Dear Xiwen,
With all the epidemic diseases and crimes going around, I am really glad and thank God that you survive through this mangled world until where you are now! Every breath is a blessing, isn't it? This is the first letter I have ever written to you, even though it is a bit late (the letter should be written 3 years ago so that 3 years later you can read it, but, nahh it's ok you won't mind, just assume that this is another procrastinated work of yourself, haha), I hope that you are in whatever colour you prefer now.
Life was tough during high school time. Waking up at 5am, taking the bus at 6am, reaching the school at 7am, prefect duties, school works, cocurriculum activities, meetings, reaching home around 7.30pm, and maybe having tuition at 8.15pm. Yeah it sounds crazy, but that was the life you had for 5 years! Every Jit Sinese living in Nibong Tebal should be crowned as survivors, hahaha. We do all these so that one day we can get into the public university. The aim is crystal clear and everyone is fighting for it, and probably fights for a scholarship as well so that we can go overseas while securing a job upon graduation. Your life slows down after SPM, gets better during matriculation time, and hits the laziest ground in university.
Showing posts with label Motivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Motivation. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Monday, 18 May 2015
General's Command (Your Legend) - Mayday
Then suddenly remember to breath your freedom
Since when did you get used to this kind of life? Oh~
不相信 或是相信什麼
Actually your fate has been decided earlier
You endure but are not willing to accept it Oh~
歷史 落在 贏家 之手
誰說 敗者 無法 不朽 Oh ～
But at least we own the legend
Who said losers won't be remembered? Oh~
拳頭 只能 讓人 低頭
念頭 卻能 讓人 抬頭
抬頭 去看 去愛 去追 你心中的夢
A spark in mind can let people raise their head
Raise your head to see, to love, to chase, the dream in your heart
Wednesday, 11 March 2015
Counting Little Blessings
#1
The inconveniences I had last
semester in terms of facilities were all gone. Last semester was quite
unpleasant for me. We had no table and cupboard for more than one month and the
hostel was under renovation that we could not enter the hostel for some period
of time. Even though the wifi still sucks as usual now (I suspect that the
whole thing broke down), I manage to get back to the previous block that I
stayed during first year (whee~) in a room with good privacy on top floor. I
might need to spend more energy going up and down but it is still cozy to live
in.
#2
I got rid the thing that bound me on
Saturdays, which means I am a freeman on weekends now!!! The schedule this
semester seems just nice despite the fact that I need to go to class by 8am for
two out of five days because most classes end at noon! Although the classes
seem less packed this time, I must pay more attention in classes since I did
not do well in final examination last semester. It’s time to rise again!
#3
This is just the first week of the
new semester and I decided to wake up early consistently every morning. I know
it sounds silly for a university student to behave that way but I seem to have
more time if I wake up early. Because I am now still adjusting to this new
lifestyle (actually it is not new because I practiced it during first semester
*shamed*), I feel tired in the morning these two days. It should get better as
I get used to the timing, and of course that means I need to sleep earlier too!
#4
No more unlimited data now. It
sounds like a bad thing for heavy internet user like me but it is actually a
good thing. I won’t browse Youtube like there is no tomorrow and I will
treasure the time when I have wifi in the café or at the faculty. Subscribing
to data is expensive, but Hotlink users can now use free social messaging with
a one-time payment. I forgot how I subscribe to that plan but it is really
worth since you can stay connected to friends and family without spending
credits in texting or calling.
#5
I have not introduced my sister’s
bunny – Happy here yet. Happy is a lionhead breed who is three-month old now.
Having a dog or a cat as pet is quite a normal thing that even people who have
not had these animals as pets know more or less about their behaviors. But
having a bunny is a whole new level. She is more like a cat than a dog, which
means she is not submissive to you and she really has the personalities. After
spending time with her for some time, you will feel like treating her as an
individual rather than a mere pet. Yeah more time and energy are required to
take care of a bunny but she really brings joy to me. I will have to wait until
next semester break to see her again.
#6
#7
Being able to cycle is a really enjoyable thing in life. I am not afraid of the scorching sun, because usually I leave my hostel when the sunlight is still cool and lovely and go back to the hostel when the sun is setting. Of course if I really need to cycle under the mid-noon sun, the distance is short (like from faculty to faculty) and it is more pleasant than waiting and cramping in a bus. Uphill task is tough, but after the hard work you can enjoy the chilling breeze as you go down the slope, feeling free as a bird. Cycling is freedom, where buses are limited.#8
This semester is somehow stressful, not in terms of academics (16 credit hours are just so comfortable, hahaha) but in terms of the environmental competition I am organising with a group of teammates. We are inexperienced and are easily disorientated as we have no senior to guide us. Everything was started from scraps, from pieces of ideas forming in the head of one person to a solid event moved by a team of 16 people! I am grateful for having supportive friends and companies who help us out a lot. This is just a starting point, we see so much light lying in the future!
Of course I would like to promote the STUDENT-INITIATED ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS COMPETITION 2015 with the theme Ignite the Silver Lining here! We have been planning this competition since last year and all the students participating in this competition will be the pioneers of the student-initiated environmental movement in UPM! There is not much time left! Hurry up and we want you to be part of the efforts!
Check out this awesome trailer!
P/S: The arrangement of the good things happened is not according to importance ya~ =P
Thursday, 18 December 2014
Dear Fellow University Students, It's Time to Get Up! Bangkitlah!
First and foremost I feel sorry that both of my blogs have been deserted for quite some time. I have to force myself to pick up the keyboard again after putting blogging at a less important priority and it became a habit. Before this, whenever I blog, inspiration kept flowing into my mind that I feel relaxed and confident in writing. But now... I have to slowly recover from the laziness to blog although the final examinations are just around the corner in less than two weeks time!
For this post I just want to update a bit to round up this whole third semester of my life here in UPM. This semester is a great leap for me, not in terms of achievement (I have somehow abandoned Wushu, boohoo...) but my ideology and determination in doing something I really want to do. All these happened after I went to a charity lunch organised by Baramkini which was held to raise fund besides raising public awareness on this issue. The whole issue is about the protest towards the building of mega dam at Baram, a place belongs to native people (orang asli). If the dam is built, villages will be submerged and people there will have nowhere to go. Activists built houses and barrage to block the way getting into Baram to stop the construction progress. I believe that not many people in Peninsular Malaysia have known about this issue which involves human rights and also the environment because we are living comfortably without the risk of getting chased away from our home. There must be someone who are willing to stand up for the people whose voice couldn't be heard. Not many people are willing to do so, risking their life for the welfare of others. But still, this group of people do. They are volunteers from all walks of life who fight for people's right.
What have university students done for the community? Focusing on studies? Nah, everyone knows that is bu*****t! This is not about politics, this is social movement. University students need to have the awareness regarding human rights and do something when we see unrighteous things happening around us instead of isolating ourselves from all these current critical issues because the adults asked us not to do so, it's against the 'rules', 'rules' that restrict us to do the right thing, 'rules' that turn us into a mere working force for the 'ruling' force in the future, 'rules' that scare us from speaking up for our own welfare! Since we were young, an ideology was planted in our head - obey the rules and feel afraid of the rules. Yes, rules that keep the society in order such as the traffic laws need to be followed, however, unrighteous rules that erode our rights must be fought against! We have learnt in the history of Malaysia that all the pahlawan were once a 'traitor' in the eyes of the authority. They sacrifice their reputation or even life to uphold the people's right, to prevent their people from being further bullied by the colonizers! On the other hand, do you see what happen here? Who are the poor victims and who are big bullies?
