Yohoo, I'm finally here!

After 3 months of efforts, I am finally here! The very last post. Of course, what I mean is the very last post for the e-portfolio not for the casual post afterwards. 2 more weeks to the end of this semester. Wow, what a damn fast university life!

I could still remember what happened last semester. When it was the orientation week, even few weeks after the O-week, I was still a "rookie" and walked around the campus just like a lost guy.
Everything looked new to me, everything sound good. However, after about 25 weeks till now, what I feel is -- Am I living in hell?

Oh gosh, before I entered the U, I felt that everything was just fine, nothing would be a big problem, just relaxed, as I was carrying on, everything could be solved. But now, it turned into a extremely contrast way. It let me feel that " Nothing is possible", whatever I did were meaningless as those guys who set those modules will try all their best to make you die.

Of course, a person should experience numerous obstacles before he comes in front of success. I do understand that. Sigh......

Environmental challenges of the 21st century: probelm-solution

In this very 21st century, global warming is confirmed to be the most threatening and most discussed issue on this planet. For our own sake, we must encounter it with variuos effective ways toughly. According to a BBC report, "Australian researchers found that sea levels rose by 19.5cm between 1870 and 2004, with accelerated rates in the final 50 years of that period." If the acceleration continues at current rate, the scientists warn that sea levels could rise during this century by between 28 and 34cm. Since the industrial revolution began in United Kingdom, human beings have been starting to plot unavoidable consequence which we are facing today. We have raised the temperature more than one degree Fahrenheit, which equals to 0.56 degree Celcius since 1950 (McKibben, 2007). Due to the increase of overall global temperature which caused by over-emission of greenhouse gases, the ice glaciers at the arctic zones have been melted at alarming rate which will directly affect the rise of sea levels. Therefore, the emission of greenhouse gases must be reduced by several methods.

First of all, lowering fossil fuels is one of the ways to effectively reduce the emission because almost all current modes of transportation depend on petrol and they release tons of those greenhouse gases daily. According to a report from Environment protection Authority Victoria (EPA Victoria) (2008), the emmision of greenhous gases generated only by petrol of vehicles has accumulated up to 252.20 tons between 2006 and 2007 in Victoria. From this point we can see how much fuel has been used in transporting goods and travel. So, we should replace the fuel we use today with other possible compositions, like hydrogen, ethanol and bio-diesel. Of course, if we want a total change in modern cars instantly, it will be impossible. However, more and more automobile manufacturers have been involved in developing new generation of cars in order to achieve the objective of using cleaner fuels to reduce greenhouse gases emission.

Another method is to limit or offset the greenhouse gases emission of industries. By imposing taxes on greenhouse gases emission, industrial owners may try to improve their facilities or production procedures to lower the emission to avoid paying more taxes. Owners may try to upgrade their facilities or use newer technologies to achieve the goal of reduce emission. Currently, there is a "Carbon Offset Program" been carried out in Victoria, which uses several ways including environmental friendly transportation, forestation and the set up of eco-friendly industries to offset the high amount of carbon released by those heavy industries in Victoria. From the report of EPA Victoria (2008), a total of about 1800 tons of greenhouse gases has been offset by several offset program conducted by EPA. However, the total emission of carbon for the last two years was about 4500 tons. Hence, effort from every party is still needed to greatly reduce the amount of carbon emission.

The above two methods are macro but for every one of us, we can do it in micro way. In daily lives, if we pay attention to every single move, we may help to save the world without consciousness. Namely, we can choose to walk instead of keep travelling in fossil fuel driven transportation when the destination is not so far away. We can also reduce the usage of products that come from those high carbon released industries, like plastic, non-environmental friendly stuffs. Energy saving is also an important way in lowering the emission of greenhouse gases as lots of fossil fuels are used in generating electricity. For example, we should switch off air-conditioners, fans and lights when we are not occupying a space or room.

In a nutshell, co-operations from every party in this world are absolutely needed to reach the goal of slowing down the climate change which affects the rise of sea levels directly. Not only those organizations or governments but also you and I have to indulge in the procedure of cutting down the emission of greenhouse gases. Even a minor move in daily lives can be a great way to help to save this world or can be said that to save ourselves from global warming which caused by over-emission of greenhouse gases.



References

Environmental Protection Authority, Victoria (2008, January). EPA's Carbon Neutral: Update 2006-07. Retrieved March 12, 2008, from
http://epanote2.epa.vic.gov.au/EPA/publications.nsf/2f1c2625731746aa4a256ce90001cbb5/f559a64875451a83ca2573540024b654/$FILE/1203.pdf

Juniper, T. (2007). Saving planet earth. United Kingdom: Harpercollis Publishers.

McKibben, B. (2007, October) Carbon's new math: To deal woth global warming, the first step is to do the numbers. National Geographic, 10/07, 33-37.

Sea level rise 'is accelerating'. (n.d.). BBC. Retrieved 16 February, 2008, from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4651876.stm

Timed-paragraph: Compare and contrast

There are dozens of ways to handle the disposal problem. If the zero waste scheme and landfilling are compared, the former one will be more suitable for Malaysia.

Zero waste disposal scheme simply means that we repair, reuse or recycle whatever we use or dispose. It's definitely a good way to reduce the waste of our daily rubbish and protect our mother earth. By doing this, many thrown materials can be given new lives instead of just being dumped or burned. Directly, less wastefulness can be achieved and more resources on this planet can be saved. The scheme has also brought up certain business aspects. When the struggling communities practise the zero waste scheme, they can get advantages from it as they are turning waste into assets. I think that this scheme is more suitable for Malaysia as people can benefit from it either financially or environmentally but education is still needed.

