The difference between a normal and a green person

The term “green” is often used in different situations to describe things that relate to an eco-friendly environment. For example, “green” energy or “green” power is described as an environmentally friendly, typically non-polluting source of energy (Green Power Market, n.d.) and a “green” building is described as “an environmentally sustainable building, designed, constructed and operated to minimize the total environmental impacts.”(Build Green, n.d.).

Then what meaning does it have when we describe a person to be “green” in this case? Does it mean that the person is green in colour? Or is he/she a greenhorn at work? No. In this case, we refer to a “green person” who is living green, where “living green means making choices in our day-to-day lives that enhance, rather than just reduce, our impact on the environment, and that move us in the direction of a sustainable lifestyle—one that is ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just, and humane.”(Living Green, 2007).

One will be able to identify a “green” person from a “normal” person when they are placed together, as a “green” person’s attitude towards consumption and lifestyle is different from a “normal” person. Some of the attributes that will be discussed in this article to differentiate these two types of people are their different attitude towards recycling, utilizing of eco-friendly products in their environment and their enthusiasm for planting and greenery.

A “green” person and a “normal” person displays different attitude towards recycling; we can see this by the way they treat their disposable items, goods or materials. For example, with a plastic bottle, a “normal” person usually finishes the contents of a plastic bottle and throws it away in a normal trash bin. A “green” person, however, recycles the bottle by reusing it as a container or a water bottle until it can’t be reused than dispose it in the recycle bin for plastics (Rogers & Kostigen, 2007). This shows that compared to a “normal” person, a “green” person will always try to reuse and recycle whatever he uses.

A “green” person tries to utilize more eco-friendly products than a “normal” person. For example, a “green” person prefers to use gas grills when having BBQs to cut down on the amount of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds¹) generated by the grills, whereas a “normal” person will use any type of grill available as long as it is convenient for him/her (Cohens, n.d.). The reason why a “green” person prefers gas grills over other types of grills is because the gas grill produces much less CO2 than other types of grills. Again, this shows the difference between a “green” person and a “normal” person.

Another difference that can be found between a “green” person and a “normal” person is the enthusiasm for planting and greenery a “green” person has. While a “normal” person may know planting as a form of leisure, a “green” person will know that planting trees and more greenery help to purify the air and combat the greenhouse effect. As was stated in TreePeople (n.d.), “Trees absorb carbon dioxide, removing and storing the carbon while releasing the oxygen back into the air”. In addition to the knowledge of the benefits that plants and greenery have for nature, a “green” person usually owns a garden that houses a variety of plants and flora which he/she will maintain with care and dedication. Therefore, one should be able to find more greenery and plants around a “green” person’s environment than that of a “normal” person’s.

In conclusion, just by comparing the above differences between a “green” person and a “normal” person, we will notice that a “normal” person is one who is likely to forgo the small details that can help save the environment, whereas a “green” person is one who is eco-friendly and environmentally conscious of themselves and the place they live in.

^NOTE

¹Volatile Organic Compounds ^– Volatile organic compounds are compounds that have a high vapor pressure and low water solubility. (U.S. Geological Survey. n.d.)

Reference

Build Green (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2008 from

http://www.buildgreen.co.nz/definition.html

Cohen, M. (n.d.). Energy efficient homes. Green building - "The Green Person".

Retrieved March 12, 2008, from

http://www.energyefficienthomearticles.com/Article/green-building----The-Green-Person-/2599

Rogers, E., & Kostigen, T.M. (2007). The green book: The everyday guide to saving the planet one simple step at a time. New York: Three Rivers Press

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, (n.d.). Green Power Market: Green power defined.

Retrieved March 1, 2008 from

http://www.epa.gov/grnpower/gpmarket/index.htm

Living Green (2007, January). What does "living green" mean?

Retrieved March 14, 2008, from

http://www.livinggreen.org/livinggreen.cfm

TreePeople (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2008, from

http://www.treepeople.org/vfp.dll?OakTree~getPage~&PNPK=59

U.S Geological Survey (n.d.). Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Retrieved February 19, 2008,from

http://toxics.usgs.gov/definitions/vocs.html

Timed Paragraph

Singapore, being a small and urban city, is always trying to find better ways and means of disposing its trash. Currently, the country’s method of disposing waste is by landfills, a process of dumping waste at an large empty site, but just disposing trash by landfills is not enough, as it takes up much precious land and pollutes the environment around it. Therefore, a better approach would be to instead of just disposing trash, recycling it.