The reason I wrote this post is not to provoke university students in creating chaos but to remind everyone regarding our dangerous state of ignorance and indifference. We might be young and inexperience, we have no income and power, but there must be something we can do to help the unfortunate ones. It is still not a culture here in Malaysia for students to be proactive in fulfilling social responsibility, however we can initiate it and be the re-pioneer to bring back the past where students are the conscience of the society, the eyes for the era（社会的良知，时代的眼睛）who stand up for justice. We can slowly pick up the pace by starting with something small:
For this post I just want to update a bit to round up this whole third semester of my life here in UPM. This semester is a great leap for me, not in terms of achievement (I have somehow abandoned Wushu, boohoo...) but my ideology and determination in doing something I really want to do. All these happened after I went to a charity lunch organised by Baramkini which was held to raise fund besides raising public awareness on this issue. The whole issue is about the protest towards the building of mega dam at Baram, a place belongs to native people (orang asli). If the dam is built, villages will be submerged and people there will have nowhere to go. Activists built houses and barrage to block the way getting into Baram to stop the construction progress. I believe that not many people in Peninsular Malaysia have known about this issue which involves human rights and also the environment because we are living comfortably without the risk of getting chased away from our home. There must be someone who are willing to stand up for the people whose voice couldn't be heard. Not many people are willing to do so, risking their life for the welfare of others. But still, this group of people do. They are volunteers from all walks of life who fight for people's right.
 |
| The barrages which are rebuilt and rebuilt to protect the homes of indigenous people. (photo taken from the Facebook page of Baramkini) |
What have university students done for the community? Focusing on studies? Nah, everyone knows that is bu*****t! This is not about politics, this is social movement. University students need to have the awareness regarding human rights and do something when we see unrighteous things happening around us instead of isolating ourselves from all these current critical issues because the adults asked us not to do so, it's against the 'rules', 'rules' that restrict us to do the right thing, 'rules' that turn us into a mere working force for the 'ruling' force in the future, 'rules' that scare us from speaking up for our own welfare! Since we were young, an ideology was planted in our head - obey the rules and feel afraid of the rules. Yes, rules that keep the society in order such as the traffic laws need to be followed, however, unrighteous rules that erode our rights must be fought against! We have learnt in the history of Malaysia that all the pahlawan were once a 'traitor' in the eyes of the authority. They sacrifice their reputation or even life to uphold the people's right, to prevent their people from being further bullied by the colonizers! On the other hand, do you see what happen here? Who are the poor victims and who are big bullies?
The reason I wrote this post is not to provoke university students in creating chaos but to remind everyone regarding our dangerous state of ignorance and indifference. We might be young and inexperience, we have no income and power, but there must be something we can do to help the unfortunate ones. It is still not a culture here in Malaysia for students to be proactive in fulfilling social responsibility, however we can initiate it and be the re-pioneer to bring back the past where students are the conscience of the society, the eyes for the era（社会的良知，时代的眼睛）who stand up for justice. We can slowly pick up the pace by starting with something small:
- Make complaints to the authority whenever you encounter a leaking tap, a broken street lamp, damaged road or any facility which is not functioning.
- Report to the authority if you witness or discover any criminal case such as stealing and burglary, especially if it happens on you.
- Keep yourself updated regarding the current issues especially those happening in Malaysia.
- Lending those in need a helping hand. For example, join Community Kitchen (Dapur Komuniti) which distributes food to poor people or be a volunteer to give tuition classes for children from poor families.
- Educate others regarding social awareness like consumer rights through conversations or writing.
- Sign petition to against unrighteous policies and regulations.
Every small deed counts. We are weak and insignificant if we act alone. Together, we stand strong. Let's make a change, a change that can make our lives a better one.
Give me ten young man, I will rock the world.
--- Soekarno, former president of Indonesia
Thursday, 21 August 2014
Ambition versus Occupation
According to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, the definition of the word 'ambition' is something that you want to do or achieve very much. I believe that many of us have written an essay entitled 'My Ambition' at least once during our primary school time but instead of writing what we want to do in the future, we ended up writing about the position we want to hold (a.k.a. occupation). Although we were just a child we were still able to choose one particular occupation mainly because we have heard of it or have seen it either in real life or on TV. So, our target after growing up was to get a professional job such as doctor, lawyer, architect, engineer, scientist, teacher, accountant etc. and we were happy about the ambition.
There is a stereotype saying that we must get good results during our school days to secure a place in the university and get a 'good' course so that we can get a promising job after we graduate. However, when we come to the time to choose a course that we want to pursue, we are often guided by people's opinion about that particular course and also our personal instinct that built up since we were young. We had not heard about things like Material Science or Forestry which are not popular, we think that the requirements to get Biotechnology or Environmental Science are quite low and since we got a better results we should aim 'higher', we heard that graduates from Pure Sciences become salesman or even jobless. To be safe, we are willing to compete with thousands of people for the limited seats in popular courses, sometimes not because that it is our dream but because of people's expectation towards us.
An ambition should not be defined as the course you want to study or the job you want to have. It is something you are passionate about and you want to do it to achieve a satisfaction in your life. If you want to teach and unfortunately you didn't get the Education course, you can still be an educator with what you have studied during university time. If you want to reduce people's suffering because of diseases and unfortunately you didn't get the Medicine course, you still can reach the aim by getting into Environmental Health, Biomedicine or even Biotechnology by developing something beneficial to the public. If you want to care for animal's welfare and health and unfortunately you didn't get the Veterinary course, Animal Science and Zoology can lead to the same dream, too! The only difference that you didn't get that particular course but getting something else is, you will not be called a teacher or doctor after you graduate and people may not look up at you with the degree you are holding. However, if you compare the two things, you want to do what you want to do, or do you just want to have the glamour?
It could be weird when people ask you what is your dream and you answer, ''I want to become a chemical engineer.''. And when they ask you for the reason, you couldn't answer it properly because you do not exactly know what a chemical engineer do. Being someone should not be an ambition, it should be what you want to do so that you can benefit yourself and the society in the future. Think wisely before you make the decision. Cheers!
[Disclaimer: This article serves as an advice for students when choosing the path they want to go in the future. I have no intention to offend anyone. Holding on to an ambition as we live is a motivation for us to contribute more to the society. By the way, congratulation for those who are one step closer to their dreams.]
There is a stereotype saying that we must get good results during our school days to secure a place in the university and get a 'good' course so that we can get a promising job after we graduate. However, when we come to the time to choose a course that we want to pursue, we are often guided by people's opinion about that particular course and also our personal instinct that built up since we were young. We had not heard about things like Material Science or Forestry which are not popular, we think that the requirements to get Biotechnology or Environmental Science are quite low and since we got a better results we should aim 'higher', we heard that graduates from Pure Sciences become salesman or even jobless. To be safe, we are willing to compete with thousands of people for the limited seats in popular courses, sometimes not because that it is our dream but because of people's expectation towards us.
An ambition should not be defined as the course you want to study or the job you want to have. It is something you are passionate about and you want to do it to achieve a satisfaction in your life. If you want to teach and unfortunately you didn't get the Education course, you can still be an educator with what you have studied during university time. If you want to reduce people's suffering because of diseases and unfortunately you didn't get the Medicine course, you still can reach the aim by getting into Environmental Health, Biomedicine or even Biotechnology by developing something beneficial to the public. If you want to care for animal's welfare and health and unfortunately you didn't get the Veterinary course, Animal Science and Zoology can lead to the same dream, too! The only difference that you didn't get that particular course but getting something else is, you will not be called a teacher or doctor after you graduate and people may not look up at you with the degree you are holding. However, if you compare the two things, you want to do what you want to do, or do you just want to have the glamour?
It could be weird when people ask you what is your dream and you answer, ''I want to become a chemical engineer.''. And when they ask you for the reason, you couldn't answer it properly because you do not exactly know what a chemical engineer do. Being someone should not be an ambition, it should be what you want to do so that you can benefit yourself and the society in the future. Think wisely before you make the decision. Cheers!
[Disclaimer: This article serves as an advice for students when choosing the path they want to go in the future. I have no intention to offend anyone. Holding on to an ambition as we live is a motivation for us to contribute more to the society. By the way, congratulation for those who are one step closer to their dreams.]
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
Events on Labour Day (part 2) - 7th Chinese Orchestra Concert in UPM
In Jit Sin High School we have a renowned Chinese Orchestra Association which will hold concerts annually in Penang Chinese Town Hall (I am not sure whether they are still having it there). I feel regretted for not being adventurous enough to take the chance while I was serving as prefect in high school to attend the concert with free admission and free transportation (boohoo...) because my home is kinda far away from my school and travelling can be hectic especially late at night. So after entering the university I came across this event which was held on Labour's Day, too in Banquet Hall, UPM.