Another disposal scheme, landfilling seems to be an unideal and less-environmental friendly way to get rid of rubbish. Most importantly, it occupies lots and lots of space and areas that "take care" of that dumped rubbish and once the places are landfilled, those areas cannot be retrieved. Another disadvantage of landfilling is that it will generate pest problems and issues of health. Pests will breed at those sites and they will be carriers of germs, virus and diseases. When they are grown, they start to move to humans' active areas to find food sources. Thus, certain health issues will be produced.

Problem-Solution:

5. Identifying an existing problem that is being caused by the climate change in the world today and explain how that problem can be addressed.

The rise of sea levels is a highly threatening issue for the whole world. Nations are paying great attention to it. Sea level surely rises from time to time but due to the climate change over the last one hundred years. Its rate of the increase has become greater than before. According to a BBC news report, “Australian researchers found that sea levels rose by 19.5cm between 1870 and 2004, with accelerated rates in the final 50 years of that period”. If the acceleration continues at the current rate, the scientists warn that sea levels could rise during this century by between 28 and 34cm. The emission of green house gases have to be reduced to actually handle the problem mentioned as global warming is the culprit behind the melting of the arctic glaciers, which causes the sea level rise. Lowering the usage of fossil fuels is one of the ways to effectively reduce the emission because almost all current modes of transportation depend on petrol and they release tons of those green house gases daily. Mix our current fuel with bio-diesel or change the present fuel into ethanol we use on transportations will greatly cut down the emission. Replaceable fuels like bio-diesel and ethanol can be burnt more completely than the ordinary petrol we use daily, which means less green house gases will be released. By practicing the above methods, the emission of greenhouse gases will be reduced greatly and the rise of sea levels will be slowed down, too.

References

Sea level rise 'is accelerating' (n.d.). Retrieved 16 February, 2008, from

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4651876.stm

Saving Nature, But Only for Man

Selfishness is the most deadliest weakness of human beings. For centuries, almost all wars and revolutions were occurred because of a man's ambition or desire. From the article, the author warned people to pay great attention to the environment and nature in a different way.

For years, we were told to protect the nature, to save the earth but in reality, how many people did care for that? In their minds, they just think that it was none of their business, let the government or those organizations to worry over those environmental issues, they were just ordinary people, they could do merely something that would not be a great effect in the overall big picture.

However, now the author chose to bring the nature's threats to everyone's doorstep which meant no one can ignore them now! That's a brilliant way as it triggers one's selfishness again. For our very own sakes, we couldn't run away from it anymore but face it with a tough way. We started this and now it's the time for us to handle the consequence in a tough way.

Although, it's still related to humans' selfishness which sounds like not a very good thing, it's still a good strategy to make people do concern about their surrounding, pay more attention to what they consume and waste everyday.

Comparison and Contrast

9. A term often used to people who are deeply concerned with the environment is “green”. Compare a “green” person’s attitude toward consumption with that of a person who is not “green”.

“Green” can be defined as environmental friendly. So, a “green” person can be taken as one who cares about the environment, the mother earth. He will pay attention to what he does every day, even a minor action which is taken for granted among most of us, like over-consuming unnecessary plastic made stuffs wherever we go. He tries his best to cut down the usage of those environmental threatening substances. Although consumptions cannot be avoided sometimes, he will still recycle or reuse those things which are the leftover of the consumptions. Namely, plastic bags, aluminum cans and things like that. Wasting no energy will also become one part of his life. One flick to switch off the air conditioners, fans or lights is just an automatically generated message in his mind.

For someone who is not “green”, maybe it is just the mirror reflection of one who is “green”. Inconsideration and lack of “green” knowledge towards the environment is the vital killing element is his brain. Passive moves have to be taken on them to make him go “greener” for maybe a short period only or even no effective at all. No active actions will be taken by him to make our mother earth live longer. He might just throw away anything that might still be recyclable or reusable. Wastage is the motto of his life.

Solutions.

First of all, the government should strengthen his citizens’ understanding of the environmental issues since they are young. The ministry of education can include those study materials which comprise appropriate steps of protecting the environment and it should be imparted by teachers to students during their primary or secondary education. The concept of using less plastic or recycling plastic can be built up during this period.

The government can also always hold campaigns about proper ways to “use“ plastic. According to news report, Housing and Local Government ministry of Malaysia had launched a series of campaigns with the supports from local hypermarkets to reduce the usage of plastic bags during the shopping. In an effort to stem the increasing problem, the ministry, along with the Malaysian Plastics Forum (MPF), has launched a month-long 3Rs Plastic Bag Campaign to educate the public to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic bags

If education or campaigns are not effective enough, the forceful move is to enforce the laws to make citizen be cautious of what they should and shouldn’t do. Supermarkets should stop giving free plastic bags to their customers. Instead, the Government should ask the supermarkets to charge, say, 5sen or 10sen per plastic bag. For example, Paris, Singapore and Taiwan contemplate to impose a similar tax on plastic bags.

In conclusion, one’s mind plays a very important role in practicing the steps mentioned above. Remember that human beings are the ones who build up this modern civilized world. So, self-awareness is the key to make one thing become reality.