Return to Sender

Been reading the PDF version of Natural Capitalism. Wanted to buy it in Adelaide but it wasn't on the shelves. It's an old book (1998) but should be required reading for all who aspire to be "sustainable". Also managed to pick up again "The Tipping Point" which I threw aside the last time I tried to read it because I just could take it. I had enjoyed "Blink" by the same author (Malcolm Gladwell). This time around, I could relate more to the tipping point and the things which stuck to me was "stickiness" (get it?). Somehow "The White Coffin" seems very sticky. Motorola has expressed interest to "sponsor" a similar campaign amongst the high achievers of their staff's children. The Friends of Botanical Garden Penang is organising something similar for World Environment Day. The boys at Chung Ling High School Penang has expressed interest. UTAR in Kampar called up to asked how to get things done. Hong Kong University has just initiated discussions with their caterers to stop the use of polystyrene foam. I hear MU is in discussion to go green as well. UMU Melaka had contacted. UUM, UIA, UMT, UMS have all done their bit. So, yes The White Coffin is sticky. If we had just banned polystyrene foam containers without the memorable label of The White Coffin would it have created an epidemic? (borrowing words from Gladwell). I don't know - probably not. Tipping point also talks about the Law of the Few. Just a few can spark an epidemic. That's what we are trying to do. A few infecting the many.

See the picture up there? They are not junk mail but unnecessary. One was a fax of a notice of meeting for which I had already received an email. Another was a completed form which I was emailed to check but hardcopy given to my staff to pass to me. Another was notice of closure of the museum. I sent them all back to the senders with a note saying it was unnecessary. They might be hopping up and down now. It's not only the waste of paper but multiple postings actually decreases productivity. In the case of the printed notice of meeting and the form, the admin staff have to read it, chop it, probably record it and then bring to my office. And then I have to figure out whether I have already seen it, have I read it, is there any changes, have I got it on my online calendar. By merely making sure that we don't send out stuff to people who don't need it, we can improve productivity by 20% (assuming we are productive in the first place). This mass emailing to every staff got to stop or be drastically curtailed. We have to send the notice (workshops, conference, even advertisements for jobs at UNESCO) to someone (the gatekeeper in charge of mass emails) who then sends it out, pooh, easy isn't it? Can't we just put it on the website? How many people read it? How many benefit from it? How many act on it?

It's the same thing with banners. For a half-day workshop, they put up plastic banners all over the place. Apart from telling everyone that you are at least doing something, does it bring in the crowd? Students have asked me "if no banners, how to tell the people on campus we are conducting this activity?". I honestly don't have the answer. But I am not convinced it draws the crowd - yes, maybe more people know that there is such and such activity but I doubt it brings the numbers. You can see all the empty chairs waiting to be filled. We need to be more targetted. The banners on campus is getting really out of hand.

On the bright side I went to attend the Eco USM meeting yesterday afternoon (too long, 2.40 to pass 6 pm). I know the remark by the Chair lady was partly directed at me - members who "pi mai, pi mai" (meaning members who come and go). As usual, I listened a lot and then try to give my "two sens" worth. There was a discussion of the python which went into the store of the VC's residence. After various opinions by the experts, the chair (Asma) looked at me and said "how?". I said "leave them alone". And then the subject of the design of the platform of Anjung Budi (the Alumni House) was discussed. Perfect place for rats to build their nest underneath the platform. And then the snakes will come. And then Hifni (the little bird) raised the alarm that the platform which is used to sit diners (and lunchers?) is right underneath a fig tree. So? So come september when the fruits of the fig tree is in abundance, all the birds will come. Thousands, said Hifni. And all the shit will come down. Literally. And then Chow Yang (the insect man) said there's a plant with Semut Selangor, a vicious ant, nesting right near the platform. How vicious? You could end up in hospital if bitten. And the chair looked at me again -"so, leave them alone?". I said "Yah". Of course some people hold the view that "man are more important than insect or nature". If man is threatened, then we must take care of the man first - get rid of the threat. That's what got us in this mess in the first place. We think nature must be tamed for the benefit of man. We have not learned to live with nature.

But I was really happy when the chair recalled that as she was passing the Lake, she saw the students (reading and doing stuff) in perfect harmony with the water monitors (biawak). The students were doing their own thing. The biawaks were doing their own thing. Each don't seemed to be threatened by the other. Hearing that from her, I said "wow, what a change". She now appreciates the biawak. The last time I heard her talk about biawak was at the first Eco USM meeting at the beach and she was going on about her nightmare of getting bitten by the biawaks. Good job you guys at Eco USM.