I have been wanting to attend a formal orchestra concert where girls will wear dress and guys will have a bow tie on (bwahahahahahahaha). But for this one I just wore a Tshirt with jeans (feeling so sorry for myself) as majority audiences are wearing very very casual. The theme for this concert was 'Music Travel' where the presented songs selected included the old ones and the modern ones. Most of the audiences were Chinese but I saw some non-Chinese too (yeah I am talking about you, Habib, hahaha). Music is really an open and non-bias thing that everyone can enjoy it!
The quality of music was expected. I am not that pro in music (my tempo sucks) but I like it VERY much especially orchestra where all the musical instruments overlap one another without dominating the whole situation. The harmonious circumstance is just so soothing that I can't help swaying with the music. Ahem, back to reality. So this was a Chinese orchestra concert where you could hear something more compared to Western orchestra concert. It is not easy to play one. I tried flute before and I could not even produce a sound (ugh...)! The concert amazed me with the beauty of Chinese traditional music. It was simply beautiful! I am kinda lost of words to describe my feeling when I heard the music (sorry, so bear with me and feel regretted for not attending it yourself! Hahaha).
I liked most of the songs such as 'Joyful Songs from the Water Village' and 'TaiwanCapriccio' which are old songs and 'Rhythm of the Rain', 'Moonlight in the City', 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence' and'One Night in Beijing' which are the more modern ones. There was one Pipa (a string instrument with lots of frets, LOTS of them) solo played by a guy with the song named 'Happy Days'. It was amazing watching his fingers running through the string freely like every finger knew where they should go to get the correct notes. And he was a guy! Usually people will see guys who join Chinese orchestra as 'girly' but I am sure that this guy captured the heart of many girls, hahaha. Besides, there was a song called 'Moonlight' composed by a UPM student named Ziyu describing the feeling of missing the home town. The music was wonderful, the lyrics were awesome and the voice of the singer was fascinating! Overall, I love the performance of the whole orchestra team on stage (Erika and Wenly were up there too!) after months of hardwork. They are all students like me, but they devoted their time for musics, for us, the audiences.
However, there was one thing which was annoying to me. For the introduction of each song, there will be some comedy sketches which were actually funny but kind of ruining my mood to truly enjoy the music. I wanted to appreciate the music but part of the concert turned out as an entertainment. Maybe the organizer worried that students today would feel bored about a formal concert. There were audiences clapping and cheering (obviously for their friends performing) in the middle of the songs which supposedly not happened during an orchestra concert. For the anchor songs, 'Frozen' was not as good as expected as they played the whole original video of the song at the screen before they actually performed it. But the last song, 'Truly Love You' was a perfect ending for this whole concert.
I would give this concert 8 out of 10 marks. And if there is any upcoming orchestra concert I will buy the ticket without hesitation! It really worths to spend RM 10 for one magical night with music! Well done!
I have been wanting to attend a formal orchestra concert where girls will wear dress and guys will have a bow tie on (bwahahahahahahaha). But for this one I just wore a Tshirt with jeans (feeling so sorry for myself) as majority audiences are wearing very very casual. The theme for this concert was 'Music Travel' where the presented songs selected included the old ones and the modern ones. Most of the audiences were Chinese but I saw some non-Chinese too (yeah I am talking about you, Habib, hahaha). Music is really an open and non-bias thing that everyone can enjoy it!
The quality of music was expected. I am not that pro in music (my tempo sucks) but I like it VERY much especially orchestra where all the musical instruments overlap one another without dominating the whole situation. The harmonious circumstance is just so soothing that I can't help swaying with the music. Ahem, back to reality. So this was a Chinese orchestra concert where you could hear something more compared to Western orchestra concert. It is not easy to play one. I tried flute before and I could not even produce a sound (ugh...)! The concert amazed me with the beauty of Chinese traditional music. It was simply beautiful! I am kinda lost of words to describe my feeling when I heard the music (sorry, so bear with me and feel regretted for not attending it yourself! Hahaha).
I liked most of the songs such as 'Joyful Songs from the Water Village' and 'TaiwanCapriccio' which are old songs and 'Rhythm of the Rain', 'Moonlight in the City', 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence' and'One Night in Beijing' which are the more modern ones. There was one Pipa (a string instrument with lots of frets, LOTS of them) solo played by a guy with the song named 'Happy Days'. It was amazing watching his fingers running through the string freely like every finger knew where they should go to get the correct notes. And he was a guy! Usually people will see guys who join Chinese orchestra as 'girly' but I am sure that this guy captured the heart of many girls, hahaha. Besides, there was a song called 'Moonlight' composed by a UPM student named Ziyu describing the feeling of missing the home town. The music was wonderful, the lyrics were awesome and the voice of the singer was fascinating! Overall, I love the performance of the whole orchestra team on stage (Erika and Wenly were up there too!) after months of hardwork. They are all students like me, but they devoted their time for musics, for us, the audiences.
However, there was one thing which was annoying to me. For the introduction of each song, there will be some comedy sketches which were actually funny but kind of ruining my mood to truly enjoy the music. I wanted to appreciate the music but part of the concert turned out as an entertainment. Maybe the organizer worried that students today would feel bored about a formal concert. There were audiences clapping and cheering (obviously for their friends performing) in the middle of the songs which supposedly not happened during an orchestra concert. For the anchor songs, 'Frozen' was not as good as expected as they played the whole original video of the song at the screen before they actually performed it. But the last song, 'Truly Love You' was a perfect ending for this whole concert.
I would give this concert 8 out of 10 marks. And if there is any upcoming orchestra concert I will buy the ticket without hesitation! It really worths to spend RM 10 for one magical night with music! Well done!
 |
| Me, Habib, Wilson, Brandy and Nigel. (Habib stop being a photo bomber!!!) |
Monday, 5 May 2014
Inspirations I Got Throughout My Life that Led Me Here
When I was young, I did not think much about what I wanna be. Life seemed so straight forward and smooth from the eyes of a child like me. During primary school I was quite obsessed about encyclopedia, so I said I wanted to study DINOSAURS because dinosaurs looked cool. Then after sometimes my ambition (teacher loved to ask about what we wanted to do in the future when we grew up, hahaha) changed into scientist (because scientist sounded cool, too! Haha) that I even grew bread mold myself, doing some sort of experiments that I forgot what were them. Then my choice turned into becoming a teacher as both my parents are teacher and it seemed like many of my classmates wanted to be one, too. This dream continued until quite a long time as I grew up.
I was not a very ambitious person in term of my future. Since I was young I wanted to be great, I wanted to have power (how evil that was!) but not in term of my future career. I just knew that I have to get all As for all the exams (my parents have high expectation from me). So basically, I got 7As during my primary school time in UPSR (primary school evaluation test) and got into the nearest and best secondary school without having to choose as if I was destined to study there. During form 3 I got 8As for PMR (lower secondary evaluation) and got into science stream, again without having to consider about any other option. During form 5, the most important examination for all students in Malaysia, I got 8A+s and 2A-s (ah so close to straight A+s) for SPM (certification of evaluation Malaysia). My parents insisted that I should become a teacher since I was young. They kept telling me how good it was to be a teacher with a stable income and more holidays compared to other occupations. At that time I was still uncertain of what course should I choose for tertiary study.
Due to the love towards animals, I thought of being a zoologist. This thought shocked my parents as it was considered as having no future in Malaysia if I chose that course. I gave way to my parents negative opinion on zoology and turned to ecology. Still, ecology was the same as zoology. They were too rare that no one could guarantee jobs after graduated. So I thought of veterinarian as it was close to animals, too. But at the end I gave up my consideration towards veterinarian as I could not make myself cutting into the body of an animal for experiment or what so ever. By chances, I came across the course of Environmental Science when surfing the net and found that this could be what I actually wanted! Again, no one knew about this course, not event consultant at tertiary study exhibitions. Most people I met gave me either neutral or not so positive feedback regarding this course. It was a very desperate period of my life. It was not simply about the choice of my future career, but also the choice whether to be a good girl and follow my parents' advice or to go the other direction towards my own dream. I thought of succumbing to reality and became someone I meant to be (that was, be a teacher that did not have to worry about anything, just follow the stream).
