3R, Do your part

Recycling is no longer foreign. Now days, everyone is aware of the benefits or need to recycle. This I attribute more towards getting instant cash from your neighbour recycler than public awareness for conservation of our environment.

Anyhow, the bottom line is that people are recycling. And that’s what matters. 

By recycling, you are helping to process materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash by turning them into new products. 

I am not going into the nitty-gritty of recycling. It is all over the internet. What I am actually going to list briefly are underling benefits of recycling:-

•Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators. Make a trip to the landfill and you will know why. Just look how polluted the landfill is. It is only going to grow in size.   

•Conserves natural resources such as wood, water, plastics and minerals. The more you conserve the more less raw materials are needed. Many years ago, when I was in college doing my A-Levels in Law, my lecturer, Mr. Nara, a UK grad, reminded us that the clouds were so blue when we were growing up, now it is grey due to industrial emittance. He added that there will come a time when we would buy bottled water due to pollution and I thought, no way Hosay. He also predicts that in time, there will also be people selling oxygen, for those wanting cleaner, unadulterated, unpolluted air. Well, we have reached the stage of purchasing bottled water years ago. I fear to think further. 

•Prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials. On a bloody hot day, just sit under an old huge tree. See how much shade it provided and how cool you feel under the tree. What if the tree was not there? To make way for building a road or making paper.

•Saves energy. Try sleeping with the lights on and no fan. Isn’t it hot, even at night? Now, just think of how much hotter the planet is with all that heat generated by lights when it is time to go to bed. Imaging how much cooler the planet would be, if all industries switch off all lights after work.

•Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change. All the hater’s, just see how much cooler the planet was 40 years back. 

•Helps sustain the environment for future generations. Yes, your kids. Think about them.

•Helps create jobs in the recycling industries.

‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ 

If there are any readers from big conglomerates that are involved in producing their products in tin or plastic form, please hear me out. Consumers do not need to buy milk tins and plastic bottled shampoos every month. We just need 1 milk tin and 1 shampoo bottle that we can refill. That’s all. We just need refillable packs. It would be much cheaper for consumers to buy a refill pack that a plastic bottled product.

When my kids wanted to play basketball, at the store there were so many varieties and designs to choose, I purchased one the one made from recycled materials

It is the Indigenous tribes say it the best, be it Pygmy, Negrito, Asli, Inuit, Eskimo, Maori, Aboriginal, Iban, Kadazan, Dusun or Mah Meri. If we don’t look after the land, the land won’t look after us. 

Think of it this way; don’t worry too much about nature. Nature knows how to take care of itself. The more you destroy the environment, the fewer barriers you will have protecting you from the elements. Think landslides and tsunami. Trees, plants, grass, rocks, animals are there for a purpose. They hold and bind the earth, keeping everything in a balanced harmony.  Without them, loose soil and heavy downpour of rain. You do the maths.  

Agent Smith quoted in the movie, The Matrix (1999), “ I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you’re not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You’re a plague and we are the cure”.        

It may sound very harsh what Agent Smith said but read it carefully. Is it true? You decide.