compilation hse

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CBB2012: Health, Safety and Environment

MAY 2012

TITLE : CIVIL AND GREEN MOVEMENT AS THE PRIME

MOVER FOR A MORE EQUITABLE SOCIETY

Group Members

1. FARIS SYAHIN BIN HAMZAH 15192(CV)2. KHAIRI HAFIZI BIN KAMARUDIN 15077(CV)3. MUHAMMAD FIRDAUS MOHD FAUZI 13696(CV)4. MUHD FATHI BIN BRAHIM 14544 (ME)5. UZAIR ASLAM BIN AZLAN 14580(ME)6. MOHAMAD NOR AIMAN BIN JALALUDIN 13788(BIS)


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Contents


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Introduction

What is green movement? What is the relationship between green movement, civil and

society? The aim is to create more equitable society in the future. They are trying to preserve the

environment where we all share all this time. The ideas and goals are wide ranging from ecological

wisdom, social justice, participatory democracy (including breaking down inequalities of wealth and

power), nonviolence (a comprehensive concept of global security, which gives priority to social,

economic, ecological, psychological and cultural aspects of conflict, instead of a concept based

primarily on military balances of power), sustainability, and respect for diversity. The definition of

green movement is based according to different context that is ecology, health, and human rights.

. It is actually uses the word green means that neutral. Therefore, green movement meaning is

actually is the call for the social reformation to environmental conservation and improvement of theecology, health and human rights.

In a place where it has its own natural environment, culture and people, just by preserving

its natural environment wont save the society from destruction thus it must be balance. For

example, there was a time in South Africa where global societies only focus on the environmental

issues while the local people are suffering form racism due to the government apartheid policies.

This shows that it is important to take care of several fields in order to achieve the target of green

movement. Widely, this concept has been accepted and implemented by many countries. In

Malaysia, there are so many wild life, culture, vegetation, natural landscape and different races living

in harmony at a common place. This can be preserve and improve to create a more equitable society

that tenderly living in peace.

In summary, these studies provide knowledge and create understanding to the people so

that the civil and green movement will be more appreciate. Some history, several issues and topics

are the main thesis for this article.


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believes progress is possible. There were "other kinds of glory than that of victory in battle," as

Benjamin Thompson said. Pollutants only can be created by human actions that are against the

nature. Town gas from coal drips while tar into the rivers. Vulcanized rubber plants discharge

noxious chemicals directly into the streams. Coal smoke chokes the air in big cities. Chemical

factories operate without thought to people downwind. This shows that new technologies created

new pollutions. This is mainly happen during the era of Enlightenment (1750-1830).

Moving to the next period, which is called the Industrial revolution(1830-1890). At this time

the effect of pollution begins to show its horrible effects to human and the environment. Living

conditions in urban areas horrify reform minded commissions in London in the 1840s and America in

the 1850s and 60s. Progress is slow but the common interest in pure drinking water and sanitation is

spurred by epidemics of typhoid and cholera. Smog episodes begin killing residents of large cities like

London. Conservation of wilderness areas begins with the felling of an enormous tree, called the

"Mother of the Forest" in 1851. The outrage over the act leads to calls for a national park

system. Water pollution carried disease, but no one knew exactly why until the 1880s. Some

concerned reformers didn't wait for exact knowledge: John Snow, a London physician, traced a part

of the cholera epidemic to a contaminated water pump in 1855.

Next is in the Progressive Era (1890-1920) where ideas about conserving large tracts of land

and putting other forests to "wise use". Teddy Roosevelt and his forester Gifford Pinchot

characterize this point of view. Reform was the common concern. Reform of working conditions,

slum housing, food adulteration, sanitation, drinking water, polluting industries and more. However,

John Muir opposes the "wise use" idea and fights for outright preservation of unspoiled

wilderness. New organizations like the womens clubs and the Sierra Club help champion natural

preservation, conservation and municipal reform.

During the period in between 1920 and 1940, this is the time where they named it Roarding

Twenties and the Depression. National Coast Anti Pollution League is formed by municipal officials

from Atlantic City to Maine who are concerned about oil and sewage pollution detracting from

tourism. Led by Gifford Pinchot, Teddy Roosevelts forrester, the league succeeds with an

international oil dumping treaty passed by Congress in 1924. Chemurgy movement is a midwestern

populist and scientific phenomena. Demands include replacement of petroleum with farm alcohol


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and other industrial uses for agricultural crops. Movement suffers when leaders die and new leaders

with secret ties to the oil industry take over.

World War II and the Fifties (1940-1960), where oil play a very important role during this

time. A full marriage designed to outlast the war. This was the relationship between American auto,

chemical and oil companies and Germany's I.G. Farben exposed by Sen. Harry Truman in 1942.

