People will tend to get scared whenever the word terrorism is being mention. Well, unfortunately for me, I am not afraid. This is because I know that the goverment is their job in keeping terrorism at bay. Take for an example, the escape of Mas Selamat. Firstly, I must say that he had planned an ambitious escape plan. Never have I heard of any prisoners escaping from the jail without getting caught till last year. And I must that, Singaporeans were all worried about the escape of Mas Selamat and afraid. The Goverment tried all ways to track him down and even combed the whole jungle. And for those who loves to go to Malaysia for short trip or so, who can forget the locally famous long stretch of waiting cars wanting to get pass the checkpoint?


After a few months passed, Mas Selamat was not even caught and many assumed that he had been killed by the authorities while being interrogated. Well, if you think this is ridiculous perhaps you are right but thats what my parents claimed and even speculations about this. They were so sure that he was being killed but I guess things took to a whole new different level as we all know Mas Selamat was captured 16 months after that. This shows that, the Goverment is going all out to stop terrorism at all cost. Therefore, I do not see a reason about why we should be afraid although I have to admit that the way I think about terrorism and how the goverment is taking care of it is absolutely wrong.


Hello! This project made me realised how much humans are causing global warming and at the same time destroying the habitats of different species of animal. So when too much of carbon dioxide is being trapped in Earth, it then,warms up the Earth causing unexpected weather changes around the planet thus creating natural disasters such as tsunamis,tornados, volcano eruption, droughts and other natural disasters. I'm aware that global warming is happening but I did not realised it is that bad till this project is being done. What I mean is that, I did not know that the penguins and polar bears are in the red light zone of losing their own homes. As a human being, we do want to have roofs over our head and it is the same for the animals. These animals do not want to lose their homes. They need shelter to look after their young and also feed their young. So, I urged all of us, to stop global warming and at least have a thought for these animals before even thinking about switching your lights on.

Labels: Reflective Summary.

Burning fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal, oil and gasoline raises the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and carbon dioxide is a major contributor to the greenhouse .

1)Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
Do your part to reduce waste by choosing reusable products instead of disposables. Buying products with minimal packaging (including the economy size when that makes sense for you) will help to reduce waste. And whenever you can, recycle paper, plastic, newspaper, glass and aluminum cans. If there isn't a recycling program at your workplace, school, or in your community, ask about starting one. By recycling half of your household waste, you can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.


2) Use Less Heat and Air Conditioning
Adding insulation to your walls and attic, and installing weather stripping or caulking around doors and windows can lower your heating costs more than 25 percent, by reducing the amount of energy you need to heat and cool your home.
Turn down the heat while you're sleeping at night or away during the day, and keep temperatures moderate at all times. Setting your thermostat just 2 degrees lower in winter and higher in summer could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.

3) Change the lightbulb.
Wherever practical, replace regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. Replacing just one 60-watt incandescent light bulb with a CFL will save you $30 over the life of the bulb. CFLs also last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, use two-thirds less energy, and give off 70 percent less heat.


4)Drive Less and Drive Smart.
Less driving means fewer emissions. Besides saving gasoline, walking and biking are great forms of exercise. Explore your community mass transit system, and check out options for carpooling to work or school.


5)Buy Energy-Efficient Products
When it's time to buy a new car, choose one that offers good gas mileage. Home appliances now come in a range of energy-efficient models, and compact florescent bulbs are designed to provide more natural-looking light while using far less energy than standard light bulbs.

6)Use Less Hot Water
Set your water heater at 120 degrees to save energy, and wrap it in an insulating blanket if it is more than 5 years old. Buy low-flow showerheads to save hot water and about 350 pounds of carbon dioxide yearly. Wash your clothes in warm or cold water to reduce your use of hot water and the energy required to produce it. That change alone can save at least 500 pounds of carbon dioxide annually in most households. Use the energy-saving settings on your dishwasher and let the dishes air-dry.

7)Use the "Off" Switch
Save electricity and reduce global warming by turning off lights when you leave a room, and using only as much light as you need. And remember to turn off your television, video player, stereo and computer when you're not using them.
It's also a good idea to turn off the water when you're not using it. While brushing your teeth, shampooing the dog or washing your car, turn off the water until you actually need it for rinsing. You'll reduce your water bill and help to conserve a vital resource.


8)Plant A Tree
If you have the means to plant a tree, start digging. During photosynthesis, trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. They are an integral part of the natural atmospheric exchange cycle here on Earth, but there are too few of them to fully counter the increases in carbon dioxide caused by automobile traffic, manufacturing and other human activities. A single tree will absorb approximately one ton of carbon dioxide during its lifetime.

9). Encourage Others to Conserve
Share information about recycling and energy conservation with your friends, neighbors and co-workers, and take opportunities to encourage public officials to establish programs and policies that are good for the environment.
These 10 steps will take you a long way toward reducing your energy use and your monthly budget. And less energy use means less dependence on the fossil fuels that create greenhouse gases and contribute to global warming

adapted from:http://environment.about.com/od/globalwarming/tp/globalwarmtips.htm


How to save the polar bears!

