Tutorial

Preparation instructions

Following on from your earlier tutorials on population, and campus sustainability, we will think about and discuss the impact of population on sustainability by thinking about the maximum population that a country such as Singapore can sustainably support, reflecting on the resources that students think affect their proposed population limit. Following the completion of this topic, it is expected that students will have a deeper understanding of the complex policy, and ecological issues that are inherent to population policy.

What needs to be done.

There are two goals that need to be accomplished for this weeks collaboration:

1. Share your views on what population you think Singapore can sustainably support with students from the ANU and why. Listen to students views on what they think Australia can sustainably support and why. Discuss your reasons for why you came up with your figure.

2. To create your final collaboration entry in your learning portfolio on campus sustainability, which addresses the following questions:

   1. What are the global implications of population that make it a significant issues in terms of sustainability?

   2. What is the best path to a sustainable population future?

3. Provide a conclusion in your learning portfolio which sums up your collaboration experience, and what you have learn over the past 3 tutorial topics which have been shared with students from the ANU.

Questions

Your responses to these questions will form the basis for our tutorial discussions:

1. Your estimate of what population you think Singapore can sustainably support.
   • ANU students will think about a sustainable population target for Singapore.
2. Briefly substantiate your figure by listing (in order of importance) the most significant resources that limit the population Australia and Sinagpore can sustainably support
3. What are some of the similarities and differences between the resources that limit Australia's population to that of Singapore?
4. Come prepared to discuss and defend your sustainable population target for Singapore. The ideas presented in lectures, readings and collaboration discussions with ANU may be helpful in supporting your views.

And to all my Singapore project mates... We have another assignment to do, due 2 weeks from now.. Maybe we can brainstorm the ideas that we have on this space as well... Here it is..

Task Description

Choose ONE of the following four topics:

1. 1. Critically evaluate the usefulness of international collaboration in appreciating the significance of cultural perspectives on environmental issues.

2. What can NUS learn from international initiatives to promote campus sustainability?

3. How would you design a research investigation to determine the performance of campus sustainability initiatives?

4. We are halfway through the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014). Critically evaluate how universities have responded to the challenges and what more might be done.

Notes. In all questions it is possible to draw upon your collaboration with ANU students, but please note that this is not a course requirement at the ANU end of the partnership. You are encouraged to bring in examples from the collaboration to illustrate points, but the “success” or otherwise of your collaboration should not impact on assessment.

In question 1 you are free to range across different issues or to concentrate on one particular aspect of the collaborative exercises. Similarly, discussions with ANU students should give perspectives on the other questions. In Question 3 you might consider conducting a short data collection (e.g. measuring temperatures across campus to test the 25 degrees campaign, finding out about university energy use, etc). Please consult us if you need equipment to make measurements. The NUS Office of Environmental Sustainability may be able to provide some data but please liaise with course leaders first. In Question 4 you may also consider the curriculum issues. If this university will produce future leaders how do those leaders obtain environmental literacy?

Natalyn's Footprints

I'm really sorry for the late entries, and thanks Sam for posting it on the forum. I just got back on track with my assignments, because I was having a performance last week, and I totally forgot about all my assignments. =)


So this is my eco footprint..




I didn't know the extent of my consumption habits that will harm the earth. Obviously my consumption habits ain't environmentally friendly enough, despite my tendency to eat more vegetables rather than meat, or don't eat at all.

So time for some questions:
What can you do to reduce your own ecological footprint?
1. Reduce my meat intake
2. Making sure that I'm eating locally produced meat, rather than those with travel mileage.

What are some of the resource inputs and waste outputs of universities like the ANU and NUS and how do these contribute to their overall footprint?
1. Making sure that the temperature set in every lecture hall/tutorial room/seminar rooms are at 25 degrees cel.
2. 3Rs, Reduce Reuse Recycle.
3. Reducing energy consumption, switching off the electricity in every room after a lecture/tutorial, and not keeping it switched on for the whole day.


