Healthy Habits for a Healthy Environment

Environmentalism or environment protection moment as we know it originates back to mid 19^th century. In Great Britain in the year of 1863, a set of laws were passed to fight air pollution in the name of British Alkali acts. As we move on to the 20th century, the environmentalist movement became even more popular. This was around the time in which animal rights or wild life activism originated due to the impact caused by the extinction of passenger pigeons. President Woodrow Wilson of America and the Nazi Government of Germany was particularly active in this animal rights activism.

As far as environmentalism today goes, it is one of the most HIT topics of the day. There has been a startlingly great rise in the number of environmentalist activists fighting for this noble cause. People and NGOs, are making great efforts to conserve our ecology and even world governments are financing major environment protection projects to fight threats like global warming and ozone depletion.

While this is indeed, a pleasant improvement what I believe is true change can be brought by working at the root level. When we look at our country Maldives, being a collection of coral reef islands we might be one of the most environmentally challenged nation of the modern world. And while making the global world aware of our situation and persuading them to decrease major emissions from factories in order to decrease global warming and sea level rise would indeed help, there are some things we could do ourselves.

We could start simply by recycling our waste. Most of us on our way back from work or school, buy something to eat. Typically, the shopkeeper would give us whatever products it is in a plastic bag. We take our food out of the bag and throw the bag on the road. As we all know the blue or red plastic bags that we all use, is really light. If nothing inside it can fly really easily with the air. And sooner or later it ends up in our seas, in our beaches wrapping itself in the corals, the rocks, sea turtles even dolphins suffocating them and taking them to their death. And whats worse is plastic bags which contains of polyethene are non biodegradable and would take more than a thousand years to decompose. Are we ready to take the responsibility for the damage this would cause to our environment? Can’t we simply carry another bag made of a cloth which we can take whenever we go to a shop and even if it is a plastic bag, why cant we simply reuse the same plastic bag instead of throwing it. Atleast then, the number of waste plastic bags will decrease. I was present in the World Environment day rally of 2010 organized by MHTE last year June and I saw a clearly disturbing scene. People who were screaming for the rights of sea turtles and other creatures and our biodiversity were throwing empty plastic bags after eating pop corn into the street. Isn’t this hypocrisy?

A different but clearly related problem is waste disposal. We blame the government for not giving us a proper waste disposal system but what we must understand our leaders are also not miracle workers. Sure, they are flaws in the regulation of waste disposal in thilafushi but that system is also there. Then why cant we simply dispose our waste bag into the allocated place (Kuni gondu) so that it can properly be transported to thilafushi itself instead of dumping it across the corner in front of someone else’s house, polluting the air of the whole region? If you walk near the YDP stadium in Maafanu early in the morning you can literally count tens of garbage bags every other corner but people, the ‘Kuni Gondu’ is not even a five minute walk from there.

Another problem is cigarette butts. We might not notice in our everyday busy lives, but those who read this when you go out today into the street just stand in a public place in the road or near a park or near a traffic light and just look at the ground beneath your feet and just observe the number of cigarette butts. Research proves that cigarette butts take as long as nine to ten years to fully biodegrade and some researchers believe that these never really decompose. And the thing about cigarette butts in male’ is they normally find themselves into the gutter and in the long run back into our sea water making it toxin.

Guys, the truth of the matter is if there is a rally or a protest regarding the cutting of a certain old aged tree most of us ‘environmentalists’ would go there and scream our guts out but do we know how much we are damaging our environment by simple unhealthy habits like the few that I have listed above? A simple action like throwing away a cigarette butt or a plastic bag can cause a change reaction or a butterfly effect which might cause tones of suffering for our environment.

BE HUMANE. PROTECT, PROMOTE AND PRESERVE ANIMALS.

