MODULE: MPU 2332/MORAL

LECTURER NAME: JAY DEE ALLEN

DATE: 15TH MARCH 2016
DIAN BATO-002F11115
CHARISSE YAP XIAO TENG-002F11714
LEE YI SIN-001F11014
PIONG YUYU-005F11014
CHIA JING HENG-001F11714
WERN JUIN-002F11014

Introduction
Pollution is a major problem in Malaysia, especially when it comes to air
pollution. Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that
causes adverse changes. Air pollution is one of the most noticeable pollutions in
Malaysia other than water pollution, land pollution or noise pollution to name a few. Air
pollution occurs when gasses, dust particles, and fumes are introduced to the natural
environment that is harmful to humans, animals, and plants.
As the years have passed by Malaysias haze that happens everyday third
quarter of the year which is late August and early September has gotten worst. The haze
that recently passed was one of the thickest and longest. Schools were closed for weeks
and people of a working class could not continue their regular routine. The haze that
occurs during the third quarter of the year is usually caused by forest fires and also
emission from factories.
There are many things we can do to help reduce the air pollution in Malaysia.
For instance, instead of driving two cars to the same workplace, we could carpool when
convenient or even take public transport, walk or take a bike if the destination is in short
walking or biking distance. These are the things we can do as Malaysian citizens to
reduce the air pollution before it gets worst and before its too late.

Types Of Environmental Issues

INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION
Industrial pollution is the contamination of the environment by businesses,
particularly plants and factories, that dump waste products into the air and
water. Industrial waste is one of the largest contributors to the global pollution problem
endangering people and the environment.
Industrial pollution is the air, water, and chemical pollution caused by
industries. There has always been pollution. Industrial pollution began when our country
went through the Industrial Revolution. Most all parts of the world are affected in some
way by industrial pollution. Big cities with steel mills, power plants, heating plants, or
railroad stations feel the direct effects of industrial pollution. The smog, smell, and
contamination of food or water are some direct effects. Remote areas of the world are
affected indirectly by industrial pollution. Even though the people in these communities
may not live near any factories, plants, etc. they still are affected. The air pollution
caused by the industries can carry for many miles (World Book, 338).
WATER POLLUTION
Water pollution occurs when a body of water is adversely affected due to the
addition of large amounts of materials to the water. The sources of water pollution are
categorized as being a point source or a non-source point of pollution. Point sources of
pollution occur when the polluting substance is emitted directly into the waterway. A
pipe spewing toxic chemicals directly into a river is an example. A non-point source
occurs when there is runoff of pollutants into a waterway, for instance when fertilizer
from a field is carried into a stream by surface runoff.
More to this, water pollution affects not only individual living species, but also
populations and entire functioning ecosystems that exists in the waters. Humans have
now realized the importance of clean water as a foundation for life. In recent times,
more and more organizations and councils are working hard to educate, protect, restore
waterways and encourage practices that help waters from contamination, and also to
preserve water ecosystems from destruction.

AIR POLLUTION
According to businessdictionary.com (2016), air pollution described as the
mixture of air that contains gases, dust, fumes or biological molecules that can cause
disease, which is harmful to the living organisms and the environment. Air pollution in
Malaysia divides into two groups, Firstly, the exhaust gas from mobile emission sources.
For example, the exhaust gas from the vehicles, especially, in urban area like Kuala
Lumpur, Johor, Selangor and Penang. Secondly, the haze caused by the industrial
activities and forest fires in the neighbouring country, Indonesia.
Mobile emission sources are the main concern of air pollution. According to
malaysiakini.com (1997), there are about 1.9 million tons of carbon monoxide gas (CO)
and a total of 377,000 tons of other gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons
(HC), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter are released by the motor vehicles in
Malaysia. Besides, the mean values between the year of 1993 to 1997 have shown that
about 81% of all air pollutions are released from the motor vehicles.
According to the Environment, D. o. (2011), there were 21.25 million
registered motor vehicles on the road in 2010 as compared to the year 2009 which is
approximately 19 million, with the total increase of 11.74%. The problem became more
critical as the number of motor vehicles is increasing each year. As a result, urban areas
like Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley exposed to high levels of particulate matter, which
is measured as PM10, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide due to the heavy motor vehicle
traffic. In addition, the Ministry of transport Malaysia is encountered another problem,
which is the black smoke that released from the diesel motor vehicles, as they have
received numerous complaints from the public.
On the other hand, haze in Malaysia became the second major issue of air
pollution. Haze on an unprecedented scale occurred in last June to the end of October
due to the huge forest fires that blazed in Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia. Also,
the school closures due to the haze, where it exceeded the hazardous level of 500 on
the Air Pollutant Index (API) in late September 2015 (thestar.com.my, 2015). Haze has a
huge impact on various aspects. for example, it has affected the economy in certain
areas, health, transportation services, tourism, the fishing industry and so on. This has
caused the government to subsequently ban all open burning activity in Malaysia.

