The world’s oceans (you may well have heard this before) are fast becoming deluged with endless tons of plastic rubbish. Very little of those massive amounts of plastic waste is biodegradable, meaning most of it will take hundreds, if not thousands, of years to degrade naturally. In the meantime, it…

Next time you sip your coffee, think about this: the grounds that are used to make your morning cuppa can do plenty more than just give you a much-needed boost of caffeine. They can be used for paving roads, for example. Seriously. Australian engineers have devised a unique way for…

Among the most famous examples of the harm that plastic waste can inflict on aquatic animals is the case of Peanut the turtle. At a young age the wild sea turtle got caught in a ring of a discarded rubbery six-pack holder, and over time, as her body grew, she became permanently…

The mobile phone industry is among the most dynamic in the world with brand-new products featuring technological improvements, large and small, hitting the market with predictable frequency throughout each year. Having a mobile phone these days is a must for most Malaysians. The country boasts a mobile penetration of 140%…

Step aside, Petronas Twin Towers. Here comes Malaysia’s soon-to-be tallest skyscraper. And it will be wholly green, to boot, if its developers keep their word. Merdeka PNB118 (so named because it will be in Merdeka, owned by Permodalan Nasional Berhad, and feature 118 floors) is set to be completed by 2020 and…

Take a glimpse at a picture of Earth from outer space, and you will see what looks like a multicolored marble with lots and lots of blue on it. That’s no surprise: the planet’s surface (all 70% of it) is covered in water. Now, what if we could use some…

As environmental disasters go, oil spills are right up there with the worst forms of pollution, and Malaysia has had its fair share of them. Last year alone there was a total of 15 spills befouling sea waters, mostly along the beaches of Terengganu and Pahang. They were relatively small…

Examples of eco-friendliness can at times come from unlikely sources. Like police stations, for instance. The Island Force Operation Base on Mabul Island in Sabah has begun using hybrid green technology to power its premises. As Malaysia’s first police station to have done so, the island’s unit will rely largely…

Back in the good old days – say, a decade or so ago – youngsters learned about nature by living in it. These days many children, especially those living in urban communities, tend to have little direct access to the endless wonders of Malaysia’s natural environments outside of zoos and…

What with space at ground level becoming scarce in overpopulated urban environments, the way for cities to go is up. And up they will continue to go in decades to come, but this time in true green style if plans for eco-friendly “vertical” neighborhoods are anything to go by. One…

Sea turtles often fall prey to a commonly used device that is not meant for them: fishing nets. Scores of the placid reptiles perish after getting entangled in nets by drowning or starving or suffering incapacitating injuries. But here come British scientists to the rescue. Conservation biologists at the University…

Plastic water bottles are a curse. We use them once or twice, then chuck them out, only for the vast majority of them to wind up in landfills or floating around in the oceans. There, they can take hundreds, if not thousands, of years to degrade. Around Malaysia, plastic water…

The need for more wildlife crossings across Malaysia received renewed attention after a female tiger pregnant with two unborn cubs perished on February 5 in a road accident while crossing the East Coast Expressway at night, near the 321km highway mark, in Terengganu. In a welcome development, the government is…

Keeping an eye on illegal loggers can be easier said than done. They are often able to take advantage of the sprawling expanses of Malaysia’s protected forests, foiling efforts by forestry officials to catch them in time. But that’s where technology can help. The country’s government is working on a…

Here is a bit of a conundrum: Biodiesel is a far cleaner alternative than traditional fossil fuels, and Malaysia is working on boosting its biodiesel output. So that’s good news, right? Not so fast. The problem is that much of that biodiesel will come from palm oil obtained from plantations…

by She Mei Tan Is it possible to build a house using entirely natural and recycled material? Can a rainwater harvesting system supply sufficient water for an entire household? Can a solar panel truly, significantly reduce our dependency on fossil fuel for electricity? Can we survive the heat in Malaysia…