BE HUMANE. PROTECT, PROMOTE AND PRESERVE ANIMALS. - AAIZ, ECOCARE MALDIVES.MV

Since the arrival of mankind on our planet, we have colonized the four pinnacles of earth and declared ourselves masters above all other species. Armed by our status as Homo sapiens sapiens priding with the power to think and extraordinary brain power altogether, humanity has rule this planet for centuries with great power. But with great power comes responsibility. Therefore, we have a great responsibility towards other animals that inhabit earth for they too are the rightful inheritors of our planet.

Animal rights have justifiably become a really big social issue in today’s world. Environmentalists and naturalists all over the world have risen to advocate the rights of our fellow creatures. The most basic and vital right that all animals deserve is the right to life, in the context that no animals should be killed without reason. This doesn’t mean we all have to turn vegetarians or anything. Guys, I am not saying that you shouldn’t turn vegetarian for medical reasons but in an environmental perspective being vegetarian cause more damage than good. This is mainly, because for the continual survival of animals and humans alike, we need to maintain the delicate balance of life that we call the ecosystem.

Some of the reasons how being vegetarian destroys this delicate balance stands thus:-

1) For starters, when people stop eating animal products we solely depend on plants for our food. This causes of overusing plant produce and thereby, limiting the food of the very animals we are trying to protect.

2) Plants are important for life. And if we stop eating animal produce, then plants would be the sole source of nutrition. And therefore, chance of plants going extinct is there.

3) Animals contain necessary proteins which humans can’t get from any plant anywhere in the world. So it is vital for our well being to eat animals.

4) The environment would get polluted if the number of plants decreases drastically and efficient gaseous exchange is not taken place.

So the answer is definitely not, turning vegetarian then what is the answer? It is the use of the methods of sustainable development in protecting animals too. For example hunting animals for fun, culture, pride, games should be stopped immediately. Even the animals we need to kill to eat, we should use efficient breeding methods.

For example: – In order to get chicken meat, we should not kill the baby chicks and a pair or two of a hen and a rooster should always be there for the sole purpose of breeding therefore more of this animal will continue to be born in this world. If we take another example more relevant to our country, where fish is the primary source of food, overfishing should not be practiced and fishing of entire shoals of fish should not be allowed and fishing in certain regions can be stopped in order to insure the survival of the species. I would like to take an example of a sad event that took place a few years back. A bunch of fisherman from the island of, HDH. Dhidhoo in order to challenge the Maumoon administration threw loads of freshly caught fishes into the Atoll office in protest to the decrease in the price rates at which fish was sold to foreign ships etc. I feel that this was a major violation of the rights of these fish as all of them had died for no reason and it was a great loss in an economic perspective too.

In less trivial issues than their right to life, animals should also be treated with kindness. Some of you may ask, why? They are just animals. Why should we treat them kindly? The simplest answer that I could give you is we are human. And one of the basic characteristic of our race is humanity. Being humane. And as humane beings we should be kind to those creatures who are our fellows in sharing this earth. We can be kind to animals by showing basic gestures like feeding some milk or a piece of dry fish to a hungry street cat or simply by avoiding hurting any animal in any possible way.

Protecting animals are very important for our survival. We are all part of the same ecosystem, the same cycle of life in which each factor or element depends on the other. The truth is, we need these animals to survive ourselves. So we should protect them for our own sake if not for theirs. Nature has made us all its sons and daughters irrespective of our nation, color or even species. Therefore we should all be able to coexist peacefully enjoying the fruits of Mother Nature.

THE ARTICLE CAN ALSO BE FOUND IN
http://ecocare.mv/be-humane-protect-promote-and-preserve-animals/

Also Check out
www.ecocare.mv
For many other important environment related, information etc.

Prayer

This post goes out to the victims of the dreadful hiriyaa incident. May allah bless the four students who drowned to death, forgive their sins and grant them the fruits of heaven. May allah let Nazim be among the bravest of martyrs and grant him blessings and gardens of paradise as well as all our wellwishes. Oh, Allah give the families of those who died the strength to move on with their lives and heal and may they find solace in the loss they've sustained.
A very special prayer goes out for the kid who survived the incident and watched her best friends and principal die infront of her very eyes. May she find the strength to move on with life and may her faith strengthen.

