Why are Malaysian cinemas so cold?!

Over the last few years, the issue of climate change has been bleeping ever more insistently on the global radar screen as increasing evidence surfaces to demonstrate that climate change is real and that humans are at least partly responsible.

British people experienced torrential flooding in 2007 and arctic temperatures this winter - prompting wry jokes about the effects of global 'warming'. Malaysians are also experiencing the effects of erratic weather patterns. Unseasonal flooding in Johore in 2007 prompted the well-known cartoonist LAT to wittily respond with a cartoon in the New Straits Times newspaper, depicting two water buffalo near a lake. One water buffalo has just dunked his foot in the water and pulled it out quickly: " Ohh, hot! " he says to his buffalo friend. Jokes aside, the seriousness of the matter is understood and climate change remains firmly in the headlines around the world.

Over the last three years the British High Commission in Malaysia has been running a series of events to raise public awareness of climate change. On 19 January we hosted a forum for about 300 representatives from government, local businesses, universities and civil society, to discuss the outcomes of Copenhagen*. Forum panellists from a diverse background all agreed that Copenhagen had been disappointing.

Gurmit Singh, Chairman of the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development in Malaysia felt "thoroughly disgusted" at the lack of progress. He argued that governments alone cannot be expected to solve the problem and that progress will only happen when we all take responsibility for the energy we use. Dr Lian of the Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment felt the negotiating process at Copenhagen was not transparent or inclusive enough and was saddened that more was not achieved. Business figures seemed to be far more optimistic about matters. Geoffrey WIlliams of OWW Consulting was literally "bristling with optimism" and felt that the private sector was well placed to raise substantial funds to tackle climate change.

I agreed that the British government shared the frustration felt by the panellists at the lack of progress at Copenhagen. Although a legally binding Treaty failed to materialise and commitments to cut emissions were not forthcoming, other issues such as significant comittments on finance and the Copenhagen Accord* must surely be seen as a step forward.

The questions that followed the forum reflected great interest, with thoughtful musings offered from all sides of the room. I left feeling I had learned a great deal from the discussions and reflected on Gurmit's call for us all to make more of an effort to be 'green'. My personal aims will be:

1) to make an effort to turn off the lights (this reminds me of UK papers reporting amusing imagery of HM The Queen stalking corridors to switch off the lights after her staff have negligently left them on!)

2) to keep the air con at 'moderate' rather than 'Arctic' (why are Malaysian cinemas so cold?!!)

3) to lead the way for the High Commission to join the 10:10 challenge – an ambitious project that aims to unite every sector of British society to achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010: http://www.1010uk.org/

4) to live more sustainably by re-using and recycling. Making good use of leftover food is an excellent place to start and I can recommend an excellent 'Bubble and Squeak' recipe at http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/recipes.

*Copenhagen was a major meeting that took place in Copenhagen in December 2009, which brought together 192 countries from around the world to discuss the steps the international community needs to take to mitigate climate change.

*The Copenhagen Accord was agreed by a group representing 49 developed and developing countries that account for over 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions.