Finity - Therefore We Need Sustainability

Sooo part one of today's class was about sustainability, about how there's finite amount of resources, and how we are going to sustain these resources for many, many generations to come.

That sounds tough. Why?

Let's look at it from an individual point of view, or specifically my point of view, literally. I go around Singapore everyday (actually on most days, its just from my house to Bras Basah and back) by taking the MRT (with my extra weight on the train, I'm sure I caused the burning of some extra fuel); then printing out notes and exercises (how many trees was that?), buying some snacks for class to ensure the hungry demon does not come out (where does all these packaging go?), then taking the MRT back home (there goes more fuel), and at times, packing food home in styrofoam boxes (and now where does these styrofoam go to?).

So let's see.. IN NO WAY AM I MAKING THE RESOURCES AROUND THE WORLD SUSTAINABLE. All I do is use, use use and throw, throw, throw.

As an individual, my actions alone are not helping the environment, I am only using its resources and not giving anything back to it. Am I planting trees? No I am not. Am I killing trees? Yes, I am. I am merely a detriment to the environment. And if every individual were like me (which is a very high possibility, plus there are people way more detrimental than me), how can our environment and resources be sustainable?

We are going to be like this soon :

And our houses will look like this :

I want sustainability, no, I need sustainability. All humans and living creatures need it, they are counting on it; but its a tough road towards getting there.

Which brings me to the next subject of a live human laboratory for sustainability - Masdar City. In class today, Samantha did a presentation on it which I found was really, really interesting. She talks about how there is zero waste in that city, and how there are no cars in the city. Yes, NO CARS. There is even an LED lighted tower that shows how much energy the city is using, once it reaches a certain limit, the light will turn red and facilities in the city will start shutting down to ensure the energy level used in the city remains below that limit. That is really amazing, I mean it sounds like something somebody dreamt of until I heard that construction of the city is actually already starting.

Well, at least we are on the right road to sustainability no matter how tough it is. 

For now, here's me signing off. Until the next lesson of TWC!