i have moved on ...

With much pride and pleasure I annouce that I am no longer an employee of Universiti Putra Malaysia. I have moved on.

If you would like to contact me please email me at:

heritagecolony@gmail.com


NB: I have a new blog too.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

This phrase is very popular now and I have heard it for as long as 15 years. Then it was thought to be oxymoronic because development is always seen as being contradictory to sustainability.  But the people who were in support of this phrase and therefore the concept that it belies came up with a definition, one that could escape the paradox by recognizing the fates of future generations in relation to current development.

Smart!

These days, it’s uncommon to not talk about sustainable development in any academic discourse about global economics, human rights, environmental problems – or in short, any issue relating to human conditions. That’s how pervasive the concept of sustainable development had become today.

Who came up with it? I suspect it was not the work of a single person – as often the case with a smart idea – it was an idea borne out of many minds.  But it was one that appealed to our good common sense. And why not? As humans we are social beings that care about other individuals of our species because our very existence depends on the well-being of others.  Then why do “greed”, “individualism”, “enemies” are such common place occurrences?

  

It has been suggested that selfish behaviour actually arose for the common good because it forces individuals to compete, and so certain positive qualities will be fostered and maintained in the process.  And although selfish behaviour exists, the survival of humans actually depends on cooperation and so perhaps selfishness really is a type of cooperation working at different levels to achieve the common good.       

Consider this scenario: competition for its own sake is good but when competition is limited by something as finite as natural resources (on Earth) competition can be a bad thing.  Nevertheless co-operative competition may be the way to go for environmental sustainability because co-operative capitalism (sensu Noreena Hertz) is now accepted as a better modus operandi for economic sustainability.

What is the redeeming quality of sustainable development?   HOPE.

Are there cases where SD has worked?  I don’t know. But I hope so.  

nothing seems different today; it's not like Earth suddenly reverses its rotation, and there's still no winter in the tropics!

but I want to move on... because (the) time is mine.

sustainability science and practice

sharing with you our article that's just come out in Architecture Malaysia (published by the Persatuan Arkitek Malaysia).

I love this article. The pictures and diagrams are really amazing!

composing in Malaysia

it's been nearly a month since I came back. I have to admit that it's been really difficult to keep up with the things going on around me...

Today I took some time to say hello to old friend, Yasmin Rasyid, at her Ecofilm fest in Universiti Malaya. It's already the fourth time that Yasmin is successfully organising this annual event (which is her brainchild).

I must also mention that I met with former student, Wong Pui May, who was 'manning' her Traffic booth. Pui May looked as bright as usual and I think she's doing a great job for the wildlife.

Lunch in Bangsar at a place that looked more like a museum than a restaurant. The food tasted like something that I would have at a friend's place. Lovely place.

Recently, I went to Miri to collect firefly specimens for my student to take to Finland (for research OK). Musa Masbah and Faisal Musa were our hosts there.

A melanau woman trying to sell ikan pari to me... just moments before the men landed the catch onto the jetty and this pasar is located right beside the jetty and the sellers were mostly women.

pictures i took on the bus ride to BOKU

Bus 37A from Spitelau to BOKU.
The incinerator designed by a famous architect Hunderwasser. When I first saw it I didn't immediately recognize that it's the building that I'd seen many times before in the textbook that we used to teach EMG3001 (Man & Environment), but something about the design really piqued my interest and then (several hours later) it registered in my adled brain.

The tram right in the middle of the intersection.

Notice the climber (plant!) going up the building facade? Cool.

Traffic jam (it's everywhere). The red brick longish building is actually a bridge for the metro (subway) train. It was designed by Otto Wagner of the Secession School (Art Decor).

Cement mixer. Yes, construction is everywhere.

The bus and the passenger in front of me.

cold

I caught a cold, I suspect, a few days ago when I arrived but I somehow managed to ignore it until it gets bad enough that I just have to take a rest for this weekend. Yesterday I went sight seeing with a colleague from BOKU and since she's a very knowleagable Viennese I really enjoyed her as my tour guide. Yes, the best or quickest way to get to know a place is by going around with a local (or locals). Then you should go again to see these places on your own and see if you could find new things (meaning/ interpretation/experiences) on your own.

But I digress (just blame the flu virus in my body). Actually I'd like to use this space right now to tell you that I'm in Austria as an Erasmus Mundus scholar (within the framework of Eurasia 2 program). This is a 'cool' (not cold) program that allows Asian scholars (students and faculty) to travel to European universities to study. In my case I'm based at the University of Natural Resources and Life Science (BOKU), specifically at the Institute of Landscape Planning (ILAP). At ILAP, I am sharing knowledge and learning from my Austrian supervisor and colleagues about landscape ecology/planning and gender mainstreaming. It's been really exciting because I'm doing something different from what I was doing before - but not altogether different because landscape planning is very closely related to ecology; and gender issues have always attracted my interest for as long as I can remember. In fact I took a course called Women's studies at Indiana University when I did my English program (JPA-ATU-IU circa '93) and already learned a lot about gender issues back then. I remembered being the only Malaysian in a class of perhaps 20 American university students, and I was just graduating from highschool.

Again I digress. My mobility program (that's what they call the Erasmus program) involves field trips, discussions, presentation/ formal conversation, writing papers, attending workshop and conference. The field trips really are great - I simply call them sight seeing and I tell you, Vienna was made for sight seeing.

This whole thing would not have been possible without the help of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)/Erasmus Mundus Eurasia 2 program. I'm thankful to so many people (the people at the International Office UPM; the international Office at BOKU; and the Institute of Landscape Planning BOKU) who've worked hard to ensure that people like myself have the opportunity to explore a different experience. My colleagues at ILAP really take good care of myself - the lunches are great so don't stop cooking! *I deliberately don't mention names but you know who you are*