The Green Journey

Our support for The Green Wave

Posted by JLow on Apr 30, 2010

Look to the right sidebar- you would have noticed the Green Wave “badge”.

So what is The Green Wave?

The Green Wave is a global biodiversity campaign to educate children and youth about biodiversity. It leads up to the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010. Each year, The Green Wave will contribute to worldwide celebrations of the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB). It also supports other national, international and global tree planting initiatives such as the UNEP-led Billion Tree Campaign.

In participating schools, students plant a locally important tree species in or near their schoolyard. Ideally, the tree species would also be locally indigenous. Where possible, the tree should be planted on 22 May – IDB. In some countries, it may be too hot, too cold, too rainy, too dry or too something else to plant on 22 May. If such conditions apply in your country, you should plant in another month but still hold a special ceremony on 22 May.

On 22 May, students around the world will count down to 10:00 local time, when they will water their tree in their respective schoolyards, thereby creating a figurative “green wave” starting in the far east and traveling west around the world.

Throughout the day, students can upload photos and text summaries on The Green Wave website to share their tree-planting story with other children and youth from around the world. The interactive map will be launched at 20:10 local time, thereby creating a second “green wave”.

Click through the badge to find out more!

Green Luxury

Posted by deborahchan on Apr 27, 2010

In an era where everyone brazenly hitches a ride on the green bandwagon, the folks behind Nikoi Island are an aberration. When I asked Andrew Dixon, one of Nikoi’s founders, about the resort’s eco-friendly approaches, he says, “We take sustainable tourism seriously but avoid labelling or marketing ourselves as such.” Dixon thinks, and rightly so, that these green labels have been bandied about by too many hoteliers who don’t do much beyond asking guests to reuse towels or changing light bulbs.

To find out for myself, I took a ferry to Bintan Island, Indonesia, from Singapore’s Tanah Merah terminal. From the fishing village of Kawal, I boarded a boat to “Eden”, and in less than three hours I was on the island, a world away from bustling Singapore. A white sandy beach fringed by sparkling azure waters and a row of rustic thatched bungalows peeking out from a lush green forest greeted us in Nikoi. Wide grins on their faces, the resort staff scampered out to the arriving guests – yours truly and an American couple, Lara and Nick, who were on the same boat. Read more of this article…

Wild Asia

Carried out your pledge?

Posted by JLow on Apr 21, 2010

So we did a follow-up to the MAS Townhall event, where we had asked fellow employees to make a green pledge; by writing your pledge-message as “leaves” for the barren tree

Below is one of the feedback we received. Thanks Suriana

Have you been able to keep your pledge and promise?
Keeping the pledge and promise has been a challenge to me. However, there are more discussions with my children of the need to save environment. The why? And the How? And also I reject the plastic bag if I can carry the items I bought.

What are the obstacles to keeping your pledge?
The main obstacles is always time. Looking around you, there is not many recycle bin. As for me we have to drive out to get to the recycling center. Most of the time when I the hurry we forgot the put the items in our car and end up pile them up at home

What have been the benefits from your pledge?
The main benefit it make you care and aware of the need to recycle. I just need to make more effort to do more.

Will you continue with it? If not, why?
Definitely.

What do your family and loved ones think or learned about your pledge?
My children are very curious at first. There are very interested with the stickers. And try to understand more.

Volcanoes, ash, and grounded planes.

Posted by JLow on Apr 20, 2010

This has been all over the news; how passengers are stranded unable to travel or return home, how airlines are badly affected by cancelled flights, and refunds, or redirecting passengers to alternate destinations.

What about the effect on the environment?

Late last week I saw a comment left by a reader on a news article about the volcano, citing that grounding planes would therefore have an indirect benefit to the environment because of there would be no carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Immediately I thought “What about the plumes?”

I did some research which I am sharing below. The source is wikipedia.

