Tzu Chi Love Charity Fair 2011

heya~

It's 2011 and Tzu Chi is organising a charity fair for 15.1.2011 and 16.1.2011!
The venue is located just right next to Pasir Ris MRT and I'm sure you'd be able to see it when you turn right from the MRT ticket check-out counter.
What I want to say is, I'm seriously impressed with this!

All the stalls (bout 50 stalls!) were sponsored, tables and chairs, whatever you find there, all were fully sponsored! You can find a variety of food (all vegetarian!) from sushi, chicken rice, rojak, lontong, to pastries and ice creams). I would say, many of those were really yummy~

They promoted  vegetarian food as less meat consumption could significantly harm the earth less. So, eating vegetarian is not only healthy, prevent animal cruelty but also being able to contribute positively to the environment! They have pledges around too, and I'm pledging 5-meals of vegetarian a week. In fact, I've been trying to pledge on this lately (bout one month plus ago, hehe) but I'm just trying my very best at the moment)

What amazed me more is with super high technology, those recyclable PET plastic bottles (those drinking water bottles that we buy now and then) were all fully utilised by the Tzu Chi volunteers in Taiwan to save the environment, by turning them into clothes! Can't believe it? Check this out!

Green colour comes from green 7-ups PET bottles

 

coffee colour from coffee

All from:

left (bottle) to right (thread!)

All these products were made from Taiwan's dumps by Tzu Chi volunteers (@ Taiwan based) through the following love and hard work: From those PET bottles that we recklessly dumped into recycle bins without proper cleaning:

1. caps removed 
2. ring removed (ring of the water bottles, which consists of different material/ colour) 
3. labels removed
4. washed properly (many people who have the 'heart' to recycle never wash their bottles prior to dumping those into recycle bins!)
5. sent for recycling

So, the message here is: Please clean your PET bottles before recycling! It saves much of their hardwork in doing these!
 Thank you!!

They also introduced the production of eco-enzymes.
In fact, my mom has been practicing this at home for more than half year and the product can be so multipurpose- from dish washing, floor cleaning, clothes washing, to skin treatment!!
My mom’s friends are also promoting this awareness among housewives to prepare these and dump it into rivers with high pollution.
Can suddenly feel that the love for the earth has increased tremendously eh?? :D

Well, if you’re wondering how to produce eco-enzymes:
This is it:
(very simple)

1. Stock up brown sugar
2. Throw any leftover food in the bottles (any fruits skin, vegetables leaves, etc, usually vegetables and fruits but not meat)
3.  Remember to have sufficient brown sugar to be utilised by the fermenting bacteria to produce eco enzymes
4. After 2 months, yay, you can use these!! They're odourless, non-sticky and trust me, really useful in anything =) 

It's so much better than using detergent which is harmful to our skin, and polluting to the environment too!

So long~

Animal cruelty

The thought of animal cruelty suddenly flashes. I cannot imagine how the future would be if there are more and more demands like this in the future.

I was at a pet shop. Well, it's always my favorite place when I drop by PJ. They have loaded the cages with more pedigree dogs, which include Cocker Spaniel, Golden Retriever, Silky Terrier, Boxer and few others. The main attraction was a 2-month-old Boxer that made his business in his cage. Then, he turned to his pile of 'gold' and licked it up again. Ewww.... we were all flabbergasted!

Anyway, there was this family that came to look for a dog. I do not know if the lady was planning to become a breeder or she wanted to show off how mighty her 'money-power' was. She asked the sales representative whether if there are any other colours available for the cute Silky Terrier puppy that we (my family and I) were all admiring. There were three pups there- one black and another two was tan-coloured. This lady then asked whether is there any silver terriers available and when would it come. She said she would not be interested in other colours.

I was dumbstruck. What??!! Are you playing god here? How do they know if there would be any silver, or black or tan-coloured pups coming? Oh, hang on, M'dm. Are you really in the heart of rearing a dog/life, giving it as a gift to your child or are you in the mood of actually planning to venture into pups business? Or, are you in the mood of showing off to some naive-minded people on how special your puppy's coat colour and how exotic it is and how hard to get one? If you're so kind hearted or kind enough to save a life, please, for heaven's sake- don't be so choosy!

If there is a demand for some coat colours, I believe that there would definitely be suppliers too.
Suddenly, this thought of future biotechnology applications with pets' genes came into my mind. They would probably clone some dogs, get some genes, alter it according to a choosy (i******) customer and then have it ready in few months'- just like when you're ordering some customized laptops or pizzas. Haih... ever wonder what would happen to those pups that turned out deformed from gene-altering sections? Would they be put to death immediately? Or left by the roadside and let some other predators have a feast on them?

It's a really sad scene. Why the mentality of these people is so narrow-minded? Is there any differences between rearing a tan-coloured dog and a grey-coated dog? Would it make the tan-coloured dog less acceptable, embarrassing or less obedient?

Even now, with good rules of animal cruelty is around (and, unfortunately, a lack of enforcement), the cruelty of animals is still an ongoing process. What would lie in the future then?

Sob sob....