The Fading Green...

“action speak louder than any #hashtag

When was the last time you planted a tree? This seems to be an odd question to ask. I remember mine was in elementary school and it was only a week of growing bean sprout. People living the urban lifestyle would often leave this to be the government responsibility to create a green city, so that they feel a bit healthier breathing in the polluted oxygen from the air pollution caused by a heavy traffic jam. In this case the color and the feeling of greenness just make things a little better. So the governments try their best to keep the city clean, by managing the waste, they often choose the method of re-cycle trashcans. They usually come in three colors, red for toxic trash, yellow for normal wastes and green for recycling. Most of the time, those label sign are ignored and the trash goes into the wrong place. So, is the sign too small or do we care less about how this little thing could affect the environment? New technology is often used to help solve the environmental issue, such as the subway or sky train that are invented to reduce traffic which helps reduce pollution. Hence decreasing our chances of getting lung cancer for walking around the city.

It is no doubt that it is a whole different picture between the rural and urban areas where the rural areas are dominated by mostly large fields, big trees, farms etc. Unlike urban, where there are more cars and buildings than parks. Maybe that is because life in the city is nothing but time and money, so nobody has time to consider how to throw away their wastes. While businessmen speeding down the street to make it through a rush hour to their meetings on 50th floor, nature activists are standing with signs somewhere telling us what the nature can’t say for itself. Such a contrast lifestyle has made it difficult to build the green city. It takes time and collaboration and not just for a temporary campaign but also to make it as a lifestyle to make those greens last to the next generation. 

While I was in line getting a drink at Starbucks, wondering how many trees must be cut down to make these paper cups each year to serve us hot drinks. I then came across doing some researches about this world most popular coffee brand. Since 2006, even though Starbucks has offered a cup with 10% post-consumer recycled paper fiber as they have taken parts in building a greener community by shrinking their environmental footprint and responsible for the waste associated with cups. By promoting the post-consumer content or re-cycling of cups, we are hugging 100,000 more trees a year but still, this is not enough. So why not bringing your own cup to Starbucks next time you want a hot coffee or drinks instead of using paper cups and that would safe more trees and preserve us more oxygen, plus you also get a 10% discount as well, greener earth – cheaper coffee. What a smart and productive campaign that Starbucks has come up with to show their brand responsibilities to the public. Now you can see that only our little coffee break could greatly harm the nature that could lead to many major issues. If the earth wants to tell us something, Tsunamis, earthquakes and many natural disasters would be its voice. This doesn’t mean you need to get your hands dirty and plant one tree everyday but what we should do is to protect what we already have. Mother nature has given such beauty to our planet like the ocean, mountains and forests where mountaintop, white sand and blue sea is the vacation destination for most of us. Now you can see that we have taken so many advantages from the nature and it is now our turns to give back before it is too late. It is always true when it comes to the saying that action speaks louder than words. Sure we can spend hours on social media spreading words and hash tags about environment preservations but without putting those words into action, this means to put your phone down and start doing, those campaigns would never be effective. So, don’t wait for tomorrow for the green to fade, today is our best day to start the chain of actions to save the earth.

Australia bound

   Earlier this year I had a chance to tag along with my dad to visit Australia for two weeks, but unfortunately it was not a fully vacation because I still had classes and my dad was on his job duties. I believe everyone has that traveller soul seek inside them in spite of the fact that we always fell in love with the city that we have never been and places we have never seen. So I couldn't resist this trip and so I skipped classes ( work hard, play harder in this case). To be honest, I was not prepared to be a city wanderer. While my dad was working, I was exploring the city and yes all by myself. This is a bonus trip because we had a chance to visit both Melbourne and Brisbane!

   After 8 hours flight from Bangkok to Melbourne, I was too excited to have jet-leg or what-so-ever. The moment we landed and I stepped on the land that is well known for its nature conservation, organic stuffs and what else, beautiful beaches. I knew right in my guts that I was going have a good time here even in a short period of time. We arrived at night so there was nothing much to do but to checked-in at the hotel and waited for the sun to rise. I set the alarm for 6 am so i wouldn't miss the sunrise since we have the perfect view from our hotel room where we see the city and the Yarra River. I prepared myself for the next day by studying the city map and tram routes which got me confusing for a day or two. The morning came early than i thought, as promised the golden sun slowly rose up and awaken the city. It was surely a good vibe. Watching from the window I saw people started to come out, some having rush hour some were jogging by the river in the park across from our hotel called the Batman Park. Crown plaza is considered the center of everything, the tram stop is in front of the hotel and a few blocks away across the street are restaurants and food center.

   On my first day, I decided to visited the places I did a research on before the trip which one of them is Chapel St. yes, fashion street. From the hotel I walked through the city to get to Flinder Station, the famous tram and train station in Melbourne. I strolled beneath the skyscraper and old style buildings, this city is a perfect combo of modern and vintage. Surprisingly, I didn't do much shopping but found myself visiting all the cool cafe and restaurant around the city, couple my favorites are the Manchester Press and the Kinfolk cafe, great food and well decorated place!

   Some people might think walking alone in a big city would make you feel lonely, but not for me. For me, to travel alone is to have time with yourself to absorb all the goodness, it was like taking time with every moment in front of you. While strolling down the street, I saw the city's life, the people and the surrounding which naturally inspired me one way or another. A week past by so quickly that it was time to say goodbye to Melbourne and hello Brisbane. The city is much smaller and not as energetic as Melbourne but it is very peaceful. It is a working city I would say, as the street is crowded with mostly working peeps. Luckily, my dad's friend offered to take us to Gold Coast aka Surfers Paradise, It was an hour drive from the city. As we got to the beach, it was partly cloudy and super windy since it was an unexpected trip so my clothing wasn't really suit the sea-sand-sun situation much. The never-ending beach goes on and on as we drove along the coast line to find a place to park to take pictures. The salty air and the sound of the waves made me never wanted to leave, now I know why they called it surfers paradise, not sure if those surfers catch good waves here but I definitely feel the good vibes, I mean you don't have to be a surfer to call this place paradise.

   Overall, this trip was nothing but happy and fun. I had the best time and Australia has become my favorite, there is no doubt that I will definitely visit it again soon!