A feasible approach is by using the zero-waste system. It is a system that allows the items we use in our daily lives to be highly recyclable, which would reduce the amount of items needed to be disposed off. As the objective of the zero-waste system is to produce majority of the consumable products we use in our daily lives using materials that are recyclable, reusable and repairable.

This is more environmentally friendly and economically profitable as daily used items and products like coke bottles, computer casings, plastic utensils and bags, if made using recyclable material can be collected after used and remade into new products to be used or sold.

Therefore, it would be advisable for our government not to stick to only one method of disposing waste, but to incorporate this zero-waste system as a means of reducing waste which will in time reduce the amount of waste being dumped in landfills altogether.

Kawaii!! dancing droids!!

School project, revision, family issues, etc........

Yet again, it was another hectic day but i survived, so i decided reward myself by taking a break and go net surfing. While staring a the monitor, I was thinking to myself "what should i do after checking my mails?" thats when 'a stroke of genius' occurred and i thought "lets go to youtube and scan for some interesting videos!"(no pron! mind you....)

So without delay, i ran through my mails and opened a tab in my firefox web browser and typed "youtube" on the Google search engine. Once at youtube, a particular video under the list of 'videos being watched now' caught my eye, it was video featuring the cast(mini-version) of the vocaloid dancing to the tune call "caramelldansen".

After watching the video, i found that the characters was so Kawaii!! so i thought i should share this video with all. So here it is:




For those who are curious, "vocaloid is a vocal-synthesizing software that enables song writers to generate authentic-sounding singing on their PCs by simply typing in the lyrics and music notes of their compositions. The software synthesizes the sound from "vocal libraries" of recordings of actual singers, retaining the vocal qualities of the original singing voices to reproduce realistic vocals"(vocaloid, n.d.). The characters that are featured in the video mostly come their second application vocaloid2.
The song caramelldansen is sung by a Swedish artist named caramell. For some reason, this song has seen some hype in the network as there is even a website setup for it.

reference:
Vocaloid (n.d.). Retrieved April 2 , 2008 from

http://www.vocaloid.com/en/index.html

extra information:

http://www.caramelldansen.com/node

difference between a normal and a green person

The term “green” is often used in different situations to describe things that relate to an eco-friendly environment. For example, “green” energy is described as an environmentally friendly, typically non-polluting source of energy. Then what meaning does it have when we describe a person to be “green” in this case? Does it mean that the person is green in colour? Or is he/she a greenhorn at work? No. In this case, we refer to a “green person” as an environmentally-friendly, eco-friendly or nature-friendly person. One will be able to identify a “green” person and a “normal” person when they are placed together as a “green” person’s attitude towards consumption is different to that of a “normal” person. Some these differences are, attitude towards recycling, utilizing of eco-friendly products in their environment and their love for greenery.

A “green” person and a “normal” person display different attitudes towards recycling; we can see this by the way they treat their disposable items, goods or materials. For example, a plastic bottle, a “normal” person would usually finish the contents of a plastic bottle and throw it away in a normal trash bin. A “green” person, however, would recycle the bottle by reusing it as a container or a water bottle until it degenerates than dispose it in the recycle bin for plastics (Elizabeth & Thomas, 2007). This shows that compared to a “normal” person, a “green” person will always try to reuse and recycle whatever he uses.

A “green” person will try to utilize more eco-friendly products than a “normal” person. For example, a “green” person would prefer to use gas grills when having BBQs to cut down on the amount of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds¹) generated by the grills whereas, a “normal” person would just use any grill as long as it is convenient for him/her. The reason why a “green” person would prefer gas grills over other types of grills is because the gas grill produces much less CO2 than other types of grills.

Another difference that can be found between a “green” person and a “normal” person is the enthusiasm for planting and greenery a “green” person has. While a “normal” person may know planting as a from of leisure, a “green” person on will know that planting trees and more greenery helps to purify the air and combat the greenhouse effect as it was stated in TreePeople (n.d.): “Trees absorb carbon dioxide, removing and storing the carbon while releasing the oxygen back into the air”. Therefore, one should be able to find more greenery and plants in a “green” person house than that of a “normal” person’s house.

Therefore, when we compare a “green” person and a “normal” person, we will notice that a “normal” person is likely to produce more waste that’s harmful to the environment, whereas a “green” person is one who is eco-friendly and environmentally conscious of themselves and the place they live in.

