The earth is all we have

Hi,

On June 3, I was at Commonwealth Secondary School for the "Just One Earth Environmental Seminar 2009".

The first half of the seminar consisted of presentation by various speakers on importance of maintaining a green environment and sustainability of our resources. the second half of the seminar consisted of visits to various places related to the sustainable energy and waste management. I chose to visit the Poh Ern Shih Buddhist Temple for the excursion.

Mr Derrick Ho from MEWR (Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources) spoke on Sustainable Development Blueprint for Singapore and its Implications for Schools. It can be viewed in detail by clicking this link. Here is a more direct link to a list of actions that individuals can take in support of sustainable development.

You can see the pictures I took below.

Mr Edwin Khew, CEO of IUT Global Pte Ltd, a global environmental waste technology company taking us through how organic wastes are treated in his Tuas Factory, methane gas is collected, and the then the wastes are incinerated into ash and sent to Pulau Semakau for landfill	Sec. One students of Commonwealth Sec. Sch. explain their project on sustainability
Cattails, sedge, reeds, bladderwort growing in clean water from the school's washbasins	Pandanus growing luxuriantly in the marsh garden created with waste water from the school toilets

At the Poh Ern Shih Buddhist Temple,you can meet volunteer Mr Lee Boon Siong. He is very committed to greening the temple. Many of his technologies are applicable to residential buildings too. You may want to read about the temple at the Poh Ern Shih Buddhist Temple website before visiting it yourself.

Cheers

Poh Ern Shih Buddhist Temple, off Pasir Panjang Road, is the "temple of the future". It is designed to harness solar, hydro and wind energy for its energy needs	Mr Lee Boon Siong, a volunteer at Poh Ern Shih Buddhist Temple, explaining how even diffused light in the shade can be directed with a series of mirrors in a tunnel to light up the floor below
Diffused light is captured in the shade of the temple to direct to the lower floors	This skylight channels daylight through a winding tube using internal mirrors to deliver light to the temple interior
The hall is lighted by the sunlight coming from the atrium and ventilated by the mesh-like design of the walls	Solar panels come in this size. Mr Lee experiments with different types of panel. He found the "amorphous panels" to be the best for Singapore's cloudy skies.
Harvesting wind power is not so effective as Singapore is not windy enough.	There are more than 3 types of solar panels being experimented with by Mr Lee. There is much R&D in this field of technology.
Solar power is harvested to heat up water for the temple's use.	Look at the panel. Today 23 KWH has been harvested from the sunlight
Table cum bed cum cupboard at the temple is made of bamboo, a fast growing, sustainable alternative to the usual hard wood used in making furniture

To listen to some songs on the environment by Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil, click on the link below:

http://asal-sakti.blogspot.com/search/label/Peter%20Garrett

Cheers

350 -The Most Important Number in the World

Hi,

I was listening to Bill McKibben recently. He is the author of "End of Nature", a book he wrote in 1989. It seems he was was the first to warn of global warming, 20 years ago!

View the short video below, which is deliberately wordless so that it needs no translation. It has proved very effective in mobilising the communities around the world into taking responsibility for their actions. Now they can go out there and make the necessary impact. They can do something to change the course and momentum of the global warming. Activists like Mr McKibben are calling for changes in attitude, cultures, efficiencies in energy consumption in homes, production lines to becoming central parts of our lives.

He first raised an alarm about global warming in 1989 but, he says, he never dreamed the crisis would come as soon as it has. Even 18 months ago the scientific view was not as bad as it is today. Click on the link below to learn about the movement Mr McKibben and 6 of his friends founded.

An increase of 1⁰C so far has already caused the following:

1. new diseases in some countries. eg dengue fever in Bangladesh


2. changes in hydrological cycles arid land experiencing drying out faster and wetter areas, getting inundated with frequent heavy rainfalls and flooding


3. rivers drying out and bigger and more frequent forest and bush fires


4. tens of millions of pine forests killed off by pine bark beetles as they did not die in the cold winters as winters are so warm nowadays


5. 80% of sunlight energy falling on polar ice caps is reflected. But no more now. when sunlight is absorbed, it melts the permafrost (permanently frozen ice, ie ice that does not melt in summer). This releases millions of tons of methane which usually lies below the permafrost. Methane is many times more powerful green house gas than carbon dioxide.


6. For 10,000 years, since the civilisation of man, the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has remained at around 275 ppm. In Jan 2008 it has been found to be 350 ppm. Anything above this concentration will not be tolerated. It means the planet is "sick". The symptoms are already seen in Arctic ice melting, rivers drying up etc.


7. Global warming and cooling are not new to the planet. However, this time it is caused by man and it is happening way too fast. This does not allow the organisms (plants and animal species) to adapt to these changes as it is happening too fast.

The tipping point is - or was - the number '350'. This is the level in the atmosphere of CO₂ in parts per million that will cause global warming to go beyond our control. And we are reaching this number... just... about... NOW! This is why McKibben calls 350 The Most Important Number in the World

Watch this space around October 24 this year, and look out for events focused on 350 that you can get involved in between now and then - or organise an activity of your own.

