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We had our Townhall event yesterday- this is a few-times-a-year event where Management engages the company to give updates and staff-recognition awards. Environment department was given a display booth, as an opportunity to engage with the general staff insofar as creating awareness of our activities.
Alongside our slides of what our plans are, we also had a “pledge tree”: You guessed it, it is a barren tree where folks are encouraged to make a green pledge on what they wish to do differently that will ultimately help with greening their/our environment, either at home and/or at work.
Our Chairman Tan Sri Munir was one of the first participants to make a pledge. I forgot to warn him that we will be checking up on him on his progress!
Our Managing Director Tengku Azmil also had a chance to drop by for a chat, however we didn’t manage to get him to make a pledge.
Our partners Wild Asia were also on hand to assist us in telling their story about and work in Responsible Tourism. Being in the travel service a lot of our colleague were very keen to find out how to be responsible tourists when we travel and the operators we choose to use.
At the end of the day we had collected quite a handful of pledges. With the crowd filling out the pledges and engaging in conversations we had neglected to remind them to leave at least their email addresses behind for us to follow up on. We will however, follow up with those who did leave their names and contact details.
I hope to share their progress here over time.
Thanks to all who dropped by, to find out what we are about, and to pledge to make a difference!
  
High above us, two Orang Utan are perched on the tree branches, munching happily on figs. A monitor lizard darts off as our boat approaches while an Oriental Darter swooshes across the water.
Through our binoculars, we spot a pair of Black-and-red Broadbills with their crimson and black plumage and turquoise beaks. Hoot, hoot, hoot…the Bornean gibbons cry out in the distance. The mist lifts up slowly, unveiling a theatrical wildlife “stage” as our boat glides across the Menanggul tributary of the Kinabatangan River. Read more of this article…
Wild Asia
I have been following closely the developments with the Australian government’s tussle over its handling of its ETS legislation.
The debate over this legislation has been taken so seriously that the opposition party, the Liberal Party, has even had a change in leadership- just today a new leader has already been appointed.
China and India have also announced that they will be attending this month’s Copenhagen talks. Hopefully there will be an agreement in the outcome of this much anticipated event.
In choosing my words carefully, it is “good” to see this issue being taken so seriously by a government. I will continue watching keenly the developments on this front.
For continuous updates on the Australian government’s development on the ETS, one of the sources I follow is Sky News’ twitter updates.
John Low
MAS Environment department
Last week I attended our partner Wild Asia’s workshop on Responsible Tourism. I sat next to a lady from UK, Sarah, who is/was a business and travel writer (she now freelances still for the travel industry).
Still learning the ropes regarding my role in MAS’ Environment, I shared with her my personal take on this global issue. “… I’ve been saying to people, we live in a tropical country where it’s green everywhere and constantly raining..’What climate change?’ was usually the unspoken response I got when I talk to people about what I do now at MAS and this issue on the wider global scale..”
She looked at me and said “Really? My uncle, who’s been here since 1954 and living in Perak since then, has actually told me that he has in fact noticed that the temperature here in Malaysia HAS been getting warmer throughout the years….”
Not that I cannot take criticism or be told that I am wrong- I was dumbfounded that it took an expat to tell me this.
Personally I have always thought that it’s because my own family’s social economic status has improved through the decades while I was growing up. As a boy our home didn’t have air conditioning and we made do with what we had, which were the floor-standing or ceiling fans during warm days and nights- which wasn’t all that often. My parents’ room did have a big-hole-through-the-wall type of AC unit (the house was build in the 70’s), but it was a real luxury to have it switched on. As we “progressed” and upgraded to a bigger home my own room did have AC but again it was rarely used.
Somewhere along the way, I started using it, had my own place when I joined the workforce and slept with the AC on at nights, married and had kids, and they too are now accustomed to the AC.
It is now a little too warm at nights for us now not to have the AC on. At least for me.
This is my personal justification of not “realizing” the now-warmer local temperature, if indeed this is the case.
I have no reason to doubt Sarah and her uncle. I am however questioning why it had to take an outsider to tell me that he and others like him have noted this change when locals have been giving me the “what climate change” look.
Do you know if this is noted anywhere in our local met services? Found any literature on this?
Do you notice any change in our local weather since your schooldays?
John Low
Malaysia Airlines
** This competition has since closed. Thank you for your interest! **
Yes, we just launched our blog-redesign competition tonight, at WildAsia’s Responsible Tourism awards.