List some innovative strategies that the educational institutions like the ANU and NUS are doing to reduce their overall ecological footprint. Do any of these strategies challenge social or institutional "norms"? (That is, Change the way people behave or think?)
1. Creating awareness to ALL students about the harm caused by us as students.
2. Earth hour this coming Saturday.

Device 2 strategies that ANU or NUS could implement to reduce their footprint, and enhance sustainability. Who is responsible? Individuals changing their behaviour, the university changing the way it conducts business, or both? Why?
1. Decreased the printing of notes in NUS. One major plus point about NUS is the default printing of double pages, in which students can save paper and at the same time, have their notes printed.
2. Campaigns and Seminars regarding environmental sustainability should be taken more seriously and maybe universities should make it compulsory that students attend at least one of these campaigns, so to further promote sustainability

Who is Responsible?
This question is very controversial. Who can we blame? It is very hard to pinpoint on ourselves or at the school. But both sides are to be blamed for such issues at hand.

Jasmine's Ecological footprint

MY ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AT A GLANCE

I used to think that I am much more ecofriendly than most of my peers. However, this exercise has proven that I am ‘environmentally high maintenance’ as well. Haha. Food actually accounts for 41% of my footprint. However, this is probably due to the fact that Singapore is not self-sufficient and needs to import most of its food supplies.

PROBLEMS IN CALCULATING MY ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

In my previous semester, I did a similar exercise for another geography module. However, my peers and I found out that it difficult to calculate OUR ecological footprints accurately. This is because, most ecological footprint calculators ignore spatial inequalities and differences (e.g. Singapore is not self sufficient and needs to import most of its food supplies). With that, we also realized that most countries, like Singapore, had not designed an ecological footprint calculator that is appropriated for calculating the ecological footprints of its people.

I am aware that this exercise ignores the problems relating to the methodology of these footprint results. However, through this we can also see how Singapore(ans) handles environmental issues in a lack-luster manner. In saying that, I am also aware of the several centralized and pragmatic greening strategies that Singapore had undertaken to promote a "Garden City' (see this paper: http://www.rnzih.org.nz/pages/2003_Conference_Proceedings_PDFs/28_Mason_Tan_Beng_Jin.pdf). With that, we can also question the potency of such centralized and pragmatic measures in promoting environmental sustainability, since most of its people are still poorly equipped with environmentally-friendly practices.

In this exercise, I chose ‘Australia” for the same reasons as Sabrina. With that, I do say that the results are grossly inaccurate. However, it can still be used as a reflection of my environmentally unsustainable practices.

PRACTICES I CAN ADOPT TO REDUCE MY ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

Basically, I have to change my consumption habits and patterns.

1. In terms of lowering my food miles, I would choose produce grown locally. Local produce are actually cheaper as well! However, this attempt is greatly impaired with the fact that most of the food supplies we get are imported, in some way or another (e.g. fertilizers used for planting).

2. In terms of lowering my mobility footprint, I would do car-sharing whenever possible. Car travelling in private vehicles account for a huge part of my ecological footprint. My friends (approximately 8 in my usual clique) and I would usually use our own cars whenever we go to school or meet up. We do this in the name of ‘convenience’, when most of us actually stay in the same area. Hence, by doing car-sharing, I would probably be able to reduce my ecological footprint by a great extent.

RESOURCE INPUTS AND WASTE OUTPUTS IN NUS

Universities like NUS use a ton of energy everyday to power its activities. Most of the energy is used to power up ACs (which temperatures are set at ridiculously low levels). As said in one of the NUS guest lectures for this module, energy accounts for the most part of NUS’s ecological footprint.

INNOVATIVE STRATEGIES USED IN NUS

I am certainly amazed that NUS is going to participate in the “Earth Hour’ program. In this program, the campus switches off all electrical appliances for an hour. This is done to promote its greater aim of enhancing environmental sustainability.

This strategy definitely challenges the normalized notion of cities. Most of us would visualize cities, as a city that is punctuated with ‘bright lights’, 24/7. This is in sync with the notion of growth in these capitalistic cities that ‘never sleeps’. Indeed, the lights act as a visual representation of ‘a city that never sleeps’. In ‘Earth Hour’, NUS challenges the notion that ‘a city never sleeps because it is constantly lighted’, by switching appliances that are responsible for ‘lighting up’ the city.