My Word Against JFK

Hey people, if there are any people left D: sorry, i was out for some time. had no muse to write, really.

President Kennedy (May 29 1917 - November 22, 1963) a famous president amongst Americans of the past and today and also known to the whole world. I myself have heard President Kennedy's several times and folks I've got to tell you that almost 90% of those times it was in relation to his world famous quote, ' Ask not what your country can do for you, Ask what you can do for your country,'

I don't pretend to differ with Kennedy entirely, in this quote. Indeed it is true. It is important to ask in every step of our lives, what we can do for our country. because our country is very important, to be very honest i don't believe there is anything which is more important than your nation, your motherland. Therefore in each step of our waking lives, we should ask ourselves what we can do for our country? What all contributions we can make for our nation? What we as citizens can do to make our motherland a betterplace? What are our duties towards our sacred homeland?

But i believe it is almost equally important to ask ourselves and the state and the stake holders of the state and the society and the government and the parliament what the state does for us, Does the state fullfill our human rights? cause guys, lets get real here. If you are not content and if you don't get your wants satisfied you wont have the motivation to work as a humble and dynamic citizen for your country. When we scroll through the pages of history we also see something else. Most of the rebellious leaders who had gone out there and brought revolution to their countries were driven to do so because they were deprived of their rights. I m a huge fan of the nurture argument in the Nature VS Nurture debate, i don't have to be right but, its my belief that nobody is born as anything. We are what the society molds and shapes us to be. Therefore, nobody is born a freedom fighter or even a nationalist. We are made as such.

Besides, guys how does a nation prosper anyway? what is the real prosperity of a country. I believe that a nation prospers through the prosperity of its most important aspect, the population. As we progress, so does our country. Its a direct relationship. So we need to be given the basic rights by the state in order for us to progress hereby bringing our nation up the charts with us.

Rights and duties are like the two faces of the same coin, folks. And here is the thing about a coin. Many people have different views about it. A lot of people believe that head is opposite to the tail. But i think without the Head there wont be the tail. The head is part of the tail and the tail is part of the head. They are different, yes, they are very different. But they are also inseperable. The same applies to rights and duties. To explain the oneness of rights and duties I'd like to take a very simple example. We have the right to live but its our duty to serve our nation in our life. WE have the right to work, but its our duty to work for the betterment of our nation. It is our right to vote. But its our duty to vote to establish a better governance for our nation. As you'd have seen from the example we are empowered with rights so we can do our duties.

THEREFORE, in constrast to the statement made by JFK, i personally believe that asking what our country does for us is also very important because it is directly related in determination of what we can do for our country.

- AAR -

Change (Part 1)

One of the most amazing facts modern day science has brought to us is that no two people have the same finger print, not even identical twins. More than six billion people live in the world right now. Billions more have lived and died. And if god wills, billions more are yet to be born. And the fact that none of these people have different hand structures and marks enough to give various finger prints is definitely a wonder and a cause for amazement for someone who thinks. But looking even deeper into that then the face or obvious amazement this variation shows us, we realize that in our deepest nature god has made us different from each other. No two people are the same. Everyone is unique and precious.
Another amazing fact we see in our day to day life, is time. When a tiny baby is born into our midst we celebrate its tiny life and the happiness it brings to us. It is one of the most beautiful things we see in life. And a lot of us wish the baby to remain so, young and innocent. But this is not to happen. As time goes on it starts to walk, talk nonsense and with more time it also starts making mistakes. The baby that nobody yells at or gets angry at, at its young age starts getting scolded, starts getting reprimanded, starts knowing that he too has limitations. And as this child grows further he leaves the fruits of his innocent childhood and enters arguably the most stressful, hormonal inbalanced phased in anyone's life. The woes of being an adolescent. The child starts questioning the ways and norms of the society and sometimes the parents of these children wish that their child had remained small, as the apple of their eyes but its not to be. The circle of time doesn't stop here. The child matures and thankfully, leaves his adolscent ages to become adult, he becomes responsible, he entirely leaves his childish nature and enters life as men and start battling the tides of life. And here, even these people wish that they had been able to remain as teenagers or children, innocent and carefree. But then again, it is not to be. Days become weeks, weeks become months, months become years and finally the person grows old and falls into his sick bed and once again wishes that he was young and had all his organs functioning properly but time, time doesn't stop for anything but death.
From the cycle of time i had just aforementioned, comes another fact. Not only are no two people same but even one person doesn't remain the same. There is only one explanation for both these facts. one reality.. change. Life is all about changes and change is inevitable, unstoppable and whole.