Details of the competition are in the page at the top of this window; the last tab.
If you have any queries, please leave a comment in that page, or tweet us at Twitter.com/MASenv
Looking forward to your entries!
I found this article on the Guardian that talked about human psychology and the resulting required change in human behaviour, in tackling climate change.
I found this bit the most interesting:
An American study played people recordings of actors delivering speeches about climate change. The version that people responded to the best talked about “air pollution” rather than “climate change” – because pollution is something visible that they could relate to, with strong connotations of dirtiness and poor health. Climate change is about much more than just dirty air, but finding ways of making climate change more visible is critical. People simply don’t worry about things they can’t see (or even imagine).
Are you one of the few that can only subconsciously respond to “climate change”? One of those who think: Ah, let the technology guys figure this one out / not my immediate problem; one of those who think: Can I be creative enough to change my way of life to slowdown this change yet still make my life(style) an enjoyable one; one of those willing to make small sacrifices?
As I personally always tell people, “in Malaysia we live in abundance”. There’s green everywhere (most places at least), and plenty of rainfall.
What climate change?
Read the full article at The Guardian’s site.
I have found a great FREE resource to share, albeit written for the English / UK audience, on Sustainable Energy.
The following few commentary says it all 
“For anyone with influence on energy policy, whether in government, business or a campaign group, this book should be compulsory reading” – Tony Juniper, Former Executive Director, Friends of the Earth
“At last a book that comprehensively reveals the true facts about sustainable energy in a form that is both highly readable and entertaining.” – Robert Sansom, EDF Energy
“The Freakonomics of conservation, climate and energy.” – Cory Doctorow, boingboing.net
This free downloadable book is written by a Cambridge physicist, Professor David J.C. MacKay. He dedicates this book “to those who will not have the benefit of two billion years’ accumulated energy reserves”.
John Low
Malaysia Airlines
I found this post (reproduced below) with an opinion / view that I personally hold; at least from an airline employee’s perspective: How to increase revenue and improve the business health of an airline (a fossil fuel consumer) whilst upholding the belief in conservationism (reduce carbon emission)?
In a related post I shared that airlines, by its nature of business, strives for operational efficiencies- especially in the area of fuel consumption. But, where business growth usually means more flights for airlines; and also especially with more open-sky policies around the globe, it is becoming even harder to achieve the right balance between catering to society’s need for travel, against trying to cap or limit carbon emissions from these “modern” lifestyle activities.
John Low
Malaysia Airlines
Flights are the fastest-growing polluter in transport, and 95% of the world’s population has never been on a plane. In his latest Going Green column Robert Butler asks: Do the rest of us have a right to fly?
From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine, Autumn 2009
Continue reading “To Fly or Not To Fly”
As found on Sky News’ website.
It’s interesting to see how government’s commitment to emission reduction is now tricking down to the implementation considerations, and the effects society and everyday laypeople.
John Low
Malaysia Airlines
Updated: 02:39, Friday October 16, 2009
Victoria could face power outages if two of its four brown coal power stations close in the next 10 years as Australia looks to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, experts say.
Under one of a number of scenarios prepared by consultants for the Victorian government, and obtained by The Age, the Hazelwood and Yallourn power stations could close.
Hazelwood, criticised by environmentalists as Australia’s dirtiest power station, could shut by 2013 if Australia cut its greenhouse emissions by 5 per cent by 2020.
Nearby Yallourn could close in 2018, or both stations could close in 2015, the documents suggest.
The stations, which opened in the 1960s, together provide 40 per cent of Victoria’s electricity and half the state’s greenhouse emissions from power generation.
The papers go against federal Treasury studies and work by former climate change adviser Ross Garnaut, but were dismissed as ’scaremongering’ by energy analysts, The Age said.
Other scenarios include sharp electricity price rises to keep the ageing plants in service, while another suggests the plants could break down or be forced to shut because of poor maintenance.
In response, Premier John Brumby said the government aimed to achieve ‘continuing energy security’ along with lower emissions and more investment in clean coal and other technology.
Environment Victoria campaign director Mark Wakeham welcomed any plans to abandon Hazelwood.
A spokesman for TRUenergy, which operates the Yallourn plant, said proposed compensation under the emissions trading scheme was insufficient and would affect supply reliability in the future.
A spokesman for International Power, owners of Hazelwood, declined to comment.
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