Folding t-shirts? Get the cardboards ready.

My mother-in-law has been through my closet, so she has seen how messy it can be each time my children rummaged through the drawers for their clothes. To avoid being embarrassed and branded a "messy person", I have resort to hanging all my children's clothes on hangers. I can do that because I have a walk-in wardrobe with large closet space.

If like me, you do not like the notion that your children will grow up deemed inefficient, then it is time to teach them some folding tricks.



Here is an upgraded packable version.

What about the cans?

I have written about how tabs from aluminum cans have been re-used by Dr Therdchai Jivacate in my earlier posting. So, what can you create with the cans?

I have discovered a website, Tesscar Aluminium Craft, that provides 5 easy steps to cut a can up to work on. If you find the instruction easy, then take a look at their free instruction for creating a shark. You can get the template for it at Fiddlersgreen.

If you think this is the craft for you, then explore creating just about anything by taking a peek at what are available on Tesscar Aluminium Craft.

Be careful. If it hurts, recycle them (or damn) cans instead.

Recycling Nursery Rhymes

It is always easier to recite verses that rhyme. I can still recall my "One, Two, Buckle my shoes" verses, which I picked up more than 40 years ago! So, if we want the next generation to remember to do all 3Rs, it is time that we recycle one of those Nursery Rhymes we have learned. How is this for a start?

One, Two
Think before I throw

Three, Four
What can I use it for?

Five, Six
A frame made of twigs?

Seven, Eight
The stuff I used to hate

Nine, Ten
Can be made treasured gem.

So, where did I get the idea from? I attended a workshop organised by the Sungai Long Buddhist Society for facilitators of the Sunday Dhamma School. The fun filled workshop was conducted by Professor Lim of University Malaya and he kindly shared with us that he picked this idea from Responsibility Exercise, a free handout posted on Character Counts Teaching Tools.

The next workshop will be held on 13 January from 2.00pm to 6.00pm. Care to join us?

Having fun? Not on this island.

Think "island" and what you see in your mind's eyes would be tropical sun, coconut trees; a place to have fun on. Sail towards the North Pacific Gyre and you will see a very different kind of island. It is named the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" because of the vast quantities of plastic and marine debris drawn towards the swirling vortex of ocean currents.

Plastic takes a long time to disintegrate in the environment and are more likely to end up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals.



Find out from Algalita Marine Research Foundation how this can affect nature and what we can do about it.



What else can you do about it?

Read about California's Take-It-Back Program to make it easier for customers to recycle their plastic bags at their grocery stores.

Answer Helle's call from Australia for plastic bags so that she can create something beautiful out of them.

Be a Creative Recycler and get hooked on Abandoned Material Arty-fication projects.

A Keepsake? Found in my packaging.

My friend, Meredith, is migrating to Australia. See what I have created for her as a farewell gift.



Just so that she will remember me, I have attached my business card with the SwirlinWhirl necklace I made her. Business cards are usually misplaced and forgotten. Just so that this will not happen to mine, I have made it into a bookmaker. Meredith has lots of books written by Anthony Robbins and it will come in handy.



Meredith travels a lot, so I am not going to give it to her in a box as it will be too big and cumbersome to pack in her luggage. Also, the white paddings in custom made jewellery boxes turn yellow with time. This lovely pouch is a better option. If Meredith decided to keep my creation in her own jewellery box, she can keep this pouch as a potpourri holder.



I just have to drape the necklace over my card to keep it in place.



I like it that she can see what is in the see through pouch. No rummaging through boxes to find the piece she wants to wear. I am also happy that my choice in packaging this gift will not result in any unnecessary waste.



Have a safe trip Meredith. May all things best follow you and your family wherever you may be.

Tips for Recycling Boy at KAB

Recycling Boy of "Keep America Beautiful", one of the superheroes I posted about, has a problem getting people to recycle properly. If he can fly long haul, he would be able to study how people in other countries solved this problem.

In Taiwan, the people there would never missed the trucks for garbage and recycling because they play melodic music to warn of their arrivals.



On top of that:

1) Residents must place their recyclables only in city-approved trash bags that can be easily purchased from 7-Eleven.
2) The truck for collecting recyclables comes five nights a week and drives slowly down the streets or park at a designated spot.
3) The truck accepts only certain items on certain days, example, Styrofoam trays and cardboard dumpling boxes, are collected only on Mondays and Fridays.
4) Residents have to heave the bags onto the truck themselves.

I am sure that this concept can be modified to fit the lifestyle of any country facing the same problem. Imagine a truck with music playing driving around the neighbourhood streets. That should get the children interested enough to check out if the ice-cream man is around the corner and learn instead about recycling. Your 2-in-1 solution.