With the massive reduction of air travel occurring over European skies, an estimated 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, more than the annual emissions of many developing countries, has been saved from entering the atmosphere as a result of the cancelled flights across Europe; however, no calculations have yet taken into account the massive amount of carbon dioxide released by the volcanic ash cloud itself. [119]

Residents of West London under the Heathrow Airport flight path have described the peace as ‘bliss’. John Stewart of the Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise said they had been inundated with emails and phone calls and said “The message is that this is what life should be like. The peace and quiet is absolutely wonderful.” Christine Shilling, of the No Third Runway Action Group, who lives in nearby Harmondsworth, said: “I’ve lived here more than 40 years and I’ve never known such peace.”[120] Jenny Tonge, president of HACAN Clearskies, life peer and former Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park in London said “Dare we hope that it will finally lay the Third Runway at Heathrow to rest and concentrate government minds on more environmentally friendly and sustainable forms of transport?”[121][122]

No doubt there has been a reduction or temporary cessation of emissions (until flights are allowed into that airspace again), but the plumes from the eruption may actually be quite damaging as well, in more ways than one.

When ash begins to fall during daylight hours, the sky turns hazy and a pale yellow color. The ashfall may become so dense that daylight turns the sky gray to pitch black, with the ash severely restricting visibility and deadening sound. A darkened ash sky lowers temperatures during daylight hours from what would otherwise be expected. Loud thunder and lightning as well as the strong smell of sulfur accompany an ashfall.[11] If rain accompanies an ashfall, the tiny particles turn into a slurry of slippery mud. Rain and lightning combined with ash can lead to power outages, breakdowns of communication, and disorientation.[12]

Very fine ash particles can remain high in the atmosphere for many years, spread around the world by high-altitude winds. This suspended material contributes to spectacular sunsets, as well as an optical phenomenon known as “Bishop’s Ring“, which refers to a corona or halo effect around the sun.[13] High levels of ash high in the atmosphere causes climate change by cooling the globe for a few years following major eruptions. The last episode of ash-induced global cooling followed the Mount Pinatubo eruption of 1991.[14] The most documented case in recorded history of this phenomenon followed the epic eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815, which led to the year without summer in 1816.[15]

Hong Kong sunset c. 1992 after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo

Rainbow and volcanic ash with sulfur dioxide emissions from Halema`uma`u vent

Volcanic ash dunes near Tarvurvur Crater, Rabaul caldera

River eroding volcanic ash flow Alaska Southwest, Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

Undoubtedly, the airline industry does have a part in overall emissions. But by last official statistics, airlines only contribute 2-3% of the overall emissions, when we take into consideration industries like power generation (coal plants), transport industry such as trucking, etc.

You may also be interested in reading “Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption”

John Low
MAS Environment Dept

Christmas Island: Nature’s Oceanic Oasis

Posted by deborahchan on Apr 19, 2010

In the deep blue of the Indian Ocean, Christmas Island emerges as an oceanic oasis set amid a liquid, not desert, landscape. Located 200 km south of Java and over 2000 km from Perth, this remote dot in the sea sits on the geographical fringes of Asia and Australia. The island remained unsettled until the late 1800s, its rugged coastline fortressed by steep limestone cliffs serving as natural barriers against occupation.

This isolation gives Christmas Island its distinct character. Only a limited number of plants and animals managed to overcome the distance between the island and other landmasses. And only a few visitors – less than 1000 – find their way each year to this unique haven to discover its restricted but amazing natural diversity. Read more of this article…

Wild Asia

ETS and what we are doing..

Posted by JLow on Apr 16, 2010

This year sees the international airlines commencing the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of the EU ETS.

We are, of course, no exception. We report to the UK’s Environment Agency for the EU ETS compliance.

With the objective of managing the consumption and cost of fuel use, we already had a system in place that tracks fuel consumption from an accounting standpoint. Meeting the EU ETS’ requirement of monitoring carbon emission involved the task of extending this functionality and fine tuning the fuel data collection to focus only on the specific relevant routes on the network, the aircrafts used, and the passenger and cargo loads of these flights. Processes of how these measurements were collected and the integrity and accuracy of its data were also shared with the UK agency. This involved revisiting the processes that were already in place that support the fuel management system, converting these into the appropriate units and re-documenting these for complying with ETS’ requirements.

More info on our ETS-related activities and compliance over time