American development of synthetic rubber was blocked and leaded gasoline technology was handed

over to the Nazis during the pre-war honeymoon. (Stephenson, 1976). The lesson of history? Only

the government can secure the long-term public interest. Private industry cannot. Sand County

Almanac by forrester Aldo Leopold, published in 1948 just after his death, expresses the an

expanding sense of human responsibility, not only for each other but also for the earth. Deadly smog

episodesin Donora Penn. (1948), London (1952, 1956), New York (1953), and Los Angeles (1954)

create the perception that an air pollution crisis is underway. In 1955 the first international air

pollution conference is held.

Moving on to the period of 1960 to 1970 where mother earth becomes really sick by the

effect of pollutions. Disasters show the tenuous and fragile side of industrial technology. Amongthem is the Bhopal mass poisoning in India; the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster in Ukraine; and

the Challenger shuttle and Exxon Valdez oil spills in the U.S. Ozone depletion from fluorocarbons is

finally taken seriously, even by conservatives like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher of Britain,

who join others in signing the Montreal Protocol in 1987.

Environmental reform gathers momentum, but environmentalists mourn the loss of the Rainbow

Warrior, a Greenpeace ship bombed by French secret service agents in New Zealand in 1985.

Warnings about global climate change become more convincing as evidence mounts.

Ken Saro Wiwa, journalist and environmental activist, is executed in 1995 for his outspoken

opposition to oil industry practices in Nigeria. The international community holds the dictatorial

government of Nigeria, and its partner Shell Oil, responsible. Political standoff between conservative

and liberal factions in Congress ended more or less in a draw, with strong national opinion polls

favouring environment over economic development. A Gallup poll finds 76 percent of Americans call

themselves "environmentalists." Within ten years this is happen (1990-2000).


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The new Millenium (2000 till now), is our current phase of civil and green movement as a

prime mover for a more equitable society. US leadership changes from president Bill Clinton, a

devoted conservationist, to George Bush in 2001, who eases environmental regulation on behalf of

industry, to Barack Obama in 2009, who restores environmental and conservation missions for US

regulatory agencies. Global climate change becomes a pressing priority, as scientists issue

increasingly serious warnings about their observations of the changing climate; but the scientific

process stumbles over relatively minor mistakes made under increasing media scrutiny. Attempts at

international agreements fail at Copenhagen in 2009, but world leaders continue attempting to

bridge gaps in policy approaches. Coal mining especially in the US Appalachian region continues to

spark controversy over serious environmental impacts. A disaster at the Tennessee Valley Authority

shows how serious the waste products of coal combustion can be. Coal mine disasters continue to

haunt the US and China. Toxic Waste dumping in developing nations continues to be an urgent

problem.

Though the conservation movement had European roots, many observers maintain that the

United States has emerged as the world's leader in the green movement and environmentalism. As

more problems arise, the movement become more powerful because it gives awareness to many

people.


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Green Movement as the Prime Mover for an Equitable Society:

Problem.

The idea of being greener is no strange to people nowadays. This interest have been

widespread not to only environmentalist group, but even to the industrialists whose being said to be

main contributor of environment problem since a long time. Green movement , said to be ,everyday

have become stronger and more influential. Thanks to them ,and their very significant effort ,people

and government become seriously adopt the idea of being greener. In addition, many problem have

being tackled due to their effort of raising public concern regarding a few mega project that in

behind give a huge adverse effect to the environment, if someway being continued.

However, there are still many, the destruction of the environment, the harmful effect took

their place to our beloved earth instead all the efforts being done. In order to understand how this

still happen, we should identify what being the weakness of these green movement ,that even with

the large support of public, government agency and some corporate figure, the effect still going on.

The close example as Malaysian that we can see is the Lynas project. Anti-Lynas movement,

or with name they regards themselves as Himpunan Hijau (Green Assembly). It was obvious to usthat they gain quite big supports from the public but the government, however , despite being

realistically learn what they point out , just conclude them as another opposition factor to the

government. As the group of people that have no political interest in this matter whatsoever ,we

notice what these green movement claim that will be a dangerous effect to public due to such

project seems to be true.

What being disappointment to us is the fact that there are almost hundreds of

environmental protection agencies in Malaysia , only a few that joined them in fighting this matter.

We can say that the other environmentalists groups didnt really know what would actually should

cost them in fighting for the earth or they just simply weak. Try to being in safe side not to expose

themselves to dangerous situation of the government power that can threaten their position. The

other fact that the environmental government agencies that actually should be the represent the

government to talk with this Green Assembly , that instead of them are a group of politician that

may have very limited knowledge regarding the matter being asked to sit along with them to talk

about the matter.


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Other than that , it seems that the green movement lack of political influence. It is true

statement that government have many regulations that prevent people or industrialists through

their activities destroy the environment. However, interest of conflict will surely happened if for

example one huge project planned to be done in near future that it gives government very

noticeable effects economically and conglomerate support. It will be common scenario that as long

the government or some figure that have interest in this will get their benefit, they will try to

defence the significance of the project to being done, and just blindly reject any claim . If these

environmentalists group have more political success, they may gain the credibility of being the

representatives of public voice.