Do you want to know why the Taiwanese are willing to make these efforts? Julia Ross has the answer for you in her write up about "What I Picked Up About Trash in Taipei" during her stay in Taiwan.

Gift boxes? Start collecting tissue boxes.

I have touched on the fact that as a consumer, I may be paying more for a product based on the packaging it comes in. In order to change my buying habits I have decided to make my own packaging.

Here is one I created out of a tissue box.



I have taken the trouble to wrap it up nicely so that it can also double up as a gift box when I need one. As it would defeat the purpose of reducing waste if the recipient would not consider keeping the box, I have created it to fit a "Chest of Drawers" that the recipient can learn to create.

See it fits into the chest nicely.



If you are not into colouring the "Chest of Drawers", you can always make use of paper bags your purchases came in to decorate it.



The instruction on how to create it can be read off "Drawers cum gift boxes"

Toothpaste? Not for teeth only.

I taught the children some equations for green environment in my PowerPoint slide:

Natural Alternatives-chemical waste=less pollution
Waste composted=less waste=less eyesore+less stench

However, I think some of the children are too young to understand what going organic is about. They may also be too young to read and understand labels on products to make the right choices if they have any say in household purchases. So, what can I do to put the right message across through their parents?

Using toothpaste as an example would be a good start. Do you know that toothpaste can be used as a cleaner for your jewellery? So, before you throw away that tube of toothpaste that you can no longer squeeze anything out from, cut off its top and you will be amazed by the amount left over inside the walls of the tube. You may even have excess to wash your cup and saucers with.

So, before you consider throwing away your coffee or tea stained cups and saucers, give them a rub with the toothpaste. I think toothpaste is a better choice than the chemically abrasive detergent that you would have to use to get the job done.

After you are very sure that all the residual toothpaste has been used up, following is another equation the children can work with:

Waste+Constructive Usage=conserving natural resources=green environment

Get the children to cut the tube into strips as shown in this picture.



These will come in handy when the school reopens and you have more than one school going child wearing different sizes, patterns and colours of socks. Use one to hold each pair of socks neatly together.



Don't miss out doing the same for your tube of facial cleanser to give your face extra washing out of it.



So, no more rushing in the mornings to locate a full set of socks for each child.

And touching on going organic, my A to Z Guide For An Environmentally Friendly Garden may get your children interested in taking up gardening.

Year ending. Keeping old calendars?

Calendars for the year are used 365 days only. I let the children think outside the box by asking them if one can extend their usage time? What would generate an interest for someone to keep them? Following are some examples of what I would hold on to.

I received this calendar from the Sungai Long Buddhist Society and it carries 12 moral messages with interesting pictures that I can cut out for my children to read.



This one carries pictures of Chinese paintings with lovely proverbs to go with them.



Colourful pictures of marine life in this calendar would be great for creating paper beads.



This calendar has a write up of the characteristics for each animal in the Chinese Zodiac. Cut them out and you can create a little booklet for someone who would be interested. It would be nice to attached with gifts, cut out of such nicely written attributes, to someone who is born in that year.



I kept this year 2006 calendar because it carries 365 recipes with pictures for each dish!



Other than the printings, check out its attachment. I love this Chinese knots that is attached to this calendar.



What about those with nothing useful printed to keep them for?



I paste pictures of green places that I would like to visit that I have read from the newspaper. It would come in handy if my husband would like to take the family out for a ride but have no idea where to go.





I told the children about a workshop, Aunty Meredith, one of their Dhamma school teachers conducted. Aunty Meredith said that if you want something, keep an image of it and visualize in your mind that you will get it. That is the law of attraction.

I hope what I taught the children with my calendars will attract thoughts of reducing, reusing and recycling and lead them towards a green living. May they be innovators of future products that are sustainable.

What Would Macgyver Do?

I do not know what Macgyver would do but if my rolls could talk, this would be their reports.

"Would you believe me if I tell you that I attract hot dishes?"



"Drawing papers love being hugged by me".



"I cannot express how happy I am with my make-over. Thank you (sob)...thank you, so much".



"I have been so sad without Napkin until Socks came into my life".



"I have always been one of the croissants waiting to be served by the girls when they played house, until...



... the boys discovered me.



"What do you mean when you said this is my origin?"



Merry X'mas and a Happy New Year

Year ending. Are you keeping tabs?

In Malaysia, we have already celebrated Hari Raya and Deepavali and Christmas is around the corner. As with most festive occasions, canned drinks are one of the "must buy stuff" for our friends and relatives who are expected to visit.