Are we going to hell?

The "shop with no name" in Nibong Tebal.

Sitting here at the Seminar Hall of the Engineering Campus, 1:07 pm, 19 May, about one and half hours too early for my talk. Second time this month to talk about sustainability here this month to new staff. And the third time this month, including the one on main campus last week. The problem is not the “students”. The problem is me – I hate repeating myself too often.

Bummer, the network is down so am wordprocesing instead of blogging. Why so early? Kiasi or Kiasu? Well, I didn’t know how to time it. I took the Getz for first 1,000 km service and came straight here with the intention of supporting the informal sector. As it turned out, the service was done in less than one hour (I called up and was told maybe it will take 40 minutes but I was a little kiasu so gave myself lots of slag).

Had early lunch at the “No Name Curry Mee-cum-Hokkein Mee-cum-Koay Teow Thng” stall in Nibong Tebal town. I wouldn’t have discovered it if not for Richard taking me there the last time I was here. I was quite impressed the first time I had the curry mee so I asked the hawker in Teow Chew (country man, it seems) what the place was called. He appeared stumped and then pointed to the shop opposite and said “opposite Kim Choo (Pearl or Mutiara) seafood”. This time around I looked out for the name of the road; its Jalan Ooi Kar Seng. Quite easy to find. Coming from north, as you go over the Nibong Tebal town bridge (old steel structure), swing down left and make a U-turn under the bridge to get to the town. Keep going until you see CIMB bank and that junction on the right is Jalan Ooi Kar Seng; very short distance from the bridge (I think 2 traffic lights). So turn right and maybe 300 or 400 metres down the road, is a no sign “shop” right opposite a sign that says “Taman Nibong Tebal”. It’s actually a semi-D single storey house with extended “carporch” which houses the hawker. My wife says probably “no license” lah, that’s why no name. Tried the hokkein mee today. Not bad. But I think I liked the curry mee better. See if you can tell the difference from the picture. We need to support these small businesses. What I like about this stall is it still uses porcelain bowls and metal spoons. Unfortunately, they have to tapau with plastic bags.

Which appeals to you more? Curry mee (above) or Hokkein Mee (below)?

After lunch went to take a spin around Parit Buntar town which is less than 5 minutes from the campus. Wow, that place has grown really big – ehh, but I’m not sure its got much character. Me and buddies in our Master Planning Studio studied the place a looong time ago and it was just so tiny. Not sure, but I think much of the old town has been rebuilt.

Ah, the Getz. I get advice from co-workers who say Korean car not good lah. Kia for instance – one lady in USM have to either change the whole engine (will cost something like RM10,000 or RM15,000) or keep waiting for the spare part to come. How long has she been waiting? 15 months, it seems.

You know the the gadget that tells you how many litres to 100 km is your consumption? My kids say that its probably fake or not really realtime. On the road this morning I was driving at a steady 80 kph and looking at the display and it was showing 7.6 litres/100 km. That’s only 13.2 km/litre. The salesman was quoting something like 16 or 18 km/litre. Don’t have Internet to check but whatever it is our cars are the most outdated dinosaurs of the industrial revolution.

Did you know that the body of the cars (made of steel mainly) is soooo heavy that lots of the energy is used to move the car rather than the passenger? Well, in the first place, the internal combustion engine is quite hopeless. About 80% of the energy from burning the gasoline (petrol) is lost before it reaches the wheel. That’s right, only 20% reaches the wheels. But most of it is used to move the weight of the body and to overcome wind and surface resistance.

Guess how much of the energy consumed is used to move the driver? Only 1%!

Is there any hope? Yes, the idea of hypercar has been around for more than a decade, pioneered by the guys at Rocky Mountain Institute who put the blueprint in the public domain to encourage competition. Huh, you say? Well, putting it in the public domain means nobody can patent the idea. Everyone can use it for free, i.e. don’t have to pay royalty to some genius who just sits around and collect money for his brilliant idea. In the old history of the car, a patent lawyer name George Selden had registered a patent for a “Road Engine” and demanded royalty from all the car-makers. Henry Ford refused to pay and so he got sued. But this guy Selden had never built a working car before and when the Court asked him to prove his invention he failed to built a working version of his patent. And lost the case. So, that’s one of the reasons why Henry Ford was able to built a car for “the great multitude”. Of course he was the genius behind the assembly line which made it possible to built cars cheaply. But look at the problems he created. Urban sprawl, pollution, deaths from collisions, injury, gridlock, global warming, depletion of fossil fuel …