WASTE PROBLEMS
Solid waste can be defined as the useless and unwanted products in the
solid state derived from the activities of and discarded by society. According to Global
Environment Centre (2016), just as children depend on their parents for shelter and
sustainability, mankind depends on the environment to sustain their lives. The
environment consists of every single living being on Earth, from the smallest
microorganism to the giant whale that swims in the depths of the ocean.
Solid waste is one of the three major environmental problems in Malaysia. It
plays a significant role in the ability of Nature to sustain life within its capacity.
Currently, over 23,000 tonnes of waste is produced each day in Malaysia. However, this
amount is expected to rise to 30,000 tonnes by the year 2020. The amount of waste
generated continues to increase due to the increasing population and development, and
only less than 5% of the waste is being recycled.
Despite the massive amount and complexity of waste produced, the standards
of waste management in Malaysia are still poor. These include outdated and poor
documentation of waste generation rates and its composition, inefficient storage and
collection systems, disposal of municipal wastes with toxic and hazardous waste,
indiscriminate disposal or dumping of wastes and inefficient utilization of disposal site
space. Rivers represent the lease of life which pulses through the earth. It is a finite and
only source of water. In Malaysia, there are almost 1800 rivers. Sadly, more than half of
these rivers have been polluted and destroyed. Improper solid waste management
contributes greatly to river pollution.
DEFORESTATION
Malaysia had the worlds highest rate of forest loss between 2000 and 2012,
according to new global forest map developed in partnership with Google. Malaysias
total forest loss during the period amounted to 14.4 percent of its year 2000 forest cover.
The loss translates to 47,278 square kilometre, an area larger than Denmark.
According to Mongabay (2013), Malaysias forest loss was partly offset by a
25,978 square km gain in vegetation cover resulting from natural recovery, reforestation,

and establishment of industrial timber and oil palm plantations. During the
period, Malaysias oil palm estate grew by roughly 50 percent or 17,000 square km. But
tree plantations dont stack up well to natural forests into terms of biodiversity, carbon
storage, or maintenance of ecosystem services, indicating that Malaysia suffered very
extensive decline of its natural capital base.

Environmental Ethics
1.

Industrial Pollution

Management of Industrial Pollution

The way of reduce the industrial pollution is reducing the consumption or usage of a
polluting product. To let the industries reduce the pollution, consumers and government
take the important rule. According to King and Lenox (2002), industries will increase
the efficiency and the financial performance when preventing pollution in the production
process by reducing the use of pollutants. However, the consumer pressure will develop
the awareness of the pollution problems by the industries.
Law and Regulation of Industrial Pollution
Government should spread the environmental regulation to the industries. In the
environmental regulation, government may increase the tax that needs to pay by the
industries based on how much pollute they emit. Hence, the industries will find ways to
reduce the pollution to lower the tax. A slogan Reduce pollution saves money may
spread to the industries. Next, consumers may reject and refuse to buy the products that
causing the pollution. The industry will decrease to manufacture the product when the
sale is drop.
2.

Water Pollution

Management of Water Pollution

In the past few years, Boyan Slat has designed a passive system for concentrating and
catching plastic debris driven by ocean currents. His team has more than thousands of
voluntary researchers around the world. Slats invention is focused on how recycled
plastic can be made into oil. Besides, Slat believed that the Pacific Garbage Patch will
collect 70 million kg of plastic waste in 10 years of time (Stat, 2013).
The Malaysian government can promote and raise awareness of the issue of water
pollution to the public and spread the benefits and opportunity of The National
Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM) plan in the future of Malaysia.

3.

