'The Inconvenient Truth'

Was watching a docu-film starred Al-Gore ‘The Inconvenient Truth’. I was touched with the part where he told the story about how almost losing his son to a car accident changed his perspective on life and make him think of what role should he play on this planet we called Earth while he’s still living and breathing on it. This film tells about Global Warming & Climate Change, an issue to most people not their problem.

Industrial activities is one major human activity that

contributes to the increase of greenhouse gasses into the air

that traps the heat from being reflected back into space

‘Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.’ (http://www.climatecrisis.net/aboutthefilm/)

Top: Mount Kilimanjaro in 1998, ice cap covering the mountain.

Below: 85% of the ice has melted in 2005.

We have watched the effect of Tsunami in Thailand and the hurricane Katrina in the U.S., the flood and landslides in China and we feel so lucky for not being there and being those victims who have lost their parents, siblings, friends, pets, home, jobs and a place to hang out to have beers and chit chat with friends. All gone within a very short period compared to how long it is that you have known your families and friends, how long it takes to build a building where you hang out or that city, how long it takes for you to get that job and a good salary.

When you really think about it, we are just a tiny particle of life form living on pieces of land sticking out from the sea on a huge sphere (I wanted to say ball, but it wouldn’t sound right to some people). This sphere floats in a huge vacuum (space) along with the other floating objects in space including the Sun.

What can we do to save our planet or to make sure we and our next generation still have a save and livable place to live in 10 years time to come?

Firstly understand what Global Warming is.
2nd: You have to understand what Climate Change is. Try this site, its easy to understand http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/rural-nz/sustainable-resource-use/climate/impact-on-industries/
3rd: Tell your family, friends, colleagues about this phenomenon and make them understand the consequences.
4th: Vote for a politician who is environmentally concern and would fight for that cause.
5th: Think again, what more can you do… (eg: Switch off air con if not needed… use bicycle to go to work if u can, recycle your rubbish and etc.)

All of us should watch this film. Informative and unboring; and makes you think…..

A polar bear have to jump from one tiny piece of iceberg to

another to go around, look for food or rest.

There's cases where polar bear drowned in their effort

to get to the other side of the land/iceberg to get food

as they cant find any iceberg big enough for them to rest on to.

‘Upton Sinclair’

It is difficult to make a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.

Sofia :)

Turtle Trouble

I was reading about marine turtles and came to this article. It is a recent one and I am very concerned.

Marine turtles in Sabah are protected by the Wildlife Department. What threatened their survivals are habitat loss, accidental catch in fishing nets and poaching of eggs and adults. Turtle’s population are dwindling and as custodian of Earth, it is our responsibility to make sure that these animals doesn’t disappear from our planet forever.

I still see people buying turtle eggs here in Sabah. It saddened me to say that a few times I went to a ‘kenduri’ here, turtle eggs are served. It is disgusting for me to see people sucking the eggs with satisfaction. I talked to this woman next to my mom about how turtles are on the verge of extinction and how we should all try to help. I tell her the benefits of not eating turtle eggs. She just laughed and said “Well, they’re already cooked anyway. Nothing I can do but eat la.”

We have to understand that the selling stop when the buying stop. And the buying will stop when we stop eating it. If everyone thinks like this woman then there is no hope.

It takes decades for turtles to reach maturity to breed. And once they nest, the turtle will go back to the sea leaving her eggs buried in the sand. After about 7 weeks, the hatchlings will emerge and ran crawling to the sea. There are many predators to these hatchlings. Monitor lizards, crabs & birds attack them on the beach. And when they reach the sea, sharks & other fishes prey on them. So it is a hardship for them to just reach the open sea. On top of that, from the moment they were born, they have no mom to love them :( Only about 1% of baby turtle will survive and reach breading age. Imagine that!

Stop eating turtle eggs!!

Nudies

Nudibranchs (NEW-dih-bronk) are basically sea slugs. The word ‘slug’ often makes people thinks of yucky slimy creature. They are gastropods like snails only they lack the shells (think ‘siput babi’ without the ‘siput’). However, the sea slugs or nudibranchs are one of the most beautiful and colourful creature of the ocean. During their larval stage (when they were babies), they did have their shell but it disappear during metamorphosis (when they change into adult).

There are about 3,000 (and counting) different kind of nudies (as I like to call them) in the world and each species are vibrantly rich in colour and has fantastic colour pattern. The name nudibranch means “naked gills” : their secondary gills are exposed outside their bodies. They have a pair of tentacles called rhinophores at the front. This they use mainly to sense chemicals (macam mata la kunun).

Like any other gastropod (‘siput’) they are slow moving. They have soft bodies and as mentioned no external shells to protect them. So how do they protect themselves from predators? Well, nudies are toxic and bad tasting and their bright coloured bodies are actually a warning sign to predators.

They can be found in nearly all reef habitats. Just look for their favourite food and you might be able to see them. These pretty little creatures are carnivorous. They feed on sponges, algae, bryozoans, anemone, and corals. Sometimes they can be cannibalistic too, feeding on other nudies.

Nudies are hermaphrodite (both male and female at the same time). They can mate with any other adult of their species. They also have varied life span. Some can live only 1 month and some can live up to a year.

If you want to take nudies home with you, take a picture! Don’t put them in a plastic bag and take them away. They will lose their shape and colour very fast. Plus they cannot survive aquarium life.

So next time you go snorkeling or diving, remember to keep a look out for these tiny critters.

Interesting fact: Some nudibranchs are solar-powered, storing algae in their outer tissues and living off the sugars produced by the algae’s photosynthesis.


Happy looking
~Salha~