I got to know this person named Michael Teoh Su Lim, a very successful youth leader in Malaysia during a motivational talk given by him in a leadership camp. He shared his experience from being a timid ordinary boy to who he is today, confident and shining. He encouraged us to make use of the social media to connect with people all around the world, to share thoughts so that we could improve ourselves. So I started getting active on internet and reached out for people who are into the environmental thing. Then I found that there are actually quite a number of people took environmental studies and are having a good life now including many of my high school seniors. Besides, I met Matthias Gelber the green man who gave me his full support towards the dream of being enrolled in the environmental field. There were a lot more people I met on Facebook and the determination of taking environmental science got stronger and stronger. People running green organizations are not necessarily graduated from environmental studies. They are just from a wide area of fields including Chemical Engineering, Social Sciences, Architecture, Computer Science and the list goes on. To become an environmentalist, we can be anyone! So being an environmental students, we surely can do much much more!
Being away from home during matriculation gave me the space to really think about that. I did become discouraged sometimes but I still managed to get myself back into mood. I was not active in any green event or organisation at that time due to the limitation of transportation and there was no way to declare myself as an environmental person since I had done nothing and proven nothing. Choosing University Putra Malaysia (the only public university with an independent faculty for Environmental Studies) as my first choice was the greatest decision I made as a student. And yes, I got into this university with four pointer of my matriculation results proudly, currently studying my dream course.
With high expectation, I came into this university and somehow thought that it was not what I really expected. Slowly I drifted into a comfort zone and just be a normal university student for the whole first semester. However, the subject Man and Environment taught by Dr. Mohd Yusoff did expose me to the green organizations that work hard on raising public awareness towards environmental issues. That was when I first got to know about International Greentech and Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia (IGEM) which was also the first official green event that I attended. And this led to my first green article submitted to Malaysian Environmental Sustainable Youth Movement (MESYM) website. Since then I make use of my long forsaken blog to share my life in university and also make a copy for MESYM website which is the compilation of green events happening around Malaysia. For this semester, the trip to Lake Chini by various lecturers of my faculty was another boost of motivation for me that I am sure this path is the one I want.
The real inspiration that really gave me the push appeared during my second semester. That person was not someone great like those I mentioned above. I am sure that many of my coursemates remember the day I was very pissed off by a senior student of my residential college who scolded me because I advised her to save water when washing clothes. At that time I was totally shocked. Education does not actually make a person more civilised, it has nothing to do with awareness. It really hurted me (I am a very sensitive person) that out of a sudden i decided to change. I wanted to put my commitment into this environment thing instead of just saying about it.
Now I am an active volunteer and article contributor for MESYM. I wanted to do more than just being an environmental student who eventually becomes part of the workforce in our country. I wanted to bring up and motivate all the environmental students to let them know that they actually worth more than who they are. Together we can do greater things and one day we can stand out proud on this land in Malaysia.
I was not a very ambitious person in term of my future. Since I was young I wanted to be great, I wanted to have power (how evil that was!) but not in term of my future career. I just knew that I have to get all As for all the exams (my parents have high expectation from me). So basically, I got 7As during my primary school time in UPSR (primary school evaluation test) and got into the nearest and best secondary school without having to choose as if I was destined to study there. During form 3 I got 8As for PMR (lower secondary evaluation) and got into science stream, again without having to consider about any other option. During form 5, the most important examination for all students in Malaysia, I got 8A+s and 2A-s (ah so close to straight A+s) for SPM (certification of evaluation Malaysia). My parents insisted that I should become a teacher since I was young. They kept telling me how good it was to be a teacher with a stable income and more holidays compared to other occupations. At that time I was still uncertain of what course should I choose for tertiary study.
Due to the love towards animals, I thought of being a zoologist. This thought shocked my parents as it was considered as having no future in Malaysia if I chose that course. I gave way to my parents negative opinion on zoology and turned to ecology. Still, ecology was the same as zoology. They were too rare that no one could guarantee jobs after graduated. So I thought of veterinarian as it was close to animals, too. But at the end I gave up my consideration towards veterinarian as I could not make myself cutting into the body of an animal for experiment or what so ever. By chances, I came across the course of Environmental Science when surfing the net and found that this could be what I actually wanted! Again, no one knew about this course, not event consultant at tertiary study exhibitions. Most people I met gave me either neutral or not so positive feedback regarding this course. It was a very desperate period of my life. It was not simply about the choice of my future career, but also the choice whether to be a good girl and follow my parents' advice or to go the other direction towards my own dream. I thought of succumbing to reality and became someone I meant to be (that was, be a teacher that did not have to worry about anything, just follow the stream).
 |
| (Google image) |
 |
| (Google image) |
With high expectation, I came into this university and somehow thought that it was not what I really expected. Slowly I drifted into a comfort zone and just be a normal university student for the whole first semester. However, the subject Man and Environment taught by Dr. Mohd Yusoff did expose me to the green organizations that work hard on raising public awareness towards environmental issues. That was when I first got to know about International Greentech and Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia (IGEM) which was also the first official green event that I attended. And this led to my first green article submitted to Malaysian Environmental Sustainable Youth Movement (MESYM) website. Since then I make use of my long forsaken blog to share my life in university and also make a copy for MESYM website which is the compilation of green events happening around Malaysia. For this semester, the trip to Lake Chini by various lecturers of my faculty was another boost of motivation for me that I am sure this path is the one I want.
The real inspiration that really gave me the push appeared during my second semester. That person was not someone great like those I mentioned above. I am sure that many of my coursemates remember the day I was very pissed off by a senior student of my residential college who scolded me because I advised her to save water when washing clothes. At that time I was totally shocked. Education does not actually make a person more civilised, it has nothing to do with awareness. It really hurted me (I am a very sensitive person) that out of a sudden i decided to change. I wanted to put my commitment into this environment thing instead of just saying about it.
Now I am an active volunteer and article contributor for MESYM. I wanted to do more than just being an environmental student who eventually becomes part of the workforce in our country. I wanted to bring up and motivate all the environmental students to let them know that they actually worth more than who they are. Together we can do greater things and one day we can stand out proud on this land in Malaysia.
 |
| My profile picture on MESYM, hehe... |
Friday, 2 May 2014
Events on Labour's Day (part 1) - Take A Breakfast, Let's Eat Together (T.A.B.L.E.T.)
Holidays are always students' favourite starting primary school. We have no class and the time is totally ours! However, usually the time will rarely be utilised in completing assignments or tests (unless it is already at the eleventh hour) and students tend to spend more time in bed during holidays (according to statistics, students today love to sleep during leisure time as it is the most effective way to rest, hahaha, just kidding). Besides the one-hour after-lunch nap that I took (oh that is unhealthy, don't try at home), I actually attended two events at the same day. It's Labour's Day! What a good chance for us to get some fun from the events since we really had the time!
I believe most of you guys have heard of Malaysia Breakfast Day held by Milo right? This year the event was held on 20th April 2014 at Putrajaya which is quite near to Serdang but I was not around coincidently at that time (aww...). Breakfast is very important to me as I developed the habit of having breakfast influenced by my father who insists us to take breakfast no matter how resisting your stomach is towards breakfast early in the morning. So during high school time I slowly adapted to the lifestyle which I would take breakfast no matter how early it was, like 5.15am (my bus would come at 6am something like that). Now I will feel like starving to death if I do not take breakfast after I wake up in one hour time. Usually the reason students do not take breakfast is because they wake up late but I will not have that problem. I consistently wake up at 6am every weekday so that I have at least two hours before class. However, here's another problem. There is no stall operating so early that I have to eat bread or biscuits which I really dislike as breakfast.
