Wednesday October 19, 2011
Going green and clean
Save our Waterfalls campaign is an initiative to protect and clean up waterfalls in Peninsular Malaysia.
TO protect the environment for our future generations, various organisations have made a lot of effort to go green. This article highlights the green projects of three non-governmental organisations:
Waterfall Survivors
Waterfall Survivors is a social group founded on Facebook and now managed by Waterfall Explorers Sdn Bhd. The Facebook group was created on July 12, 2008 by Joe Yap. To date, Waterfall Survivors has left footprints at over 90 waterfalls in Malaysia after more than 200 trips.
Waterfall Survivors organises regular waterfall exploration trips, either as a daytrip or an overnight excursion. Its member count reached the 1,000th mark on Jan 3, 2009, barely five months after its inception. As at Oct 19, 2010 the count showed over 6,000 members.
Save Our Waterfalls (SOW) Campaign
Save Our Waterfalls campaign is an initiative to protect and clean up waterfalls in Peninsular Malaysia. The campaign is organised by Waterfall Survivors to raise public awareness about the availability of waterfalls in Malaysia.
This serves two purposes - to highlight new waterfalls for nature lovers to visit and to emphasise the need for greater civic awareness to keep our waterfalls pristine and litter-free. The campaign is also intended to promote tourism in Malaysia, especially eco-tourism and create new opportunities for the local communities.
The Save Our Waterfalls campaign also provides a platform for businesses and corporations to carry out Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects.
Lastly, the campaign also hopes to help ease the maintenance burdens of park managements and local municipalities by engaging members of the public to help in cleaning-up activities while advocating the minimisation of waste generated by waterfall visitors.
The campaign objectives are to preserve our natural heritage for future generations; to give back to the environment and the community via clean up and awareness programmes and to instil civic consciousness among Malaysians.
Waterfall Survivors organises regular waterfall exploration trips.
Batu Ferringhi Beach Cleaning Campaign
Last April, AEON Co (M) Bhd was involved in a beach-cleaning project at Batu Ferringhi Beach, Penang organised by the Penang State Government where it collected 50kg of discarded waste along the beach.
Pantai Remis, Jeram Beach Clean-Up Project
The beach clean-up project took place on Oct 30 last year at a popular destination for family outings and picnickers, Pantai Remis in Jeram, a coastal town in Kuala Selangor. Through this campaign, AEON hoped that the local residents and, especially picnickers, would learn to appreciate this wonderful gift from Mother Nature, and take the responsibility of maintaining the cleanliness of Pantai Remis and its surroundings.
The educational and fun-filled day was organised by the Centre North Region 2 AEON Outlets - AEON Bukit Tinggi Shopping Centre; JUSCO Bandar Baru Klang Shopping Centre; JUSCO Bandar Utama;, JUSCO Bandar Sunway and Pasar Raya MaxValu Kota Kemuning.
As part of the long-term commitment to preserve the cleanliness of Pantai Remis, AEON also handed over 10 rubbish bins and three recycling bins to the Majlis Daerah Kuala Selangor. These recycling bins would be placed at the picnic and recreational areas along the beach.
The Body Shop
On the third weekend of September each year, gatherings of hundreds of thousands of people who want to make a difference take place around the world.
The annual International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) is one of the largest volunteer events for the marine and shoreline environments in the world and volunteers will descend on beaches, lakes and streams all over the planet to pick up trash and debris.
As country coordinator for The Ocean Conservancy in the United States, The Body Shop in Peninsular Malaysia has been organising and sponsoring the Annual Beach Cleanup in conjunction with the International Coastal Clean-up on an annual basis since 1992. Since then, there has been a tremendous increase in volunteer support and participation in this initiative.
To date, there are over 3,000 volunteers with an increase in youth participation – a strong indication of more young people subscribing to this world’s largest volunteer activity and being conscious about the environment.
For over two decades, the ICC is not just about picking up trash and debris, but volunteers must also collect information about the items they find. The data collected will be submitted to The Ocean Conservancy for analysis.
Data collected includes figures from 1986 to the most recent clean-up. It provides an insight into the causes and sources of marine debris and serves as a means to educate the public on prevention methods and solutions.
In Malaysia, over 50% of total debris found came from shoreline and recreational activities like picnics, festivals, sporting events and beach outings. Litter was also washed from streets, parking lots and storm drains.
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children." -Haida Proverb Waterfalls are beautiful but extremely DANGEROUS. Only attempt with experience guides.Take Nothing but photographs, Leave Nothing but Footprints Tweet
