11 posts tagged “environment”
Above: Bumboat ride from Changi Jetty.
Right: Ixora, plentiful along the road in Ubin.
Galls don't just come in green! Infected rubber/tapioca leaves on the left. The leaves in Ubin looked generally a lot unhealthier than both L. Peirce and BTNR. Fallen branches and browning leaves (no, not red young fake ones) everywhere. Many plants had been ravaged by galls.
Chaque jour passé plongée dans la nature est un bien passé.
According to mygreenelectronics.com
Here's what you should get - but only when your old stuff dies on you:
Desktop Computers
Apple iMac, 17-inch, 1.83GHz Dual Core
Apple iMac, 20-inch, 2.0 GHz Dual Core --> these two iMacs use recyclable materials and are energy-efficient
Dell Optiplex Systems --> again, recyclable materials and energy-efficient; however Dell SG seems to be out of stock... check back again later maybe?
Lenovo --> ditto
Hewelett-Packard --> ditto; many models, apparently
Digicams
Sony DSC-W1 and XCL-X700 --> reduction of hazardous materials
The rest is too depressing to go through: either unavailable in Singapore, or just...
For more info, go to the website itself.
According to TreeHugger my personal favourite:
1. Black Google!
Did you know that in less developed countries, their computer monitors are still CRT (Cathode Ray Transmittors)? These emit the three RGB colors. So on a white screen, all three colors have to be emitted, hence the higher number of watts used. Worse still, these CRT monitors make up a quarter of all computers in the world! It works differently on LCD, but anyway making sure the lighting in your environment is comfortable, as Aaron suggests. Go get an energy-efficient colour palette!
2. Watch Live Earth, Idiot!
Live Earth screens on the 07.07.07 which is a Saturday, so no excuses! MediaCorp will - gasp! - be screening the show from 7pm. They even plan to air env-awareness messages. :O I have no idea though whether they're filiming the entire thing or it's just for Tokyo and Shanghai concerts. Hm. Look out for Nunatak, the (only?) band performing on the 7th continent - Antartica.
MORE COMING SOON.
I love Guster 4ever.
Nothing much to say about the past few days I think, except I finally forced myself to admit that the smell of Malboro mixed with pouring rain is nice, reminiscent of nostalgia, if that is possible.
For the hungry people out there, here are three New Scientist articles to feed your interest:
Seal pups are drowning at birth because of a lack of ice cover. When the mother seals have no ice to climb onto, they have to give birth at sea, so the babies die.
Watch what you eat: beware, boys whose mothers who eat beef containing growth hormones (E.U. beef is safe and U.S' is not) during pregnancy will have 3 times higher a chance of having low sperm count.
Hooray! Those in extreme sports can use a ready-made cast to heal their fractures. The bandage, when poured with sodium citrate gel, will react with metal in the cast to crystallize to form a solid. And because the reaction is exothermic, heat is generated to keep the limb warm. Fantastic.
I was very irritated today during the CNY performance. I am amazed at my peers' (if I can call them that) respect for the performers. The loud chatter and noise just made me go ballistic. I was particularly nettled during the Chinese Orchestra performance when two idiots behind me (I do believe they were from 401 - looks) kept screaming for the soloist before the performance. Damnit, if you keep bloody screaming, how's she going to start in the first place? Ever heard of distraction? I don't think RGS students are moronic enough to not understand how to be gracious audiences. But it seems we probably are. The appreciation we show- oh wait, I mean the lack of it- to our schoolmates astounds me.
Whatever.
Today after the uneventful Symposium meeting Zhihui Yingy and I bundled into 190 and set off for Bras Basah Complex, during which I discovered they had no idea how to get there at all. After walking 50m from the CHIJMES bus stop, I paused and asked them, "If I left now, would you know how to get there?" And they both looked immensely puzzled and replied "No", at which Zhihui swung her head upwards at the white building we were standing next to and exclaimed in her trademark "Oh!". This is where I offered a wry smile.
We bought stuff to make our SLI gifts. I got paper and they got crafty things. Shall not elaborate.
Oh, and I finally got my Lithium-ion batteries for my dormant camera. I can finally get around to taking shots and videos. Whoo.
Less importantly, I managed to catch France vs. Ireland, which is like the Clash of the Titans, both of which I have pretend-loyalties to. I decided at the end of the match that I would still support France all the way despite my admiration of Ronan O'Gara because when Vincent Clerc made a last-minute try at 47 minutes in the second half. By then it was 17-18 so France was pretty safe. And of course the try was converted so it become 17-20.
I like the Shins. And Eisley, and I'm slightly alarmed that I can't enough of Ciara's Get Up. I am adamant that it's not the fault of mine because I've been listening it too much, I can't get it out of my head.
I really cannot wait for SLI. I love the dance.
AHA. Just read about this on Grist:
SAVE OUR SELVES (SOS).
They backed out last year from a promise they made in 2000 to move towards hybrids. Bill Ford Junior also vowed that Ford would increase the fuel mileage of their SUVs which he admitted were gas-guzzling and harmful for the environment. But surprise, surprise, everything started going downhill when, as a member of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, threatened to sue Mr. Schwazzenegger's state over legislature which would force greenhouse gas emissions down.
