500 factories“) But that would make us very unpopular!
~~~ Update ~~~
But then again, there are still efforts that really do require recognition and award: “Achievement: Leading government and industry to deliver a quieter, cleaner and more energy-efficient aviation system.“- found here: 2010 Finalist—Science and Environment Medal
China, carbon trade, CDM
Posted by JLow on Aug 12, 2010
“China eyes local carbon trade, CDM priority for now”
I saw this headline in today’s Star Online.
During the Khazanah’s Silverbook workshop (posted earlier) we learned that, despite China being one of the biggest polluter in the world- this Star article says that they are indeed the world’s largest greeenhouse gas emitter; that at least they are taking responsible actions in looking into their “unique” position. The article says that they are looking into policies of carbon cap and trade, and indeed- they do already have a China Beijing Environmental Exchange (CBEEX website) mechanism in place, albeit with teething problems.
Part of the reason for China’s push into this is due to (sourced from the article):
The cornerstone of any Chinese carbon market will be the country’s pledge, made last year, to reduce its 2005 carbon intensity rate — the amount of CO2 produced per unit of GDP — by 40-45 percent before the end of 2020.
In Malaysia we too have our own efforts, after our Prime Minister made a similar pledge to “reduce its carbon dioxide emission to 40 per cent by the year 2020 compared to the 2005 levels subject to assistance from developed countries”. As a follow-up, the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications launched its Greentech : 1 Identity, as well as conducting workshops with industries, aimed similarly at tacking our own GHG emission levels.
To share some related insights: The aviation industry, by its nature of continuous improvements in fuel efficiencies, has always been in the forefront of being green. Airframe manufacturers collaborate with engine manufacturers to come up with the engineering wonders that we see in the skies now. Airports and traffic controllers and aviation authorities collaborate to take it further by developing policies to reduce the impact of airplanes with optimised flight patterns, taxiing policies, new methods of airplane approaches and landings, etc.
Because of all these efforts, the general public is (still) surprised to learn that compared with all other industries in the world, aviation only contributes 2-3% of the total GHG emissions. 
Real time flights around the world
Posted by JLow on Aug 3, 2010
I have seen this “footage” before during a presentation, now I have finally tracked it down.
This is a “real-time” tracking of global flights over a period of a few days.
Enjoy!
What are your observations in terms of frequencies, schedules, concentrations of flights?
Sustainability and us
Posted by JLow on Jul 29, 2010
Last week, Khazanah had invited a number of local GLC’s to their workshop on “Corporate Sustainability: Moving towards low carbon growth”. This is a Silverbook workshop by them; the 6th one already in fact.
A quick background into what the Silverbook is; I am sure you can recognise what some of these are on:
Click for bigger picture
Two of the principles from the Silverbook states:
GLCs should proactively contribute to society in ways that create
value for their shareholders and other key stakeholdersGLCs should actively manage their contributions to society in the
most efficient and effective manner in line with industry norms
and best practices as well as the relevant regulatory framework
Broken down, and also coupled with our Prime Minister’s pledge to reduce our carbon emission intensity by 40%, this translates to the core area of environmental protection and policies. Therefore the topic of sustainability comes under this.
So what is sustainability?
Whilst the topic of sustainability is both wide and also evolving, I would like to attempt to define it for our use.
Definitions of sustainability often refer to the three pillars
Source, and more elaborative explanations, at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability
“Sustainability is the capacity to endure”
In our context, it means that given our lifestyle of:
- consumption (of food, fuel, manufacturing);
- waste (trash, inefficiencies/leakages);
- development (deforestation, mining (BP?), more cars on the roads);
we will eventually BOTH continue to harm the environment as well as deplete our limited resources.
An interesting note is that there is existing data indicating that Malaysia is already quickly becoming one of the bigger polluters per capita in the world. But what is more interesting is that, whilst China is also one of the highest polluters per capita, they have more programs and projects to mitigate these negative impacts than we do.
Sustainability advocates:
- smarter use of existing resources;
- improve upon efficient use of them;
- find alternative means (new technology, biofuels, low emission, alternative sources of energy, alternative means of transport, etc);
- limit the damage to these sources (toxins in natural water, poisons in soil, logging of our “lungs”, increasing amount of trash/landfill).
Already there are financial institutions that are looking into responsible investments into projects/schemes that go toward this philosophy.
At the government level, the Ministry for Energy, Green Technology and Water has already started looking into public policies that bring about environment-friendly initiatives; with the launch of Greentech : 1 Identity and the resulting working committees and task forces.
As an airline, with fuel being the biggest cost component (and thus all efforts have been invested in bringing this cost component as low as possible) the other areas we can focus efforts on are our utility use (water and electricity), to a large extent the non-airplane assets (ground vehicles), procedures (flight management, turn-around times, taxiing).
On a personal level, and either toward the (or any) company or toward our environment, we can also practise these similar philosophies. As you know, already there are supermarkets with their No Plastic Saturdays, some who charge for the use of plastic bags, shopping centres that have recycling bins to segregate waste. Not only will reducing waste and being efficient save you money, your children will see this as the normal learned lifestyle that will only become their natural habit as adults later on in life.
Even if you don’t subscribe to climate change or sustainability, you have to agree with what you have read about limited resources- even in our own backyard: That even for Malaysia, we will become a net oil importer in the not too distant future.
Bins are operational!
Posted by JLow on Jul 26, 2010
Just a quick update of the setting up of bins.
Here are Corporate Safety, Security, Health and Environment division, our recycling bins are “operational”. Just added the final touches of labelling the bins, and we are already using and practising recycling.
Walking the talk
Posted by JLow on Jul 13, 2010
Now that the workshop is out of the way, everyone should be underway with their plans on setting up their own teams, looking into greening their own offices.
We too have started our own efforts at CSSHE department.
Lights out during lunch..
No more individual bins
All they need now are logos..
As you can see, we have started collecting the individual bins from the staff, and have also “volunteered” some help to put together these 3 bins, ready for waste (paper) collection. All they need now are proper labeling or stenciling.
How are your activities and efforts going?
Clever use of plastic bottle
Posted by JLow on Jul 2, 2010
I was circulated this chain-mail.
As such, I cannot properly credit the originator, or genius, who thought to cleverly “re-use” plastic bottles.
This chain-mail was written in Chinese. But I think you can figure this out by the photos.
First, snip at the neck of the bottle
Seal your unfinished foods, etc, with the cap
You can use the “body” of the bottle as a cheap pot for small plants or flowers, or your kids’ water container when they are painting