This breakfast event was quite exciting to me as I missed the one held by Milo. The more important reason is I LOVE breakfast. It was held by the Dietetics students of our university in collaboration with my college. There was not much publicity that many people were not aware that there was such an event and another thing was, many students went home during this brief holidays (if we count this Friday as holiday, too, haha). By the time I reached the hall of my college, I was the first and only participant who arrived super early (actually I was a few minutes late after 7.45am). Others students there were the facilitators and it was quite awkward. Finally I was accompanied by Habib and Soon Li (who woke up early for me!!! hahaha) that at least I was not that lonely. The main tentative programmes of this event were, of course, taking breakfast (bread again!!! WHY...), exhibition, health screening, educational talk, snake&ladder interactive activity, and breakfast preparation competition. Out of all these programmes, I got the most benefits from the health screening with counselling. This was the first time I did the body fat screening test. It was amazing how the device that you held with both your hands straight can detect the fat content of your body. Besides we also did the Body Mass Index (BMI) check. Hmm... Looks like I have to control my diet already since I want to secure the position at the normal range. The dietetic consultant there (her name is Ms. Tan if I am not mistaken) gave us detailed explanation and advice on our breakfast habits. The way she talked to us made us feel that she was concerned about our diet and yeah I want to change (hopefully)!
We also had fun making breakfast in a team of about four persons. Awareness events should not be carried out in a too formal way as it would be dull and stressful. We were having a great time joking around when making sandwiches. Last but not least, the goodies bag! This one used to be the attraction for any event held in university. We got products from Ayam Brand (tuna with crackers!), Anlene milk and so on which really turned our mood on towards having breakfast. I did not regret for spending the whole morning there and learnt something beneficial although it seemed like a general knowledge but there were things that we did not know such as there are 14 guidelines in Malaysian Dietary Guidelines (as we were rushing through the event I did not actually read all the guidelines. As conclusion there are all the good habits that we should have regarding our diets).
P/S: Dear friends, no more excuse for not accompanying me to take breakfast, kay... XD
I believe most of you guys have heard of Malaysia Breakfast Day held by Milo right? This year the event was held on 20th April 2014 at Putrajaya which is quite near to Serdang but I was not around coincidently at that time (aww...). Breakfast is very important to me as I developed the habit of having breakfast influenced by my father who insists us to take breakfast no matter how resisting your stomach is towards breakfast early in the morning. So during high school time I slowly adapted to the lifestyle which I would take breakfast no matter how early it was, like 5.15am (my bus would come at 6am something like that). Now I will feel like starving to death if I do not take breakfast after I wake up in one hour time. Usually the reason students do not take breakfast is because they wake up late but I will not have that problem. I consistently wake up at 6am every weekday so that I have at least two hours before class. However, here's another problem. There is no stall operating so early that I have to eat bread or biscuits which I really dislike as breakfast.
This breakfast event was quite exciting to me as I missed the one held by Milo. The more important reason is I LOVE breakfast. It was held by the Dietetics students of our university in collaboration with my college. There was not much publicity that many people were not aware that there was such an event and another thing was, many students went home during this brief holidays (if we count this Friday as holiday, too, haha). By the time I reached the hall of my college, I was the first and only participant who arrived super early (actually I was a few minutes late after 7.45am). Others students there were the facilitators and it was quite awkward. Finally I was accompanied by Habib and Soon Li (who woke up early for me!!! hahaha) that at least I was not that lonely. The main tentative programmes of this event were, of course, taking breakfast (bread again!!! WHY...), exhibition, health screening, educational talk, snake&ladder interactive activity, and breakfast preparation competition. Out of all these programmes, I got the most benefits from the health screening with counselling. This was the first time I did the body fat screening test. It was amazing how the device that you held with both your hands straight can detect the fat content of your body. Besides we also did the Body Mass Index (BMI) check. Hmm... Looks like I have to control my diet already since I want to secure the position at the normal range. The dietetic consultant there (her name is Ms. Tan if I am not mistaken) gave us detailed explanation and advice on our breakfast habits. The way she talked to us made us feel that she was concerned about our diet and yeah I want to change (hopefully)!
We also had fun making breakfast in a team of about four persons. Awareness events should not be carried out in a too formal way as it would be dull and stressful. We were having a great time joking around when making sandwiches. Last but not least, the goodies bag! This one used to be the attraction for any event held in university. We got products from Ayam Brand (tuna with crackers!), Anlene milk and so on which really turned our mood on towards having breakfast. I did not regret for spending the whole morning there and learnt something beneficial although it seemed like a general knowledge but there were things that we did not know such as there are 14 guidelines in Malaysian Dietary Guidelines (as we were rushing through the event I did not actually read all the guidelines. As conclusion there are all the good habits that we should have regarding our diets).
 |
| Soon Li, me and Habib who was guilty of not taking breakfast often.... XD (argh the front camera of Nokia Lumia is not really that good) |
P/S: Dear friends, no more excuse for not accompanying me to take breakfast, kay... XD
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Getting Out of the Box (not just thinking of it)
[The following piece of writing was written in a more peaceful tone by eliminating most of the aggressive emotions to avoid causing controversy. Sorry if I offended anyone in any way. This essay is to express my personal point of view towards the topic without the intention to harm any individual. It does not necessarily represent the situation everyone had but at least it is what I experienced. Feel free to agree or disagree with it.]
I grew up in a traditional Chinese family where parents were strict (for our own good of course, and I am the eldest) and studied in Chinese schools for primary and secondary studies (super strict teachers and rules) for the past 17 years until I left my hometown to study in Selangor. Before that everyone around me basically consisted of Chinese except some teachers and staffs and some acquaintances I knew during my English tuition class. At that time I had no idea what does the world look like and I don't have the will to know either. (There was a reason why I scored high marks for my Malay language essay. I was taught in 'bahasa baku' a.k.a. standard language in the very first place, causing me to speak funny bahasa when I started to mix around with Malay friends. The spoken language is quite different from the written one. So I can consider this as cultural shock? Haha) My rebellious nature came quite late, about 18 years after I was born, haha, since I lived far away from home.
The environment was a comfort zone where I lived a life the way that I thought it should be, influenced by surrounding people and culture. We were taught to study hard to excel in examinations as that was the ultimate goal as a student so that we could be 'someone who are able to contribute to the community'. We were taught to follow the rules without the right to object anything even if we did not agree because the order was given by the authorities. We were taught not to doubt about decisions made by 'adults' as they were always right because their experience in life was much more than ours. Eventually many of us developed a characteristic of accepting what others say without face-to-face objection, which means we would be giving comments at the back fearlessly despite the fact that we were afraid to confront directly with the 'offenders'. Keeping quiet became the trend as speaking out loud would invite unwanted attention from unwanted people, eventually bringing troubles to ourselves.
Ok here is something personal about myself. When I was young, I was afraid to speak out my own thoughts no matter how small the thing was unless it was something conventional and could be accepted by general people. I did everything carefully so that I did not break any rule or any expectation from others. I wanted to be looked up at, I wanted to be liked, I wanted to be someone successful in terms of others view. A little bit of blaming certainly terrified me (no hyperbole). This personality has rooted inside me and I struggled hard to break free. Part of it still remains that I get panicked easily and I always worry about things that maybe I should not worry that much. Yeah, it leads to high efficiency in completing works given but it seems out of place within this social circle that I live where people love to be 'just on time'. Although I try to display an open personality I am still very sensitive towards anything related to myself. This led to some degree of aggressiveness within myself and I am sure that most of the time I hurt others' feeling easily by being too straight. Hiding my fear when facing obstacles do not make me stronger but I just do not want to show others that I am weak. Leader should be confident so that others are willing to follow your path to work on the same target. This causes me to break down sometimes when I was alone but this emotion weakness is not going to bring me down.