Sources: Grist, AlterNet.
Marks & Spencer is launching a plan- dubbed Plan A- to do its bit for the environment. The 100-point plan has 5 main categories, namely: Climate change, Waste, Raw materials, Fair partner, and Healthy eating. Needless to say, I am pleased.
I am particularly impressed by the fact that some of the measures they will be implementing are truly awesome. They're planning to use 100% FT Cotton in all their "major clothing lines" and this would add up to "around one third of the world's supply of Fairtrade cotton in 2006". Plus, they promise to ensure that all their poultry will be free range, while also reducing packaging by 25%. Better still, they want to switch to 50% biodiesel in all their lorries.
I love Marks & Spencer. Don't you?
Tesco and Wal-mart are still lagging behind some.
I realise that a lot of my posts are composed of angry rants about stupid people. Well hold on tight, here's another. I just read in my Weekly Grist about a group of schools that has refused to allow the screening of An Inconvenient Truth unless an "opposing view" is presented such that the students can come to their own conclusion. According to a guy on the school board, climate change is "just a theory". Ooh.
Here's an excerpt from the original source, The Seattle Post-Intelligence:
"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher," Sir, no offence, but are you? What then gives you the right to say who belongs and doesn't belong to the school? said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. "The information that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. ... The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn't in the DVD."
School Board members adopted a three-point policy that says teachers who want to show the movie must ensure that a "credible, legitimate opposing view will be presented," that they must get the OK of the principal and the superintendent, and that any teachers who have shown the film must now present an "opposing view."
The requirement to represent another side follows district policy to represent both sides of a controversial issue, board President Ed Barney said.
Students should hear the perspective of global-warming skeptics and
then make up their minds, he said. After they do, "if they think
driving around in cars is going to kill us all, that's fine, that's
their choice." Those who have watched the show will know this isn't true. I guess Mr Barney is not clued in to the existence of hybrid and fuel-cell cars? The point is to REDUCE first, not REMOVE. However, if he means speeding around in cars, then yes, he would be right. Speed is one of the top killers in Singapore.
The Federal Way incident started when Hardison learned that his daughter would see the movie in class. He objected.
Hardison and his wife, Gayla, said they would prefer that the movie not be shown at all in schools.
"From what I've seen (of the movie) and what my husband has
expressed to me, if (the movie) is going to take the approach of 'bad
America, bad America,' I don't think it should be shown at all," Gayle
Hardison said. Hold on, I thought this one was a fact? "If you're going to come in and just say America is
creating the rotten ruin of the world, I don't think the video should
be shown." So does Mrs Hardison mean that she wants her children to grow up imagining that their conscience is clear because their country isn't doing most of the damage to the world? Well, I say this will create a vicious cycle (if the world hasn't ended by then) with the children just continuing to be obvlious to the havoc they are wreaking and shielding their children, and the children after them. I think it's cowardly to mislead yourself and other people. Just shameful.
Scientists say that Americans, with about 5 percent of the world's population, emit about 25 percent of the globe-warming gases.
Students contacted Wednesday said they favor allowing the movie to be shown. HM."I think that a movie like that is a really great way to open people's eyes up about what you can do and what you are doing to the planet and how that's going to affect the human race," said Kenna Patrick, a senior at Jefferson High School.
I hope I don't sound completely snarky. My excuse is the hour.
I just revisited my eco-go-go era.
I sent out an e-mail to the gang, and thank the heavens Natalie responded. No one else has yet replied though, and I hope it's just because it's the last of the holidays. I'm really excited at the prospects, but I can't kid myself: if we can't get people to support us nothing'll work. We need to pull all the necessary strings, damn.
I've been chatting with Mr Patrick about random things like hormones and meditation.
Also been feeding my thirst for environmental news with Grist. Very interesting stuff like the interview with John Dingell. An excerpt:
Is that going to solve the problem? China has an exemption from the Kyoto agreement because it's classified as a developing country. The Indians are, too. In a meeting about the Kyoto agreement, I asked the Chinese, "How long are you going to be a developing country, before we can expect you to participate in cleaning up?" They looked me in the eye and said, "Dingell, we're always going to be developing. We aren't ever going to be a stable, staid, complete society. So we're never going to be covered by it. We're just going to go ahead and burn all the damn coal, emit all the carbon dioxide that we want to emit." And they will very shortly be the biggest emitter in the world. Far bigger than we.
Now you ask, if we were to terminate all of the burning of coal and all of the production of CO2 in this country, and China and India and Europe and everybody else in the developing world keeps going, I don't think you're going to be looking for much in the way of a resolution. This is an international problem.
That cements my unhappiness for the country that's supposed to be my motherland.
The haze has finally cleared off- the relief! The past two days were engulfed in greyness created by the south winds carrying all the forest smoke towards Singapore and Malaysia. Yesterday, the only thing I could see out of my window was white- and not the prisine kind of white, the burnt off-white- and the grilles. Yesterday, there was no sun or moon or sky or sea.
Miraculously, today the entire view cleared up. I can actually see the ships now, albeit the horizon is still nowhere in sight. All the same, what a blessing!
No photos for now, the camera is with the repairmen.