So, I took the opportunity to show the children a news article about the efforts of Dr Therdchai Jivacate who is head of the Mobile Artificial Legs Production Unit and General-Secretary of the Prostheses Foundation, set up in 1991 under the royal patronage of the late Princess Mother. He is a prosthesis specialist, who has created joints for artificial limbs out of tabs pulled off aluminum cans. Why just the tabs and not the cans? This is because the cans take up space and will smell over time if there are any leftover liquids.

Just 3,000 pieces of tabs, which weigh up to one kilogram, will enable the organisation to make the joints of at least two artificial limbs. The idea of using the tabs and being self-reliance by getting all the materials for his artificial legs from local sources reduced the cost of production and enabled the foundation to provide them free to amputees.

Dr. Therdchai has a surplus of tabs provided by local collections throughout Thailand. So, it is not necessary for the children to collect and send them to The Prosthesis Foundation as it would be costly. But I think this is a very good example of a recycling cause for the children to learn about. I hope that this story will remind them to keep tabs in the little book they have created, of what they can do with recyclables other than sending them to the recycling centres .

Come to think of it, this can become a touchy subject if I did not get the right message across. So, just in case they have the wrong idea and their parents started complaining, then I will suggest that they be shown this slide to explain what being unsustainable is all about.

Teaching children? You need superheroes.

It is not easy to teach young children if you cannot gain their attention. Moreover, this is their school holiday and they should be having fun. I decided not to show them this slide on energy and cost saving tips as it would have bored them. They are not the ones paying the house utility bills after all.



Here is another with the same message that they can relate to.



If watching heroes is fun, how about teaching them how to find a recycling cause to become a hero of? I started off by teaching them how to create a book to take down some "howtos" notes. Material used to create book? Used A4 size paper, that is blank on one side, of course.



Once they have that ready, I let them watched a slide on the "KAB Man", which I hope will give them some inspiration.



Then I showed them some junk mails promoting a supermarket with lots of pictures of stuff on sales. I asked them to look out for such junk mails at home and asked them to write down in the books they have created what they can "Reduce, Re-Use or Recycle from the product printed on the brochure.

My 10 years old son has been inspired by the slide. He said he wants to be "MIB Man". What? "Man in Black" for recycling? He corrected me. It's "MAB Man" and that stands for "Malaysia Always Beautiful Man".

That's my hero.

Shopping? Buying product or packaging?

I have to admit that when I am out shopping for gifts, I have been guilty of choosing product based on the packaging the product came in. I think people tend to shop in this manner as my children have been victims of "beautifully packaged" gifts before. When all the lovely wrappings are removed, there is nothing much to enjoy in the package.

I came to realised this when I was trying to look out for information to share with the children at the workshop conducted at Sungai Long Buddhist Society. Here are some slides from YouTube that will make you wonder if you are actually paying more than you should because of the packaging. Find out what you can do about it.







So, other than changing our shopping habits, what else can we do about it? Hmmmm..., how about creating our own packaging? I will definitely be looking into that. So, watch out for some DIY packaging ideas in my future postings.

If I am your friend,,,

A cartoon from YouTube to go with a poem I wrote for the children at a workshop I conducted.



You are my friend
On my lush green playground
I love watching you play
Having fun with my toys
I am always there for you

If I am your friend
Would you litter my playground?
Would you destroy my toys?
Will you be there for me,
your good friend, Earth…?

Underwears? Yes, can be recycled.

The Sungai Long Buddhist Society organised a holiday camp for children of age 6 to 13 in the community and I was requested to conduct a workshop on pollution and the concepts of "Reduce, Re-Use and Recycle".

That put me on a search for slides and information that I can share with the children. I know that the younger children love action heroes and would enjoy watching cartoons. The older ones who are already aware of what pollution and 3Rs are about would need some surprises to get them to pay some attention.

Here is one that I have discovered from YouTube.



I know that this slide is a hit with the children because they kept recounting the story. Though underwears are not recycled in Malaysia yet, the slide is a good way to widen their horizons and get them to question what waste material other than paper, glass and aluminum can be recycled.

A mother of one of the participants became very concerned when she heard about the scene where the hero tried to commit suicide because he failed to persuade the Japanese to recycle their underwears. I cannot blame her for bringing this up to my attention because a 12 years old Indian girl in Malaysia committed suicide when she did not do well in school. So, be mindful if you are showing this slide to the children. Take time to explain that committing suicide is not the right or only way to solve a problem.

Did I discover any other interesting slides? Let me show you in my next posting.

Against incineration? Support activists.

We almost had an incinerator built at Broga, which is within the township of Kajang where I live, so, I can relate to this email request for support to release GAIA activists. They are currently being detained in Bandung, Indonesia after taking part in a local protest against incineration and for climate justice.

