Saving The World

I had an interesting conversation with a fellow Rotarian over lunch recently. He was telling me about an article he had read. Apparently we have been burning too much hydrocarbon, causing the depletion of the ozone layer. Consequently, there are "holes" in the sky wherefrom harmful radiations from the sun can penetrate into our atmosphere. One of the many negative effects is global warming. He said at the rate we are going right now, it has been estimated that the world could be flooded in 10 years' time due to melting ice at the north and south poles.

I thought that was quite an alarming piece of information. Then again, I fancy it's an exaggeration somehow. I asked my friend if there's anything we could do about the situation. He suggested some remedial measures, including the amusing idea that "we don't burn hydrocarbon unnecessarily". Maybe we should all consider cycling to work— that would be a good start.

Then another Rotarian—he's a Japanese—joined in the conversation. He said in Japan, they do their part by recycling whatever they can recycle. Japanese households separate their rubbish into 7 recycling bins. In Malaysia, we also have the Kitar Semula programme where recyclable rubbish are separated into 3 recycling bins.

Just a few days ago, I posted an article on the brilliant invention of the wonder bras by the Japanese. Instead of disposing of their chopsticks, Japanese women can tuck them nicely into their bras. But one might wonder what do the Japanese men do with their used chopsticks. I am sure they are working on inventing wonder briefs for their men where they can tuck their chopsticks in. I suppose that should save a lot of trees from getting chopped down.

Not to be outdone, the Chinese now recycles used condoms into cheap hair bands. I know 10 years sounds like a very short time to save the world, but perhaps recycling used condoms is overdoing it a tad too far? Can you imagine your used condoms ending up on someone's hair?