Cleaning up our green haven
When they walk, Kovin and his band of intrepid hikers learn plenty of sobering lessons.
People who walk these trails leave every imaginable form of garbage along the way, stuffing all sorts of refuse from discarded pots and pans to styrofoam boxes that are scattered amidst scenic spots and lie floating amongst rivers’ fishes.
He points out that there’s zero reason to wait for everything to fall apart to begin to properly protect the only sources of fresh water, fragile biodiversity, and freely bequeathed beauty that will sustain Malaysians for generations to come.
“With declining returns from oil and gas which will continue to decline in net value when we factor in increasing environmental costs and the coming efficiency of renewable energy sources, nature is ever more precious,” he says.
“What does this teach about us as individuals, and about the state’s long-term public message, infrastructure and plan regarding waste management and nature?” wonders 21-year-old Khoo Chong Yang, who along with Kovin, founded Glimpse of Malaysia.
“We had to do something,” he adds pointing to the garbage bag in hand. “And so we did. We decided to include trail cleanups as part of our hiking programmes.”
“Let’s go!” beckons Kovin, and so a small group of us walk up further through the little slip road, where the boom gate up ahead is where we’ll be descending down to the trail that leads to the waterfall.
Wait Descending? I stare at Khoo in hor I conquered the first hurdle of descent by hanging onto someone’s arm for dear life.
“You told me it was going to be flat terrain,” I mutter mutinously and Kovin grins in response. Navigating through rocks, we come across a gurgling river that we need to cross.
“It’s time to get your feet wet!” says 24 year old Jeremy Tan Hou Jie gleefully I mourn my brand new shoes as I gingerly step into the cold water. Navigating across isn’t as difficult as I thought. The water level isn’t that high — the current swirls around my ankles.
But my shoes are drenched along with my new socks. As with part of my pants. This adventure is turning out to be a lot more challenging (and a lot wetter) than I expected.
“There’s something else up ahead that is hike interesting!” promises walk up again. Walking uphill d the boys are ever so thoughtneed u help?” asks Tan soliciyet,” I pant in response. ’r navigating through the unduthe il , boys start clearing out the ubbish that mars the beautiful ore us. th Kovin, Khoo and Tan, the two s — filmmaker Kenny Ng Khai hotographer Liew Chin Woon d our little excursion to clean up the trail leading to the Sungai Pisang waterfall. One bag of garbage is filled within a few minutes.
“It’s an opportunity to contribute to the effort to clean up and restore a little bit of the environment,” says Ng, adding: “It’s an enormous task, but every little bit helps.”
Up ahead, once we’d navigated past a slippery rocky ledge, I see what appears to be what Tan promised — one of the highlights of the hike.
The muted roars of passing cars above the hard-to-miss landmark competes with the gurgling stream below. The twin tunnels from which Sungai Pisang flows through look dark and forbidding. Beyond it lies the much talked-about waterfall. But
We want to motivate as many people as possible to pick up litter from the forests and work towards a future where nature is kept clean. Kovin Sivanaswaran