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/

Week 8 Tutorial: Tragedy of Commons...

Hi! just thought I'll add some comments here in another post...because i want to add photos...

I totally agree with you Amy, I'm staying on campus right now in the school dorm/hostel (we call it hostel here but i'm not sure if you call them dorms in Aust).

Here's a view from my room.

We share a common pantry and toilets for each floor. There are truly inconsiderate people in the same floor sometimes. They will cook their meals and then leave their dirty pots and pans around the sink, attracting ants and all sorts of bugs. Yucks. But we don't contribute food for sharing with each other like you mentioned. We buy our own food and stock up in the fridge. But there are incidences where people steal food from the fridge. (I haven't taken pictures of my pantry..will upload them when I have).

For e.g there was once when I saw a notice on the fridge that says "Someone stole my Ben and Jerrys from the fridge! Pls return my ice-cream!" I don't think i'll dare to eat it even if someone did return the ice-cream. You dont know what that person did to your ice-cream. Ewww.

I think that in a commons situation, there is no incentive to think of others. It is human instincts to think of yourself first. You can call it survival instincts. We're all guilty of that sometimes.

I give another example from hostel...a lot of them leave the lights and fans on in the pantry when they leave the room. Sometimes the lights will be left on throughout the night without anyone in it. What a waste! ...of course we dont pay for the wastage of electricity because we just pay a fixed fix for utilities bill, which is already included in our hostel fee. So we have the mentality that we have a right to use as much as possible since we paid for it. Might as well max out the worth of our usage without any care for the environment.

Water is another resource we waste in hostel. We may spend a full hour bathing in the shower or leave our showers running on while soaping just because we don't pay the water per min we use. I'm not sure if it's the same in Aust..water is more precious in Aust so you might be charged to use in dorms?

Of course it's a different situation at home. We pay for the utilities bill per usage so we're conscious of resource wastage. It is all very well and idealistic to say that communal systems work when there are personal sacrifices and respect for others so as to achieve a common goal. I think John Nash's "Game Theory" mentioned this. Everyone will want the best for himself, but if each takes the best, there will be none for all in the end. If everyone settles for something less, there will be something for everyone....haha..or something like that. Jas, correct me if i'm wrong.

Unless the society is taught in such a way that everyone will think of others first. I think Japan is best example. The Japanese are very considerate. When I was in Japan, there is an unspeakable rule that you have to stand on the right hand side of the escalator. Always. People behind will stare at you if you don't.

In Singapore, although we also have to do that, a lot of people don't follow. Our professor (he's from England) mentioned that he found it strange that Singaporeans know when to follow rules and when not to. I think Singapore is quite famous for being a "fine" city. When i was in USA for exchange, my American friends will always ask me if Singapore really does fine people for chewing gums. I'll say that we will fine people for spitting gums in public area if the police catches you (that's very unlucky for you). But we won't catch people who are just chewing gums. In fact we sell gums for medical purposes, like for those who wants to quit smoking or for oral hygiene purposes. ..ok i'm digressing...so my point is that society in Singapore is very pragmatic. Without any form of regulation, the commons in Singapore will be destroyed.

Let me cite another example. In the past, Singapore River was the heart of entrepot trade. The River became very polluted by disposal of wastes from industries and pig and duck farms nearby. There is no incentive for each industry to treat their wastes before dumping it into the sea. It was filled with algae and fishes cannot survive in it. If you look at some less developed cities in China now, it is like this. People just throw out their wastes into the streets or spit on them...so the streets in China are very dirty. Our then Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, declared the cleanup of Singapore River...so several government bodies were involved in the cleanup and it was done. Well ya..it's a very top down approach...I won't say it's the best method but it's quite an effective method for controlling the way people use the commons.

Singapore River in the past.

Image source: www.skyscrapercity.com

Singapore River now.

Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Singapore_river_04.jpg

Yup so to sum it up...i think there must be some form of regulation or incentive for the commons so that people are the ones who will bear the cost of environmental externalities.

J.

a photograph of me.

It was taken hours ago when I was chilling out at my usual pub, Alleybar.

hey people! This is J, Jasmine here!


I am a year 2 Geography major at NUS.
Am also doing a 2nd major/might rather minor in Southeast Asian Studies.

Basically, my life is pretty much spelt out over on facebook. There are a tonnes of things that I do everyday. So, I shall not go to great lengths to explain. And strangely, these things are pretty much opposites. As opposing as these activities are, I still love and enjoy every bit of them! In the polarized world of my own, I strive for a balance between all things; work hard and also play hard. As you will come to realize, I do so by sleeping very very little! So forgive me, if i start scribbling on this blog, facebook or text at unearthly hours.

Add me on facebook! I have no idea how facebook's search engine works, but I am named as 'Jasmine Ng'. MSN/Facebook me at ziyingng@hotmail.com. Please note that impt mails should be sent to my nus mail at u0702482@nus.edu.sg.


Love,
J.

Hi peeps!

I'm Sabrina... I'm a final year Real Estate student. Am Singaporean.. I have a lot of interests... hmm...i sketch sometimes, i recently discovered photography and just take trigger happy photos...also recently picked up some gardening... i used to learn chinese martial arts, called wushu, and lion dance but I no longer practice it now. But i'm still infatuated by martial arts..the Ip Man movie inspired me to pick up Wing Chun so i may learn that in future. haha. And I would love to travel around the world some day.

Well i'm taking this module because i've been quite interested in the environment recentlly...and hoping to get a job that plays a big role in enhancing the environment we live in.

yup..if you search in facebook for my name "Sabrina Yee" you'll see this profile picture. I took it in a very quaint englishy looking restaurant in California. They lend nice hats to customers to wear during their meal. Then we had a very fun time pretending to be in the Jane Austin era. haha. :) just add me on facebook and tell me you're from GE3239... hope to read more posts from you guys here!