^NOTE

¹Volatile Organic Compounds ^- Volatile organic compounds are compounds that have a high vapor pressure and low water solubility. “U.S. Geological Survey” (n.d.)

Reference

Elizabeth, R. and Thomas, M.K. (2007) The green book: The everyday guide to saving the planet one simple step at a time. New York: Three Rivers Press

TreePeople (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2008, from http://www.treepeople.org/vfp.dll?OakTree~getPage~&PNPK=59

U.S Geological Survey (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2008 from

http://toxics.usgs.gov/definitions/vocs.html

Review for Article "Saving nature, but only for man" by Charles Krauthammer

After reading the article on "Saving nature, but only for man" by Charles Krauthammer, i cant help but to get this impression that the author is trying to tell us that we should freely exploit the earth's resources regardless of the aftermath it might bring.

By using the survival of man as its means of justification, like "the livelihood for for 30,000 logging families"(Charles,K. , 2000), Charles is trying to say that logging is the right thing to do, but without a forest to begin with, there's nothing to log! The fact is due to global warming, forest fires and logging, major forests are being reduced to plains. If the situation continues, not only the owls but even humans will be in danger. As trees play a vital rule in reducing CO2, a catalyst to greenhouse effect. Just image, if all major forest were really to be logged, not only the owls but we will be in danger due to the greenhouse effect.

Although i believe Charles has the intentions of people in mind but i don't think i can totally agree with his view of things. The fact is people are simply borrowing the world and not returning. If is continues, we will eventually find ourselves living on scorched earth.(think of the movie "the chronicles of raddick") We must not forget that nature is not something some could just create. As we borrow form our earth we must not forget to return.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Charles,K. (n.d). Saving Nature, But Only for Man. Handout given by Brad,B

Catalysts for climate change in Singapore

One of the main catalysts for climate change in Singapore is the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) as Singapore was one of the top countries in the 1990’s for total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Base on a report by Earthtrends (2003), the primary factors that contribute to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions came from the excessive use of liquid fuels, mainly the use of petroleum products. Sixty percent of these carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions were generated by electricity and heat production.

The negative impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on our country is visible in many ways. Some of these effects are the warming temperatures and rising sea levels. If the situation is left unaddressed, Singapore will have more problems other than just the rising of temperature and sea level to deal with. Land loss, heat stress and public health impact from resurgence of diseases are just some of the upcoming problems Singapore will face if carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions continue to escalate.

Therefore, it is imperative that Singapore acts now and come up with solutions to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in our country. If our country is steadfast with their preventive measures, we should be able to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and in the process improve the country’s eco-status.

Reference

Climate and Atmosphere—Singapore (2003), EarthTrends.wri.org,

http://earthtrends.wri.org/pdf_library/country_profiles/cli_cou_702.pdf

Save the Moon Bears

As forests in the world are being logged, many bears in the world face extinction. In Asia, the Asiatic black bear is one of them. Asiatic Black Bear, a.k.a. Tibetan black bear or Moon Bear is a medium sized, black-colored bear with a distinctive white or cream patch that represents a "V" marking on its chest. The Asiatic black bear can be found in the eastern Asia regions in forested areas like hills and mountainous regions, but it’s facing the threat of extinction due to deforestation, hunting and habitat loss. The World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) has already listed these bears as ‘vulnerable’ under their Red List of Threatened Animals. So is there any way to prevent their impending danger?

Fortunately, it is not a dead end for these animals. Apparently, steps can be taken to prevent them from extinction. For example, the respective government bodies should restrict logging to some areas of the forest regions to protect their natural habitat. Other way of preserving these bears would be to substantially lessen the demand for bear products, and thus reduce hunting and trade. The respective governments could also propose a protected area for these bears to live in.

Therefore, it's not a dead end for the Asiatic black bear as measures can be taken to prevent them from being extinct. If the prevention measures are implemented successfully, I believe that the Asiatic black bears can be saved from extinction.

Reference

The World Conservation Union (http://www.iucn.org)

How do poeple spend Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year can be viewed as one of the long holidays in Singapore. Having two and a half days to celebrate including Chinese New Year's Eve, it's one of the busiest times for traditional Chinese as they will be preparing the usher in a happy lunar new year.

A traditional Chinese starts to prepare way before Chinese New Year. When the Chinese New Year Eve is here they would have their reunion dinner. On the first day of the New Year, A traditional Chinese will travel around the land visiting relatives and praying at temples. On the second day, traditional families will gather and go enjoy the festival that has been setup.

