Growing forests: A doable venture

Grow a forest: Mature trees at Tengku Anis Hospital, Pasir Puteh, Kelantan (picture taken in 2018). — Picture provided

MY husband and I are KLites who decided to move to Melaka to settle down in 2012, as we could buy an affordable bungalow here. All around our house we have planted a good variety of shade trees and flowering plants as well as fruit- bearing ones. As we sat on the patio surrounded by our little forest, complete with dangling vines, the recent haze episode with API (Air Pollutant Index) readings of 120 to 180 didn’t seem to exist. But once we stepped out of our green enclave, the haze hit us as hard as it did everyone else.

A letter I saw in a daily said “Our jungles need a break from human activity to heal”. Indeed, the letter writer is right, but human greed is more prevalent than the logical thinking of a 16-year-old Greta Thunberg who leads students globally on weekly “climate strikes”.