Wanted. Dead or infected!

It's a plant but people making a living out of it would rather collect it when it is dead or infected.



It's the Agarwood which is valued for its aromatic resin produced when it becomes infected with fungus.

The wood can be sold for pharmaceutical uses or distilled for its oil as a perfume ingredient. It can also be harvested to be used as incense. And of course, there is a demand for it in countries like Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East with price ranging from RM500 per kilo for low grade wood to RM37,000 per kilo for processed high grade ones.

So, the next time you shun a dead or infected tree, figure out if there are any undiscovered uses for it. It may well turn out to be your abundance from the abandoned.

Note: Batteries not required by sharing image by Hafizmuar posted on Wikipedia about Agarwood.

What's your town like?

Where I live, I can tell that parents love their children to bits. They bring them to the neighbourhood park every evening. The children are always fed all kinds of sweets and tidbits while they played there. They are never left thirsting for water and they are cleaned up before they leave for home. I can also tell that the adults enjoy using the park too. How do I know that?

Every morning when I go for my morning walk, I can see all the tell tale signs like sweets and tidbits wrappers, empty mineral water bottles, plastic bags, cigarette butts and used tissue paper lying around the park.

Do these small bits and pieces lying around the park really matter? You don't have to hear me nag about this. See it through the eyes of this 8 years old Sicilian inhabitant of a little town named Pedara.



Always remember that "Sedikit sedikit lama lama jadi bukit".

Ashes? As good as diamonds.

Before you put aside the urn bearing the cremated remains of your beloved pet or loved ones, consider this option; have the ashes made into diamonds. A company in USA, LifeGemDiamonds, offers such a service.



I think it makes a priceless reminder of someone you cherish.

Things that captured my eyes.

What do you look out for when you are traveling? Me? Take a peek at my snap shots.

I discovered these little piglets selling at a sourvenir shop at Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang. They are made of coconut shells.



Loo at the facial express of an old man carved into a wooden tree stump. The "hair" and "beard" is formed by the roots of the stump.



This kind of handcrafted souvenirs have been selling in Malaysia for generations. So, what can you say about abandoned stuff from nature?

They sell!

Making every scrap count.

Do you recycle every scrap of paper you encounter no matter how small they are?



I do.

Why? Learn from this Malay proverb, "Sedikit sedikit lama lama jadi bukit". Got the picture?



No? It means, little by little, over time a mountain is created.

And you don't mess up your home collecting your scraps. Standby an empty tissue box and just dump coupons, tickets, receipts, labels and whatever little pieces of paper you come across into the box.



Then when the tissue box is all filled up, just put it into the recycling bin.

You don't have to be messy to be green.

P/S Note that kittens are not recyclable and no batteries have been wasted sharing these images from TinyPic.

Let's join The Dalai Lama

What has The Dalai Lama got to do with a blog about being green? He was the first to sign Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change at EcoBuddhism.

So, what are you waiting for? Let's sign this declaration.

From My InBox:

Dear Friends,

I am sending you the link to a Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change, which I helped to compose, along with David Loy and John Stanley, a British micro-biologist. If you agree with the statement, please sign it and return it to the Ecobuddhism website. Thank you.

Please also pass it on to your own Buddhist friends and colleagues. Those involved with organizations should feel at liberty to post the declaration, or a link to it, on their websites.

http://www.ecobuddhism.org/buddhist-declaration.php

--
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Chuang Yen Monastery
2020 Route 301
Carmel NY 10512
U.S.A.

Giving concrete expression to the Buddha's great compassion in today's world: http://www.buddhistglobalrelief.org/main.html

For lectures and teachings:
http://www.bodhimonastery.net/bm/

Fair Trade Recycling for E-Waste

Check out what WR3A is about in this video.



I wish them success as that means that toxic waste from recycling will no longer contaminate other countries used electronics have been exported to.

Baby's first step.

What has a video about a baby's first step got to do with a blog about being "green"? Find out for yourself what you can learn from this first step.