As in another scenario ,the U.S environment movement said to be fail in prevent oil drillingin the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be approved .It was common in foreign country like United

states that the environment movement being related to extremist group and also usually said to be

alarmists. This kind of thought or situation had made them lost credibility with the public. People,

when such thing happen actually can be terrified with the enforcement agencies, due to the fact that

they will also being suspected to have relations with extremist.so, instead of being along fighting the

issue ,they just left it.

Other problem is sometimes these green movement being for a very long time identify the

issue and problems, but very short or lack of solutions. This will somehow made the parties that

hugely affected become less convinced to stop what they need to be stop doing, or to start what

they need to start doing. As if the alternatives provided to these related parties are vast or somehow

still very beneficial to them , it wont be so hard at least to pull these group og people attention. If in

worse case they just blindly defence their idea, the environmental group can come to enforcement

law to ask for their help regarding the matter.

Lastly, we can say there are actually many weakness can be found in many green movement.

Their significance in assisting us to provide better future to our next generation should, made this

kind of issue should be take up seriously. We hope in near future , many more effective contribution

we can observe from these group of people. As for public, they should give their full support and

dont be too scare to stand for defence the idea of making the earth better place to live on.


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cholas Kristofwas right when he wrote the following:

The U.S. environmental movement is unable to win on even its very top priorities, even

though it has the advantage of mostly being right. Oil drilling in the Arctic NationalWildlife Refuge may be approved soon, and there's been no progress whatsoever in the

U.S. on what may be the single most important issue to Earth in the long run: climate

change.

The fundamental problem, as I see it, is that environmental groups are too often

alarmists. They have an awful track record, so they've lost credibility with the public.

Some do great work, but others can be the left's equivalents of the neocons: brimming

with moral clarity and ideological zeal, but empty of nuance. (Industry has also hyped

risks with wildly exaggerated warnings that environmental protections will entail a terrible

economic cost.)

The basis for his op-ed is a lengthy article titled theThe Death of Environmentalism,

which attempts to analyze the root causes of the failures of the environmental

movement's quest to quell global warming. The authors' main thesis is that the movement

is a victim of its own success, that it needs to define itself more broadly and that it needs

to find new ways to achieve political success. Personally, I think they're long on

identifying the problem but frustratingly short and vague on ways to solve it. Heretofore

my own disjointed and rambling thoughts on the problems of the environmental movement

and what can be done.

The environment movement has already won.

Just as the civil rights movement has already won the war in bringing equality tominorities (for the most part), so has the environmental movement in its major battles

(for the most part). Our air and water and soils are cleaner than they were a generation

ago. What the movement should concern itself with now is overstepping. How many more

regulations do we need in the United States before eyes are cast on significantly more

serious problems found in Russia, China, India and other hot spots. How much more

should we ding our own economy for reducing emissions that may have no discernible

effect on the global climate.

While we do consume a disproportionate share of the resources, too often the view is too

America-centric. China is apotential environmental catastrophe, yet we hardly hear

about it. Rush Limbaugh joked over a decade ago that the way to compete with Japaneconomically is to export liberalism, that introducing liberal causes would slow their

economy to a point where we could better compete. In that vein, perhaps exporting

environmentalism to China and India could level the economic playing field. We need a

neo-environmental movement! We need neocons, or neo-conservationists, that is. The

point is that instead of fighting battles that have already been won in America, the more

important task is to fight and win environmental battles abroad where the situation is

much worse.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/12/opinion/12kristof.html?http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/12/opinion/12kristof.html?http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/01/13/doe-reprint/http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/01/13/doe-reprint/http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/01/13/doe-reprint/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31072-2004Sep18.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31072-2004Sep18.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31072-2004Sep18.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31072-2004Sep18.htmlhttp://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/01/13/doe-reprint/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/12/opinion/12kristof.html?


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2.1 Green Movement In Malaysia as the Prime Mover for an Equitable Society

Nobody would have thought that greenies from around the world would have a say in

what and how Malaysia should conduct our trade. The issue of Lynas has become one of the

most noxious one as it involves the processing and storage of radioactive wastes in Kuantan,

Pahang. Besides the danger of radiation, the Lynas plant also produces large quantities of

industrial acids and chemicals which will adversely affect the environment. Though the

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) may influence Lynas, they have no power to

regulate or enforce any agreement. According to a spokesperson from Lynas, the reason

behind this rare earth processing plant has to be in Malaysia rather than in their origin country

West Australia is because Malaysia has the infrastructure lacking in Australia. Despite the

fact, the real reason behind it is they do not want this radioactive industry in their backyard.

