Making Cities Cleaner and Greener
Photo Credit: IGEM
Already more than half of the world’s population (54%) lives in towns and cities. That number, according to the UN, could well swell to two-thirds, or 66%, by 2050 when another 2.5 billion people will have been added to urban populations around the planet. The question, though, is just what kind of urban setting many people already live or will live in future. Most of them occupy overcrowded and unhealthy places with high levels of pollution in the soil, air and water.
In Malaysia, the situation is no different, as regular readers of Clean Malaysia well know. Yet progress is being made. Starting today, the three-day International Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition & Conference Malaysia (IGEM), held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, brings together a wide range of environmental companies and experts to discuss ways of making Malaysian cities greener and more livable.
IGEM is the region’s largest trade event for green technologies and eco solutions, where green energy businesses, innovators, investors and policymakers can share ideas, make contacts and hammer out deals. “Over the years,” the organizers say, “IGEM has successfully generated over RM10 Billion in business leads since its initiation in 2010. This I[has been] made possible with the attendance of over 380,000 visitors, including delegates, dignitaries and companies from over 50 countries.”
The theme this year of the annual event, which has been organized by the Malaysian Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, is “powering green cities.” The focus is on alternative energy options for the cities of the future; new types of energy-efficient and electric vehicles; as well as ecofriendly infrastructure materials and designs. Also on show will be innovations that optimize the use of natural resources while minimizing impacts on urban environments.
Better waste management and the adoption of cleaner energy sources are pressing issues in a world where the burning of fossil fuels has caused grave damage to the climate, where many cities have become concrete jungles of endemic air pollution, and where many urban landscapes have lost any resemblance to natural environments apart from a few patches of greenery here and there hemmed in by vast stretches of concrete. We need to start living cleaner and green both for our own sake and for the sake of generations to come.