Third Wave Warning for Johor and Reflections on the Environment

Thursday 25January2007, The STAR Headlines: 'Third wave' warning for Johor:

What a cruel joke, I thought to myself, but on the other hand this is plausible and therefore only reasonable and proper for the Meteorological Services Department to warn us of impending disasters when the root cause of the problem remains untackled.

I am not pertaining to the impact of climate change, nor of distractive cloud seeding but what we have neglected to our own peril: drainage maintenance.

Through years of neglect and abuse of the environment from human activities like logging, construction, manufacturing, agriculture etc that exposed the top soil to erosion that silted the rivers, we have literally turn the lower lying areas (where rivers in their natural life cycle flows slower) into premature flood plains.

Really, the solution is simple, either we spend lots of money and other resources in tackling the root problem by preventing and getting rid of the silt through dredging etc or alternatively, we just adapt and hope to survive.

So long as the rivers and drains remained silted and clogged, floods recur and something we just have to live with, unless we are prepared to pay more taxes or have less of other services, so as to pay for the clean up of the rivers because governments all over the world face the common identical problem: balancing the budget of expenditure with income through taxation and money creation.

With hind sight, we may realize how wise our forefathers who live by the riverine areas were.

Where flash floods are not uncommon at the riverine areas that provided them with the needed transport network, they simply adapt and thrive.

They are prepared and ready anytime for flash floods: building houses on high stilts and a boat they used for daily transport, ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice.

They adapted well and the testimony to that is the survival of their descendants to this day.

As Man builds, Man destroys as well and unless we are prepared to amend our ways to show some due respect to the conservation and protection of the environment, the environment will soon have none of us.

Think for a moment, we need the environment more than the environment needs us.

Should we all perish from the planet Earth in one instance and provided the Sun still shines, life of other form will continue to flourish and thrive: the plants will continue to live and provide sustenance to the other flora and fauna that depended on them.

Let's stop treating the Earth like dirt and whilst it may be too late to reverse some of the effects of human caused climatic change, we still have the opportunities to do something constructive for the environment, by first doing no harm.

Also, we can adapt to survive; perhaps stilted buildings will soon be a common sight in places like flood prone Kota Tinggi?

Why not? Buildings on stilts have character and reflect the tenacity and the humble wisdom of the human spirit to survive through adaptation.