Cogito ergo scribo

I bet you must be thinking, "Oh no, not THIS topic again!" I know the topic of environmental protection has been talked about one time too many... I'm not one of those fanatic environmentalist but i do recognize the significance of environmental protection. This post was actually inspired by some silly remarks from my colleagues.

Our company provides free lunch for all employees. I don't have a lunch partner (all had left) so i would pack my lunch from the canteen and have it at my desk. For people who wanna pack their lunches, foamed polystyrene (or more generally known as Styrofoam[1]) clamshell containers are provided at the canteen. For me, since i'm packing my lunch everyday, i used a plastic food-storage container (generally known as Tupperware) that i brought from home:




My boss, or rather, my ex-boss and another colleague questioned me when they saw me using the plastic container. They thought i didn't know that disposable containers are available at the canteen. I told them that i'm doing it for environmental protection and the next thing i got was a sneer. "Well, isn't it the same since you gotta use water to wash the container too?"

HELLOOOO???!!! IT'S NOT THE SAME! I couldn't believe they actually said that when our company is in the recycling business! Foamed polystyrene comes from petroleum byproducts and it's non-biodegradable. Compared to water, which would flow down the conduit and reused as water for flushing the toilet or recycled as new water, the foamed polystyrene containers would be landfilled. Furthermore, even if i have my lunch in the canteen, the plates and utensils also need to be washed. So i'm not using any extra water that would have been used, which means that i'm not causing any extra harm to the environment. DUH!  

[1] Actually, the foamed polystyrene containers we used today are not really Styrofoam. Styrofoam is a registered trademark of the product created by Dow Chemical Company back in the 1940's. The product was so popular that Styrofoam became a generic name (like Xerox, Tupperware, Kleenex...) for any foamed polystyrene products. In the manufacturing process of Styrofoam, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) may be used, which causes destruction to the ozone. However, the use of CFC's has been completely phased out of polystyrene production since 1990. The polystyrene products we used nowadays are relatively environmental friendly, except that the more we use, the more litter and landfill we are creating.

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Just to reiterate, i'm not an enviro freak, nor do i intend to preach about how important it is to save our environment for our future generations. For the people who don't see a need in doing so would have their own arguements. I don't see how they can be persuaded if they don't realize the importance from within their hearts.

For those who care, let's start from ourselves first. Look around us and what we do everyday. There are actually many things that can be done in accordance to the 3R's principles of environmental protection:

• Reduce -- Minimize the usage of things that may harm our environment
  


• Reuse -- As much as possible, reuse the things that we would normally just throw away
  


• Recycle -- Segregate the recyclable things from normal garbage and send it for recycling

However, with the busy lifestyles of modern society, many people may find it too troublesome or impractical to practice the 3R's principles. For instance, it would be very hard to persuade everyone to use handkerchief in place of tissue paper. It's just like instead of telling the children nowadays not to have pre-marital sex, it may be more practical to educate them about safe sex. You know it, i know it -- no matter how hard we preach, they will still do it anyway.

So rather than sermonizing on abstaining from using or doing certain things, there are some practical ways to do our part:

• As much as possible, have your meals at the food center instead of bungkus it. If you really need to pack your meals everyday, then use your own container.
  


• Share a piece of tissue paper if you use one everyday after each meal. You don't really need such a big/thick piece to wipe your mouth (of course unless you have a very big mouth or you are a messy eater).
  


Tear the tissue paper into half and share it with someone else


• Reuse the other side of the unwanted paper. I believe there are a lot of waste paper in any offices.
  


• Keep the old newspaper and sell it to the "siu gu bo chua" ("收旧报纸", or "collect old newspaper") truck that goes around your neighbourhood. They will recycle the newspaper and you get paid (even though it's a very petty sum) in return.
  


• If you are only buying one or two items that can be fit into your bag or carried on your hand, tell the cashier at the checkout counter that you don't need a plastic bag for the items.
  


• Use refill packs for your laundry detergent, dish detergent and shower gel.
  


• Instead of letting the water continue to run, turn it off when you are applying the soap or shampoo during baths.
  


• Instead of turning the aircon in your bedroom to 18°C and then sleep in long sleeves and hide under thick blanket, turn the temperature higher to 24°C and wear clothes made of flimsy fabric (or even better, sleep naked).  
  


• Replace the shark fin soup with other dish for any celebration banquets serving the typical Chinese ten-course meals.

I do practice the above, not all the time but as much as possible. No matter how small the effort is, every little thing counts. So let's do our part.

Labels: opinion, work