This project is obviously socially disruptive and health threatening. On October 2011,

the Himpunan Hijau Organizing Chairperson, Wong Tack, expresses his disappointment by

saying, Finally, we have received the first response from our Prime Minister. We feel

encouraged but unfortunately, the answer was not what we are expecting. The Himpunan

Hijau, also known as The Green Assembly is extremely shocked that until today, our leaders

are still very much ill-informed of the definite scientific facts and the jeopardy the society is

in.

The government has always tried to justify their production by saying that impartial

experts have testified to the safety of the society. One would have expected the government

to bring in independent members outside the IAEA with expertise in nuclear safety, public

health, environmental protection and other social concerns to alleviate the fears of society

regarding their safety and effects of the plant on their health and well being. However,

Malaysian government is also well known for its poor monitoring record on implementing

such environmental safety standards and its maintenance culture. Clearly, the government


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wants to attract big projects regardless of their sustainability or toxicity. In return, they will

get big commissions and that seem to be the motivating factor in our local development.

Therefore, Malaysians who care about people more than profits should fully support

Himpunan Hijau as this kind of political green movement ensures that Lynas processes the

rare earth in their own backyard instead of ours. In addition, the people of Kuantan have

avowed their rights as a community. The relationship between the environmental movement

and the peoples movement for democracy, justice and human rights is inseparable (Kua,

2011). Consequently, they have initiated an assembly which will be the start of a green

movement for a more equitable society in the future.

Green technology has already been recognized as the prime mover for a countrys

economic growth as it offers enormous opportunities and potential in economic regeneration,

innovation and wealth creation (Adis, 2010). However, the awareness that green is good may

not have engulfed Malaysian businesses just yet. With Asia recovering from the economic

crisis faster than other continents, that wave will soon be steady again. Already, we are seeing

certain sectors of the economy embracing the green card. Maybe it is fashionable just yet, but

it will soon stop being just a fashionable byword if Malaysia wants to engage globally, as

failing which, they will be left behind.

Though Malaysia is still at an infancy stage, the nation is fast catching up as evidenced

by the government led initiatives. To encourage more green buildings in Malaysia, Prime

Minister Najib Razak announced incentives for the Green Building Index (GBI) in the 2010

Budget in October. These incentives came in the form of tax exemption for building owners

and stamp duty exemptions for buyers of properties that achieve GBI certification. For a

building to be awarded the GBI rating, it must meet six key criteria. They are energy

efficiency, indoor environmental quality, sustainable site planning and management, materials


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and resources, water efficiency and innovation.

According to Zulkifle Mustafar, Property Development Manager of the Al-Hidayah

Group, The governments green drive will only bring the property market here up to

international standard. In fact, nowadays, many developers are using the GBI rating as a

marketing tool to market their developments. Green buildings offer intangible benefits to their

occupants by improving their overall well being. Studies have shown that people who stay in

green project are more productive and happier than non-green projects. Buyer would also pay

less utility bills with the implementation of the green features. Hence, the green movement in

the context of economic has definitely acts as a prime mover for a more equitable society.

Moreover, the fundamental principles of the green movement demand a change in our

lifestyle and values. Such simplest task like opening up the window blinds to use daylight or

drawing blackout curtains to keep the interior of the building cool is the least that the society

can do to save planet Earth. Though thinking and living green is a way of life, to be really

effective and to make a difference, it has to go down to the individuals themselves.

Various green movements are taking over Malaysia especially in terms of Social

Corporate Responsibility (CSR). For instance, the Malaysia Environmental Sustainability

Youth Movements (MESYM) is an online platform that provides its user information

regarding youth projects, volunteering opportunities and networking purposes. Its objective is

to bring better connectivity among environmental sustainability networks and to encourage

more exchange of resources and knowledge. Besides NGOs, Youth Projects and Social

Enterprise, movements could mean something very informal but people are sharing the same

values, ideas and opinions for the betterment of the environment and society (MESYM,

2012).


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Among the local green events organized by MESYM are Tree Planting @ Seksyen 7

where 5000 trees were successfully planted, installation of Wildlife Protection Billboards

where wildlife criminals can no longer claim ignorance as an excuse for their destructive

activities as huge signs are located near highways, and EcoKnights Free Community Film

Screening in conjunction with 4th Eco Film Festival. Furthermore, some of the global green

events in collaboration with MESYM includes Lets Do It! World Cleanup 2012 that involves

300 million people in 100 countries clean hundreds of thousands tons of illegal waste. Besides

that, Social Enterprise is a subsection under MESYM that are related to businesses with

primarily social objectives for the purpose of community rather than being driven by the need

to maximise profit for shareholders and owners. Some of the projects under Social Enterprise

are Project REVIVE, Waterfall Survivors and TrEES, just to name a few. They are passionate

into what they are focusing on. Hence, these social green movements are definitely a prime

mover for a more equitable society.

