Goverment policies; are they any help?

It is true that Singapore has been often pictured as a heavily dependent and intensive consumer of energy for our mere population of nearly 5 million. However our government has been perpetually searching for ways and implementing policies to help solve and reduce global warming that is affecting our habitat drastically.




Policies in Singapore include the well-known green policy where Singapore is continually applauded for its green environment with the preservation of trees and reservoirs such as Bukit Timah reserve and Macritchie reservoir and other numerous forests and grasslands. Furthermore, Singapore is famous for its ERP(electronic road pricing) system where it helps prevent congestion and also lower the car ownership with COE. These numerous policies would certainly help conserve the energy besides saving gasoline as less driving means fewer emissions of those harmful carbon dioxide to the environment. In addition, on Earth Day all individuals are encourage to take the public transport and leave their vehicles at home.




As a nation strategy in solving global warming and tackling climate change, other national policies include Singapore’s National Climate Change Strategy, Singapore's Promotion of a Low Carbon Economy, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) & Opportunities for Singapore Companies Technologies to reduce Green House Gas emissions offered in response to the rising need of a change in how we use our environment. Since, global warming has been accelerated by the industrial revolution and mainly human greed and activity for the past hundreds of years, it is time we did our part for our dear environment. These policies implemented would certainly assist in decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the environment and reduce rising temperatures worldwide. The widespread use of fossil fuels would be cut down excessively aiding to the cause. The bleak prediction for the future for our planet will finally take a turn for the better if we could all co-operate and play our part.



At the very least, as an individual we should always follow a mantra; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We should always do our part to reduce waste by choosing reusable products instead of disposables. Goverment policies would not work if we as individuals and citizens do not aid in the process.
The Singapore government has implemented the recycling campaign and the green frog mascot would be a household feature. Nowadays, we would see recycling bins at every corner of our neighbourhood which strongly signal the need for us to consistently and constanly conserve our environment.




Sources:
National Environment Agency (NEA)
Singapore Environment Institue



Qoute for reflection:
Are these the shadows of the things that will be,
Or are they shadows of things that may be?
--Ebineezer scrooge in A Christmas Carol by Charles dicken

The expanding world of engineers

An engineer basically design and create products that feeds consumer’s needs and wants. As Professor Ramakrishna mentioned, it is undeniable that ultimately an engineer’s field encompasses every sector there are in today’s world. The true definition of an engineer of the past and the present differ significantly due to the ever changing needs of society today. In designing solutions to myriad of problems, engineers are equipped with analytical skills nurtured in their course of education. Nowadays, engineers learn how to develop a clearly structured and efficiently detailed plan designed to function under a focus-differentiated strategy to fit the needs of the society. It is now wonderful to have plentiful of engineers nurtured, groomed and were put to task to develop each stages of the product clearly and eliminate any weakness right from the start. Hence, making engineers the building blocks of new and improved product development. An engineer’s training paint the picture of a caterpillar evolving into a butterfly as it ignites us to motivate ourselves to change into something better with integrated knowledge and skills which makes an excellent platform. In other words to gain a competitive advantage ideally, the engineering field and training of analytical skills helps to expand not only in the targeted market of product development but also in other market sectors worldwide. From that point and on the possibilities are practically unlimited. Especially in today’s volatile financial markets, engineers would be expected to perform exceptionally in every sector to tide the economy. A good key to note from the article by Tim Brown in Harvard Business Review Design Thinking, the increasing complexity of products would now require products to have functional differentiation and emotional value creation which engineers in this era could work on to achieve a holistic approach to designing solutions.





Harvard Business Review. (2008, June). Design Thinking.

Ramakrishna, S. (2007, August 5). The expanding world of engineers. The Sunday Times, p. 25.