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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.

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References

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