This post was published @ Middle Zone Musings in conjunction with the “What I Learned From” group-writing project.

I started The Giving Hands in March 2007 though I bought the domain about a month earlier. It is an extension of my charity and conservation work online, which revolves around creating and spreading awareness on matters pertaining to charity, conservation, the environment, health and volunteerism.

A post from every month of 2007:

• March — Have you heard of Operation Smile?

  This was my second post on The Giving Hands, and the one which made me realize the simple things that we could make a difference or change a person’s life. Making donations IS a simple thing to do, no? :D

• April — 10 things you can do to save the earth

  This was my first environment-related post, and I remember I had so much fun researching and writing it. It was during the writing process that I realized that there were so much things that we could do to make the earth a cleaner and safer place to live in.

• May — Tuberculosis — the disease that won’t die

  TB is a curable disease. And I am a walking example.

• June — Psst.. Have you heard of Eden Handicap Centre?

  I first blogged about a Malaysian charity, Eden Handicap Service Centre, which I would be raising funds for during Blogathon.

• July — Blogathon 2007 category

  The entire month was dedicated to raising funds for Eden Handicap Service Centre through Blogathon, an annual event where bloggers get together and blog for a straight 24 hours to raise funds for charity. Similarly, I have also learned a lot about issues related to people with disabilities while researching for my Blogathon materials.

• August — Sand-mining threatens the survival of river terrapins

  Some inconsiderate people mined sand from the very spot that the river terrapins come to nest every year. So I took some photos and wrote an article to a local English daily, with which I am working part-time :D The assemblyman couldn’t be reached for comment (as usual) but I am glad that the sand-mining activity has stopped.

• September — How much plastic bags do you use?

  An educational post with a lot of facts and figures on the consumption of plastic bags, and why they should be banned. I also initiated a month-long blogging campaign on environment-related issues which would conclude on Blog Action Day on October 15th.

• October — 18 ways to conserve energy in your home

  Some things are just worth the time and effort and bandwidth repeating :D

• November — Pledge to buy handmade this holiday season!

  Give ONLY handmade gifts this festive season. Support independent artists. Be personal.

• December — “Save the Ocean” group-writing project begins

  I initiated a month-long “Save the Ocean” campaign to raise awareness on the importance of saving our oceans. A dozen bloggers have volunteered to take up relevant topics, and the posts will be published at The Giving Hands everyday throughout January 2008.

This article was posted in PlanetThoughts.

A San Francisco man has saved over a year of trash because he ran an experiment in consumption. For one year, 35-year old professional caterer Ari Derfel kept every tissue, receipt, food wrapper and plastic bottle inside bins located in his kitchen and living room apartment. Ari even organized the trash by type, so it could be “seen, felt and understood more clearly.”

What started out as dinner with three friends ended up with him collecting his trash in his kitchen closet. His original intention to get two 96-gallon bins from the local waste management company did not get through because “it was illegal to keep trash in bins and not have it removed regularly.”

So what has he learned from his project? In his own words:

1. The vast vast vast majority of trash comes from food packaging.
2. When I ask people to put prepared food in my own containers it disrupts their flow and makes them think.
3. Saving trash leads to increased consciousness of what I consume.
4. Recycling sucks.
5. It doesn’t take much to make a big difference.
6. Trash sucks.
7. Changing is fun, much more fun than it is stressful.
8. Cleaning out food packaging takes time and is necessary to get rid of odors and to ensure bugs and rodents are not attracted to it.

Ari is planning to start a second year to see if he could make less trash then he did the first year. He also hopes to attract some other people to do it with him, “perhaps make it a national competition for fun to see who can make the least amount of trash in a year”. On top of that, he also plans to film the second year and to make a fun, interesting, funny, informative documentary about it. So if you want to help out, now is the time.

This is a guest post by Silent_One @ littlebro.

Cigarette smoking causes 87% of lung cancer deaths and is responsible for most cancers of the larynx, oral cavity and pharynx, esophagus, and bladder.

- Source: National Cancer Institute

Yes, we all know it. We all know that smoking is bad for our health, and it causes all sorts of diseases (especially cancer) to us. But why do people still smoke? Why do people keep lighting up their cigarettes and choose to shorten their own lives? Every action a person takes has its own reason, but from my point of view — and I’m sure this is the point of view of most people — the main reason a person smokes comes from one simple word — Addiction.

Image credit: Victor Bezrukov.

Pardon me if I’ve offended any smoker or their closest relatives for using this word, but this is the only word that I can think of. In fact, smoking is a bad habit which is hard to break because tobacco (the main ingredient in cigarettes) contains nicotine, which is highly addictive. Like heroin or other addictive drugs, the body and mind quickly become so used to the nicotine in cigarettes that a person needs to have it just to feel normal. So, why do people even start smoking in the first place? According to Larissa Hirsch in her article regarding smoking which I absolutely agree with her on most points, there are 2 main reasons why people smoke:

First, they think that smoking is cool and it portrays a strong sense of masculine behavior in a person. If you asked me whether a person who smokes is cool or looks more like a MAN, let me enlighten you. Frankly speaking, I have a lot of friends who are smokers. Some of them are heavy smokers, and they can even smoke 1-2 boxes of cigarettes without even having a grain of rice for a day. Well, this is absolutely not “cool”, in my opinion. Wait till you see this.

About 37,000 to 40,000 people die from heart and blood vessel disease caused by other people’s smoke each year. Of these, about 35,000 non-smokers die from coronary heart disease, which includes heart attack.

- Source: American Heart Association

This means that indirectly, we as the non-smokers inhale the second-hand smoke from smokers into our own body, causing diseases to us as well! No, I’m not telling you to stay away from your smoker friends and banish them to Neverland. Just do your best to keep a distance from them whenever you are together and the best alternative would be to give advice to them to stop smoking (although I know this probably won’t work, but it’s worth a try, no?)

Secondly, the influence from family and friends. Yes, this is definitely the major reason why most people even start smoking. Tell me, what do you do when your closest friend come to you and say “Hey, come try this cigarette I stole from my dad!” I’m sure most people will most probably give it a shot (I’m saying this from a teenager’s point of view, not from an adult’s). Once you experience your first puff, that’s it. Some people (probably smokers) will say it’s the first puff to sanctuary, but let me rephrase that to the first puff to HELL, since you will definitely get addicted and spending hard-earned cash from your parents or yourself to buy useless cigarettes which can definitely shorten your life by 10 years or so. Moreover, from the first point above, you will also involve people around you by “providing” them with second-hand smoke. Talk about friendship.

But this isn’t the end for smokers. Smokers aren’t doomed to oblivion and short lifespans. There are a lot of resources on the Net which offers help to smokers who want and are determined to quit. For myself, there are two words to stop smoking, once and for all — Don’t start.

This might be hard especially if a lot of people around you smoke and are offering you cigarettes like lottery tickets. But I trust in one’s principles and as long as you are determined to stay healthy and enjoy your life to the fullest, not even your closest friend or family member will ever convince you to even hold a cigarette.

Say “Tak Nak” (”no” in Bahasa Malaysia) to smoking!

Silent_One @ littlebro is an IT graduate who blogs at ~ d a r k n e s s ~. Unlike other ordinary young man, he mutters about the turbulence and downs (no ups) in life, while searching for his long lost soul. He hides himself in the huge city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and hopes that no one can recognize him except for his friends.