In conclusion, green is not just a colour produced by mixing blue and yellow. In the

current vast globalisation, the word green has taken on even more definitions. Do a search

using the word green and the result is one link for the actual colour and the remainder will be

environmentally related; green buildings, green industries, green products, green movement,

green political party and so much more. The word green now has some environmental

meaning, a symbol of environmental protection. Hence, the green movements in Malaysia

have definitely become a boost for the society to unite for the betterment of the future

generations.


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GreenMovement in Asia as the Prime Mover for an Equitable

Society

For over the few decades, the industrial and economic activities in Asian countries are

growing rapidly and progressively. At the same time, mass extinction, rainforests rapidly

disappearing such as the rainforests in Borneo and the pollutions are spreading over this

region. These are only a few of the obvious environmental effects that we are facing today.

Another fact is that, Asia is the most- populated continent, accounting for over 60% of the

worlds population. China and India are the two giant countries that constitute about 37% of

the worlds population. Such a large population is putting more strain on the environmental

impacts. This is because, a large population will consume a lot of resources needed for their

daily lives such as food. Thus, they will produce a big number of trashes and pollutions.

In the South East Asia region, Singapore is the smallest country in terms lands area but

has a high population of 5.18 million compared to its land area of 710 km square. With this

huge number of population for a small country like Singapore, the environmental problems

are a major problem for them. How does this small city state country can manage its

environment conservation and measures despite its big population? Singapore has always

indeed taken pre-cautious steps in order to reduce the gas emission such as the carbon

monoxide gas to the air. Singapore has strict laws which control the number of motor vehicles

and ownership. In this way, the number of vehicles is reduced and thus the air pollution rate is

also reduced. One of the Singapores most significant annually event is the Earth Day. Its

main purpose and intention is to promote and educate the Singaporeans towards a green

environment and economy. The Singaporean government encourage a car pooling system and

to switch to the public transport. This will reduce the number of vehicles and as well as the air

pollution and traffic congestion which is also reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. Another

effort by the Singaporean government towards the green movement is the switching of fuel oil


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groups officially registered as the NGOs. These groups have started out their plan by

promoting and educating the people in China into the environmental education. They support

environmental education by only using vans to travel throughout the country. This is

specifically targeted in the region which is having a higher rate of pollution. For instance,

Beijing is one of the few regions in China having the highest rate of pollution in the world.

Green Earth Volunteers and Global Village Beijing are both organize workshop and

awareness talks to educate the journalists on the environmental challenges that the world is

facing now. So, this is in turn will help the journalists to have a good foundations and ideas

when writing their articles about the environment. At the same time, they can promote

environment awareness to people through their reading articles. In order to give greater

impacts about the environment awareness, Chinas government is also launch campaign and

develops educational materials including videos and photographs to promote the biodiversity

protection. The green campaigns are mostly about the protection of plant as well as the

animal life. A well-balanced ecosystem in the forests will ensure the livelihood of animals

habitats. With these initiatives, a well-balanced ecosystem could be assured between the

people and as well as the animals and plants.

Air pollution is always being the top list in the types of pollution rate. China is not an

exception for these problems too. Since 1970s, Chinese government have taken measures to

reduce these two major pollution problems. The Chinese government policies to control the

pollution rate are, putting prevention first and combining prevention with control,'' making

the causer of pollution responsible for treating it and intensifying environmental

management. China has done a few readjustment projects through the industrial structure

and product mix in order to promote a cleaner production which is have to go through

technical transformation. However, the air pollution rate is still high until today, with no

significant effect to reduce. The high rate of air pollution causes major health problems to the

Chinese as it could lead to death because of cancer. But, the Chinese government is still


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looking through this problem and finding a better ways to overcome this issue. Another new

focus by China to take corrective measures for the environmental problems is the energy

conservation and efficiency. They have launched a campaign to encourage the public building

such as the governments capital building and hotels to keep their thermostat at rate of 26

degree Celsius. It is a good effort to conserve energy and promoting to the public to the same

thing at their houses. Overall, the Chinese government and NGOs in China are working

together to overcome the environmental problems in China. It can been seen through the

statistics that China is investing about US$75 to $100 each year for a clean energy for the

next ten years, from 2010 to 2020.

China is also has been working hard and struggling in these recent years in order to

develop and enforce very solid environmental laws. In 2007, China established a law called,

China Environmental Law to reassure and encourage an open dialogue between the United

States and China on environmental laws. By doing this, Chinese government would have

ideas on the environmental enforcement in China itself. China has also enforced laws that

stricken people from polluting the environment in order to eliminate the pollution and

damage to ecosystem.

With these two countries in Asia, leading the measures and corrective steps to protect the

environment, the countries within their region can learn and apply the same corrective

measures to protect the environment. In order to live in a harmony and environmentalfriendly

ecosystem, the Asian countries should work together to create a culture of

environmental responsibility across the region. With this effort, the coming generations and

the environment could be protected for many years to come.


