Article: Little deeds that add up

Tuesday June 2, 2009

By TAN CHENG LI

This Friday is World Environment Day, a time to recognise individuals who try to leave a lighter imprint on the planet.

LENGTHEN the lifespan of things – that is the maxim which Lu Chen Pin lives by, a personal rule that sees him finding new worth for discarded stuff. Take, for instance, the empty metal cans of the black herbal jelly guilingao. Lu wraps them with nice-looking paper, cuts a slit in the plastic cover, and he has a coin box for you.

Those plastic envelopes that magazines and advertising booklets are mailed in nowadays? Lu files documents in them, so he need not buy paper folders. In his office in Petaling Jaya, boxes that once stored mooncakes, furniture fixtures and what-not all have found new uses as storage containers.

"The lifespan of things are short if you throw them away. If you reuse them, you can create a longer life for them. That's my aim," says Lu, 37, who runs his own software development business Origine IT.

New uses: Going by the adage 'reduce, reuse and recycle', Lu Chen Pin makes it a point to extend the lifespan of things.

A self-confessed hoarder, Lu says his home is filled with things – some picked up from five-foot ways – which he intends to breathe new life to. "There are many products which we cannot change or prevent, so it is best to find new applications for them. I learnt this from my father. TV sets in the old days come with doors. So when ours stopped working, he removed the (cathode ray) tube and used it as a cupboard."

There is much to be gained from the older generations, he adds. "They're the real environmentalists and we should learn from them. They know how to maximise the use of things."

Coming from a humble background, Lu was taught to be thrifty from young. Gestures such as turning off the tap when brushing his teeth, no lavish shopping and not using the car air-conditioner in the mornings are daily habits. It was after he joined the environmental group Eco Warriors late last year that he became more of an eco-vigilante.

Now every second Sunday of the month is a "no driving day" for him, a pledge made after Earth Hour on March 28. When he goes jogging at the park, he picks up rubbish along the trail. He laments that at Gasing Hill, the trash consists mostly of trail markers left by Hash House Harriers. If you're one of those litterbugs who dump trash out your car window, just hope that Lu is not driving behind you. "I take photos of such people (and their car plate number) with my handphone and post the photos on Facebook," says Lu.

He also goes by the adage "first reduce, then reuse and recycle." To uphold that stand, he has given up drinking iced coffee at Starbucks – simply because it is served in disposable plastic cups and cover.

On a trip to Cambodia, he distributed pens and unused diaries to village children. "They don't care if it's an old diary. They just need something to write on," he says.

Together with members of Eco Warriors, he has planted trees to reforest the Raja Musa peat swamp forest in Selangor. "We hope to plant enough trees so that nature can reclaim the bare site. The trees will also form the boundary of the reserve."

Lu believes tree planting events are great ways to draw people into conservation efforts. "It gives them the feeling of doing something good. When people touch the ground and experience planting trees, that will change their behaviour and trigger the passion to do something for the environment."

Lu knows that only too well – that was exactly how his green crusade started. Now, he is encouraging more people to go green in a unique way. "I will tell five friends to do an environmental act and ask them to each get five friends to do the same act, such as plant trees or stop using plastic bags. This goes on and on and we will get more people involved."

He has convinced some friends to adopt a more environment-friendly lifestyle but remains cautiously optimistic. "I don't know how far I can go but what I've learnt is that a small step can make a big difference, at least to some people and some places."

Now that's another maxim to keep in mind.

This article was taken from:The Star Online: Go Green Live Green 2 June 2009