The art of recycling for a greener environment starts with seeing trash as "abandoned material" so that we can create "Abundance from the Abandoned" in "Amazing Ways".
Received an interesting email from a friend and discovered that the excess liquid from cooked rice can be used to cure diarrhea. A search for the recipe lead me to one that you can also use to heal your pets of the same ailment:
Following is the email message I received which provides a link to support this cure:
With the recent cases on the Gelyang Serai food poisoning out break, I would like to share the info received from a friend. Pls read on, it may be of help...
When someone gets diarrhea, sometimes the solution is so easy, we wonder why anyone has to suffer. The secret is in rice water. This is already known in this region. Ask your maids -- Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Filipina and they would know about it.
(My mother) knew about it. When Dr Albert Winsemius came to Singapore for a farewell and thank you dinner in his honour, he brought along his wife Aly and his granddaughter, Jolijn. Both women came down with very bad gastroenteritis. They saw the doctor who gave them medication. It was slow to work.
Mother boiled some rice in lots of water and went to their hotel with two 1.5L bottles of rice water. I cringed in shame at the offer of this folk remedy, which seemed so primitive to me. Never heard of this cure before. To my surprise, it worked, and they were even able to go out for dinner the next day. Both were exclaiming how the rice water did the trick of making them well again. Well, lucky it worked, I thought to myself.
I was discussing this some years back with Kim Ng, the ex-matron of KK Hospital. She said, yes, that is what Professor Wong Hock Boon, the notable pediatrician teaches. I was shocked and made some comment how could he? It was common knowledge so what had he to do with it?
Many months later, I regretted laughing at it. Dr Christina Shanta Emmanuel, who is the CEO of...uh, which group I have forgotten. Either National Health Group, or Polyclinics, or whatever.. regarded me seriously when I brought up the topic like it was good fun. She said that Prof Wong Hock Boon had presented a paper on it at some conference after he had done clinical trials. Then his results were published in the Lancet, the Medical Journal all doctors read. In fact, said Shanta, he was credited for saving the lives of 2 million African babies by this method.
Ah, so! I am impressed.
It is rice water and not rice that does the trick. I have found it effective again and again. You take a handful of rice and boil it in a large saucepan with lots of water. Like three or four large glasses. Then you cool that and drink the water. If you are in a hurry to relieve the ailing person, take the saucepan off the fire and dunk it in a frying pan or basin of cool water with ice cubes if necessary. This gives the patient a chance to drink the rice water sooner and cure himself or herself sooner.
When drinking the rice water, make sure there is lots of it. You have to tell the patient that enough water must go in to line your guts from throat to other end, all 10 to 12 metres of it. If you take rice, it stays in the stomach. If you take broth, some of it may go into the small intestine. But if you take rice water, it will carry rice grains to every inch of your small and large intestine to the end where the problem is.
How does it work? Even Prof Wong Hock Boon doesn't know. Read the attached file. Or go to
http://rehydrate.org/dd/dd06.htm#page2
It is good to pass on the news to everyone you know because the complaint is so common and people suffer unnecessarily. You would be doing your friends a great favour to relieve them of their misery when the occasion arises.
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.
A member on SlideShare has started a "Help the Victims of Hurricane IKE" group. You can find many more slides of photos and information about Hurricane Ike posted there.
I took this opportunity to share this contest information with members there by creating a presentation on it:
* Broaden awareness of green debris recycling; * Generate and publicize examples of ways to reduce green house gases through recycling green waste; * Produce a creative, innovative way to reuse materials left by Hurricane Ike; * Identify proposals that make the largest impact.
Any recycling ideas and information should be submitted on the “Participate” page at Recycle Ike by Midnight October 31, 2008 in order to receive a Participant Number. All final proposals must be submitted by Midnight November 14, 2008.
According to an email I received, the contest is open to all interested parties worldwide, regardless of age, discipline, or professional status. Here is what participants stand to win.
1st Place = $10,000 2nd Place = $5,000 3rd Place = $2,500
I have been looking at bottoms and have decided that it is best not to go plastic. And if you are thinking that I am talking about plastic surgery, it is obvious that you are not a regular here.
This is what I am talking about. Email alerts against re-using plastic containers.
Only one life to play with. So, go check those plastic ware bottoms before you put any food or drinks served in or on them into your mouth. Health may well be the best reason to reduce usage of plastic on earth.