So the hypercar will save the World? Probably not; we need more than that. When it comes true (not if), the internal combustion engine will be dead and your hybrid-electric hypercar would even become the power generation plant of the future. Yes, when you park your car and spend the whole day at your office desk, the fuel cell in your car will be generating electricity and pumping it into the grid. You will be selling electricity! And demand for petrol will be so low it will just stay in the ground, good only for supporting the earth below us. And the body? It will be a carbon composite polymer which will be as strong as steel but weigh two-thirds less. Exciting isn’t it? The Toyota Prius implements some of the ideas of the hypercar. It’s still too expensive for me but I can wait. By the way, fuel cells was invented some 150 years ago but its only now that the components to make the cells have come together. What does that tell you? Don’t worry if your professor says your idea is stupid or far-fetched. Tell him to wait 150 years, and then get back to you.

The new staff at Engineering 19th May (above) and 6th May (below).

[postscript- now at my office next morning: went to http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/ved/vedDetails.asp and discovered that the Gertz emits 159g/km of CO2. So let’s say 100 km a day times 250 working days a year, that’s 25,000 km times 159 = 3,975 kg or about 4 metric tons of CO2 a year. The Myvi 1.3 coughs out 151g/km; Proton Gen-2 1.6 litre is worst at 176g/km.

And the Toyota Prius Hybrid 1.5 litre? 104g/km – not very impressive isn’t it? Oh, you Porshe guys and gals – you are all going to hell for your carbon emissions 242g/km for the Boxster (whatever that is). And those filthy rich driving around in Rolls Royce won’t even make it to hell – 377g/km! with a 6.7 litre engine] Sorry for being overly dramatic - comes with the job. BTW, the average Malaysian spews out about 7.5 metric tons of carbon per year (2004) and is 37th highest in the World.

The White Coffin 2.0 - Zero Waste

Am numb from working the Consultation Paper for People-Centred Sustainable Development - also watching the endless marathon of American Idol. Everything I think should be in it is there. Just need to read it one last time tomorrow morning and then it will be emailed to a small select group of students and staff who have agreed to read it and give some feedback. Then we'll see whether it bombs.

Ah, but I am not the only one who did the writing. I have a trust-worthy co-writer.

This is the cover of the paper. Why so red? 'Cos we're still in the red ocean.

Then the paper will go through the motions until it either gets accepted as something that makes sense or gets thrown out the window. And mine you, up there is a tough bunch. I have seen months of work go back to the drawing board within the space of one or two hours of heated and sustained attack.

So, what's next? First, I got to look for a successor. Seriously. This is one of the experiments for the people-centred taskforce. To be truly people-centred, the people must come forward voluntarily and the people will find their synergies and from there the leader will emerge. I had a conversation with a few student volunteers and one of them suggested maybe even a student could lead Kampus Sejahtera. Why not?

Second, The White Coffin 2.0 is about to take off. Again this is part of the people-centred agenda. Yes, The White Coffin was a resounding success but there's lots of loose ends. The White Coffin 2.0 will not just be about getting rid of polystyrene foam containers. Version 2.0 will be themed "Zero Waste". It must permeate the entire University operations - not just canteens. So get ready. But the ultimate goal as far as canteens are concerned is zero disposable packaging including polystyrene, plastic sheets, brown paper, plastic boxes (polypropylene), paper boxes and even biodegradable containers (i.e. EcoPak and the like). YES, you read it right. Zero packaginng. Not doable? If we cannot achieve that, we don't deserve to call ourselves the APEX U Sustainable Campus.

I was really proud of my wife when I heard that she gave the checkout counter girl a hard time. They always insist that everything must be in a plastic bag so that they can stick the price sticker on it. My wife refused to let the girl put the fruit in a plastic bag and insisted on the simple solution above. Zero waste is not difficult - don't generate the waste.

Second, close the loop. Make sure the fruit skins and seeds don't go into the thrash. Collect them and put them in your compost bin. What comes from nature must go back to nature.

Another simple way to return nutrients back to Earth. The heap is about a metre high (just the right height for compost heaps). Actually I have dugged about one feet down so the height is higher. All that from about 2 hours of trimming weeds and replanting my ladies finger plot. As you can see it is a huge open space which me and my neighbours have taken over portions for flowers and fruits. My neightbour has got a neem tree and I am learning to use it for cooking. Sort of like urban guerillas. But some people still don't quite get it or are impatient so they burn the heap. I have one heap outside and one inside my compound.