Walking in isn't easy. Walking out is tough. Walking back in, its near impossible

- Aaiz

The ultimate cure for depression.

Disclaimer:- Some of the data, that is included in this blogpost is not truly my own. Some are from Kubler Ross's book 'death and dying' and others from famous TV show 'How I met your mother' But there are some personal references that belong to me.

In 1969 world famous psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross introduced a five-stage model of depression, in her book 'death and dying.' In this book Kubler describes that depression comes with five stages. 1.Denial 2.Anger 3.Bargaining 4. Depression 5.Acceptance.

At first i mocked Kubler. I denied the model. I didn't believe that all those phases had to come along with it. I might have been right to an extent seeing that this model is only intended for death related depression. But like i discovered lately in my own little phase of depression only in the last few months, that all these phases does come in some way or the other. And yes, denial always comes at first. For me then came, bargaining. Then Anger and depression together followed by acceptance. But i believe that Kubler is wrong to believe that it will all flow naturally. I believe that there is a way to end this phase in two stages. Initially, depression and then acceptance.

'When I'm sad i stop being sad and be awesome instead' - Barney Stinson a comedy character in popular american Tv series how i met your mother.

This quote by Barney is a highly popular and amusing quote among many of us. But how many of us have stopped to consider the good advice it offers. Sure, most of the stuff barney says are just for amusement sake and highly made up. But this particular quote caught me if i might say, 'off guard.' Barney Stinson's solution to depression is simple. Stop being sad or depressed and be awesome. I know what majority of the people who read this would think. Yea if only it was that easy Barney. But to be frank, it is that easy when you think on that.
'Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance'. All of those phases, as hard as it is to believe is voluntary. There is a part of us. a part that few of us are able to bring forward who can fight back and just stop all of that.
Recently, when i was depressed about something, maybe the most depressed that I've ever been a lot of people close to me gave me different advices. My best friend told me different tactics to deal with it. But only one thing really helped. A sort of new friend, someone I've just met told me i was being Soppy and sounding really desperate. (thank you suha. i hope you never read this, cause i dont wanna admit it to you that i accepted that.) That gave me time to look at myself in the mirror and evaluate how I have been, do a real indept study of who i've been in the past few weeks or one month and realize that i m being someone who i m not. So, when you are depressed look at yourself, evaluate what you are doing and realize on your own (or with a help of a really absurd and big mouthed friend) that you are being a different person. Someone who is beneath you. Someone who you are not. And from there draw the courage to be you. be happy for what you've got in life. Cause when you evaluate your life, you'd always find that you've got somethings special. somethings worth being happy for. AND, watching How i met your mother helps too ;)

Apart from that, you have to realize that regrets are one thing that will keep you down. So do not regret anything that happened. There will be a phase somewhere along depression and anger in which you'd blame someone else or/and yourself for the bad things in life. But you've got to stop blaming anyone. Believe that its nobody's fault and that whatever happened, happened for the best. And you are happy with what you've got and damn straight, as barney said BE AWESOME. Of course, barney has a very 'special' way of being awesome. You don't have to be that. But do whatever you are passionate about. Live your life. Remember that whatever caused your depression is just a chapter of your life. Not the entire book and Live with a smile. A grin or a laugh would be better, but a smile would do :).
If you are depressed right now, you'd probably think all those are very easy to say. But to be quite frank it is very easy to do too. There is an invisible switch within your soul and being that you can click and start living life for the fullest. of course the bad stuff that have happened would always be a part of you, but keep it vague. as a memory. not as the whole of you. And a very important thing, lay off music for a while. IF YOU DO listen to music, listen to the funny stuff (eg. Tenacious D- Tribute) or the inspirational stuff (Wavin' Flag (haiti version) or the dirty stuff. (Nine Inch Nails - Closer) ;). So in conclusion, the answer, the ultimate cure to depression as weird as it sounds is Awesomeness :D.