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Green Movement in Europe as the Prime Mover for an Equitable

Society

European Federation of Green Parties is one of member of Global Greens. On

February 2004, European Green party was formed at the Fourth Congress of the European

Federation of Green Parties. European Green Party is a transnational political party and their

members are parties from European countries. According to Wikipedia, ideologies of

European Greens consists of environmental responsibility, individual freedom, inclusive

democracy, social justice, diversity, gender equality, global development and nonviolence.

The Greens (European Green Party) strives for a new EU, with peace, democracy,

sustainability, and human rights beyond its borders.

European Green Party Manifesto: A Green New Deal for Europe.

Economical: The boost in economy leads to sustainable economic development; renewable

energy and future-oriented technologies.

Environmental: Climate protection; pay more attention to scientific advice and less to

industry lobbying. Resource and energy revolution; investment in clean and safe energy. New

policy in agricultural and fisheries. Making polluters pay will help ensure clean air and water

are not compromised by commercial interest. ("europeangreens.eu," n.d.)

Politic: A more democratic EU with more transparent decision-making and broader

democratic participation.

Social: A few arguments arrive as The Greens fights for human rights.

Civil Rights: Greens opposed the idea of permitting torture as interrogation method in the

fight against terrorist.A community committed to human rights cannot trade core individual

freedoms for a - deceptive- sense of security. It will ultimately lose both.

("europeangreens.eu," n.d.) As a democratic society, The Greens fight for freedom of


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expression, even if it touch religious matters or other beliefs or perceived security interest of

states as long as it does not provoke violence or hatred.

Social Rights: The idea is to make social inclusion as the backbone of a social Europe. It

covers the rights to income, to adequate standard of living, the rights to health care, to

education, to energy, to good environment, to welfares and also the rights to social security.

Cultural and ethnic minorities: All European countries are multicultural; multi-nationality

and poly-ethnicity. The Greens fights for a policy that acknowledges everyones culture

identity and religion. Example: The right to pray for all employees at the workplace and not

only for the Muslims. Protection for the refugees; The Greens believe that they have the

responsibility to give the protection to those in needed because every individual has the right

to leave his or her country to seek asylum on another country. It is unacceptable to deport

rejected asylum seekers to unsafe countries, including countries of origin and transit

countries, against their will. ("europeangreens.eu," n.d.) The Greens also fights for the

migrants rights to receive primary health care and social care and also for their children to

receive education.

Womens rights: There are two major points; equal pay and sexual and psychological

harassment at the workplace.

Sexual diversity: They believe equal treatment also includes equal rights for gay, lesbian,

bisexual and transgender people. The Green presses the Council to approve legislation as to

ensure all member states apply the principle of mutual recognition for same-sex couples.

Disability rights: Non-discrimination for disable people.

Equitable societies are better for everyone. Even most of European countries are

democratic; they are still not living in fully equitable society. Every individual in the world

has equal rights and they are the want who should defend their rights. The powerful and rich

people will always try to prey on the weak and poor. Regardless of whom you are; engineers,

scientists, teachers, students, white collars, everybody has their role to play.


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Why the green movement is the prime mover for equitable society in Europe? The key

word is human right and the green movement in Europe fights hard for this right. They are

fighting for equal opportunity in education, non gender bias at work, equal standard of living

and fair opportunity to use our natural resources. As the prime mover, The Greens represent a

group of individual who share the same vision, who want the same thing. The Greens takes

risk in fighting for human right and also inspires others to take action. One of The Greens

resolution is on water protection. They opposed the privatization of the service of water and

purification in Europe. Every European should have equal share of the water resource

Green Committees of Correspondence (GCoC) was founded in August 1984. At first,

they did not represent any political philosophy. However, in early 1990s, there are two

factions inside GCoC which is movement and party. As to solve this matter, GCoC

changed its name in 1991 to The Greens/Green Party USA (TG/GPUSA) and they remain an

activist (movement) but also have the affiliation of state Green parties.

Several state Green parties collaborate to form Association of State Green Parties

(NASGP) in 1996. TG/GPUSA endorsed NASGPs presidential candidate in 2000. In 2001,

NASGP changed its name to the Green Party of the United States (GPUS). Therefore, there

are two Green parties in United States Green movement today.

Green Party of United States is committed to ecology, social justice grassroots

democracy and non-violence. They are striving to form a new democracy through education

and community organizing without the support of corporate donors.


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The Ten Key Values of the Green Party.

Grassroots Democracy: Every individual has the right to say in anything that will affect their

live. Thus, the Greens are promoting public participation at every level of government and

they want to make sure that the public representatives are fully accountable to all that who

vote for them. The greens are working on expanding the process of participatory democracy

by direct involvement of citizens in the decision-making process.

