Tuesday, January 20, 2009
All the members were asked politely by Farhanah to return to school on the 31st of December for a meeting. Unless you have been living under a rock since the beginning of time, you would know that the 31st of December is the last day of every year. It is day where people gather at shopping malls with their friends and family to end the year with a bang-literally. It is also a day when people get to watch legal fireworks. Many people brave the traffic jams to get to these shopping malls because they are eager to welcome the New Year. As for school-attending kids like us, we're just too busy squeezing the last bits of fun into what little is left of our holidays. Of course, most people's definition of school holiday fun does not include going back to school to pull weeds, but oh well, it is our duty to make sure the herbs live. I think many people adopted my mentality-hence the low attendance. The only difference was, Farhanah spoke to me with a threatening tone.
Besides weeding the herbs garden, we were also called back to discuss important matters like the our preferences for the T-shirts, the logo, our ideas for environmentally-friendly filing as well and durable plant labels.
We decided on a collared t-shirt with a simple brown background. Our names and school name will be printed on the right and left sleeve respectively. Besides that, we are currently in the midst of deciding on a witty message which will be proudly displayed on the front of the t-shirt. Our logo will be printed on the back. The logo was designed by our very own art extraordinaire-Samantha. She designed a logo with 5 different colour combinations for us to pick from. Naturally, the most colourful combination won with the maximum amount of votes it could get. There were 5 water droplets-two of them were light blue in color, while each of the other water droplets were either dark blue, dark, green, or light green.
Here’s what each of the 5R’s mean:
Reuse- tins, cans, paper, CD’s, bottles. These can be used to make useful and beneficial items.
Recycle-paper, plastic bottles, etc.
Reduce- Reduce the usage of recyclable items when and if possible.
Rethink- Everyone should think twice before using or doing something which causes the depletion of natural resources
Replant-Replanting is important to increase the amount of oxygen in the air.
The number of water droplets-5-represents our motto which is 5R - Reuse, Recycle, Reduce, Rethink, Replant. Cool, huh? Light blue represents water; light green represents plants, while dark blue and green represents our earth. Next to the water droplets is a yellow circle. It represents the sun, which as everyone very well knows, is the primary source of energy on earth.
The next thing on the president’s checklist of things to discuss is environmentally-friendly filing. After all, the purpose of this entire competition is to save the earth-one plant at a time. Using unrecycled paper results in the untimely death of many matured trees. It is a shame to see trees which have been providing oxygen for centuries being chopped down to produce paper. As a result, we have decided to start printing our herbs research findings on used paper before pasting them onto homemade recycled paper. Kudos to Azmina and Ili for undertaking the tedious chore of making enough recycled paper to keep this club running. As for files, we think that plastic files aren’t environmentally friendly in the sense that they cannot be recycled after we stop using them. Making our own files out of cardboard, thick ropes, and metal rings is a much better alternative. Besides, it looks good and it stands out!
We decided to make our plant labels out of used CD’s. After all, these CD’s will only end up in the trash sooner or later, so we decided to put them to good use. We will write the names of the plant on the shiny surfaces of the CD’s in permanent marker before covering the CD’s in plastic to protect them from the forces of nature. Well, not completely, but at least we won’t be seeing faded plant names anytime soon.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Three of our team members were assigned to go on a trip to the University Of Malaya to take a look at their Rimba Ilmu (Botanical Garden) The selected team members who went with the teach advisor, Puan Yeo, were Chong Wei Theng, Chong Soo Sun and Uma Priya.
They went to the Rimba Ilmu in Puan Yeo's car. Because the members had not eaten their lunch and were basically starving at this point, Puan Yeo stopped at a certain restaurant with fammiliar golden arches, otherwise known as Mc' Donalds, whereby they satiated their hunger with takeaway burgers and fries in Puan Yeo's car because they were strapped for time.