Things did not change much when I entered pre-tertiary and tertiary studies. Speaking up for ourselves seems like a rare action and people will be like 'wow you are so brave, I agree with you too'. When facing something we think as injustice or not true, we do not stand up to defend ourselves or others. Discussion turns into a one way talk or domination as others will rarely have opinion especially opinions that are contradict with the original idea. Come on, we are almost a grown-up (or already is one). I am not here to encourage rebellion but to motivate you guys to speak out, to let others know what's in our mind otherwise no one knows (or no one will care since you yourself do not want to show that you care). We might feel afraid to stand up facing someone more senior or superior than us, just like I do every time I want to stand up to speak. My heart races like mad but I have to be calm so that my words can be delivered clearly. There is no courage without fear. Face it and give yourself a push. Stand up and talk. The longer you wait, the more courage being drained from your body. Thinking twice before speaking is always smart, as long as you speak, you get the chance to make a change.
As a student we have no money for now, but what we have is energy and time, and chances to get back up after falling. We might fail, but failing as a student is always a fresh start. There is less financial or career stress that we still have the time to rebuild our personality to fit in the outside world in the future. Appreciate the one in a lifetime opportunity we are having now. Dream big, speak loud and work hard. Cheers!
P/S: No photo for this post because it is plain inner thought, hehe...
I grew up in a traditional Chinese family where parents were strict (for our own good of course, and I am the eldest) and studied in Chinese schools for primary and secondary studies (super strict teachers and rules) for the past 17 years until I left my hometown to study in Selangor. Before that everyone around me basically consisted of Chinese except some teachers and staffs and some acquaintances I knew during my English tuition class. At that time I had no idea what does the world look like and I don't have the will to know either. (There was a reason why I scored high marks for my Malay language essay. I was taught in 'bahasa baku' a.k.a. standard language in the very first place, causing me to speak funny bahasa when I started to mix around with Malay friends. The spoken language is quite different from the written one. So I can consider this as cultural shock? Haha) My rebellious nature came quite late, about 18 years after I was born, haha, since I lived far away from home.
The environment was a comfort zone where I lived a life the way that I thought it should be, influenced by surrounding people and culture. We were taught to study hard to excel in examinations as that was the ultimate goal as a student so that we could be 'someone who are able to contribute to the community'. We were taught to follow the rules without the right to object anything even if we did not agree because the order was given by the authorities. We were taught not to doubt about decisions made by 'adults' as they were always right because their experience in life was much more than ours. Eventually many of us developed a characteristic of accepting what others say without face-to-face objection, which means we would be giving comments at the back fearlessly despite the fact that we were afraid to confront directly with the 'offenders'. Keeping quiet became the trend as speaking out loud would invite unwanted attention from unwanted people, eventually bringing troubles to ourselves.
Ok here is something personal about myself. When I was young, I was afraid to speak out my own thoughts no matter how small the thing was unless it was something conventional and could be accepted by general people. I did everything carefully so that I did not break any rule or any expectation from others. I wanted to be looked up at, I wanted to be liked, I wanted to be someone successful in terms of others view. A little bit of blaming certainly terrified me (no hyperbole). This personality has rooted inside me and I struggled hard to break free. Part of it still remains that I get panicked easily and I always worry about things that maybe I should not worry that much. Yeah, it leads to high efficiency in completing works given but it seems out of place within this social circle that I live where people love to be 'just on time'. Although I try to display an open personality I am still very sensitive towards anything related to myself. This led to some degree of aggressiveness within myself and I am sure that most of the time I hurt others' feeling easily by being too straight. Hiding my fear when facing obstacles do not make me stronger but I just do not want to show others that I am weak. Leader should be confident so that others are willing to follow your path to work on the same target. This causes me to break down sometimes when I was alone but this emotion weakness is not going to bring me down.
Things did not change much when I entered pre-tertiary and tertiary studies. Speaking up for ourselves seems like a rare action and people will be like 'wow you are so brave, I agree with you too'. When facing something we think as injustice or not true, we do not stand up to defend ourselves or others. Discussion turns into a one way talk or domination as others will rarely have opinion especially opinions that are contradict with the original idea. Come on, we are almost a grown-up (or already is one). I am not here to encourage rebellion but to motivate you guys to speak out, to let others know what's in our mind otherwise no one knows (or no one will care since you yourself do not want to show that you care). We might feel afraid to stand up facing someone more senior or superior than us, just like I do every time I want to stand up to speak. My heart races like mad but I have to be calm so that my words can be delivered clearly. There is no courage without fear. Face it and give yourself a push. Stand up and talk. The longer you wait, the more courage being drained from your body. Thinking twice before speaking is always smart, as long as you speak, you get the chance to make a change.
As a student we have no money for now, but what we have is energy and time, and chances to get back up after falling. We might fail, but failing as a student is always a fresh start. There is less financial or career stress that we still have the time to rebuild our personality to fit in the outside world in the future. Appreciate the one in a lifetime opportunity we are having now. Dream big, speak loud and work hard. Cheers!
P/S: No photo for this post because it is plain inner thought, hehe...
Thursday, 24 April 2014
Conclusion for Lake Chini Fieldwork 2014
Here are the 'table of content' of posts regarding this fieldwork that I have posted before:
- Introduction - Lake Chini Fieldwork 2014
- Environmental Forensic Studies (part 1) - Extraction of Organic Contaminants from Leaves
- Environmental Forensic Studies (part 2) - Water Sampling
- Climatology - Selected Weather Parameters Measurement and Their Interpretations
- Air Quality Measurement - Determination of Air Quality using Minivol
- Geophysics - Earth Resistivity
- Biodiversity - Measurement of Biodiversity in Fauna
- Hydrology (part 1) - Water Quality of Freshwater
- Hydrology (part 2) - Measurement of River Discharge
- Solid Waste Management - Questionnaires and Field Visit to Landfill
Thank God that I finished all the posts. Sorry if the posts are not detailed enough or are confusing. Feel free to ask if you have any doubt. Paying attention to all of the sessions are really tiring as I tried hard to remember and absorb what has been taught hands-on at the site. Experience is always much more precious than knowledge within finger tips. Just like the subject 'Man and Environment' taught by Dr. Mohd Yusoff last semester, this subject is another eye-opener, it inspires and motivates us besides giving us an idea what we are going to face in the future in these various sub-fields of environmental studies. Knowing what we want to do in the future is important for us to have a direction to fight for. For me, well, there is still no fixed point for my future path. I am looking forward to Environmental Forensics and Environmental Law though, just a prediction as I find myself interested in environmental justice. But then, I found that Environmental Law is not included in our syllabus for Bachelor of Environmental Science and Technology (uh oh...).
Anyway, I place my trust in God's hands as He know what is the best for me. Now, all I have to do is study. Ok, just kidding, haha. It is impossible for me just to study without other spices in life, right? I want to enjoy my life as an independent university environmental student and share my thoughts to others. May God bless everyone of us. Amen.
 |
| Me and Erika, the siao za bo... XDD |
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
Environmental Students Versus Medical Students
 |
| We will soar and fly freely in the midst of blue one day. |
I agree the point that those who successfully being enrolled in medical courses of public universities are very smart people (and hardworking, too) as they have to get at least 4.0 in CGPA to be considered (nothing less than that). For University Malaya you even have to go through interview which is taken seriously by the university. On the other hand, as what general people believe, environmental studies are taken by students who did not get flying colours results and did not get what they actually want to study. I did not say this out of my own imagination but from my past experiences when I told people that environmental science was my first choice they will be wide-eyed and exclaimed 'oh wow really???' (maybe they would continue saying 'you should have taken medical courses' as my results were not bad at all, much further away from bad). Me and both of my Chinese coursemates took this course out of willingness, out of ambitiousness, out of the...blue? (hahaha I did not expect all of my Chinese coursemates put environmental science as first or second priority when filling up the university application form). Two of us came from matriculation (matriculation students have better chance to enter public university) and the other one from STPM (which is really tough to score). Yeah, I am really grateful to meet people with the same ambition although our views towards this field might be different.
Surviving in medical courses is extremely challenging as we can see. They have to cover a lot of subjects such as anatomy, physiology, microbiology, pathology, immunology, pharmacology and much much more subjects with terms that I do not understand at all in five years. This makes people think highly of medical students. Well, environmental students take a lot of subjects, too. But people normally think that environmental students are very idle people with easy-to-score subjects. Do you know that we what we learn includes soil science, biodiversity, solid waste management, climatology, hydrology, remote sensing, environmental law, environmental health, meteorology, pollution, drinking water treatment, waste water treatment, envirometrics, bioremediation, environmental forensics, natural resources and so on which involve all three biological, physical and chemical sciences in four years?
