This article is from The Straits Times, Monday May 21.
Some people in this world feel for other animals but an act of a kind man can still be harmful to other beings. This is the case of sympathetic park strollers feeding stray monkeys. As form the title, ‘Loving them to death’ suggests that death comes indirectly for them. I feel that people always think that feeding the monkeys are no big deal—they may not be able to find enough food from the wild.
However, feeding of these wild animals will cause them to lose their ability for survival in the wild. ‘Survival of the fittest’. Every living thing knows that. The monkeys will become too dependant on the tasty food from the humans, thus making their life seem much easier for them. In fact they will turn aggressive and from the article, more than 100 wild monkeys had been run over while waiting for people to feed them. These monkeys even started to attack humans for food. Probably they thought that humans equal to food and every one of us are to feed them. This will be a big problem to people living close to these monkey territories.
These are the harmful effects that monkey feeders will cause and will indirectly cause the death of these animals. Although these people are feeding for the ‘good’ of the animals, I will still not follow suit. I feel that sometimes these people are only feeding them for fun, and most of the times those food are unwanted. This simple act can cause serious problems later on.
For the sake of the survival of the monkeys, I personally feel that the minimum fines for feeding them should be set much higher than $250. From the article, a man was feeding the monkeys despite standing near a no-feeding notice. With this amount of fines, people like him will take note of these signs and deter them from giving the monkeys food. In addition, small roads with usual sighting of hungry monkeys can be blocked out so that the chances of the presence of feeders can be decreased. This will also help them integrate back into their hunting habitat which will be beneficial for both the monkeys and the residents around the parks.
However, these solutions are easier said than done. As a student, I may not be able to suggest a best solution and may not be able to get the facts right. However, these are the least that can be done for the future.
Word count: 423
Monday, May 21, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Tokyo’s recycling plant leads the way.
From: http://enewslink.asia1.com.sg/brsweb/read_1.brsw?this=result&QDT=1&QFLST=HD%3AHG%3APD&DB=BT%3AST%4007-07&QSTR=%28%28recycling%29%29.HG.&DTSTR=%28%28PD+%3E=+20070501%29+and+%28PD+%3C=+20070514%29%29&PSZ=10&MAXL=200&SUMY=1&HLT=0&LSTN=0&ID=000021436@ST07
This article is from The Straits Times, Wednesday May 9. It is to show the world that recycling can be done efficiently and effectively and is definitely useful for saving the environment.
Although everyone is saying so much about reducing, reusing and recycling, I still feel that we as Singaporeans are not participating enough in order to lessen the impact of global warming. Many of us are using resources like paper and plastic so much as we consider their impact on the environment to be insignificant. However, Japan has stepped in to be a role model for the world as to how we can play a part to rescue our mother earth.
In my opinion, Singapore should also have the same recycling system. Since Singapore is lacking of natural resources, instead of incinerating all the rubbish that Singapore produces, we can turn these unwanted garbage into resources for new products. As from the article, this way of dealing with garbage is like ‘killing two birds with one stone – extracting scarce resources from garbage for reuse and, in the process, sharply reducing the amount of garbage that needs to be buried in landfills.’ It can also be turned into recycled sand and other useful materials for the construction industry, solving the problem of the lack of sand for new buildings.
However, I feel that this way of treating the waste materials are not only costly, there will not be many people wanting to work in these conditions. Imagine spending hours handpicking materials from garbage that can be used for recycling. It will not be a job that a high scoring student will want. Although this may be true, I think that this will instead be a good opportunity for people who have difficulties finding jobs. In my opinion, the handicapped or the old people could be employed if recycling plants would to be set up in Singapore. Again, it will be killing two birds with one stone – solving unemployment and at the same time, easing pressure on the atmosphere and landfills.
But, it is also easier said than done. Not all materials can be reused. Furthermore, using these recycled sand for construction, although environmentally friendly, may not be as cheap as the normal construction sand used. More time, work and energy will also be needed to produce these recycled sand, defeating the purpose of reusing garbage.
I may not be very sure as to how Singapore treats the waste materials it produces and how well we do it. However, I strongly encourage Singapore to consider following the footsteps of Japan in order to solve the city’s waste problems, nurture the country’s environmental industry and turn Singapore into a country with self-sufficient resources.
Word count: 452
This article is from The Straits Times, Wednesday May 9. It is to show the world that recycling can be done efficiently and effectively and is definitely useful for saving the environment.
Although everyone is saying so much about reducing, reusing and recycling, I still feel that we as Singaporeans are not participating enough in order to lessen the impact of global warming. Many of us are using resources like paper and plastic so much as we consider their impact on the environment to be insignificant. However, Japan has stepped in to be a role model for the world as to how we can play a part to rescue our mother earth.
In my opinion, Singapore should also have the same recycling system. Since Singapore is lacking of natural resources, instead of incinerating all the rubbish that Singapore produces, we can turn these unwanted garbage into resources for new products. As from the article, this way of dealing with garbage is like ‘killing two birds with one stone – extracting scarce resources from garbage for reuse and, in the process, sharply reducing the amount of garbage that needs to be buried in landfills.’ It can also be turned into recycled sand and other useful materials for the construction industry, solving the problem of the lack of sand for new buildings.
However, I feel that this way of treating the waste materials are not only costly, there will not be many people wanting to work in these conditions. Imagine spending hours handpicking materials from garbage that can be used for recycling. It will not be a job that a high scoring student will want. Although this may be true, I think that this will instead be a good opportunity for people who have difficulties finding jobs. In my opinion, the handicapped or the old people could be employed if recycling plants would to be set up in Singapore. Again, it will be killing two birds with one stone – solving unemployment and at the same time, easing pressure on the atmosphere and landfills.
But, it is also easier said than done. Not all materials can be reused. Furthermore, using these recycled sand for construction, although environmentally friendly, may not be as cheap as the normal construction sand used. More time, work and energy will also be needed to produce these recycled sand, defeating the purpose of reusing garbage.
I may not be very sure as to how Singapore treats the waste materials it produces and how well we do it. However, I strongly encourage Singapore to consider following the footsteps of Japan in order to solve the city’s waste problems, nurture the country’s environmental industry and turn Singapore into a country with self-sufficient resources.
Word count: 452
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