Well I'm Chinese, but not to the traditional sense. Therefore, some of the things I to do on Chinese New Year includes reading comics and manga, watching animation, clearing my room, sleeping, eating reunion dinner, etc..
What about others? Singapore is not just a 'traditional Chinese populated nation’; there are other people of different countries, race or religion who don't really celebrate Chinese New Year the traditional way. "Than what should I do with this long break?" they think to themselves.

I think some of the things they may do are to travel, for example foreign workers may take the chance to go back to their own country to visit their own relatives. Other locals may like to take the chance to get some good rest and relax at home, while some may think that is a good chance to catch up on things that they aren’t able to during work.

Well, the bottom line is: “everyone has there own ways of sending Chinese New Year, regardless who we are and where we come from. But no matter what we do, the important thing is that we enjoy this holiday to the fullest”.

So to everyone out there: have a Happy CNY and Best of Luck in this Year of the "RAT"!

Post is edited by Justin Wong.

How the government tackle the water consumption problem

Water, one of the most precious resources in Singapore, is one of the most tapped resources by our people. In the 1950’s, the demand for water was around 142,000 cubic metres per day for our population of about a million people. Now the consumption rate has gone up nine times whereas the population growth increase four times. It is obvious that as our population slowly grows, the amount of water needed to sustain our daily needs escalates as well. Knowing that our nation can’t just rely on importing water and our reservoirs to meet our daily needs, our government came up with a few solutions to improve the situation. Some of these solutions include the Marina Barrage, the desalination of seawater to drinking water and reclamation of used water (NEWater) plus campaigns to promote the importance of water saving.

One of Singapore’s main sources of water supply comes from the reservoirs. In order to increase the local water supplies the government came up with the Marina Barrage. The Marina Barrage is a dam that's under construction by the government across the Marina Channel. It acts as a tide barrier and at the same time creates a fresh water reservoir in the Marina Basin. This new Reservoir will add to the local water supply and increase the water’s catchment from half to two-thirds of Singapore’s supply providing more fresh water.

Other sources that the government is trying to tap are: seawater and used water. First, by putting seawater through a process called desalination, the seawater can be filtered into water for use as additional water supply. Secondly, it is possible to reclaim used water using advanced membrane technology. This reclaimed water (or NEWater) is ultra clean; having been through multi-barrier processes of micro-filtration, reverse osmosis and ultra-violet disinfection. NEWater also provides a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution to increasing water demand.

Besides searching for new water sources, the government also organize campaigns like the ‘save water’ campaign to raise the awareness of citizens on how important it is to save water. Commercials about saving water are also shown on TV. The government also publish websites the "10 Litre Challenge" that educates people on how to save water in a innovative way.

As the government works hard to find more ways to meet the demand of water in our raising population, we as citizens can play a part to and help lower the demand of water by practicing water saving habits. If we work hand in hand, I believe that the water consumption problem will eventually be solved.

Post edited by Justin Wong.

Water and the growing population

The demand for drinking water is on the rise with the increase of population in Singapore. What steps can or has the government take to improve the situation?

Meaning of Life

"What's the meaning of life?" I think the answer to this question differs for everyone. But to be honest with myself, even as I finish this post I may not be able to figure out what is the meaning of life. To me, defining the meaning of life is like solving a differential equation that has no result. Ever since I could think for myself, this has been an unsolved mystery.

When I was young, my teacher in my primary school would say that the meaning of life is to “be honest and good”, in secondary school, my friends would say that “live life to the fullest” is the meaning of life. When I join the working society, the meaning of life was “survive is the cruel world”. As I grew older, the list of possible answers got longer, to the point where I can even make an archive out of them. But it still doesn’t answer my question, what’s the meaning of life?

As I continue to learn new things, see new places and meet new faces, I started thinking to myself, what if this “meaning of life” is something that you can’t define, but have to accumulate? Just like gaining experience in a videogame, maybe the answer to this question will only be found when we reach a certain part of our lives?

Having that thought my mind, it suddenly occur to me that, rather than constantly pondering on this question, why not go with the flow? Maybe in the near future, I will be able to get an answer that can satisfy me and the question.

HI!!

A big HI! to everyone and welcome to my blog. This is the first time I'm posting, so i wouldn't say much. To all my classmate in this course and Mr Blackstone, hope we can all get along well, learn as much as we can and have fun for this semester!