Month: November 2013

Trip to the Macritchie Forest, turned out to be an exhilarating and rejuvenating experience for the Earthlinkers, as it helped give them a break from the monotony of university life and provided them an opportunity to get close to Nature. With flora and fauna at its best, the forest walk turned out to be an informative and fun-filled excursion. Gawking at monkeys and squirrels ambling around in abundance, was indeed a fun adventure. Such rich foliage turned out to be a sumptuous feast for our eyes. We even came across human sized leaves!!! Ice- breaker games were organized in order to strengthen the bonds between fellow Earthlinkers. Amidst all the fun and frolic, we gained valuable knowledge about the forest around us, and the importance behind saving it. If you missed the walk and would still like to do your part in ensuring it is not destroyed before our very eyes, sign up for the petition at the following link and leave your footprint on the path to environmental conservation.

On 19th October 2013, Earthlink NTU organised an environmental seminar on  Knowing Singapore from an Environmental Perspective . Esther Chan from National Environmental Agency was the guest speaker for the day. She presented the audience with extremely fascinating slides and captivating videos on energy production and conservation in Singapore. One video that made a lasting impression was a talk on  How behavioural science can lower your energy bill by Alex Laskey (President & Founder of OPOWER).

In San Marcos, California, as a part of an experiment, people were asked to turn off their air conditioning and turn on their fans instead, in addition one fourth of the neighbourhood received memos on monetary benefits, another one fourth on saving the planet and the next one fourth on being good citizens and preventing black outs, all three efforts were fruitless; but the fourth message proved to be a tremendous success, in short it said  your neighbours are doing a better job !

It was evident from the video that the common man triggered by social pressure can bring about pivotal changes. The seminar was not just informative but also motivating and inspiring for all the participants gathered at Lecture Theatre 11, North Spine@ NTU. It showcased the importance of the extent to which an individual can make a difference in the world today.

As Ms Chan concluded her seminar, her final quote  Our planet can only accept the kind of love we think it deserves , proved to be a favourite amongst the audience, and was quite thought provoking.

Post the seminar, a short quiz was conducted by the Earthlink Welfare Committee .The questions revolved around the Environment and Energy Conservation in Singapore. Questions such as,  prioritize a list of objects you would take with you if all humans migrated to another Earth-like planet, were immensely well thought out and effective at delivering the eventual message of the seminar. The event ended with a prize distribution for those who scored the most in the quiz. On the whole, the seminar was an enriching experience, which left us motivated to save the environment.

On Sunday, November 3, several Earthlinkers visited Semakau Landfill, the world s only offshore ecological landfill. Situated 8km south of Singapore, the landfill has been built entirely upon sea space by enclosing Pulau Semakau and a small adjacent island (Pulau Sakeng) with a rock bound. It is an engineering feat designed to overcome Singapore s most pertinent constraint: land scarcity.

Earthlinkers took a tour of the landfill, driving along the outskirts to gain perspective on its operations. In their journey, they were prompt to observe that unlike other landfills, Semakau was clean and free of any odour. Semakau has achieved this via responsible disposal of waste: a layer of marine clay and an impermeable landfill liner, ensuring that no waste seeps into the environment.

In their journey, Earthlinkers also had the pleasure of viewing fish nurseries and observing a variety of flourishing wildlife within the landfill, features that significantly distinguish Semakau from any other landfill in the world. Indeed, the Semakau Landfill is the only active landfill that receives incinerated and industrial waste while supporting a thriving ecosystem, encompassing more than 700 types of plants and animals and several endangered species.

At the tail end of the visit, Semakau personnel also presented the audience with an account of the history of waste management within Singapore and its often-overlooked importance. More significantly, Earthlinkers were presented with the pressing challenge that the landfill faces, today: an escalating amount of waste (2000 tonnes per day) while its physical capacity to contain such wastecontinues at status quo.

The participants were urged to  reduce, reuse, recycle in order to ensure that Semakau, the only space Singapore has to dispose of waste does not prematurely reach full capacity (which it is on track to, currently). Heading back to mainland Singapore, Ito Chicharu remarked,  I think that is the most important message: for everyone to reduce, reuse, recycle to keep the landfill going. It is the only one Singapore has!