It might sound like Jack of all trades as almost all the people taking various courses can do what we do. I do agree that people from chemical engineering or forestry can also play a part in environmental field without having to take environmental science but all the subjects I mentioned above are interrelated as a whole. Just like the reason why medical students have to take all those subjects although they might not be specialised in that particular field in the future like microbiology as we already have microbiologists. (the fact is we really don't get a schedule as packed as the medical students')
Parents worry that their children taking environmental sciences will end up being a salesman or salesgirl. Honestly, most scientists (from various fields) went through the process of selling their own inventions or products company by company. We accept this fact. Sometimes people ask me what I want to be or do in the future and my answer is still a 'not sure'. It's not because I do not know what can I do after I graduate, but I know I can do a lot of things with what I study in environmental science. Our life is closely related to the environment. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the things we use, the vacation we go. Being a Jack of all trades is not necessarily a bad thing as you can fit in many fields at the same time. Environmental quality assessment? Yes. Conservation and preservation work? No problem. Renewable energy development? Definitely. Manufacturing factories? Why not? Education? Yeah. Agriculture? Sure. Green technology? Yay! Think out of the box! There are really a lot of professions we can do and all of them contribute to a better environment for everyone to live in. The world is so big. There must be somewhere that we can set our foot on and really do something great. On the other hand, here is a cruel fact for medical students: graduated with a medical degree does not 100% make you a doctor. This is a fact that we have to accept as well.
So now, dear fellow environmental students, take pride in what we study just like the medical students. People might think that we are less important than them but we know who we are going to become. We fly in the sky, we roam the land, we dive into the deep deep ocean. The environment is ours. This is a freedom, a blessing that God has given us. It is all about choices. Live it out loud and prove to others that we are something instead of hiding ourselves when people ask who we are. We are not unwanted students who were being randomly thrown into this course. See the value in environmental studies, see the value in ourselves.
Cheers.
Friday, 28 March 2014
I Proudly Announced That, I Am An Environmental Volunteer
 |
| Under this azure sky I shall proudly stand. |
I consider volunteer as a job, a professional one. It requires passion and sacrifices to keep going just like any other jobs in the world (unless you really dislike your job and you do it just to make both ends meet). Honestly it is not easy. Most of us have our own career (mine as student), we do not get paid in return (no salary and nothing at all), we work over time (besides office hours or even during weekends and holidays), we sacrifice leisure time for work (less entertainment for some periods of time), we spend our own money on volunteering (on transportation etc.), we are often discouraged by people around us (but we still motivate ourselves to hold on) and the list goes on. There is no need to own a cert or degree to be a volunteer but that does not make it a non-professional job. A piece of paper does not prove anything in the world today with so many higher education institution mushrooming almost everywhere. You need knowledge to be a volunteer, knowledge that is not naturally possessed by every human on Earth. That knowledge is piled up through countless hands-on experiences, researches, readings and attentions towards the environmental issues worldwide.
My volunteering journey began during my high school time when I took part in the making of EM mudball for Sungai Rambai. At that time I was just a participant who followed what people did, contributing that very little but meaningful effort towards the environment. So maybe I can consider that as a flag off point of this long long journey. However, there was a very lengthy period of time when I just talked about it A LOT without taking any real action (feeling ashamed about this). Anyway, I slowly picked up the pace to be a green volunteer as an article contributer for Malaysian Environmental Sustainable Youth Movement (MESYM), then a participant for Shah Alam Tree for Life 2013 by Eco Warriors last year and now a volunteer for Malaysian Environmental Non Government Organization (MENGO) H2O Hunt 2014. Although I get nothing realistic in return, but it's an achievement for me seeing my contribution built up little by little, making impacts bit by bit and inspiring surrounding people one by one.
It's not late. Maybe what you need is just some courages to make the first step, or some information about where and how to start. Do not hesitate to approach any of the green leader or random dedicated volunteer to voice your doubt. They are very nice people who place environment in front of their priority list and they will give you useful advices based on their past experiences and future views towards this journey. All of them are unique individuals who have the same heart, the heart which is determined to do something for the Earth, for our future.
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
MENGO H2O HUNT 2014 - Trailer
Hey guys! It's another publication of a green event which is just around the corner on 13rd April 2014 at the Square, Publika! This is the first MENGO H2O Hunt 2014 held by the Malaysian Environmental Non-Government Organizations (MENGO) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which is open for all age groups no matter how old or how young you are as long as you are fond of activities like the Amazing Race and you want to know more about water issues which are so closely related to our daily life!
Oh hang on, you have no idea what MENGO is? MENGO is made up of 24 Malaysian environmental non-government organizations including Biji Biji Initiative, Blue Life Ecoservices, Borneo Resources Institute Malaysia (BRIMAS), Camp Borneo, Ecocentric Transitions, EcoKnights, Environmental Research and Management Association of Malaysia (ENSEARCH), Environmental Protection Society Malaysia (EPSM), Global Environment Centre (GEC), Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS), Malaysian Karst Society, Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), Malaysian Society of Marine Sciences (MSMS), Partners of Community Organisations (PACOS), Penang Institute , Reef Check Malaysia, Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society (SWCS), Sustainable Development Network Malaysia (SUSDEN), Tatana Roots, TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, Treat Every Environment Special Sdn Bhd. (TrEES), Wetlands International (Malaysia), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia, and Water Watch Penang (WWP). When I saw the website about MENGO for the first time, I was like wow I don't know that there are so many environmental organizations in Malaysia, this is awesome! So basically MENGO is a grouping of the organizations above under the (Danish International Development Assistance) DANIDA-supported programme for environmental assistance to Malaysia towards the direction of sustainable development.
Back to the main topic! So now we are calling for online registeration of participants for MENGO H2O Hunt 2014! The main purpose of this event is to create awareness of our people about water conservation through this 1.5 kilometres water-based challenge. Before you register for this event, you have to form a group of maximum four members with one leader and at least one of the members should be an adult. You are encouraged to wear blue or green Tshirts (this will contribute 10 points for your team) but you are required to bring 4 litres of water in used mineral water bottles (to avoid your team from being deducted 5 points, haha). This challenge is open for only 50 teams which would stand a chance to win cash or gift vouchers up to RM 500! So be quick! The registration fee for each team is RM 100 and IF you bring along 4 kg of recycable papers or books you can get RM 20 of refund on the same day. You registeration is confirmed once you pay the fee through bank in or cheque.
No more hesitation! Hover your mouse pointer over the link provided above to register with your family and friends! I bet this would be fun! I am really looking forward to your participation and hopefully we would meet there at Publika (remember to look for me among the volunteers there yeah, haha). See you real soon!
 |
| Location: Publika Shopping Gallery, No 1, Jalan Dutamas 1 Solaris Dutamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. |
An Inconvenient Truth - Extracted Information
The movie ''An Inconvenient Truth'' was released in 2006 in United States when I was in standard six (who was still unaware of anything about global climate). I first watched the movie during a leadership camp in high school (and I was in half-asleep state due to the tiring schedule) when I was in form three but I barely remembered the informations embedded in the movie, not even its name. Now it's 2014, and I rewatched this very informative and motivating movie with my fellow coursemates during our Chemistry class. I tried to absorb and write down as much facts as possible that was mentioned by Al Gore throughout the movie but did not pay much attention to the travelling parts.