Social Justice and Equal Opportunity: As being repeatedly mention before, all persons

should have the equal rights and opportunity from the resource provided by society and

nature. The Greens are against racism and class oppression, ageism and disability, sexism and

homophobia. They want fair treatment and equal justice under the law.

Ecological Wisdom: Humankind has the responsible to maintain the ecological balance. We

should utilize our resource so that our children will not suffer, they should benefit from what

we have today. Thus, the Greens are promoting us to focus on agriculture and move to an

energy efficient economy.

Non-Violence: The Greens are against militarized and weapons of mass destruction with the

awareness of self-defense and also the defense of those in helpless situation. They are striving

for lasting personal, community and global peace.

Decentralization: Centralization of wealth and justice contributes to economical and social

justice. Those with power intimidate the others to get what they want. Therefore, the Greens

support reformation of social, political and economic institutions to be more democratic and

less bureaucratic.


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Community-Based Economics and Economic Justice: Creating a sustainable economic

system that can provide jobs and decent standard of living to all people and at the same time

maintain a healthy ecological balance.

Feminism and Gender Equity: Male still dominates politics and economics. Thus, we call for

more cooperative ways of interacting that respect differences of opinion and gender. The

mindset of those that look down at women cannot be change in a short time. Human values

must be developed with moral conscience.

Respect for Diversity: The Greens value cultural, ethics, racial, sexual, religions and spiritual

diversity and they promote the development of respectful relationships across these lines.

They believe that those elements should be reflected in our organization and decision-making

bodies (government and non-government).

Personal and Global Responsibility: The Greens encourage all individuals to act and fight for

their personal well-being. They should try to work with others and defend what they believe.

Future Focus and Sustainability: We should rethink of our action and correct our mistake by

focusing on long-term goals. Make a better world for the future. We must counterbalance the

drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and

fiscal policies are responsible to future generations who will inherit the results of our actions.

(Green Party Convention in Denver, CO, June 2000)

Both major political parties in US; Republicans and Democrats are associating with

giant corporations and super-rich individuals. Those giant corporations and rich people keep

gain high income by destroying their nature resources. The Greens/Green Party USA did not accept

any donation from corporation or foundation. They want to preserve their values.


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Equitable society will make a better world and forming an equitable society requires

greater respect for secular values and morals. The ten key values of The Green Party are their

platforms to build an equitable society in US. The Greens encourage people to speak up.

However, knowing and saying what you want is not enough. People should take action. It is

hard for one person to change the world but a group of people with the same vision and

respect for each other is powerful enough to create a new world. The Greens promotes direct

participation from all citizens and they fight for their ideologies through nonviolent

demonstrations and protests with education and community organizing.

One of the actions by the Greens is get a fair taxation. Big corporations in US pay low

tax due to loopholes, subsidies and dodges. If they pay more, government can reduce tax from

the people that earn less money. The Greens provide solution s for fairer taxation. The Greens

also supports equal opportunity to education for all citizens. They oppose the privatization of

education. The Greens inculcate the right values and morals that should be in every individual

so they work together to create an equitable society.


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Future Improvements in Malaysias Green Movement as the Prime

Mover for an Equitable Society

From the word go, it is being mentioned that the green movement do have a

significant responsibility in promoting an equitable society. The responsibility if the green

movement in this view should not only be applied in the western countries where they do

really have a strong green movement. Malaysia too have to pitch in this kind of situation

especially as Malaysia is pacing up to be a developed country, where we are going to sacrifice

the beauty of the present nature in progress with the modernisation.

The announcement of Lynas project in Malaysia has brought a huge massive

awareness of Malaysians as some believes that the project is obviously socially disruptive and

health threatening. Radiation that may come from the project will also be accompanied by

large amount of industrial acids and chemicals which may somehow damage the environment.

Due to this issue, Malaysians finally organised in of the biggest environmental demonstration

in Malaysia, the Himpunan Hijau or the Green Assembly. The assembly gathered around

3,000 participants all around Malaysia. This is important as it shows there is still a group of

citizens who really cares about environment.

This objective of the assembly is none other than to gain the right of the citizens of

getting an environment that is clear from any threats and pollutions. The value of equitability

of the society here is clearly shown as the citizens do have the right and equality to gain their

green environment, something that they do have before the coming of project LYNAS. Afraid

that they might going to lose the precious green environment and a state of peace ecosystem,

the citizens come up with numerous initiatives in order to voice out or express their concern.

Regarding this situation, it is clearly shown that the level of awareness of green

movement in Malaysia is still low and perhaps the issue of green eco-environment is not an

issue to be talked about in their everydays life. In fact, the assembly was targeted to gather

around 20,000 citizens but in reality, only 3,000 citizens or volunteers were there during the


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so-called Green assembly. Thus, actions need to be taken in order to spread the awareness of

green movement to the society as it also acts as the prime mover for their equitable society.19

Besides, the current green movements in Malaysia are not so popular as compared to

those in the Western countries due to the differences in the level of awareness. The society in

the western countries believed that they have a right to gain good environment and need to

fight in order to maintain it. For some situation, the green movement itself is the main tool

that promotes their unity bond as they are willing to share their cause in order to preserve the

quality of the nature. In many events, we have seen that those people really participate and

voice out their concern is a manner that surprises everyone all around the globe. Regardless of

their cultural and citizenship background, they somehow appear to be able to join and unite

with each other in which creates an equitable society, based on a simple cause of fighting for

environmental peace.