STRATEGIES NUS CAN IMPLEMENT

1. About a week ago, my friend from YALE commented that we, Singaporeans (NUS students), print a lot of our stuffs. He mentioned that students at YALE hardly print any of their readings because everything is electronized and could be easily accessed online without needing to run to the library. As far as I know, the printing practice of NUS students, consume tons of paper a year. As such, I would hope that NUS Library would take trouble to electronize all library materials. Professors should then further encourage students to use this facility by uploading these electronized versions onto the E-Reserves portion of our learning website (IVLE).

2. NUS should encourage its students to go around promoting environmentally friendly practices. Singapore has a small tightly-knitted community. Hence, this might actually prove to be effective in promoting a more environmentally sustainable Singapore.

In answering the last part to this question, I think it is very difficult to say ‘who is responsible’. The scales at which social agents act are overlapping. Moreover, varying degrees of socio-political powers are embedded at different scales and levels. But personally, I am an advocate of ‘environmental sustainability begins with me’. This is because, I feel that, being a person (often thought of as the ‘smallest’ scale), I yield a certain degree of socio-political power at different scales (e.g. me as the president for a club). With this, I am able to promote changes in behaviour at all scales, from the scale of a body to even one of a nation. More importantly, I am doing my bid to enhance environmental sustainability. And if everyone does just that, the world would be a much more sustainable one.

Sam's Eco Footprint

Singapore Footprint

U.S. Footprint

I did the test twice because I was curious how my lifestyle in Singapore would compare to the one in the U.S. The first box is the Singapore result, while the second is for the U.S. I was a little surprised by the result. It would take about a half a planet more in Singapore than in the U.S. I was surprised because I drive a lot more in the U.S., we have a house and rather than living in an apartment style building. After playing around with the various pieces of the quiz, I found that the one contributors is air travel. Since it took 20+ hours in the air to get to Singapore, add to that the return trip and the 13ish flights I'll have taken while here, it raises my footprint considerably. Normally I would fly A LOT less. If I change that factor, Singapore living becomes better by roughly half a planet.

Areas I could improve:

1. Reduce animal product consumption. A large part of my footprint comes from the food I eat. In the U.S. eating local isn't much of a problem, as I grew up on a farm and we raise our own meat, vegetables, and some of our fruit. Because meat is readily available, I've become accustomed to eating a lot of it. This is an area I could realistically scale back.
2. The packaging idea is a good one, as those foods tend to be more unhealthy anyway. That would force me to be less lazy in food preparation. Small improvement is possible, but a big change probably isn't realistic due to my cooking skills and time constraints.
3. Don't see the solar panel thing happening any time soon. Way too big of an initial investment.
4. I don't own appliances, nor do I pay for the electricity; therefore I'm a little ignorant in this category. Generally, in the U.S. anyway, landlords provide pretty efficient models because it saves them money. Not sure how I would improve this other than the way I use them, but that's pretty efficient already. Only do laundry with full loads, etc.
5. The public transport suggestion is interesting. It's not mentioned in the suggestions for the U.S. model. In Singapore, that's all I use, and honestly, I agree with Sabrina it seems to be all that's necessary. The U.S. is a different story. Due to the size of the country and the fact that other than the big cities, it's pretty sparsely populated making public transport difficult to implement. Therefore, there isn't any. In my university town, we have a bus system. Generally, I don't leave campus except on weekends. I walk or take an occasional bus on campus. Since traffic is never a problem, public transport takes 5 times as long, therefore I tend to drive. My friends and I usually car pool to places, so that's a positive I suppose.
6. The flying thing is the big contributor, as I mentioned earlier. The Singapore exchange experience heavily impacts that. I don't see this sort of thing changing. If I get the chance to see and experience a new country or place...chances are I won't be thinking about the environment. Sabrina's idea of offsetting is good, although for me personally, I don't know that I'd ever follow through on it. I think I'd need some kind of incentive, to be honest.
   