Air Pollution

Ethics in Research
The government-funded research projects encourage the exploring of methods of clean
electric transportation, in order to reduce the air pollution. It can reduce the use of fossil
fuels, therefore reducing the pollution. It will also decrease the unwanted product when
using the electric vehicles, such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide
which will bring harmful to the environment. Besides, use the carbon credit system to
against the pollutants also another way to reduce the air pollution. Carbon credit system
is a system that reduces the carbon dioxide or carbon dioxide equivalent gases from
atmosphere.
Law and Regulation of Air Pollution
On the other hand, to ensure the quotes of polluters, a punishment should be made and
give a clearly standard. Moreover, government should give strict requirement to those
factories which release the air pollutants to install the air scrubbers. An air scrubber is
important to protect human live. The emission of the pollutants such as aerosols, carbon
monoxide and sulfur dioxide will bring effect to the chemical balance of the ecosystems
and the survivability of the species. Hence, government should pay attention and give
the strict rules to decrease the air pollutants that release from factories.
Management of Air Pollution
According to Design Recycle Inc (2010), LED lights are known to be 50 percent more
efficient than fluorescent lights and 90 percent more efficient than the incandescent
bulbs. LED light use 70-90 percent less energy, as compared to the fluorescent lights and
incandescent bulbs. The less energy use can reduce the burning of fossil fuels and lead
to the reducing of the emission of carbon dioxide. So, use the LED lights to replace the
fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs can reduce the air pollution and energy
consumption if replacing the fluorescent lights and incandescent bulbs with LED lights.

4.

Waste Problems

Law and regulation of waste problems

In order to reduce the issue of waste problems, the government should focus and
implement law and regulations of waste problems. For example, the government should
set rules to against people who thrown garbage into the river, sea or illegally landfilling
as well as incinerator.
Waste Management
Waste management is a crucial area related to the economic status of a country and
the lifestyle of its population. The main objective is to improve waste minimization
strategy and control. There are various ways to improvise and manage waste
management in our country. For example, research has shown that about two-thirds of
household wastes can be composted by using reduction and reuse techniques that can be
found in social network, such as D.I.Y, to create or design something useful to
convenient daily life (Duke University from North Carolina of United States,

).

Additionally, apartment management could built up guests interest in urban gardening,

motivate them effectively utilize food scrapes in composting every once a week, so that
the food scrapes would not grow worms and become stinky. Moreover, composting is
one of the best methods of waste disposal as it can turn unsafe organic products into safe
compost. Hence, it is suitable for every household to educate children about natural
process and farming skills.
5.

Deforestation

Law and Regulation of Deforestation

To solve the deforestation problem, government plays an important rule. Government
should fine the developer which did not have permit to cutting down the tress. A tax also
can be use to limit the developer which developer needs pay the higher tax based on how
much they do deforestation. Additionally, the trees should be growing back after cutting
down. Government should spread the effect of deforestation to public to gain the
peoples insight therefore people could know the important of trees and avoid to simply
cutting down.

Ways To Reduce Pollution

Industrial Pollution
The way of reduce the industrial pollution is reducing the consumption or usage of a
polluting product. To let the industries reduce the pollution, consumers and government
take the important rule. According to King and Lenox (2002), industries will increase
the efficiency and the financial performance when preventing pollution in the production
process by reducing the use of pollutants. However, the consumer pressure will develop
the awareness of the pollution problems by the industries. Government should spread the
environmental regulations to the industries. In the environmental regulations,
government may increase the tax that needs to pay by the industries based on how much
pollute they emit. Hence, the industries will find ways to reduce the pollution to lower
the tax. A slogan Reduce pollution saves money may spread to the industries. Next,
consumers may reject and refuse to buy the products that causing the pollution. The
industry will decrease to manufacture the product when the sale is drop.
Water Pollution
For the modern society of large quantities of chemical contaminants, the flow rate of the
river is almost no effect. In many cases, people will feel the rapid flow of river water to
absorb more contaminants, it seems to have the ability to purify. In fact, this is an
illusion, fast flowing water use to add a lot of clean water, mainly dilute the
concentration rather purify polluted water bodies. However, the society arbitrarily put in
garbage, radioactive solid, sewage and toxic to pollute rivers and oceans.
According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in the past 30
to 40 years, millions of tons of plastic had been put into the ocean. Global production of
plastic per year currently to 288 million tons, of which 10% goes into the ocean, among
80% were comes from the land, through the sewers, though rivers and eventually into
the sea.
In the past few year, Boyan Slat (2013) has designed a passive system for concentrating
and catching plastic debris driven by ocean currents. This won a prize for Best Technical
Design at Delft University of Technology. Initially he contact with almost 300 company
and government aquaculture department to sponsor implement his study to change the
ocean, yet only one private company willing to put a bet on this 17 year young boy. In