God's greatest gift to mankind

Humans are an organism like another in the animal kingdom. And yet, humans are different from all other animals. The taxonomical term for humans are 'homo sapien sapien.' The repetition in 'sapien' stands for our brain power that exceeds all of our fellow animals. The human mind is truly more fascinating than that of all other animals in this world. It is full of possibilities and ideas and distinguishes.

Something else which sets us apart is our conscience. Our power to choose between right and wrong. To be able to decide whether an act is done rightfully or with other intentions. But this conscious intertwined appropriately with our amazing mind with the remarkable abilitiy of possibilities gives birth to an incredible ability which has come to be known as perception.

What is perception? Perception is what we perceive. The definition of perceive in the english dictionary is to become aware of through the senses. I beg your pardon if i am wrong but i believe that this is rather a very brief description to a really amazing power.

Said Aldous Huxely 'To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior 'righteous indignation' - this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.' What Mr. Huxely has stated here is just a little scratch of what the gift of perception means. It talks about bad behavior. But beyond that negativity perception can be a real beautiful thing. For example two people of the same age, the same sex, the same nationality, speaking in the same language, of the same race, believing in the same religion sitting in a bench might witness an event take place and have two different interpretations on it. And yet, why should that be so? After all these people are from the same place, they believe in the same faith, they are from the same age group but yet it is beautiful that our individuality and uniqueness is to such an extent that even these two people who have seen the same event take place would have different accounts on the incident.

It does not have to be entirely different. If two people got into a fight and one got injured, in one person's report the reason for the fight might be perceived in a different way than the other even though they might still believe the same person is to be blamed for it. Such strong is the gift of perception and that level of individuality makes us different from others. And this level of uniqueness in the six billion people scattered around the world and the billions of people who have lived and died, and the billions yet to come is an astounding fact and a great statistical miracle and truly the greatest gift god or nature have given us in our days in the world.

What is your view on Vegetarians?

Since i started Protect Us and began this campaign for animal rights, i have been asked by everyone I've presented that idea to and even people who i haven't presented the idea to but have heard of it, a series of questions which ultimately leads to one single question.

What is your view on Vegetarians?
So as a rep. of this organization, i believe it is my duty to publicly address my views on this.
I know, that the Protect Us motto is to protect, preserve and promote plants and animals in the maldives. So it might be a view point of some that to protect Animals we have to stop eating animal made food. I would like to declare that Protect Us stands against this.

It is not without reason..

To truly protect plants and animals or in the bigger picture all forms of life in this planet we should maintain the delicate balance of life that we call the ecosystem. Without this balance there would be no plants. There would be no animals. And quite frankly, there would be no humans. We would cease to exist.

Vegetarians might think they are advocating animal rights by staying off eating animal food but that is just wrong. And there are reasons behind this statement.

1) For starters, when people stop eating animal produce we solely depend on plants for our food. This causes of overusing plant produce and thereby, limiting the food of the very animals we are trying to protect.

2) Plants are important for life. And if we stop eating animal produce, then plants would be the sole source of nutrition. And therefore, chance of plants going extinct is there.

3) Animals contain necessary proteins which humans can't get from any plant anywhere in the world. So it is vital for our well being to eat animals.

4) The environment would get polluted if the number of plants decrease drastically and efficient gaseous exchange is not taken place.

These are some of the reasons why this form of diet is not benificial at all for the plants and animals or even us, humans. In general for the delicate balance that we want to protect, above all.

