Malaysia

Sharing the Global Warming Message at the National Zoo

By Kuala Lumpur News Group (Originally in English)

 

[Kuala Lumpur] On April 18, Golden Year 6 (2009), the initiates in Kuala Lumpur participated in one of the Monthly Seminar Series organized by Malaysia’s National Zoo (or Zoo Negara) to reach out to visitors of all ages. The day’s program started with a tree-planting session attended by government officials and guests from private corporations. Early arrivals were greeted with vegan burgers and “environmental-awareness” packages, which were met with enthusiastic and positive responses. At coffee break and lunchtime, the participants were delightfully surprised by the appetizing vegan food served by the initiates. Thanks to the warm assistance from Mr. Junaidi, an Education Department official and the seminar organizer, all the visitors to the zoo that day were able to receive SOS flyers and DVDs as well as watch the SOS Save the Planet video throughout the event.

From their interactions with guests, it was apparent to the initiates that the global warming crisis and its direct correlation with livestock farming as the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions were gaining more attention from people. A participant who had been vegetarian for a month after understanding the problem, predicted that it would only be a matter of time before more people embraced this simple truth and changed their eating habits. A life-long vegetarian whose business trips often took him to Europe, America and other parts of Asia, thought it is very easy to go veg these days. “There’s no excuse not to at least consider the veg diet, especially in the face of the prevalent environmental crisis,” he added.

On seeing the enthusiasm demonstrated by our initiates in promoting environmental issues, Mr. Junaidi was motivated to hold a special event in June to further raise the awareness of global warming. Thank you, Zoo Negara, and especially Mr. Junaidi, for helping to push for a clearer understanding of our responsibility towards nature, Mother Earth and their preservation.

 

“Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet” Exhibition in School

By Johore Bahru News Group (Originally in Chinese)

 

[Johore Bahru] To help students better understand global warming and ways to address the crisis, our Johore Bahru Center held a “Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet” exhibition at the local Foon Yew High School on March 23, Golden Year 6 (2009). In addition to showing videos, fellow initiates distributed DVDs and flyers on climate change as well as information on how to make eco-friendly enzymes to the students and teachers. They also demonstrated the preparation of vegan sandwiches and offered free tasting of delicious vegan snacks to the participants. Many students eagerly asked for vegetarian recipes, while teachers who were interested in the multi-purpose enzymes, that can replace many chemical products, discussed how to make them from fruit peels.

It is our sincere hope that this activity will encourage more students and teachers to join the vegetarian family and fight global warming with practical actions.