1)As Arctic sea ice disappears, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the Arctic coastal plain will become increasingly important for the polar bear. The Refuge has the highest concentration of on-shore denning polar bears in the Alaskan Arctic. This area should not be opened to oil and gas or any other development that would degrade essential polar bear habitat. The National Wildlife Federation has worked hard to protect the Refuge


2)Wildlife species are ill-prepared to meet the threat of global warming’s rapid and disruptive climate changes.


3) Help reduce global warming and help cool the planet one home at a time.


In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act, enacted in 1973, is the nation's primary tool for conserving imperiled plants and animals.


The Secretary of Interior listed the polar bear as threatened but restricted the Endangered Species Act's protections and thus the polar bear's future is still very much in jeopardy.


The Endangered Species Act's ultimate goal is to recover threatened and endangered species to the point where they no longer need the law's protections.


The chief threat to the polar bear is the loss of its sea ice habitat due to global warming. However, the polar bear is also stressed by other human activity, particularly oil and gas development activities in its habitat.


According to scientists, saving wildlife from the threat of global warming requires more than reducing global warming pollution. To help wildlife cope with the stress caused by climate change, natural resource managers must take action to reduce non-climatic stressors. In the case of the polar bear, this means that natural resource managers must limit oil and gas development in the polar bear's habitat. The Alaskan polar bear population relies heavily on the Arctic coastal plain for denning. It also relies on the ice on the Beaufort and Chukchi seas for both denning and hunting. Both of these habitat areas are threatened by increasing oil and gas development. Although the polar bear is now listed as a threatened species, the Secretary of Interior limited certain protections for the polar bear and will allow oil and gas development to continue in important polar bear habitat.


adapted from:http://www.nwf.org/polarbearsandglobalwarming/


There are 17 species of penguins in the world, and 11 are in danger of becoming extinct. For example, there are only a few thousand Galapagos penguins left because El Niño depleted the fish they eat. There are also only a few thousand left of the yellow-eyed and fiordland penguins which live south of Australia. Penguins are dying off because of pollution, overfishing, coastal development, and climate changes.


Penguins are native to the southern hemisphere. They live in Antarctica and off the coasts of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and South America, with some as far north as the Galapagos Islands, which are part of Ecuador.


A report by Usha Lee McFarling of the Knight Rider Newspapers, December 6, 1998, states that 40,000 penguins are killed each year by oil spills off the coast of Argentina. Pollution in the ocean also reduces the ability of penguins to reproduce. In New Zealand and Australia, non-indigenous predators such as cats, dogs, and ferrets feed on the vulnerable penguins.

The penguins have limited territory and rely on fishing near their nests. They depend on specific fish such as anchovies and sardines. Human fishing competes with the Penguins and can eliminate their food supply. Flying birds can hunt in a wider territory, and some such as sea gulls can adapt to other types of food, but penguins must eat the local fish. In some places, the human fishing industry also directly kills the penguins. They get snared in nets, and are even deliberately killed and their meat used as bait.


In Peru, the guano (droppings from penguins) is harvested as a resource. This can harm the penguins, since they burrow into guano piles to hide from seals.


Live penguins can be an economic resource, since they attract tourists. But if not properly managed, tourism can threaten the survival of the penguins. Tourists step on the eggs and interrupt breeding. Tour boats also pose the danger of oil spills.


These combined forces that threaten the penguins are patterns that impact on the environment in general. Because penguins are popular with us humans, their cause could be a catalyst for greater global efforts to save the natural environment. We need an international treaty on wildlife to make those who destroy wildlife pay for the damage they cause. Tour boats and ships, for example, should not be allowed to operate unless they have insurance or other funds to pay for any oil spills.

The greater problem of global pollution requires an international agreement to make all polluters pay for their damage. This cost would have two effects. The pollution charges would be passed on to the consumers of the products, making those items more expensive and thus reducing the quantity purchased, and thereby reducing the pollution. The charges would also induce polluting firms to reduce the charge by putting in equipment and changing their production methods to reduce the pollution. The charges could be used to pay for monitoring the wildlife to enforce the payments.


Fishing is a problem because the oceans are unmanaged common property. The remedy is to limit the fishing to a sustainable level and then auction off the rights to fish. The payment for fishing permits would be a type of rent for the use of the fishing water. Killing penguins and other endangered wildlife should be penalized as well, and non-native predators need to be controlled.


Because penguins capture the public imagination, environmental groups can use their plight to educate the public on the general problem of the destruction of wildlife. But environmental groups should also educate themselves on the economics of conservation. Often the best environmental policy is not command and control, but to affect human action through the market, by making consumers and producers pay the full social cost of their damage. That cost may be difficult to measure and estimate, but such things are better done badly than not at all.


Let us hope the tragedy of losing most of the world's penguin species will help spur greater efforts to preserve the natural environment. You can help by supporting environmental organizations and joining the dialogue on environmental economics.

adapted from: http://progress.org/archive/fold67.htm

Labels: .

Labels: HERMIT HERMIT HERMIT HERMIT