The Stairwell rant

7.7.7 is my wedding, but it's also a Green Green day for Philips. In case you haven't heard, you can bring in two used tungsten light bulbs and bring it to Menara Axis (near Asia Jaya Putra LRT station) to swap for two brand new Philips Energy saving ones.

Which brings me to the point of this post. At a recent media event we organised to help raise some awareness that the world is getting hotter (did you feel it too?) and that this was tied to the amount of electricity you were using, Dr. Rajah Kumar from Philips mentioned he was helping save electricity by using the stairs instead of the elevator. Wow! I was inspired.

So, I've taken to the habit of walking up to my office (4 floors up) instead of taking the elevator. Save the world and lose a few pounds of flubber -what's there not to like? Well, it isn't such a rosy idea in Malaysia, I guess. Because the stairwell at my office happens to be the favourite hangout joint for the Midvalley smokers' club.

Darn it, people! Don't you get it? You can't smoke inside buildings...full stop. The tenancy agreement forbids you to smoke in stairwells too! Oh, and, building management, how are we supposed to use the stairwells to get up to our offices without choking to death in smog?

The problem isn't just in Midvalley. Back in Mont'Kiara there was this problem too and of course, in various other offices I've visited. Which then leads me to wonder, wasn't there some very stern legislation passed about smoking in public places? Where's the enforcement?