anthroblogia

**Update 22 January 2012**

Well I just googled for a place to recycle glass in Kelana Jaya, and this post turns up first unfortunately. I say unfortunately, because I couldn't find out much then, and it just goes to show how little has changed in the last 2 years+.

Anyway - there is an updated list from Alam Flora, but it is pretty meagre.

Also, Nokia centres will take your batteries.

Good luck out there

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One thing that frustrates me is finding places to drop of material for recycling. Getting rid of paper is easy enough - we just wait for the sounds of 'paper lama' to echo through the neighbourhood, and try to catch the truck - we don't ask for money as it is not a lot and - frankly - I think they're doing a public service.

Metal and plastic bottles ('hard plastic') is more haphazard, but still possible - what we do is to leave it on the corner or in front of the house in a fairly obvious manner, and within a couple of days someone has picked it up. Usually it's a guy cycling around, collecting scrap wherever he can. It will get recycled, but I wonder under what conditions - sometimes the manner of recycling is extremely un-eco-friendly too (see here for example) Also, this isn't an option if you live in a condo or certain areas.

But getting rid of glass is a hassle, and for Tetra Paks and similar packaging it is even more difficult.

I did a quick search and came up with these two useful documents produced by the Global Environment Centre: 'recycling collection centres in the klang valley', and 'The Art of Recycling'. They both have addresses and information about recycling collection centres.

But still, the problem is that they may be out of date, and also one still has to work out where the places are.

So - here's a solution: The Google Maps 'Recycling Centres in Klang Valley' map!


View Larger Map

I've made the map public, so anyone can add and edit it (I think you need a Google login though), and I propose that for each entry the following information is provided:
• Status: i.e. confirmed or not, active or inactive
• What is collected: i.e. paper, glass, batteries...
• Time: i.e. opening times
• Address: duh
• Source: i.e. where does the information come from

You can check the map out here, and start adding your local collection points! If people add to it, and link to it from their blogs with some relevant keywords (recycling centre, recycling collection point, kelana jaya, kuala lumpur, damansara, etc...), it could start turning up in Google search.

**Edit 06/03/09**: Anyone can edit the map - click on the above link, sign into Google, click on 'Edit' and you're there!

Bako Park was really nice, a perfect place for a day trip from Kuching or more. We spent two nights there, and did a six-hour easy walk on the second day. For me, I love watching monkeys, and there were three kinds there – two I had not seen before.

Around the accommodation area there were Long-tailed Macaques (Macaca fascicularis). These are the common type you often see in Malaysia – they’re also known as ‘Crab-eating macaques’, I suppose because they eat crabs; however, these ones spend most of their time hanging around the canteen in order to steal food.

This guy was on a branch overlooking the back of the kitchen


There are rare monkeys there too, the Proboscis Monkey (Nasalis larvatus) is an endangered species and one of the highlights of Bako. On the first day we managed to spot a few at dusk, and on the third day we went out early to try to see some. We spotted about five moving around the treetops. They’re easy to hear when they’re near – when they move from tree to tree there is a loud rustling; but as they stay high in the canopy they are difficult to see, and even more difficult to photograph – this is the best I got!


But if I had a super zoom lense, a tripod, lots of time and mosquito repellent, I might have been able to get this
Continue reading "Monkeys at Bako National Park"

**Sticky post until 13/08/08 - Scroll down for new posts**
In a way, it’s a story about blogs – you know how you randomly spot something in PPS or Innit, then click here then there, and end up somewhere you never expected?

It all started with a post by yinhao – through him I came to Nikkiko who was promising a link to anyone who posted a photo showing how not to use plastic bags. So, I did, and also set up a space in my sidebar for Bloggers who hate plastic bags.

Then I got a comment and an email from The Tiny Tapir: she has this online shop full of great enviro-friendly stuff, and was asking me if I wanted to review some reusable bags! Cool! My first review, and for environmentally friendly stuff summor

So, I’ve been using them for a couple of months, and here it is… Oh and you can win one, details at the bottom!

The first thing I noticed, was how small they pack up; the manufacturers say “our patent pending enclosure system enables three bags to roll up to about the size of your cup of coffee.” Actually, the ‘patent enclosure system’ is a couple of velcro straps sewn onto the top, but they work very well and the bags arrived in one A3-size envelope, delivered two days after ordering online.


Radioactive Man vs. RuMe!
Continue reading "RuMe review and giveaway competition! Get a free reusable bag!"

The concepts of linear and circular time fascinate me. The most well known is, I suppose, is the Abrahamic eschatological concept of the ‘end of times’: i.e. as in Armageddon, the Day of Judgement, etc. The belief that the world was created, had a beginning, and that it will one day come to an end.

This is linear – i.e. in a line. Linear time makes sense to me, until someone produces a time machine. Even considering the relativity of time, Einstein only proved that time can be relatively slower in one ‘frame’ compared to another – not that one can go back in time.


Another widespread concept; particularly in Hinduism (and by implication Buddhism, but not necessarily), and apparently in Maya cosmology too, is the concept of cyclical time, or ‘ages’. Again, expressed in terms of cosmology, it means that there was no beginning point, and will be no end point of the world. It will simply carry on changing.

The Big Bang theory lends some credence to this, given that the universe is constantly expanding, and will therefore in theory eventually contract back to the initial compressed point.

For me, one problem with the circular, at least using a diagram in the way I have, is that it implies that things go back to the way they were initially. Which is why I like the idea of a spiral better: the way I see it, things tend towards equilibrium, and thus many things seem to repeat themselves, but on every ‘pass’, they have changed from before.


The spiral is really just another line, with a beginning, and never repeating itself; but the advantage of the spiral is that it reminds us that the past can ‘catch up’ with us. Everything has a consequence; and we’re not advancing straight into a virgin future, untrammelled by the past; nor can we just carry on because everything is going to be wiped clean and we start over again…
Continue reading "From linear to circular"