2013 March 26, his talk in TEDx suddenly as viral spreading around the world. Today,
his team has more than thousands of voluntary researcher around the world. Slat (2013)
invention could recycled plastic, and some can be made into oil. After Slat (2013)
preliminary calculations, he believes in the Pacific Garbage Patch, in ten years time to
collect 70 million kg of plastic waste. However, his invention its considered there is still
more space to upgrade.
In fact, Malaysia has a lot of talented person, government could openly invited or gather
someone with creative ideas and invention to challenge National Invention Award
such as in China and United State. Since it promote the youngest generation makes more
opportunity with people in different field to invest on them. In addition, government
could promote the water pollution information to public and spread the benefits and
opportunity of The National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM) plan
in the future of Malaysia.
Air Pollution
To reduce the air pollution, the government-funded research projects should be
encourages exploring the methods of clean electric transportation. It can reduce the use
of fossil fuels, therefore reducing the pollution. It will also decrease the unwanted
product when using the electric vehicles, such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxide which will bring harmful to the environment. Besides, use the carbon
credit system to against the pollutants also another way to reduce the air pollution.
However, to ensure the quotes of polluters, a punishment should be made and give a
clearly standard.
According to Design Recycle Inc (2010), LED lights are known to be 50 percent more
efficient than fluorescent lights and 90 percent more efficient than the incandescent
bulbs. So, use the LED lights to replace the fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs can
reduce the air pollution. It will also reduce the energy consumption if replacing the
fluorescent lights and incandescent bulbs with LED lights.
Moreover, government should give strict requirement to those factories which release
the air pollutants to install the air scrubbers. An air scrubber is important to protect
human live. The emission of the pollutants such as aerosols, carbon monoxide and sulfur

dioxide will bring effect to the chemical balance of the ecosystems and the survivability
of the species. Hence, government should pay attention and give the strict rules to
decrease the air pollutants that release from factories.
Waste Problem
To reduce the waste issues people should against the issues of waste recycle, yet to
arbitrarily thrown into river and sea or illegally landfilling and incinerator. Noncombustible and unrecyclable waste were a part of origin severely influences the nature
of water, air and environment and bring chronic disaster to earth. For instances,
unrecyclable solid wastes such as plastic baggies/ tableware, tissue paper, light bulbs
and wastes contain harmful substances as motor oil cans, cardboard containers, paint
cans and so forth chemical that resulting in sewage.
Waste management is a crucial area related to the economic status of a country and the
lifestyle of its population. Waste management is define as all those activities and action
required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. The main objective is to
improve waste minimization strategy and control.
According to Duke University from North Carolina of United States, it declared their
private research approximately two-thirds of household waste can be composted.
There is many reduction and reuse techniques could be find in social network, such as
D.I.Y to create or design something useful to convenient daily life. Additionally,
apartment management could built up guests interest in urban gardening, motivate them
effectively utilize food scrapes in composting every once a week, and so the food
scrapes wont grow worms and become stinky. Composting is one of the best method of
waste disposal as it can turn unsafe organic products into safe compost, so it suitable for
every household to educate children about natural process and farming skills.
Deforestation
To solve the deforestation problem, government plays the important rule. Government
should fine the developer which did not have permit to cutting down the tress. A tax also
can be use to limit the developer which developer needs pay the higher tax based on how
much they do deforestation. Additionally, the trees should be growing back after cutting
down. Government should spread the effect of deforestation to public to gain the

peoples insight therefore people could know the important of trees and avoid to simply
cutting down.

References
Businessdictionary.com. (2016). Air Pollution. Retrieved on 11th February 2016 from
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/air-pollution.html
Environment, D. o. (2011). Malaysia Environmental Quality Report 2010. Malaysia :
Department of Environment.
Malaysiakini.com. (1997). Haze deaths rise as air pollution increases. Retrieved on 11th
February 2016 from https://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/233744
Merriam Webster (2015). Noise Pollution. Retrieved on 11th February 2016 from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/noise%20pollution
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Solid Waste In Malaysia. (2015). Retrieved March 03, 2016, from

http://www.gecnet.info/index.cfm
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Bulbs vs. CFLs. Retrieved 21 November 2011, from
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Sarah Benton Feitlinger (2015). Twenty-Year-Old Boyan Slat Takes On The Monumental Task
Of Cleaning Our Oceans. Retrieved on 13 February 2016, from
http://www.dogonews.com/2015/9/26/twenty-year-old-boyan-slat-takes-on-themonumental-task-of-cleaning-our-oceans
Terrence McCoy (2015). Can the largest cleanup in history save the ocean?. Retrieved on 13
February 2015, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspiredlife/wp/2016/02/01/can-the-largest-cleanup-in-history-save-the-ocean/