Celebrate a Green & Priceless Christmas

Christmas is just 3 days down the road! I guess the festive's joy and spirit is HIGH from now. Christmas is always accompanied with the festive's decor, especially obvious in the busy Orchard Road. The streets and roads are laid with tonnes of sparkling lightings and christmas decorations such as a huge decorated christmas tree or even a snowman!

Another thing that I need not say and you would already know is the present! How depressing is to see no Christmas presents coming in when someone visits you, right? Some may feel it's alright but a small gift will be more alright. *LOL* I wondered what are people most concerned about their gifts. Is it the gift itself--the $$, the design, the quality, the colours, the type you like--or is it the general appearance of the gift with good nice wrapping papers? But ultimately I think what matter most is the sincerity of the person. Anything else is just a "touch-up", I think so.

Since sincere is what is most important, I think a gift that is wrapped with some low-cost materials such as good conditioned, but unwanted posters, newspapers or even your glossy magazines can be up to good use. These materials aren't bad--they have their quality too. To me, Glossy magazines and posters are even better alternative than to use wrapping paper since they have good quality too and can be quite appealing too. See, the magazine that I used to wrap the box of gift? It's not too bad afterall, right?


Procedures in wrapping a gift using "priceless" materials and efforts.


I am quite like an environmentalist; I care for the environment and support many eco-friendly acts of our parts. Reduce.Reuse.Recycle. This 3 Rs are the golden Rs which we should always remember. So during Christmas this year, why not spend less on wrapping papers and even help to save the trees, environment and the earth? It's a WIN-WIN situation.

Here, I've some ideas on wrapping a gift. It must start with collecting raw materials like reused boxes (from the biscuits or other items), reused wrapping papers (posters, newspaper or magazines, etc), nice reused plastic/paper bags.


Newspaper, posters and magazines


Clean & Reused Boxes

Reusing plastic bags
These raw materials are all foc. Reusing these materials is a big contribution of saving the earth. It's so simple and beneficial. Try it out yourself and you would find yourself an artistic person! MERRY AND GREEN CHRISTMAS!

If you have any other ideas, do contribute here or in your blog and share your url. (=

Tackling Global Warming

Global warming due to emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have contributed to larger extreme climatic events like rising sea levels. The main culprit: Carbon Dioxide.

Dryer conditions in the cloud forest and lengthening dry periods could drive some into extinction ranging from plants to animals. Many tree types are declining in vitality. The study of 13,700 trees in 18 very isolated plots in Brazil concluded that increased carbon dioxide is the most plausible explanation for the abrupt shifts in species growth. And looking at the big picture, what do you see? Without trees, what could have happened?

Sixteen years of data on tree growth, tropical air temperatures and CO2 readings indicate that a warming climate may cause the tropical forests to give off more carbon dioxide than they take up. This would upset the common belief that tropical forests are always a sink for carbon, taking huge amounts out of the atmosphere.

Coral reefs are probably the most complex ecosystems on the planet, home to hundreds of thousands of species. They protect and support the lives of millions of people around the tropical zones, and are a font of wealth from fishing and recreation. The damage being caused to reefs by warming seas is one of the most serious effects of global warming.

High water temperatures caused coral bleaching and subsequent death or adverse change to sixteen percent of world reefs overall and up to 46 percent in parts of the Indian Ocean.

Temperatures beyond norms causes coral to expel the microscopic symbionts, zooxanthellae, that also give them colour. If this bleaching continues for days to weeks, the coral dies and algae takes over the reefs, changing the ecosystem.


Let's Begin Taking the following tips today:


1. Buy a Fuel Efficient Car. Getting a few extra miles per gallon makes a big difference. Save thousands of lbs. of carbon dioxide and a lot of money per year.

2. Carpool When You CanOwn a big vehicle? Carpooling with friends and co-workers saves fuel. Save 790 lbs. of carbon dioxide and hundreds of dollars per year.

3. Reduce GarbageBuy products with less packaging and recycle paper, plastic and glass. Save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.Composting helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the number of trips trucks must make to the landfill as well as the amount of methane released by our landfills. [I recycle papers and plastic bottles, metals, glass bottles as far as possible in the recycling bin. So can you.]

4. Use Recycled Paper. Make sure your printer paper is 100% post consumer recycled paper. Save 5 lbs. of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.

5. Unplug Un-used Electronics. Even when electronic devices are turned off, they use energy. Save over 1,000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $150 per year.

