So what can each of us do? Personal action is great but it is too short term and it is not enough. It should be combined with collective action. Join the mass groups, sign the petitions, write the letters, vote for the right people . Check out the videos. There is a lot of information out there. From Greta Thunberg (DO YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND CLIMATE CHANGE?
- Category: News
Understanding climate change
A mesh of inter-related ecological forces the whole issue of climate change and its consequences is hardly like simple math. It needs a lot of explanation, a lot of diving deep into the subject before comprehension becomes clear.
Below is a passage concerning global warming and how it takes place.
Our atmosphere is getting hotter, more turbulent, and more unpredictable because of the “boiling and churning” effect caused by the heat-trapping greenhouse gases within the upper layers of our atmosphere. With each increase of carbon, methane, or other greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere, our local weather and global climate is further agitated, heated, and “boiled.”
THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES?
- Category: News
Food Production: The sword of Damocles?
“A new study shows more than a fifth of global food output growth has been lost to climate change since the 1960s, while an estimated 34 million people live on the brink of famine.”
Climate change is reaping havoc on farmlands and crop growing areas but food production is also adding fuel to the fire with rising methane gas emissions
Daily we are bombarded with reports of extreme weather changes causing devastation across the globe. Hurricanes, typhoons hammer coastlines with record rainfall and gale-force winds wiping out lives and livelihoods.
New findings show that more than a third—34%—of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions are generated by food systems. They also show that food generates an average of 2 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions per person annually.
Food waste is killing us!
- Category: News
Here's how the agricultural sector can win the war on waste
When you have one out of nine people in the world hungry or undernourished, you realise that something is amiss in our food production system.
Consider this: Nearly one billion tonnes of food is wasted each year, with 14 per cent of waste happening between harvest and retail.
It’s not as simplistic as the rich eat, the poor starve. It indicates a systemic failure of the system to be able to channel food to different levels of society.
To put it bluntly, food waste is KILLING us. Nefarious as Covid-19 is, it has exposed how flawed our food systems are. How often have we seen rotting vegetables and fruits thrown by the roadside? Do you wonder how bag ladies can rummage through bins and still find edible food? From macro to micro levels, the entire system has to be investigated, reviewed and radically changed.
Read more
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/09/heres-how-agricultural-sector-win-war-on-waste/
8.8 million Malaysians can go hungry every year
- Category: News
photo: Fauzan Saari
We’re not kidding. Based on the average annual consumption of rice per Malaysian at 80 kilograms and the fact that we need to import 30% of our annual requirement of 2.7 million tonnes, it means that 8.8 million people are served by our imports.
Malaysia imports rice from India, Thailand and Vietnam, the biggest producers of rice in the world. In November last year, Vietnam pulled the plug on exports to provide food security for their people.
Our question is are we waiting for a crisis to happen before we start making serious efforts to become self-sufficient in rice? Remember that rice is a staple food consumed daily by most Malaysians.
In 2019 our rice imports cost us RM1.87 billion. Imagine if this money is saved and re-channeled to our rice producers in terms of technical support and financial incentives how much good would it do?
It’s time to act.
Save our planet with Marine Permaculture
- Category: News
Daily, we are bombarded with graphic images of dying fish, bleached coral reefs and shorelines awash with litter. Our most precious resource, the oceans are in trouble. Climate change wreaks havoc with rising sea levels, warmer oceans, higher CO2 levels and greater salinity.
IS THERE A BEACON OF HOPE? YES, YES, YES! It comes from an unanticipated corner of Permaculture, a practice that accommodates principles of Permaculture relevant to the oceans.
Will Malaysians go hungry?
- Category: Food & Community
The foodie nation wakes up to the bald truth: More and more people including children are becoming malnourished.
By Roger Rodrigo
The notion that Malaysians are generally well-fed may soon fade into myth.
Over the last few years, the livelihoods of many in the lower-earning categories have come under threat. Loss or reduced incomes and soaring prices have forced many to survive on bare-bones meals.
This is an instinct to survive and while adults may be able to cope it is the children who will become prone to a host of health issues in the long run.
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) published a special report in October 2019 entitled “Hungry In The City” where they interviewed three residents of low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur.
