Malaysia is the third top carbon emitter per person in Asean. In the world, we are ranked 35 out of 200 countries.
We have doubled our carbon emission from 4.41 in 1994 to the present 8.16 tonnes per person. This is real big time increase. Note the global average is only 4.47 tonnes and ours is nearly double the average.
Malaysia is only a nation of 32 -33 million people and yet we outdo many countries with bigger populations.
Big part of the problem is because we have one of the cheapest fuel prices in the world, even cheaper than the biggest oil producer, Saudi Arabia.
Unfortunately, cheap petrol is what the present hopes will help it remain in power and be popular. Cheap petrol here will be impossible to do away because of politics but of course the subsidize can be reduced sufficiently to get people to take public transport or change to EVs.
The other major problem is Malaysians love their cars so so much and the bigger the engines and owning more cars the better. Big ego and status symbol associated with cars.
In my neighbourhood , I am one of very few with a single car, a 17-year-old Proton Persona. Most have a minimum two and some three or four. Few of my neighbours walk or cycle to the nearby shops about 1km away and use public transport (LRT station 1.5km away and now MRT station 2 km away).
There are two bus stops sitting idle for more than 5 years and no buses ever stop there. I have written an article about this and requested our Adun and councilor to act on it but they have done nothing.
There are generally apathy and lethargy from the masses about carbon emissions. They know what carbon emissions can do to the climate, especially now with heat waves and flooding but they believe the government or some scientific magic bullet will fix it soon.
My neighbourhood is fortunate not to be hit by floods so it is someone else’s problem so it seems. All have air conditioning. so extreme heat is not an issue.
As for the Adun, she runs the state environment portfolio but does not seem to advocate public transport to help the environment. There are reports about her on new tree planting and recycling and that’s about all. I have actually asked for one-to-one replacement of trees which had been cut around my neighbourhood, but it has fallen on deaf ears.
The above is likely a similar scenario in many neighbourhoods. Many see, know and are feeling the effects of climate change. Politicians treat environment as secondary issues.
We are no longer in climate change mode; we are in climate crisis mode although the worse has not befallen us yet but it will be soon. The Super El Nino expected in November this year could hopefully be a wake-up call for all.
But we should not wait for disaster to befall us before we take mitigating action.
We can act now. Walk or cycle to your nearby shops, restaurants and malls. Take public transport where practical and possible.
Those who can afford, change to EV. It can be just as good for the ego and status symbol to be one of the still few to drive an EV. EVs don’t come cheap, so ego and status get a big boost.
As for the local government, replace trees one for one and provide infrastructure for local public transport and buses.
Government, just reduce the petrol subsidize. We need money for better education, healthcare, and infrastructure, not so much cheap petrol.
Simple and easy things to help your neighbourhood bear the climate crisis better.
Koo Wee Hon (kooweehon@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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