To listen to songs on the environment by Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil, click on the link below:

http://asal-sakti.blogspot.com/search/label/Peter%20Garrett



Cheers

Repair our eyes and do it cheaply and safely?

Hi,

I found a fascinating article that will interest most of us in Singapore, given the prevalence of myopia or short-sightedness here.

It is about restoration of good eye-sight using stem cells. It take less than a month to restore sight. It is cheap, non-invasive, only takes a couple of hours to complete.

Sounds too good to be true. The new procedure has been performed in Sydney, Australia. Scientists think this technique can be used in skin grafts as the cornea is the skin of the eye. It has the same physiological functions as other skin.

Watch the video below to 'see' for yourself.



Cheers

Earth Day 2009

Hi,

On April 24 2009, our school celebrated Earth Day.

The whole school was assembled in the Hall. All staff and students were kept engaged by the four Environment Ambassadors and Mdm Preetha during the first half of the period. The lower secondary pupils kept the school engaged with their presentation on Recycling.

The second half of the assembly was on "Carbon Zero". Randal, Elizabeth and Deborah encouraged and cajoled the staff and students to think about how we can reduce the carbon footprint we leave behind with subtle changes in our attitude. The school was also invited to take part in the Carbon Zero competition, which started in May, and spread the message of conserving electricity in our daily use of electrical appliances at home and in school and office.

Mdm Preetha introducing the 4 trained Environment Ambassadors of the school.	What better issue to discuss on Earth Day than recycling and care for the environment?
The students and staff wait in anticipation for the programme to start	Randall speaks on "Carbon Zero"
Audience participation is what everybody looks out for	Prizes for right answers always gets everyone's attention
What really is recycling?	Besides Randal, Elizabeth and Deborah were engaging the audience on how to reduce wastage of electricity in our homes. Their tips on the many ways to conserve energy are easy to follow

Cheers

Earth Hour 2009 celebrations

Hi,

Our school joined many groups and individuals around the world to mark Earth Hour 2009 on 28 April. Although it is now June, this post is not untimely as the point of Earth Hour was not to raise awareness of global warming only to have it forgotten as swiftly as the next hour. So, a reminder of what we did in our school...

Form teachers and Co-form teachers of each class were asked to spend time during their Form Teacher periods to speak about the event.

They were to show the two videos below to their students:
2.2 million people in Sydney ( about 3 minutes only)

Blue Man Group

Blue Man Group on global warming.

Our students were encouraged to join millions of people around the world and celebrate Earth Hour on Saturday 28 March by switching off all lights in their homes.

They were encouraged to find out that many government agencies (e.g. community centres), educational institutions (e.g. the polytechnics and universities), hotels (e.g. Royal Plaza hotel), businesses (e.g. Singtel, Golden Village), shopping malls (e.g. Junction 8, Bugis Junction), and many others were all coming up with interesting ways in which to carry on with their business as usual but with the lights switched off!

Some teachers also found time to view the video below with their classes.

Earth Hour news

Form teachers spent time to reflect on the following question:
“How do you think the Earth Hour Celebration may change your attitude towards conserving energy?”

Coloured paper in the shape of a large green leaf was given to each Form teacher to collate the responses from your class. These leaves were entered for a competition. Prizes will be awarded to the classes with the most original and innovative responses. The responses were displayed outside the Staff Room.

To listen to some songs on the environment by Peter Garrettt of Midnight Oil, click on the link below:

http://asal-sakti.blogspot.com/search/label/Peter%20Garrett


Cheers

Lesson 38: Digestive and excretory systems

Hi,

Hopefully these Powerpoint slides will go some way in helping you in your revision.

The large ppt covers:

• classes of food and their functions

• balanced diet

• parts of the digestive system, their digestive enzymes, peristalsis

• absorption and villi structure

• excretion, structure and function of the urinary system

• nephron system and production of urine

• water and salt balance

• dialysis machine

• short quiz

Chapter 38- Digestive & Excretory Systems

View more OpenOffice presentations from Mary beth Smith.

Cheers

Lesson 37: Ecology, food chains and populations

Hi,

Everybody enjoys ecology and food chain studies. Here is more for your enjoyment.

This set of powerpoint slides contain the following which are relevant to your biology syllabus:

• energy flow, sunlight energy being converted to chemical energy by photosynthesis

• autotrophs(producers), heterotrophs(consumers), decomposers(soil bacteria and soil fungi)

• food chain (flow of energy through organisms)

• food web, examples of food webs

• pyramids of numbers, biomass, and energy

• carbon cycle

• quiz.

You can ignore the nitrogen and other mineral cycles as well as population studies as they are not in the biology syllabus for this year.

Chapter 3 & 5 Lecture- Ecology & Population Growth

View more OpenOffice presentations from Mary beth Smith.

Cheers