Greening Your School : Recycling

Recycling means more than just sorting your waste – green building takes this a step further by recycling building materials and reducing the amount of waste to landfill.

Quick wins

• Start a compost or worm farm. Fruit and vegetable scraps, garden clippings and leaves make up nearly 40% of household waste. A school compost or worm farm can recycle green waste and create a natural fertiliser. Draw up a school roster and ask each class to take it in turns to collect organic scraps from the schoolyard – which will keep your school looking clean and green!
• Set a target to save trees. It takes 17 trees to make one tonne of paper. Encourage children using both sides of paper, use scrap paper for artwork and put their unwanted paper in the recycling bin. Audit your students’ paper consumption and set a target to save trees.
• Say no to plastic. Australians use over 10 million plastic bags each day. Make your school a plastic bag free zone. And while you’re at it, ask parents to avoid using plastic wrap in school lunches. Sandwiches can go straight into school lunch boxes and old-fashioned brown paper bags can be recycled.

Selangor’s Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve a Sanctuary for research

Community activity: A UPM forestry staff member explaining about herbal plants to students during an educational visit to the Ayer HItam Forest Reserve.

THE Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve in Puchong is rich in biodiversity and serves as an outdoor research lab for undergraduates specialising in forest research.

StarMetro recently met Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Forestry Faculty dean Datin Dr Faridah Hanum Ibrahim and several faculty members to find out more about the research facilities housed in the Sultan Idris Shah Forestry Education Centre (Sisfec) located within the forest.

The forest became a topic of debate recently when some hikers were denied entry by security guards stationed at the entrance at Taman Wawasan 5/1.

They have now asked for permission to continue hiking in the forest.

The 1,176ha forest is under the jurisdiction of the Selangor Forestry Department and the Selangor government granted a 80-year lease to UPM in 1996 for education, research and extension in forestry.

Key issues facing Rio+20 By MARTIN KHOR

There will be no major breakthroughs in tackling global crises at Rio+20 but it can still be a success if the leaders can agree to reaffirm old commitments and launch some modest initiatives.

THIS week, up to 100,000 people are streaming into Rio de Janeiro for the year’s biggest international event – the UN Conference on Sustainable Development to be held on June 13-22.

It is more popularly known as the Rio+20 Summit, to commemorate the landmark Earth Summit of 1992, which placed the environmental crisis into the mainstream of political life.

Persistent problems in discussion Rio+20

Click to view the details

SINCE the world’s first big environment conference in 1972, green issues have become woven into the political agenda and into consumer consciousness. But as this snapshot shows, few problems have been resolved and some are worsening fast.

> Ozone protection: The 1987 UN Montreal Protocol outlawed chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases that erode Earth’s ozone layer, which protects the planet from cancer-causing solar rays.

Selangorku Sentinels of Time – Photography Competition on Selangor’s Majestic Trees

A digital photography competition to capture images of majestic trees in the state of Selangor. Submission dateline for all digital entries is 30 AUGUST 2012

The Rio+20 Earth Summit 2012 – Podcast on BFM

At the Rio+20 Conference this June, everyone from world leaders to NGOs will come together to discuss how to reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection.

Yin Shao Loong, who attended the conference 10 years ago as Facilitator of the NGO caucus, will talk about his experiences there and after, while sharing his thoughts on the upcoming summit and what he thinks it will achieve.

Duration: 28m 10s   Filesize: 19.35 Mb

International Day for Biological Diversity – Selangor State Celebration

International Day for Biologival Diversity Celebration – Selangor State Government
Date: 26th May 2012
Time: 8am – 2pm
Venue: Taman Desa Bukit Bujang, Kuala Kubu Bharu
FB Event Page https://www.facebook.com/events/232621546852483/?context=create

The United Nations proclaimed May 22 The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. When first created by the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly in late 1993, 29 December (the date of entry into force of the Convention of Biological Diversity), was designated The International Day for Biological Diversity.

CETDEM Climate Change Seminar 2012 – 5 June 2012

The CETDEM Climate Change Seminar 2012 is just around the corner.

Click on image for front page of brochure

CETDEM is organising the 2012 edition of the Climate Change Seminar with the title “ADAPTATION OR MITIGATION – DO WE HAVE A CHOICE?”.

Global plan for sustainable development

Global Trends By MARTIN KHOR

With the Rio Plus 20 Summit approaching, a preparatory meeting in New York last week discussed how to strengthen or create various institutions to deal with the three dimensions of sustainable development.

A NEW global architecture for sustainable development is likely to be created by world leaders at the United Nations’ Rio Plus 20 Summit to be held next month in Brazil.

Hydroponics – The Future of Farming? – BFM

Food is a daily necessity! But with problems like population growth, climate change and nutritionally-compromised food – there is an increasing need to improve traditional and sustainable farming methods. One of the options is in hydroponics. Kevin A. Mealin and Jamal Affendy talk to us about this relatively novel farming method.