Alright, Earth Hour was gone and I am proud to say that I took part in it by turning the toilet lights off for an hour when I usually leave it on!
Fine, maybe that was not exactly a very eco-friendly statement.

I admit, I totally forgot about Earth Hour!
However, I don't feel guilty at all since I thought Earth Hour's on Sunday. This means it's totally not my fault! Besides I think it's totally pointless to switch off your lights and start playing candles at the neighbourhood park. Mind you, unless you haven't completed your schooling, burning
ANYTHING gives you CARBON DIOXIDE and water. And unless you haven't started preschool, candle wax falls under ANYTHING.

My point is, it produces CARBON DIOXIDE, a greenhouse gas. Although I admit that the environmental impact of generating an hour's worth of electricity is much greater than having the whole world burn candles for an hour, I think it's just pretty dumb that they're publicising Earth Hour by showing posters and videos of people burning candles in formations that spell out "60".

The main point of this blog entry?
I was checking out some stationery at Popular this afternoon when I saw this foolscap booklet with this really nice, high-class, posh, black cover. It totally attracted my attention. There were words indicating "100% pre and post-use paper imported from France" and "100% source of paper from Italy" or something like that. Immediately, I went "woahhh" and I was so tempted to buy it. I turned the booklet around and saw the pricetag. "$3.20". $@#!!%#@$^&#!!! Recycled paper!! Imported from France!!

Right next to that nice posh black-covered book of foolscap paper, I saw another stack of foolscap paper. This one was wrapped in plastic (environmentally-unfriendly), had a rather plain but cute cover made of recycled paper most likely (it was brown), and like 1.5 times the number of sheets of paper. The colour of the paper was clearly much whiter than the recycled book of foolscap. At the cover side, a price-tag clearly indicates $2.90.

If you were in the same scenario, which would you choose? The recycled one or the new one?

My first instinct was to buy the recycled foolscap booklet. Come on, it's the 21st century. If you receive typical DC education like me, I think you'll probably get the recycled one too. In my case, I think I was buying more for the environmental thing thing than the value of the paper... Besides, the "imported from France" part really was enticing.

Thankfully, my mother was there to save my from my act of foolishness. She simply went, "Aiyah, $3.20 for a thicker booklet, plus it's much whiter than the other one, you buy that one, you siao ah?" Typical Singaporean adult, you may think. However, it did knock some sense into me. When I got back, I sort of thought about that and I realised, quite true. How much pollution has it actually caused to ship the bloody recycled paper from France!! I think, many businessmen are just trying to get consumers to get their products because we care for the Earth. What about them? Have they ever considered about the environmental impact?

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from buying recycled paper or other goods like that. All I'm saying is that shop wisely. Don't let your guilty conscience trick you into buying some stupid recycled paper shipped all the way from France. It won't do you good using paper made from used French products (I'm not saying I dislike the French. Seriously, you dont know how much I love France.)

I still buy recycled foolscap all the time. Nowadays you can really get good quality recycled paper from local brands eg Popular. The point is, I feel good using such recycled paper and it doesn't burn a hole in my pocket either.

Mind you, I have a hunch I'll grow up to be an animal activist or something like that. I grow up and work for CITES or WFP. By the way, I used to think that sharks' fin is a neccesity during Chinese festive occasions, esp CNY, but now, I'm a strict no-sharks person. Even had a quarrel with my mum because she was craving her sharks' meat from this quite popular tze-char stall and I just refused to let her buy it. Well, when demand goes down, supply goes down too, hopefully, so I'm proud to say that I did my part. When I grow up, I think I'll become a vegetarian or even vegan, since livestocks are a main contributor of greenhouse gases.

My dream of becoming a doctor seems to be making this a reality, too. If I work for the UN, I can then go to Africa and save those starving people there :)

Okay, let's not go so deep into the future. Tomorrow, I'll be having a picnic in class! I'm bringing Ritz Cheese Crackers and Koko Krunch cereals! And of course, Peanut butter sandwiches for me! :)

Alright, Earth Hour was gone and I am proud to say that I took part in it by turning the toilet lights off for an hour when I usually leave it on!
Fine, maybe that was not exactly a very eco-friendly statement.