What is our stance on this matter?
This is a very important issue. The number of vegetarians in the world are increasing. And mostly, this is because most humans are disgusted to eat animal produce. They do not want to eat fellow life. This is a very noble stance, i must stay. But the truth is most do not realize how much damage they are doing to the animals that they love. To the plants that are vital for the survival of these animals. To the survival of us humans. To the survival of this planet itself. Protect Us is a plants and animal rights organization but before that, we are eco friendly people.We are environmentalists. And therefore, our stance on this is we openly oppose vegetarians just for the sake of not eating animals. Some are forced to become vegetarian, because of their health conditions. We are not talking about that. But vegetarians for the cause of animal rights is something protect us, as long as the rules and regulations and stance passed by our founding Exsco stands as it does now, will always stand against.

Then what is the solution?

The solution is quite simple as it is complex. Extremism on both ends are unhealthy for the ecosystem.  animal rights should therefore be advocated in a moderate way. We should advocate against overfishing, overhunting, overforestation, overhunting and all these extremes. True, turtle and other endangered species should be completely protected. They should not be hunted to any extent. But other animals and plants we should use only to the amount we need. and we should always advocate and follow through with breeding and reforestation. That is the way we can save plants and animals. And that is the way we can save our earth.

Protect Us Member.

Aaiz.

The Preoccupied walker.

Yesterday, seeing that is 4 am I was walking on the road when i met this person. He was walking on the road, his arms behind his back in what many  might describe as 'the preoccupied walker' position. Moving on, the preoccupied walker had only a little deject from the average preoccupied walkers, his head was held up as he watched the sky instead of down on the ground.

Anyway, so this guy walked like that but every time he came next to a political poster he stood still and scowl at the poster and then carry out looking skywards acting like nothing has happened. It was early in the morning and i was half asleep, but i could remember that the guy was pretty old and i noted that he stood and scowled at each poster, whatever color or logo the poster was. I felt so curious about what was going on through his mind. I mean, he didn't look senile but looking at the sky so much can make one question it. Somehow, this preoccupied walker has remained in the back of my head for some while. Thinking a lot into this, i think there is two possibilities about it.
First, he just doesn't like politics. In general. He hates all of it and he would rather just smoke a ciggerate and sit back and watch a football match or something than the whole political fiasco. But i thought this was less likely than otherwise. And there is reason to this. First of all, he is an old man. And men of that age, generally has a liking to the current events of the country. Secondly, he was definitely a thoughtful man. And the type that i mentioned above, are the i-dont-give-a-damn-about-the-world-as-long-as-i-get-through-the-world type.
As for the alternative, i think he is one of the people in this nation who is fed up of the party divisions. Yellow, Blue, Purple. He is one of the people who wants to see the old maldives. United. Red, Green, White.
Either way, i wish i had stopped to talked to him but being stranger phobic and running very late, i didn't.

Welcome To Rylog

Hello !
This is Rylog. My first public blog in ages. I have been blogging since a long time ago. To be frank, i dont remember a time i haven't had a blog. But in the last three to four years, my blogs have remained private. Only accessible to a selected few among my best of friends. That is still there and it will always be there.
But recently, a lot of issues have surfaced among our society, in the world in general and in maldives, specifically. And i wish to give my views on these issues. To bring to words what my thoughts are about these problems and I have been doing that, to an extent in my Facebook statuses and stuff, but I haven't been able to talk in dept about it because Facebook statues have a word limit and it really got old.
Anyway, i guess i m gonna write a bit in this little rylog of mine. But I've got to warn you. Any one of you, who does read this. What i write about, is things which i believe are good. My beliefs might not be the same as yours and i m quite a bit of a hypocrite myself, so what i write might not be stuff i believe. My mind changes a lot, and i mean a lot. Cause i think a lot. That means what i write today might not be what i believe tommorow. But they are good things. Things which i think would benifit our system and the world in general, maldives specifically so please read them and let me know what you think :]