Island Chic's Babble» environment

A cunning plan to save the environment?

Island-Chic — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:52:09 +0000

I wanted to write this post based on a really weird dream I had recently. It’s quite funny but I promise you, I have a point!

In this dream, I was travelling in China and I get to a really beautiful beach city (I assumed it was Sanya City) and the sea was so beautiful, just like the crystal clear waters in the Maldives. I was so thrilled!

I was walking along a bridge looking down into the beautiful waters just enjoying the moment. The water was so clean and clear, I would be able to see a needle on the bottom! I was really impressed. Suddenly I reached a point where the bottom of the sea was covered with dark grey and brown dead animals, fish, garbage and all sorts of unpleasant stuff. I stared at it in horror and was about to turn back when I realised that they all looked a bit unnatural. I took a closer look and realised that it was all artificial! There was even a board the middle of the huge pile that says “This is what happens when you pollute our beautiful waters…save it while you can”.

Funny enough, I woke up as soon as I got the ‘message’. Lying on my bed half asleep, I laughed to myself because it was just so unbelievably weird! Of all the things in the world why would I dream of that? Perhaps it could be because of all the environment related tweets I’ve been reading recently!

Anyway I was just wondering about what I saw… was it really so strange? Or was it actually quite realistic? Will policies like that work? Is fear and intimidation a potentially more successful approach to get people to take note of something? Or is better to stick to more subtle ways? If we saw entire countries being washed away, islands sinking, rivers drying up, animals & trees dying, entire populations of fish vanishing etc. will we stop and think to ourselves? Will we reconsider? And then I thought, oh wait…it’s all happening right before our eyes even now and that hasn’t really stopped us from harming the very environment we are living in…which perhaps wouldn’t even be liveable for the generations to come.

Photos from – http://www.markgibsonphoto.com/ and http://www.ians.in/

Save your house from high energy prices

President Nasheed tells the world ‘Don’t be stupid!’

Island-Chic — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:12:00 +0000

The video message from the Maldivian President H.E. Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, at the premiere of the climate blockbuster ‘The Age of Stupid’, where he announced the Maldives’ intention to go carbon-free within the next 10 years.

His message to the world by this announcement is ‘Please, Don’t be Stupid’. Yes, it is time to take a smarter approach to the issue of climate change to bring about a long lasting positive impact! Go Maldives, show to the world that ‘we can’.

Can Maldives really go carbon-free?

Island-Chic — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:46:00 +0000

Considering that the Maldives is perhaps the most vulnerable country in the entire world to the threats posed by global warming, it is an achievement for the Maldives to let its voice be heard by the rest of the world.

Maldives for the last few decades have been at the forefront of climate change negotiations representing small island developing states. However, little has been done or achieved by the world toward the mitigation of man-made climate change.

The Maldives’ recent announcement to invest in a fund that will enable us to seek land abroad as a back-up plan for the worst case climate change scenario, has drawn considerable attention to otherwise ignored tiny dots on the world map.

Now, it is a further step closer to international recognition and support in our fight for survival. President Nasheed’s announcement of the Maldives’ intention to go carbon free by the year 2020 has once again put the Maldives on the map.

If i understand this correct, unlike most other countries like the Vatikan, Norway, Costa Rica etc., Maldives isn’t planning to go carbon-neutral. Rather we are aiming to go carbon free. This is to say, we are not off-setting the use of any of our domestic carbon usage by investing in forestry and the like. Instead we hope for a rapid switch to renewable energy sources for all our domestic uses through an eco-friendly scheme which is to cost an estimated $110m a year for 10 years.

Many would feel that this is a close to impossible target for a struggling economy that’s barely able to make ends meet. Why? The reasons are many. Firstly, it is a time of major economic peril for the whole world. The Maldives is operating on a heavily deficient budget, with a dearth of major investments in provision of basic services and negative trends in social stability which requires considerable investments in building social institutions. We are dependent on foreign aid to an anxious level and we do not have a history of successful renewable energy projects in the past save for a handful.

Although this outlook may seem gloomy, we are hopeful. I respect President Nasheed’s inspirational and highly ambitious target and seriously wish that our development partners will support the Maldives on this one. It is one that will set an example for the rest of the world, one which will inspire the major players in this dirty game of climate change.

Of course we are aiming for the sky here. Although in aiming for the sky, if we reach the roof it will still be a bigger achievement than many of the giant carbon intensive economies have ever achieved so far! So bravo the Maldives, here’s your chance to shine.

Photo By : Caroline von Tuempling
Related Stories: New York Times, The Guardian, Haveeru Online

Save your house from high energy prices

Island-Chic — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:55:00 +0000

As always I love anything that’s Google or Google supported. Google’s green policies are definitely on top of my list as Climate Change is a topic very cloe to my heart (obvious reasons, my home may disappear in a couple of decades)!

Google’s recent creation of a handy energy saving calculator to help us see how simple steps can help us save money and ward off high carbon emissions deserves recognition. In addition Google has also put together a webpage full of tricks to help us save energy and loads of money!

As Halloween is near, Google is trying to look at ways that can help us to reduce the price we pay for power, heating and various electronic uses.

Find out how you can help save the world from heating up, sinking the most beautiful low-lying islands, melting up the gigantic glaciers or reducing the burden to your pockets!