In order to build a huge pro-green movement, the government should also pitch-in to

create awareness among the citizens. This is because the citizens in the country need some

sort of kick-start in order to be mature and independent in dealing with their rights of having a

well maintained environment. Once the citizens realised and know about their rights and

know about the importance of preserving and protecting their environment; the ball will start

to roll by itself as they begin to work independently as NGOs. Not to say that what we are

having in the country is not good enough, but with the implementation of few actions by the

government to create awareness among the citizens, the dream of having an active green

movement bodies in Malaysia would become true sooner or later.

Realising that the future generations are going to use are going to live in the

environment and nature that we are going to pass to them, green movement is actually great

weapon to protect and preserve the nature. In order for the citizens to do their green

movement, they need to know the rules and acts that related to their right. Therefore, the

establishment of legalisations and acts with the knowledge of the citizens is needed since they

have to know what are the issues and right to claim for. For example, based on recent poll


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made by an online community forum, Lowyat.net, it is found out that about 46% Malaysians

still do not know about the existence of law or legislations related to the protection and

preservation of the environment. From this number, we can actually wonder how many of

them are know about their right of getting a good environment with no pollution and then 20

from that number, we can expect that only a small portion would be willing to fight for their

right. So, it is true that the citizens need to be told and exposed about the laws and legislations

that are related to preservation and protection of environment.

On the other hand, Malaysia also needs an establishment of global NGOs that fight for

the green environment in our country. The global NGOs as we all know have more power and

authority in influencing the citizens as they are already recognised globally. With the

establishment of the NGOs in our country, more citizens would be exposed and know about

the action to be taken in order to get a green environment. The examples for those global

NGOs would be the Greenpeace, which is a global organisation which is very active in

fighting for green environment all in a global scale. The green movement brought by

Greenpeace is actually a great chance for people around the world to fight for their right in

getting their green nature, for a more equitable society in a borderless arena.

Fighting for the sake of preserving and protecting environment also creates a good

equitable society among the citizens as they will surely cooperate with each other, regardless

of the colour of their skin, the races, the religions and background of income. With the

presence of these green movements, the equitable society would be a reality and it all started

with the cause of protecting and preserving the environment.


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CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, the word green has broad and sometimes contradictory meanings. In

some cultures, green symbolizes hope and growth while in others; it is associated with

sickness and envy. The most common associations, however, are found in its ties to nature.

For instance, green is associated with regeneration, fertility and rebirth for its connections to

nature. Nowadays, we can see that political groups have taken on the colour green as a

symbol of environmental protection and social justice. They consider themselves as part of

the green movements. Some even name themselves green parties. This has led to numerous

campaigns in advertising as more companies are becoming environmentally friendly and

producing green products.

The green movements have gone global. From a small country like Malaysia to giants

such as America and Europe, the green movements are becoming the hot topic all around the

world. In Malaysia, the green movements led by either the government or individual political

party aim to achieve only one thing and that is to save Mother Nature and to unite the society

in order to become more equitable. Some of the initiatives include the Himpunan Hijau, the

Green Building Index (GBI) and other independent social green movements. Besides that, in

Asia, countries like Singapore and China aim to inculcate the love for environment through

education for their future generations. Some of the efforts done by them are environmental

education and green campaigns to promote a more equitable society. Furthermore, the green

movements in Europe focus solely on sustainable economic development, resource and

energy revolution, democratic society and human rights in order to achieve a more unbiased

society. Apart from that, the Green Party of United States is committed to ecology, social

justice, grassroots democracy and non-violence. They are striving without the support of

corporate donors through education and society to form a new democracy. Finally, as for the

global non-governmental organizations (NGOs), there are more than hundreds of them

globally with the aim of protecting the environment in every possible ways. They are the

Defenders of Wildlife, the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) and World Wide


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Fund for Nature (WWF), just to name a few. These types of green movements are driven by

the opportunities to make the Earth a better place to live.

Consequently, future improvements need to be considered in order to promote green

movements in Malaysia. The government needs to act on increasing the level of awareness

amongst Malaysians through education because this seems to be the major factor of the

societys ignorance on green matters. Albeit Malaysia is developing in the green department,

however, everything seems to bring positive outcomes though some might have major

consequences like the Lynas project if left abandoned. Hence, it is important that Malaysians

know their responsibility in contributing towards the green movements as it is the prime

mover for a more equitable society.


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