6. Plant a Tree. Trees provide a microclimate and sustained moisture for you. Trees suck up carbon dioxide and make clean air for us to breath. Save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.


Reference: http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/tropics-oceans.html
http://www.globalwarming.net/

The next Antique

What could you think of when you come across the word "antique"? A sewing machine or an antique car? Is that all? The world is growing rapidly, especially so because of today's technology improvement. Have you wonder the things that could be taken over as a result of technology advancement? I certainly have a thought. So what is the next antique?

Emerson 610 (1949)

Bush TV 22 (1950)

Sachsenwerk Leningrad T2 von 1952

Saba Schauinsland WII von 1953

Portacolour (1967)

 

 

Sooner or later, your bulky kind of tvs will become an antique as the market produces more flat screen tvs and trying to sell them at a lower price in the years to come. The prices of flat screen TVs may drop to the extent that many can afford to buy it. So, if you are an antique keeper, it's probably time to start your collection of the 21st century TV!

It's Earth Day! Live Earth concert worldwide for 24 hours!
To show my care and concern for the earth, I did many things like reuse, reduce and recycle.



You can also help to save the earth by taking public transport like what I did. Between, there was a little fault on the Mrt train this morning. The door did not open at Kranji and the passengers who wanted to alight have to travel to Yew Tee and then reverse back to Kranji. This is bad as you all know the distance and time to travel to and fro between the 2 stations. It was raining then and it might be the cause of technical problems encountered by the train.

For the sake of our planet and our future, we should really put in effort to reduce, reuse and recycle our materials. Every effort put in to do these will end up with lesser rubbish that is gone into the incineration plant and landfill. We have to stop the pollution. Otherwise, our planet is going to burn. We will not only feel the intense temperature around the globe, but also get sick and come across many unimaginable consequences.


Photo courtesy of http://www.monroecounty.gov/


So stay green. Save the earth. Reduce.Reuse.Recycle. Better life begins now.

Zero Trans Fat Food

TRANS FAT

Studies showed that an extended shelf-life for products could well mean a shortened life for those who eat them.

WHY?
Trans fat increases LDL (low density lipoproteins considered "Bad" and decreases levels of  HDL (High Density Lipoproteins considered "Good"). LDL can clog the arteries of the heart, making them more rigid. It can also increase insulin resistance, thus risk developing Type 2 diabetes.

On the other hand, naturally occuring saturated fats found mainly from animal fats is different as it raises both good and bad cholesterol levels.

Trans fat food: e.g. candy, noodles and processed supermarket food products in varying amounts of trans fat. However, due to its notorious name, many food industries have already been taking approaches to cut down or totally eliminate this trans fat. Nevertheless, always check the nutrition labels to ascertain you will be consuming zero trans fat! Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA): LESS than 1% of daily calories. i.e. An average person who eats 2000 calories a day should consume up to 2-3 grams of trans fat daily.

Advice 

(1) Watch what you eat
e.g.Many fast-food restaurants use liquid shortening to fry their dishes, loading them with trans fat. Limit fast-food intake to no more than twice weekly.

(2) Cooking Methods
Choosing from healthier cooking methods such as steamed fish to boiled potatoes to stewed chicken to baked rice can help you cut down on the calories that goes into the waist (body). It's not as though you can't eat fried foods, but always remember to eat in moderation. Have a mind  to tell you to choose food cooked in a healthier way over fried foods.

(3)Study food label of food products
Restrict your choice to food that do not contain partially hydogenated vegetable oil.
Look out for foods with Healthier Choice Symbol and choose food based on that symbol.

NOT all fats are bad.
Studies show that trans fat found in natural foods like beef and lamb does not harm the body in ways that man-made trans fat can.

Good Fats: MonoUnsaturated, PolyUnsaturated fat, Omega 3, 6, 9 e.g. olive oil, corn oil, sunflower oil and canola oil.
Omega-3 fatty acids from fish, seeds and nuts
(i)keep the heart healthy (ii)reduce inflammation in the body.

Afterall, it's best to choose foods low in saturated and with no trans fat.

Carbon Dioxide!

Carbonated Drinks + Mentos = ???

Carbonated drinks including cola has recently been experimented and found to EXPLODE in a matter of seconds.
"Apparently, mentos sweet has thousands of tiny pits on the surface that're conditional for carbon dioxide bubbles to form in.
As soon as sweet hits the soda, bubbles form all over its surface. When all the gas is released, it pushes all of the liquid up and out of the bottle in an incredible soda blast."