year.
My Hope for Copenhagen.
Bitched on: Thursday, December 17, 2009
Time: 12/17/2009 03:37:00 AM
I hope that we will live in a world with less convenience.
A world where a can of Coca Cola costs not just a dollar but a thousand dollars.
Why a thousand dollars?
Simply because that would be the actual cost of a can of Coca Cola.
Not convinced?
Firstly, about half of the cost would go to the extraction of that volume of aluminium you find in an aluminium can from some African country or Indonesia.
That could possibly pay for trees which were felled per square metres to extract that volume of ore; for the loss of habitat of some species and/or the land of the natives per square metre; and for the endangering or extinction of some plant or animal species (costs depending on the size or 'usefulness' of the species).
Another 50 dollars could also possibly cover the medical fees of the worker who had to extract the ore from sulphur gas-filled volcanic environment. Surely, that money would also have to cover the worker's pay sufficiently so that he won't be 'exploited', right?
Oh, don't forget, we also have to pay for the ingredients for the Coca Cola itself. We have to plant cocoa plants and sugar cane (for the sugar.. duh...). So we need to clear more land and harm more habitats. We also have to extract Kola nuts from the fragile South American rainforests. Add a few hundred dollars to pay for all that.
We need to be paying for the transportation of the ore/ingredients (we need to clear more forests for roads) to the factories (more land cleared, more workers who shouldn't be exploited).
About another couple of hundred dollars should be spent on the actual energy and pollution costs from the burning of fuel during extraction to transportation and finally to the whole process of production that can of Coca Cola (that is very energy intensive, FYI).
Spare a few fifties to pay for water wasted and/or polluted during the whole production. Don't forget the energy consumed when that can of Coke leaves the factory and into your hands.
Did I miss anything? Maybe I did, but I hope you can get the picture.
If this is really going to happen, I hope that there would be recycling bins that would pay you back about a thousand dollars for recycling. Only then would we understand the value of recycling, no?
Fortunately that hasn't happened yet. A can of Coke doesn't and will never cost a thousand dollars.
But all the other things I mentioned earlier have happened and are happening now to bring that can of Coca Cola into your very hands.
So take the value of money out of the equation and look at everything else that matters: life.
HOPEnhagen!
Bitched on: Friday, December 11, 2009
Time: 12/11/2009 06:08:00 PM
Sign the petition. News from Hopenhagen:
The UN Climate Change Conference is underway in Copenhagen. At the opening sessions on December 7th, the Danish Prime Minister announced that "for the next two weeks, Copenhagen will be Hopenhagen." This message of optimism and hope has been reported by media around the world as global citizens look to the talks to yield a positive outcome for our planet.
As we now enter critical days in the conference, here are some good ways to stay up to date on what is happening on the ground.
With editorial partner TakePart, the
Hopenhagen Blog is covering news and events at the conference from various points of view. Our guest blog entries just this week have included Al Gore and Bill McKibben.
Starting today, we are launching a series within our blog from David Kroodsma, our Hopenhagen Ambassador. David was chosen for this job by the Hopenhagen community, and we could not be more proud to be sending him to Copenhagen to represent us and report back.
The Hopenhagen
Facebook group and
Twitter feeds are very active with posts from our team on the ground and discussions amongst fans.
And if you're in Copenhagen this week, visit
HopenhagenLIVE for a list of events, including Earth Hour Hopenhagen on December 16th. Come to the Messages of Hope Pavilion in City Hall Square to share your video message of hope.
Check back often to the
Hopenhagen Blog for the latest updates, and if you haven't already, join us on
Facebook and
Twitter.
Let's turn Copenhagen into Hopenhagen!
I am done cooling off. Lemme vote already.
Bitched on: Saturday, April 30, 2011
Time: 4/30/2011 10:10:00 PM
Ok... I haven't blogged for what may seem like a gazillion years. So I am a bit rusty. This might all sound incoherent but oh well... I will try my best to rearrange my paragraphs and stuff. And I do believe it will take me at least a week to write down this 'essay'... all the stuff I've been hearing, digesting and then thinking, along with the emotions that comes with this... 'fever'.
Yes, I have been hit with the election fever... really badly... I was already feverish long before they announced the nomination day and polling day... when I was supposed to be working on my thesis. And now that I'm supposed to be concluding with my 5,000 words thesis report, here I am giving this entry my top priority. I can't help it. This election fever is infectious. And once infected, you are just longing for that one fateful day to get the results back; whether you will get better or be... doomed.
And don't write me off as another one of those noobs who are only vocal come elections. Those who will suddenly show so much interest in politics but in actuality knows jack....
Ok, neither am I saying I know every damn thing about the political situation here... If I did, I would have known how much we have in the reserves and I would have saved the late Dr Ong a whole lot of time prying the figures from the government.
But back to what I know. Singapore's political arena has never been this exciting since Independence. So much excitement and hype surrounding us - the people of Singapore. We are being wooed, being manja-ed... left-right-center. With promises to 'love-us-long-time' and 'deep-deep'. And of course not forgetting the occasional below-the-belt jibes at the other party wooing us.
