Improvements?

I am sometimes rather lost. There is a desire to improve and try to meet the needs of my graduating babies. However, there are always some restrictions. (like other commitments in school/ unable to get constructive feedback from babies)
Could anyone guide this lost sheep??? meh.......

Graduation

these are the pics of me and my favourite pals in NIE. =0)

Land Reclamation VS Pollution

I felt that Noppol brought up a very intresting issue that is close to our hearts (however, is placed under comments on the "welcome my graduating babies" post, which is not very appropriate), so I decided to create this post.

Read the article http://www.wildsingapore.net/news/20060304/060306-1.htm to have a grip of the story.

Just to clarify, there are many areas in Singapore that are built on reclaimed land. ONLY the areas of East Coast and Pasir Ris are undergoing erosion.

AREAS NOT ERODED: Areas such as Marina South (you know the steamboat and kite flying area), are not eroded.
WHY? Because these areas of reclaimed land are protected by stone walls. If you observe the areas, the land touching the water are all stone surfaces. This way, the stone walls protect the land underneath from being eroded into the sea.

AREAS BEING ERODED:Areas such as East Coast (which I witnessed the devastation).
WHY? Because these areas of reclaimation had became recreational beaches. These beaches are not covered with concrete walls, they only have break waters to prevent erosion. These break waters apprently failed to perform their duties, hence the beaches are shrinking.
WHAT I WITNESSED: I remember that when I was young, the beaches were nearer to the break waters, but now, they have retreated inland and are so near to the jogging paths! Now, there is only a spit linking the break waters to the beach.

THE ISSUE OF POLLUTION:Very coincidentally, I did a research project on pollution related to land reclamation during my uni days.
MY RESEARCH: Water pollution is the greatest near the areas of the beaches (mac area), lower at places with concrete structures (bedok jetty) and lowest at Marina South (because of the stone walls). The pollution at the last area was almost none, but the Mac area was rather bad. BUT, what the research could not conclude is whether the pollution at the Mac area (though higher than the others) was great enough to be an issue.
MY THOUGHTS: Reclamation for Singapore is still inevitable and necessary, considering the scarcity of land. Pollution is inevitable with reclamation: pollution of water bound to happen during the process of reclamation and now as found at the beaches. Pollution at the beaches could be reduced by building stone walls, however, it compromises on the asthetic aspects and the reclaimed land would look very artificial from the natural suroundingsm and we would lose one recreational area. ANYWAY, beaches around the world are also facing problems of erosion (not only ours). SO, should we be looking at more engineering structures to save our beaches?

cheers,
ash=o)

I was there...

guys from 4E2 and 4E3... this entry is specially created to PROVE that I was there last year for the M'sia trip. :)

I was seating in 2 different buses throughout the trip, I was with Mr Chew on most of the bus trip. I had longer hair back then, was thinner... BUT don't think I am really that different now:)

So those people who are still doubting, I have some more pictures and will show in class.

Here is another appeal for you guys to post questions/views/comments. This way we will all benefit. Spread the word and get your pals in class to come and take a look. OKIE?

Ciao for now. (but remember to do my assignments k?:P) TAKE CARE!!!

Environment Management

Since, no one started to comment on any subject related stuff, thought I might as well start the ball rolling.

I did this module related to environment management back in NUS. The one concept that is deeply ingrained in my mind is "ecological footprint".

It tells us that we "urbanites" step on a huge area even though we are small in numbers. We are like Hobbits, small in size, but have a big foot. The areas we step on, have their environment disrupted or destroyed. The richer we are, the bigger the "foot" we have, the larger the area we trample over.

This is why we need to manage the environment. Our "foot size" and "way of walking" would be monitored through stewardship. They make sure that we either reduce the size of our foot by probably squeezing into smaller shoes (reduce/reuse/recycle=demand reduction) or we take
care, to not step on the land too hard (conservation=protect the area so that it could be preserved for the future generations).

Btw, to answer to 5A's Vicknesh's question( what is the difference between world wildlife fund and world wildlife foundation?), they are the same. The latter is a new name, but it is the same familiar panda logo and they do the same conservation work. Take a look at these two sites and compare them. Go take a look under "about us", and we can learn more about them.
http://www.worldwildlife.org/about/ (fund)
http://www.wwf.org/ (foundation)

So what is your take on environmental management? Voice em' out ok?

PS: Yes...that is my smiling foot. *blush*