Why I Want To Protect The Environment

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“I don’t want to protect the environment, I want to create a world where the environment doesn’t need protecting”. I’m sure we’d all agree with this quote (tweeted by Greenpeace Africa on 20th August 2013) because, let 's be real, no one enjoys sitting in an assembly listening to someone going on and on about why we need to save the environment, why it’s important and all that. I certainly don’t! Our generation is well aware of environmental issues we are facing but - despite the reiteration by environmentalists - do we all take action? Today many of us walked to school with an unwanted and uncomfortable mask strapped to our face in order to prevent the unhealthy effects of the air that right now (15th September 2015), has an API of 188. Imagine the condition of people in Indonesia with an API of over 2000! Everyday we are trapped inside our house because of the haze. We can 't do sports; we can 't go outdoors. A nice saunter or excursion is so much better than being glued to a …show more content…

As we all know the main cause of the haze in Malaysia is because of forest fires in Indonesia. Forests in the Sumatra and Kalimantan islands are being burned down to ash. And what for? Palm oil plantations. Indonesia and Malaysia are the biggest producers of palm oil making up 85% of global palm oil plantations. In order to plant the crop, up to 300 football fields are cleared every hour! The other day, while scanning through articles, this is what I read on the Malaysian Palm Oil Board website, “Malaysia can boast that 56% of its land mass of 32.86 million hectares is under permanent natural forest cover… Thus, in terms of wildlife conservation, there are ample forests to protect and conserve wildlife.” Funny how after being aware and concerned about the condition in Indonesia, the Malaysian government thinks that just because they have more forests, they can continue to chop down trees to plant palm