New Straits Times
WORLD Environment Day has come and gone and hopefully any kind of
awareness generated by the media is not going to be forgotten as we
face a critical time when Planet Earth is at the brink of ecological
disaster.
Thankfully,
over the years, in addition to media and government initiatives, the
private sector is also becoming more green in its thinking.
One
of the earliest retailers to go green is 1 Utama Shopping Centre. From
the onset of its development, green practices were already part of the
blueprint.
It was the first to install ice-storage air
conditioning system to utilise off-peak electric power from TNB, which
reduces its power demands during peak hours.
It has a central monitoring system that controls its mechanical and electrical equipment, optimising the use of energy.
It harvests rainwater, using the recycled water for landscaping use, reducing its water bill by some 30 per cent.
Most
spectacularly, 1 Utama has incorporated a rainforest within the mall,
with some 100 species of Malaysian flora and a fresh water aquarium
teaming with fauna from Malaysian rivers and lakes.
Continuing
with its green platform, 1 Utama Shopping Centre recently organised a
four-day event to further raise awareness on environmental issues.
Themed 'Go green - Get to grips with climate change,' the event was supported by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government.
The
event proved to be fun and informative for their shoppers, especially
parents and children. There were more than 20 promo stands set up,
sharing stories on environmental conservation and green living.
From
the Global Environment Centre (GEC)'s booth, shoppers can learn how to
adopt a green lifestyle, sign up for a River Care programme and
generally learn more about environmental issues.
The GEC also
shared tips during their 'How to Green Shop Smartly' talk, so that
shoppers can choose products that will have minimum impact on the
environment.
A visit to Tetra Pak's booth was enlightening.
Tetra Pak cartons are environmentally-friendly in that they reduce the
need for food to be refrigerated (saves energy and reduce greenhouse
gas emissions) and are made of 100 per cent recyclable materials. Which
is why it is important to recycle them.
All it takes is a little
time and effort to fold them up and send them (along with your other
recyclables, of course) to Alam Flora recycling centres.
Lots
of children were intrigued with Wall.E, (short for Waste Allocation
Load Lifter Earth-Class), the recycling robot which is the main
character of this Pixar live action movie to be released (end of June
for the United States) here soon.
A green model of a different
kind, this adorable heap of metal will be a great way to introduce the
concept of recycling to young ones.
For the kind of green
holiday one might like the whole family to participate in, an idea
might be to visit an organic farm or to check out a place like
D-Paradise Tropical Fruit World and Aboriginal Village, which boasts
800 varieties of tropical fruits, the world's largest cactus and monkey
cup collection and an unique aboriginal village.
Go Green was
launched by Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan, the Minister of Housing and Local
Government, Datuk Teo Chiang Kok, director of 1 Utama and Joanna
Bessey, Go Green Ambassador and UNDP Celebrity Partner.
Bessey
shared a rather startling piece of information: "The latest UNDP Human
Development Report states that Malaysia with 0.4 per cent of the
world's population, accounts for 0.6 per cent of global emissions — an
average of 7.5 tonnes of CO2 per person. This means that the carbon
footprint of the average Malaysian is now larger than that of France.
If all countries in the world were to emit CO2 at levels similar to
Malaysia's, we would exceed our sustainable carbon budget by
approximately 237 per cent!"
Over the four-day period, 1 Utama
also organised eco-workshops, storytelling sessions, recycled fashion
shows and recycling games, all conceptualised to instil love and
respect for Mother Nature.
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