So before I introduce the movie, let's see who is Al Gore. Most of us (or maybe all of us) had never heard this name. Albert Arnold Gore was actually the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001, under President Bill Clinton. Now he is still an active environmentalist who has contributed a lot for the environment (for more information you guys can utilise Google, haha). In 2007, this movie was awarded an Academy Award for Best Documentary and Al Gore was given the Nobel Peace Prize with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). There are a lot of criticism on this movie as it was produced by a politician but I am just going to focus on the issue of global warming by breaking information I extracted from the movie into a few parts (plus some of my elaboration):
1) According to the world map, we can see that most of the land on Earth locates on the North Hemisphere. When the North Hemisphere receive more sunlight (which is during Spring or Summer), the plants on land take up the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for photosynthesis, thus the level of carbon dioxide would be lowered. On the other hand, when it is Autumn or Winter for the North Hemisphere, less sunlight will be received by the plants, so the rate of photosynthesis decreases, leading to a higher carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is actually fluctuated, going up and down each year. However, it is getting higher and higher despite the normal up and down trend.
 |
| (Graph taken from ''Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis'' by IPCC) |
2) Glaciers on mountain top are actually our precious fresh water source (even though we do not have glacier in Malaysia). During spring, glaciers on mountains such as Himalaya will melt slowly and contribute to the streams flowing down the mountain. So if the glaciers melt faster than normal, our fresh water source will deplete pretty soon. When the glaciers (which reflect the sunlight) melt, the rocky surface of the mountain will be exposed to direct sunlight, thus absorbing more heat which in turn speeding up the melting process.
 |
| (Google image) |
3) The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere hundreds or thousands of years ago can be measured by analysing the air bubble trapped within the glaciers which formed long long time ago. Scientists drill ice cores to extract information about the atmospheric composition or even temperature from these tiny air bubbles preserved by the glaciers. We can see that the ice core consists of layers of ices, each ice band represents the condition of the snowfall during that season. Sometimes it trapped particles such as volcanic ashes which would tell us more about the climate of those previous years.
.jpg) |
| (Google image) |
4) As we know, temperature is proportional to the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. In Malaysia this fact is accepted widely by students but I heard that there are some arguments regarding whether global warming is caused by carbon dioxide or not. So here is the evidence of the relationship between carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere and the global temperature.
 |
| (Google image) |
5) The increase in ocean temperature contributes to the increase in the evaporation of sea water. Thus, this raises the humidity in the air, speeding up the wind velocity and eventually elevates the intensity of hurricane (for some places we call it typhoon or cyclone). Hurricane takes up its speed as it moves through warm ocean, gaining more and more water vapour and getting bigger and stronger. That's why hurricanes today bring more destruction than ever.
.jpg) |
| Hurricane Katrina (Google image) |
6) Extreme weathers happen everywhere where droughts and floods could happen at the same time at different places. As more sea water evaporates from the ocean, more moisture on land is also being 'sucked' up into the atmosphere, resulting in dry parched land. Precipitation (rainfall) relocates and focuses on a particular area. Higher temperature means higher rate of evaporation, there would be more rainfall which could be very destructive as the amount of rains is too large at one time.
 |
| (Google image) |
7) Permafrost is the layer of ice on the land surface that never melts throughout the year, previously. Now due to the melting of permafrost, there is a phenomenon called the drunken trees where trees having their roots buried deep down in the permafrost are tilted as their roots have nothing to grab on. So the trees lean to one side in an awkward position, indicating the melting of the once-would-never-melt ice.
8) As the Earth gets warmer, falls and winters become shorter. So spring arrives earlier than usual causing caterpillars to hatch earlier. However, birds are warm-blooded animals whose biological behavior do not follow the change of environment. By the time the birdlings hatch, most of the caterpillars have turned into pupae that there is no food for the birdlings. This has caused a huge disruption to the ecosystem where the caterpillars will have less predators, destroying plants that they feed on. It is really an ecological disaster.
9) The floating ice cap in Artic has become so thin that even a submarine can penetrate and emerge from the ice. Usually submarines cannot penetrate through the ice without damaging their bodies. The thickness of Artic ice even varies up to 1 meter 'thin'.
10) Ice acts as reflector of sunlight on Earth. It can reflect as much as 90% of sunlight reaching the glaciers. But when the glaciers melt, less sunlight will be reflected. More than 90% of sunlight will be absorbed by the ocean and even though ocean has a large heat capacity, heat is being stored and piled up slowly in the ocean, causing a rise of temperature.
11) Ocean and wind currents are responsible in distributing the heat absorbed by the Earth surface from the equator to the poles as equators receive more sunlight than the poles. Today, as the equator obtains much more heat from the sun, causing the poles to gain more heat from the currents as the heat is brought to the poles. Thus, the poles will be heated up faster than the equators, speeding up the melting of glaciers. The circulation heat works this way: The surface of the ocean which directly receives sunlight becomes warmer. As the current goes northward, sea water evaporates and ice forms and the current becomes colder and denser (saltier as water evaporates and the formation of ice, leaving behind salts in the current) when it reaches north pole. The denser and colder current will sink and moves southward back to the equator which is warmer. The theory of thermodynamics can be applied here where heat comes from warmer area to colder area.
12) Assuming that there is a frozen lake near the north pole. As our Earth becomes warmer, ice in the middle of the lake melts until the ice at the border of the lake breaks and the cold water rushes into the sea. This can immediately lower down the temperature of ocean current at the north pole and completely stop the circulation of heat carried by the ocean current. Heat cannot be distributed evenly on Earth and we can imagine the consequences that follow. Of course this is just an assumption as there is no such large frozen lake near the North pole.
13) The distribution of species on Earth mainly depends on the climate of the habitats. As climate changes, invasive species begins to infest and thrive at the area where it does not exist previously. Many parasites grow well at warmer temperature. For example, pine beetles which are usually being killed by the cold of winter. But as the period of winter becomes short, pine beetles destroy the pine forest more severely, damaging the habitat of other animals. Another example of invasive species is mosquito. Mosquitoes begin to move to higher altitude as the temperature rises. This causes the re-emerging of diseases such as Dengue fever among our population.
14) Sea creatures are really sensitive towards the surrounding temperature where any fluctuation in temperature can easily lead to death. One of the most affected species is the coral reef. Coral reef is the habitats for lots of sea creatures, providing shelters besides reducing the speed of strong ocean current. However, the rise in temperature causing the bleaching effect of the coral reef, leaving behind lifeless and stone-like structures. The loss of habitats and natural ramparts indicate the danger of massive species extinction underwater.
15) At the ocean, basically there are two types of ices: sea-based ices and land-based ices. Sea-based ices are ices that float freely on the ocean surface which will not contribute to the raise of sea level when they melt (if you place a ice cube in a glass full of water, after the ice cube melts, the water in the glass will not overflow). On the other hand, for the land-based ices, the melting will cause a rise in sea level, flooding all the low-lying coastal areas.
16) In Antartica, a pool of water will be formed in the middle of the ice shelf which slowly penetrates through the thick glaciers (we call the structure 'moulin'), causing the ice shelf which was formed centuries ago to break into half, creating a deep shaft reaching the land surface of the Antartica. As the pool of water which is slightly warmer than the surrounding ice, after it reaches the bottom of the ice shelf, it starts to sip through the bottom of the ice shelf. Eventually the whole large piece of ice shelf which is located seaward would slide and fall into the sea. In this case, we would immediately lose a huge chunk of glacier which contributes to the rise in sea level.
These are the facts that I am able to extract from the movie, hoping that those who could not understand or catch up with the pace of the movie (as it has no subtitle) can get some ideas from this post. For those who have not watched this movie after 8 years the movie was produced, watch it! Maybe you can just ignore the political components in the movie if you do not like it, but the facts are precious.
P/S: I might miss out some points in this post. Correct me if I am wrong in any of the information yeah. ;)
(Special thanks to Dr. Kannan for correcting me in some points!)
 |
| (Google image) |
 |
| (Google image) |
 |
| (Google image) |
| (Google image) |
 |
| (Google image) |
| (Google image) |
 |
| (Google image) |
| (Google image) |
 |
| (Google image) |
 |
| (Google image) |
These are the facts that I am able to extract from the movie, hoping that those who could not understand or catch up with the pace of the movie (as it has no subtitle) can get some ideas from this post. For those who have not watched this movie after 8 years the movie was produced, watch it! Maybe you can just ignore the political components in the movie if you do not like it, but the facts are precious.
P/S: I might miss out some points in this post. Correct me if I am wrong in any of the information yeah. ;)
(Special thanks to Dr. Kannan for correcting me in some points!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)