I admit, I totally forgot about Earth Hour!
However, I don't feel guilty at all since I thought Earth Hour's on Sunday. This means it's totally not my fault! Besides I think it's totally pointless to switch off your lights and start playing candles at the neighbourhood park. Mind you, unless you haven't completed your schooling, burning
ANYTHING gives you CARBON DIOXIDE and water. And unless you haven't started preschool, candle wax falls under ANYTHING.

My point is, it produces CARBON DIOXIDE, a greenhouse gas. Although I admit that the environmental impact of generating an hour's worth of electricity is much greater than having the whole world burn candles for an hour, I think it's just pretty dumb that they're publicising Earth Hour by showing posters and videos of people burning candles in formations that spell out "60".

The main point of this blog entry?
I was checking out some stationery at Popular this afternoon when I saw this foolscap booklet with this really nice, high-class, posh, black cover. It totally attracted my attention. There were words indicating "100% pre and post-use paper imported from France" and "100% source of paper from Italy" or something like that. Immediately, I went "woahhh" and I was so tempted to buy it. I turned the booklet around and saw the pricetag. "$3.20". $@#!!%#@$^&#!!! Recycled paper!! Imported from France!!

Right next to that nice posh black-covered book of foolscap paper, I saw another stack of foolscap paper. This one was wrapped in plastic (environmentally-unfriendly), had a rather plain but cute cover made of recycled paper most likely (it was brown), and like 1.5 times the number of sheets of paper. The colour of the paper was clearly much whiter than the recycled book of foolscap. At the cover side, a price-tag clearly indicates $2.90.

If you were in the same scenario, which would you choose? The recycled one or the new one?

My first instinct was to buy the recycled foolscap booklet. Come on, it's the 21st century. If you receive typical DC education like me, I think you'll probably get the recycled one too. In my case, I think I was buying more for the environmental thing thing than the value of the paper... Besides, the "imported from France" part really was enticing.

Thankfully, my mother was there to save my from my act of foolishness. She simply went, "Aiyah, $3.20 for a thicker booklet, plus it's much whiter than the other one, you buy that one, you siao ah?" Typical Singaporean adult, you may think. However, it did knock some sense into me. When I got back, I sort of thought about that and I realised, quite true. How much pollution has it actually caused to ship the bloody recycled paper from France!! I think, many businessmen are just trying to get consumers to get their products because we care for the Earth. What about them? Have they ever considered about the environmental impact?

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from buying recycled paper or other goods like that. All I'm saying is that shop wisely. Don't let your guilty conscience trick you into buying some stupid recycled paper shipped all the way from France. It won't do you good using paper made from used French products (I'm not saying I dislike the French. Seriously, you dont know how much I love France.)

I still buy recycled foolscap all the time. Nowadays you can really get good quality recycled paper from local brands eg Popular. The point is, I feel good using such recycled paper and it doesn't burn a hole in my pocket either.

Mind you, I have a hunch I'll grow up to be an animal activist or something like that. I grow up and work for CITES or WFP. By the way, I used to think that sharks' fin is a neccesity during Chinese festive occasions, esp CNY, but now, I'm a strict no-sharks person. Even had a quarrel with my mum because she was craving her sharks' meat from this quite popular tze-char stall and I just refused to let her buy it. Well, when demand goes down, supply goes down too, hopefully, so I'm proud to say that I did my part. When I grow up, I think I'll become a vegetarian or even vegan, since livestocks are a main contributor of greenhouse gases.

My dream of becoming a doctor seems to be making this a reality, too. If I work for the UN, I can then go to Africa and save those starving people there :)

Okay, let's not go so deep into the future. Tomorrow, I'll be having a picnic in class! I'm bringing Ritz Cheese Crackers and Koko Krunch cereals! And of course, Peanut butter sandwiches for me! :)