Love Will Save This Place - Review for This Changes Everything

Climate change is a boring topic when you live within a community that shows less enthusiasm towards environmental issues as politics are always in the limelight these days. Yeah we know about green house gases, increasing temperature, melting glaciers, rising sea level, extreme weather, but what else? Malaysia is a tropical country where the weather is almost always hot or hotter, we complain about the heat every day, and agree with each other that 'it must be the climate change', and then we switch on the air-conditioner in the house, escaping the hellish weather out there, forgetting about climate change as we can't do anything about it. I roll my eyes all the time when lecturers start talking about climate change, thinking 'I know I know, I am aware of every single mechanism of climate change, I have watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and studied about it for a few semesters. This bad attitude (I admit that it is a really bad attitude) continued until I read this book - This Changes Everything - written by Naomi Klein.

Solar Energy in Malaysia, Why Not?

Most of the university students in Malaysia are having a two-month semester breaks now where we could have gone for a short trip at the beach or a vacation to some heritage places. However, I am still sitting at home watching the laptop screen playing computer games instead of hanging out with friends somewhere close to nature. I did go out, to shopping centres, or anywhere with air-condition. We have to admit that the scorching sun is a major turnoff for those who do want to go out (of course there are people who are willing to brave through the sunlight), but the photon particles emitted by the sun is something worth harvested especially in tropical country like Malaysia in order to reduce electricity generation using fossil fuels.

The estimated amount of electricity that can be generated in Malaysia. This result was calculated using the solar calculator of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of  U.S. Department of Energy.

Climate Change and Health - A Malaysian Perspective

When we are talking about environmental issues (rising sea level in Bangladesh, river pollution in India, destruction of coral reef in Australia etc., just to name a few), we tend to just shrug it off because they have nothing to do with us there is nothing we can do about it. However, when it comes to health issues, people will be sharing information and tips how to prevent getting cancers, heart diseases and the list goes on never-endingly. We are so enthusiastic in protecting our body from harms by seeking medical or nutritional consultancy, but somehow we left out the whole chunk of ice berg that directly determines our health - the environment. Although there is no statistical evidence in our country that proves that climate change is bad for our health (at least not yet), I have highlighted some health issues which might be worsen by climate change.

Health issues impacted by climate change 

The flood in Kelantan last year. Flood makes you more susceptible to be infected by bacteria carried by the water.
(photo taken from The Malay Mail Online) 

1) Water-borne diseases

Prolonged rainy season due to climate change can cause flooding at low-lying ground. Malaysia experienced the worse flood in Kelantan last year which hit the level of 34.17 metres. Besides its direct threat towards human's safety, flooding causes the spread of water-borne diseases such as leptospirosis and typhoid as flood victims spend a lot of time being close to or in contact with the contaminated flood water (flood water can't be clean as it brings out water from the drains as well as the sewage system).