World Environment Day - 5 June 2008

Sat 7 June 2008 5:44 p.m. - As a run-up to World Environment Day, the New Straits Times (NSTP) Press and Shell ran a series of workshops nation-wide some time in March/April on 'Global Climate Change'. The one-day Melaka workshop was held at the Mahkota Hotel and MGSS Melaka was represented by 4 girls (two from Form 3 and 2 from Form 4) accompanied by an English Language teacher, Mdm. Roseline Sik.

As follow-up, the girls had to write an essay on what they would do to save the environment. My daughter Victoria Goh (Vic in short) sent in an essay which she wrote last year and surprise, surprise... her essay got published in the NSTP paper on 5 June in conjunction with World Environment Day. We received the news rather late about the publication of her essay and frantically went to the shops, called up relatives and friends, etc. to get hold of at least a copy of the day's paper.

I have been nagging Vic to practise at least half of what she preached in her essay - take short showers (four minutes maximum) and carry her own shopping bag to the malls. I strongly believe that shopping malls should stop providing plastic bags at payment counters so as to force shoppers to carry their own bags (it is already practised in England) but knowing the habit of Malaysians, it'll be something pretty hard to enforce in this part of the world. While at Tesco Melaka this afternoon, we put our groceries in Vic's shopping bag and got strange looks from the people around us, as if we were aliens or downright stupid or something. Thanks Vic, for through your essay, I have been made more aware of the need to reduce, reuse and recycle.