Ashley's Loft

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

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*

posted by Ashley @ Wednesday, July 05, 2006  

7 Comments:

  • At 11:49 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    There's one really gd way of recycling. for example, in japan they hav this recycling machine and ppl hav to jus put their empty cans into the machine and they'll be refunded wif small amount of $. Isn't this a gd way to recycle? i mean ppl in singapore are kinda lazy to find a recycle bin and they may jus litter on the floor however, wif this bin, it may minimize litter too! Wif dis they may do their part to recycle!moreover, even if they still continue to litter or throw in the rubbish bins n nt recycle bins i tink ppl who are poor may find dis this cans in the rubbish bin and put it in the machine and they can hav $ thus, they can live to eat! isn't tat great? we minimize litter and we help the poor ppl that hav nth to eat. the refunded $ may onli be jus 10cents or 5cents. obviously, the rich ppl may nt tink tat 10cents n 5cents are $ to them however, if a person can picked up 10 cans of drink, how much can dis person get? $1 or 50cents! its definitely enuff for ppl to buy a food to eat. thus, whenever ppl sees a can on the floor they'll picked it up. So, i tink this is a gd way to recycle. Can we hav some comments on this? thx!.. =)

     

  • At 12:39 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    hmm..hey anonymous..yea i kinda agree that de recycling machines ar useful and ppl can get back a small sum of refund for their empty cans..singapore only hav a limited number of recycling bins..thus i should recommend de government to put more recycling bins all over singapore becuz the recycling machine u introduced may be costly and it only recycles empty cans..then wad about plastic bottles,newspapers or glass bottles? would ppl be concerned about recycling their empty cans when they ar rushing for time..in addition..dey could not find any recycling bins nearby..so they would just litter or throw it in a nearby bin..i agree that this is a great advantage to the ppl who ar poor..as they could go around searching for empty cans and exchanging it to $ so that they can fill their stomachs..but wouldn't this cause conflicts or unhappiness against poor ppl because they might quarrel and fight over cans..sry wor no offence but i agree most of it too..and sry again for my poor command in english..lol ><

     

  • At 1:18 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    okay. There is definitely pros and cons towards this.Firstly, i tink the machine may be costly but it doesn't mean that they hav to put many recycling machines everywhere. They can jus allocate a few at different places. The machines can cater to maybe bottles, cans and etc. And definitely ppl will rush for time but no matter wat i guess they'll still throw their waste in the rubbish bins wuld nt Singapore wun be named as a Clean & Green country. hmm.. secondly, i agree there may be poor ppl fighting over the cans and watever to recycle but in Singapore are there such ppl? i mean.. the cans that are on the floor doesn't onli mean tat its for the poor ppl to pick it up. If anyone sees a rubbish i believe they will pick it up to at least throw it in the recycle machine. Because they noe tat they will be refunded wif $. and if u say the gov shld hav more recycle bins everywher rite? well, if u walk down orchard road u'll see a couple of recycle bins and if u're in sch, u'll see i tink 2 recycle bins and wat? Do u even throw ur cans or bottles in the recycle bins? ask urself tat. obviously, we wun do tat bcuz its human nature. ppl will onli do tat wen there ish a benefit for the ppl. maybe onli 30% of the ppl will do tat. so, wen ppl noe tat the machine will refund $ dey'll jus do a small part to help by jus puttin their cans in the machine as its lik a rubbish bin. Moreover, obviously wen the government introduce this machine, dey will not state tat the poor ppl can actually pick the litter and get the $. The government will onli state tat its a New recycling machine that wen ppl hav empty cans, dey can throw it in the machine n be refunded wif $. In this case, we can recycle a lot of dis cans. The poor ppl ting will be up to the poor ppl's imagination if they'll tink of dis benefit for them. And the ppl in sch, at dis pt of time, i hardly see anyone actually throwing their green tea or wateva bottles in the recycling bins. wat if they hav dis machine? wuld these students take their time to walk to the machine and put the bottle in? i guess so. bcuz a bottle of drink cost maybe $1 and to be refunded maybe 20cents. and wat? the population in the sch and the amount of bottles they buy a day. may accumulate and they may be refunded lik $1 and dey may purchase another bottle? yupps.. u can see the number of empty bottles that are littered in the sch. its a lot. even if these students dun bother to put in the recycling bin, the vendors can put the bottles in the recycling machine or rather, the students will start to pick up litter and the sch will be CLEAN!.. =) isn't tat a gd way to minimize litter? i believe there is definitely pros and cons to dis matter. but i strongly suggest that this is a gd way to minimize litter n recycle the bottles and etc. =) yupps.. no offence.and thx for ur comments on dis too.. =)

     

  • At 9:33 am, Blogger Ashley said…

    Hi Anonymous 1 and 2,
    Firstly, could we identify ourselves? It's kindda hard to chat when we do not know who the party is? It may not even be people from our class???:)

    It's a great piece of information being brought up here: recycling in other countries, eg. Japan. The fact that these countries have things like recycling machines being built, we can know a lot about the culture of recycling there. They have come a long way to reach this stage, and as we can observe, Singapore is far from their standards.

    WHY? Japan's recycling habits have gone into their daily lives, even at home. In countries like Japan and US, they have recyclin bins at home to differentiate their recyclable trash from their normal garbage. Singapore only have recycling bins at public areas, meaning recycling is still a government initiative that has not infused into the lives of its citizens.

    WHAT SHOULD WE DO? Since we still have a long way to go to reach the standards of countries like Japan, lets us start small and make recycling a habit. Simple actions like putting our bottled/can drinks into the recycling bins in schools. Using the flip side of unwanted worksheets as rough paper. Giving our unwanted old textbooks to the needy students. Simple actions like this goes a long way. If a nation cannot even do simple tasks like this,how can we move on further? Extrinsic motivation such as money may encourage people to recycle, but it is only intrinsic motivation (the true willingness to help the environment) that will make these habits last.

    Just my 2 cents worth:)

    cheers,
    Ash=o)

     

  • At 9:33 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    singapore is already adapting to the advance technology thus we should chase up to those developed countries and must not lose out either..i tink the government can emphasise more on recycling..becuz i tink singaporeans normally like to use things den throw away after usage and seldom think of recycling thus after years had passed..our rubbish output is increasing repidly thus the government should really consider about implementing recycling by publicity or even thru educationcal purposes so as to educate children to recycle at a young age and also it would slowly influence their friends and families as well..i agree that if the nation cannot try to do such simple tasks..we cannot move on further..as it involves everyone to play their part..but if the government does not try extrinsic motivation..how would they noe the reaction of the ppl..thus i tink they should start at a slow and steady rate so as to not rush the ppl and ppl can also slowly get used to it until it becums a habit..

     

  • At 8:27 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I say briefly: Best! Useful information. Good job guys.
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  • At 11:49 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Very pretty site! Keep working. thnx!
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