Soon after they had finished eating, they arrived at the main building of the University Malaya's Rimba Ilmu and walked around the building searching for a kind-hearted soul who might lend them their assistance. They finally found a staff on the second floor who was more than happy to assist them and even gave a brief introduction to the Rimba Ilmu. He suggested that they write or contact the Malaysian Nature Society which organises nature-related trips based on the objectives of the trips the schools intended to have for the students. He then gave them some interesting brochures and flyers before showing them the way to the main entrance of the Rimba Ilmu located a stone's throw away.
They only had enough time to explore the herb garden. However, it was still worth the trip because they had the opportunity to see some unique and interesting plants which could rarely be found in Malaysia. Along the way, they took some pictures of the properly labeled and defined plants. The plants were obviously well-cared for as they were in pristine condition.
Despite the fact that the members only had enough time to explore the herb garden, they enjoyed themselves very much and are planning another trip to the beautiful Botanical garden soon with a larger group of students.
Feast your eyes on some of the pictures taken=)
ENJOY!!!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Some specimens of nature =)
First of all, I apologise for not updating sooner. There were no meetings in the past three weeks except for the photoshoot session held last Thursday due to the Hari Raya holidays and the PMR examinations. However, there will be a meeting on Monday next week (20/10/08).
The pictures taken last Thursday can be found in the "Proud To Be Introduced" post. Here are some of the pictures which have not been posted.We are happy family =)
Meet The Plants =)
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Weeds, mud, bricks, toads, earth and sweat.
Thursday was an unusual, to say the least. The Eco Rangers took a break from the usual mundane meetings and headed out to the planting spot - as everyone named it - to make a pathway across the planting spot instead. The purpose of making said pathway is to enable the student population of Sri Aman to view the plants without trampling them. Being able to view the plants without getting their shoes dirty was also an added bonus.
The Eco Rangers stayed back after school on Thursday to complete the pathway, which was going to be made out of leftover bricks from the school's previous construction projects. The reason for them not buying new bricks instead was because buying bricks were neither cost or environmentally friendly.
Before beginning the project, Farhanah put Nadiah, Ili and Azmina to the job of evening out the earth using spades and hoes. It was rather messy work and they got the earth all over the place, including the rest of the disgruntled members' shoes. However, Samantha - who brought a pair of slippers for this occasion and the people who walked around barefooted - namely Pui San and Angela- managed to avoid getting their shoes dirty.
While Nadiah, Ili and Azmina were evening out the earth, the rest of the Eco Rangers were put to other tasks, including pulling out weeds, picking up rocks and hunting for bricks. Pui San was one of the members who were in charge of hunting for bricks, and she found something (or rather an animal) while carrying out her task - A toad. She was rendered speechless with a rather comical expression on face that had other members rolling around in laughter. In another case, Sophia and Sara found earthworms and centipedes under the bricks. The barefooted members were cautioned to keep away from that area.
Eishatur was in charge of picking up rocks in the way of where the pathway was supposed to be. She kept the rocks in a small bucket. After she was done with picking up the rocks, she thought that it would be a good idea to challenge Angela to lift the bucket up. Angela, being extremely gullible, got tricked by the tiny size of the bucket and nearly buckled over because of the massive weight of the bucket. Eishatur got a kick over watching Angela's expression.Halfway through carrying out our tasks, it started raining. Azrianna who was in charge of pulling out weeds, started holding an umbrella overhead while doing her job. The rest of the members continued working through the rain. Of course, members who got caught colds easily were allowed to stand in the shelter. Thankfully, the rain wasn't heavy and only lasted for a short period.
Soon after the rain stopped, Nadiah, Ili and Azmina finished evening out the earth for the huge occasion of actually making the pathway. Everyone did their part in laying the bricks and arranging them. After all the brick laying and arranging was done, Angela was ordered by Sophia to catwalk across the pathway to test its' firmness - 5 times, no less. Her imperfect balance caused by the uneven and slippery tiles attracted peals of laughter from her less-than-supportive group mates.The walkway was completed at around 4 P.M. after Pui San and Azrianna scrubbed the tiles to remove the soil, grass, weeds and roots from the tile. After hosing their shoes down, the members finally left for home after a hard day of toiling.Despite all the hard work and effort put in, all the members enjoyed themselves immensely while carrying out this activity. It was an eye-opening experience for all of them.