PAP VS Oppositions.
82 out of 87 seats contested. Only one GRC walkover (a 35 second blunder of the century).
Possible 2-3 GRCs going to opposition parties.
Possible incumbent government losing many of the seats.
I'm sorry but 'incumbent' somehow sounds pretty negative to me... like 'incompetent' somehow... and I actually thought that was what 'incumbent' really meant until recently (oh snap, there goes my political 'credentials'). But then again, many of you would argue that the incumbent government has also been inco......... ehem....
Allow me to try to be neutral and not biased. Key word here is 'try'. I will try really really hard. Really hard. It is a no-brainer who I'm rooting for (note, key word here is 'root' not 'vote'. I would like to exercise my rights to keep my vote confidential).
So I've talked to friends; locals, foreigners, pro-PAP, pro-opposition, as well as watched the bias news on TV, read the bias papers which in turn made me turn to the net to read articles (courtesy of 'liking' The Online Citizen and not-to-be-one-sided-here, I've also 'liked' the PAP pages on Facebook), just trying to comprehend all these politics stuff and be updated up-to-speed. So what I have been seeing are arrows and spears flying across between these two camps and I am right underneath them.
Ever so patriotic.
Its true what Mr Tony Tan said, Singapore has been divided into two. But at the same time, strangely, Singaporeans have never been this united in the sense that we are extremely damn patriotic now. Each of us has an opinion (just ask your taxi driver next time for his). And each of us has probably never felt so strongly for this country, and neither have we felt ever so belonged and all of us suddenly want to be heard (via FB status, twitter and even the resurfacing blogosphere). Its like the past 40-er-something National Days all compressed into one. Saying the National Pledge has never been so meaningful to some until the past few days.
But like I've said, I have tried to be neutral. Hear both sides. But one thing that really annoys me is people who are really apathetic (to the extent, its really pathetic)... Statuses like "Why must my GRC be contested? Now have to go polling booth... Sianz" or "I know I should be patriotic and stuff... but there goes my plans on Saturday". Oh boo hoo. If you don't want to vote then give me your voting rights so I can double mine.
Another group that irks me is those who follow the crowd and have no opinions of their own. I say to this people, grow your own f*cking brains and decide. Do a bit of research before coming to a conclusion. You want to believe in some random blogger/singer/model/actor/eyebrow plucker with dipshit for brains, by all means.
Ball-less.
Then there are those who are convinced that their votes are not secret. So? "Oh, they are gonna find out whom I voted for, there goes my job/house application/promotion/bonus/(freedom?)". Again history is important, go learn what 1963 Operation Coldstore and 1987 Operation Spectrum is all about. Still relevant to these times? No, I don't think so. If it was, a lot of the 'oppositions' would be in prison by now.
Ask yourself this then, if you are so afraid of this people (or maybe you simply feel you would be inconvenienced in the future), then what does it say about who you are voting for? What does it say about the future you want for yourselves and your children's future? Should we all be living under this so-called fear for the rest of our lives? So ask yourself, what does it say about you?
Contradictions, contradictions.
Then there is another group who argues and argues until the cows come home, sleep, wake up, wander around again, get milked, then come home... again... without all the right facts and information. I get extreme joy from rebutting every single one of their arguments (sorry ah, but especially the PAP supporters. Yes, fine... I'm biased. But then again, I will always jump at any chance at a rebuttal when I see a contradiction). Like how they will first say to give Tin Pei Ling a chance to prove herself and in the same breath say the oppositions do not have any experience in 'running the country'. *scratch head*
So I say to this people, listen to yourself first before you open your mouth. Unless there are no contradictions, then you would just be helping me shoot your arguments down.
Another group which annoys me (again... sorry ah pro-PAP supporters) are those who have this mentality: 'Don't bite the hand that feeds you'. Firstly, I am not a dog. So to use that proverb is really insulting and plain stupid. Secondly, that is just simply saying that these opposition-supporters are ingrates and it is un-Singaporean to not support the PAP. Get this right, PAP is not the government. And no, the government will not crumble if we let anyone else in. Are we clearer now? And please do not confuse the first generation of PAP leaders to those we have today. The PAP then had laid the foundations to what Singapore has become today, yes, that I agree, very much.
FYI also please learn your (unbiased) history before you give all the credit (every single last one) to Mr Lee Kuan Yew. With all due respect, he was not the only PAP founder, nor was he the only person who revolutionised and dreamt and built every single thing that is in Singapore today; like reclaiming the marshlands of Jurong to get what we know today as Tuas for example... or the MRT train system... or botanical gardens (I was watching Martha Stewart 'in Singapore' one day and the STB guy kept saying LKY did this, this that...). The man is a man, a very smart and resourceful man, but he is still a man. Not a God. So please, give credit when it is due. And I also urge you to listen to both sides of the story, apparently this man, is no saint either.
Track Records
I feel it was necessary to have these 'iron-ruling' leaders for a nation that needs to not just be steered to a particular common direction but also to be stirred to wake up and progress. Yes, that 'patriarchal
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