The proposed RM1.5 billion thermal incinerator in Broga would have been Asia's largest incinerator if not for the efforts of the residents there and nearby Semenyih who protested to stop the project. Alice, a resident in Broga, tells you her story in this video.



Subsequently, the incinerator project was canceled after taking into consideration the high cost to construct, operate and maintain it. I read from USJ Community forum that many experts have estimated that the cost of burning every tonne of rubbish could be as high as RM240 compared to only RM25 per tonne for the current landfill method. Also consider the cost to transport the waste to Broga. A very large volume would have been required to sustain it.

Broga's safe and before the next incinerator project is approved for development, let us work on saving activists.

===================================================================

Dear Friends,

We write to request GAIA members and friends across the globe to seek the
immediate and unconditional release of the following GAIA activists who
are currently being detained in Bandung, Indonesia:

1. Gigie Cruz, GAIA, Philippines
2. Neil Tangri, GAIA, USA
3. Shibu Nair, Thanal, India
4. Yuyun Ismawati, Balifokus, Indonesia
5. Roni Tabroni, People's Alliance against Waste-to Energy (WTE) Plant,
Indonesia

(please see their brief profiles below)

Gigie, Neil and Shibu arrived in Indonesia last Saturday, 1 December, to
campaign for "Zero Waste for Zero Warming" at the UN Framework on Climate
Change Conference that will take place in Bali on 3-14 December.
Balifokus, Jala-Sampah (Garbage Network) and GAIA are planning to convene
a civil society forum tomorrow on waste and climate.

Before heading to Bali, Gigie, Neil and Shibu traveled first to Bandung
City to take part in a community people's assembly against a proposed
incinerator. This event was organized by several environmental groups
campaigning for climate justice. The activity, which drew the warm
support of over 2,000 people, also formed part of the GAIA Global Day of
Action against Waste and Incineration.

At the rally, Gigie, Neil and Shibu spoke about the ill effects of
incinerating waste, advocated for Zero Waste and conveyed their solidarity
with the local campaign against incineration and for environmental health
and justice. They did not attack the Indonesian government in their
statements before the assembly. After their well-applauded speeches, the
police accosted them, together with our Indonesian colleagues Yuyun and
Roni, and brought them to the police station where they underwent lengthy
interrogation. The police also seized their passports. All of them are
currently detained in a police station in Jalan Jaya (or Jaya Street) in
Bandung.

There are no formal charges yet against Gigie, Neil and Shibu, but there
is an expressed threat of deportation if our Indonesian friends do not
succeed in persuading the authorities to set them free and let them fly to
Bali for the UNFCC events. We are unaware of the charges against Yuyun
and Roni, both of whom are Indonesian citizens.

TAKE ACTION: We call on you to please register your concern and appeal
for the immediate and unconditional release of Gigie, Neil, Shibu, Yuyun
and Roni, so that their human rights are fully restored and that they are
permitted to travel to Bali.

1. Please CALL/FAX the Indonesian Embassy / Consulate in your city.
2. Please CALL/FAX the Bandung Police Department (+6222-4204666, foreign
affairs unit) and the Bandung Immigration Department (+6222-7275294).
3. Please E-MAIL Mr. Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary, UNFCC Secretariat
(secretariat@unfcc.int).

Terima kasih banyak-banyak (Thank you very much) for your immediate response.

Sincerely yours,

Manny C. Calonzo
GAIA Secretariat
Unit 330, Eagle Court, Quezon City, Philippines
TelFax: +632-4364733
E-Mail: mannyc@no-burn.org
Web: www.no-burn.org


1. Gigie Cruz, our assistant coordinator, has been working with GAIA
since 2001 in various capacities, including membership, campaign and
information support. Her most recent task was to coordinate last week's
Global Day of Action against Waste and Incineration.

2. Neil Tangri is one of GAIA's esteemed founders. He wrote the GAIA
report "Waste Incineration: A Dying Technology." He recently rejoined GAIA
to coordinate our work on waste-to-energy and climate change)

3. Shibu Nair was part of the 3-person team from the global south who
went to California for GAIA's first Zero Waste fellowship. He works
closely with Jayan, a GAIA Steering Committee member from India. Shibu
was part of the Thanal team who hosted the Waste Not Asia Meeting held in
January 2007 in Trivandrum, Kerala

4. Yuyun Ismawati is Executive Director of Balifokus and a GAIA member
for many years. She attended the GAIA Global Meeting in Spain in
September 2007, where she played a very active role in the members'
deliberation on the funding of waste disposal technologies under the CDM
of the Kyoto Protocol. Yuyun sits in the national advisory committee on
CDM.

5. Roni Tabroni is from the People's Alliance against WTE Plant, one of
the groups formed to question and resist a planned WTE facility in
Bandung.