My parents have had a "Green" Thumb in one way or another all their lives. When I was younger they ran a gardening business together for many years and basically lived and breathed gardening their whole lives. Then when my mum got ill my dad decided to semi retire early. He sold the business but just couldn't stay at home and do nothing. He got involved with a group that carries out reforestation projects in salt affected areas of Western Australia. They work with farmers to plant native trees on their deforested land. He's planted literally millions of trees in his time. The group were having a hard time sourcing the trees so my Dad started his own native plant nursery. Before he knew it he was getting orders for trees and plant for all over the place - farmers, local councils. mining groups much to my Mum's concern since she thought he had retired. Then my Dad got fascinated with worms! "Oh no!" said Mum. So then it was 10 years of breeding worms, selling the worms, worm kits, and worm tailings as fertiliser. On top of that he gets invited to speak at schools and community groups. They literally couldn't keep up with demand. All this from their backyard - mind you they did have a big back yard. Well I think my Dad had a good time although my Mum was always wishing he would just take it a bit easier.
Then the government built a new highway just past their place and overnight their property was worth three times what it was before. Before long they had developer knocking at their door but Dad always turned them away. But finally he had to admit he was in fact not a young man anymore (he was still working 10 hours a day and 7 days a week at the age of 75). So over a cup of tea he decided to sell and buy a smaller place closer to my Mum's family. They made the decision to sell on Sunday, engaged an agent on Monday, had three offers on Tuesday, sold the place on Wednesday and bought a new place on Thursday. (Needless to say when he makes a decision he doesn't mess around)
Mum was ecstatic. The new house had her dream kitchen, french windows, beautiful landscaped gardens, and a workshop and pretty vegie garden for my dad (the man's got to have a shed). They had a nice sum left over, They're not rich by any means - they mostly survive on the pension with a little allowance from their investment. But you just can't stop my Dad and he's been hard at work Greenifying their new house. He's installed two rain water tanks, a new worm recycling area for all their waste, replacing all the foreign plants with beautiful natives and this week he has achieved his dream:
Their very own SOLAR POWER unit!
Only 1 kW but with plans to expand when they can afford it.
They are thrilled and we are all gathering to have an official ribbon cutting ceremony. I like to share this story as it shows that little people CAN achieve big things if they put their minds to it. My parents never had very much money but they did what they could. I hope others can gain some inspiration from this story.
Please, could you kindly tell me if you know of activities that can be done with children and their parents to introduce, remind or develop and awareness and more importantly adapt buying and disposal habits with respect to recyclable materials.
Games, toy making, craft type activities would be ideal. I hope to use these at outdoor events I organise for families.
============================================================================ Here are my suggestions with links to articles I have written earlier that will be useful for your project:
1) Take the families out for walks at public gardens or National Parks. Then provoke their senses by showing them pictures of what these places will look like if they do not take care of the environment.
3) Get the children appreciating green places by getting them to cut out pictures of parks or forest reserves they can go with their parents. They can paste the pictures and note their locations in old calendars.
4) In my country, I am allowed to pick seeds off parks in our housing estates. If it is allowed in UK, get the children to collect seeds from parks in their neighbourhood and bring them home to grow or give away. Take pictures of the trees or plants near where the seeds dropped off from so that they will have a record of the greens they have planted.
5) I have posted a few videos to remind or create an awareness of how our shopping habits can affect the environment. A very good example of one is the following:
6) If you do a search for packaging on my blog, you will find that I have posted many ideas on how to make use of them. I have also posted many free tutorials using scrap materials on this blog and on Creative Recyclers.
7) A drum circle is something that they can play outdoor. The children can create their own Recycled Musical Ware. They can also create decorations for their musical wares.
8) Don't miss out the children who do not enjoy and will not join your outdoor activities. Let them learn about going green playing games. It will also be a fun way to introduce children to the world of recycling.
This is it for the moment till I find more activities to add to this.
Rubber hair bands and hair ties found in local markets and beauty salons in Dongguan and Guangzhou cities in southern Guangdong province are selling very well because they are colourful and cheap.
How are they able to produce them at such low cost to sell ten pieces at 25 fen? Let us take a look at the material used.
Can you figure what the centre piece of pink material is?
It is actually used condoms that could still contain bacteria and viruses, such, as, AIDS, (genital) warts or other diseases! You definitely do not want to hold such hair bands or ties in your mouth, which is what we normally do while tying our hair.
This is not the kind of abundance from abandoned that I would encourage. It does amaze me that there are people who are willing to put someone's life in danger to make a quick buck.
Are you thinking of saving some trees by cutting down usage of paper for painting? Then, remember that other than rocks, you can also try your hand on painting feathers.
I received these beautiful pictures of Feather Painting in an email recently. I did a search and discovered the artist. Julie Thompson has clearly succeeded in creating abundance from abandoned feathers that her mother's peacocks have shed.
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.
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.