Introductions...

Hey all, I apologize that I'm late in doing this, but better late than never, eh? Here we go. My name is Sam Harting, and I am a mechanical engineering student in my third year. My home university is Iowa State University in the state (you guessed it) of Iowa in the U.S. I am on exchange for this semester at NUS. I grew up on a farm in a rural community in Iowa. My graduating class of high school was 67 people. The nearest town to where I lived was around 400...total. My background is a little different from all you urbanites :)

My interests lately centers mostly around travel, as that's what I do during breaks and on weekends. SE Asia has been treating me well. I enjoy the debates of environmental sustainability and like to approach it from an engineering perspective, of which I hope will be helpful in the collaboration.

Any questions, let me know. I'm easy to find on Facebook, just gotta search for my name.

P.S. Thanks to Sabrina for getting our next tutorial discussion started.

My Eco Footprint...

There's only Australia or USA in the option so i've to put Australia since it's nearer to Singapore. Ok so to answer the question about how i can reduce my carbon footprint...

What I think I can realistically achieve is:

1. Reduce meat consumption by half.
I've no qualms doing this since i'm a more veg person than a meat person. No prob..ok so to make the goal more achievable, I shall aim to eat veg 3 days a week. So that is 6 meals in total (2 meals a day)... I'll monitor this and tell you guys if I make it. haha. It's very hard when you eat outside everyday. The vegetarian food in school sucks and I don't cook. My mum can cook very good vegetarian food. I can't be a full vegetarian because I love my hawaiian and super supreme (it's beef, salami and olives) pizza. Are any of you vegetarian?

2. I will try to buy stuffs that are made from recycled materials
But it's tough to not buy stuffs that have packaging since a lot of things in Singapore are already wrapped in plastic. I won't be able to buy cheese, apples, eggs, etc. I can ask food vendors not to give me plastic bags for bagging food....bring my own bag to supermarkets and bring own box to takeaway food. Yup..I do try to bring my own bag to buy groceries (but sometimes i forget) and only recently brought own box for takeaways.

3. I can't do anything abt solar panels for electricity
Our electricity is supplied from a central power station so i can't do anything abt it. Well maybe if i install a solar panel at home...but that's out of the question. A panel is too expensive and my parents won't pay for it.

4. Energy efficient appliances at home
Uh..ok I'll see if I can change those when the bulbs at home is spoilt. I'm not going to change a perfectly good light bulb. I'm not sure how much energy efficient bulbs cost though. If it's too expensive...i'll reconsider. Yes...but i'm still a student so cost is very important. I'm not sure if I can convince my dad to pay for this...he's not too keen in environmental issues.

5. Take public transport...
No problem for this. We don't own cars at home. None at all. I get around fully by public transport and maybe taxi sometimes. Singapore is easy to get around by public transport.

6. Take a local holiday...
Uh..this is tough..I'm planning to fly to Sabah this hol. No i'm not going to revise my travel plans. I'll go plant trees or whatever to offset but i'm not changing my travel plans. Sorry. :P

...right..that's all from me today. I'm very tired and getting a headache so i'll continue other questions next time. hope to hear from you guys about ur footprints soon!

Week 10 Tutorial: Campus Sustainability

Questions

1. What can you do to reduce your own ecological footprint?
2. What are some of the resource inputs and waste outputs of universities like the ANU and NUS and how do these contribute to their overall footprint?
3. List some innovative strategies that the educational institutions like the ANU and NUS are doing to reduce their overall ecological footprint. Do any of these strategies challenge social or institutional "norms"? (That is, Change the way people behave or think?)
4. Device 2 strategies that ANU or NUS could implement to reduce their footprint, and enhance sustainability. Who is responsible? Individuals changing their behaviour, the university changing the way it conducts business, or both? Why?

Take the ecological footprint quiz to find out your own ecological footprint here:
http://www.earthday.net/footprint/flash.html

Here's some additional info:
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/frequently_asked_questions/