On the other hand, I feel that I should seriously look into the way I travel. Transportation is the largest contributor of my carbon footprint and I clearly know why is this the case. I am driven to school by my dad almost everyday. Even when I take public transportation on my way back, the amount of harmful gases produced from my dad’s car everyday is already unacceptable. Together with all the others who are driven to school and work (some even to and fore), the amount of harmful gases that are released into the environment is obvious. On top of the days I travel to school, I usually travel by a car when I go out during the weekends as well. However I do not drive. Therefore the vehicle I am in always has more than one person. Well this is the least I can say. I know it is time for me to change the way and mode of traveling.
Driver
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Me!
However, it is easy said than done. The morning traffic in Singapore is seriously unbearable. Even with the increased in frequency, every trains and buses are fully packed till the peak hours are over. It takes me more than twice the duration of a car when I travel to school via the usual public transportation route. The situation gets worse when I am formally dressed for occasion later in the day. I end up smelling weird and appearing slightly messy upon reaching school via public transportation at the beginning of the day. It can be quite frustrating.
Crowded MRT
Furthermore, my dad not only fetches me but also my sister and brother. My brother’s school is along the way to NUS and my sister’s workplace is just nearby. As such, I feel that it is more efficient for me to take my dad’s car since he will has to drive pass NUS to reach my sister’s workplace. I can definitely do my part to reduce my carbon footprint by taking public transport during the weekends. There is no need to rush to get to any important function and I am usually out for leisure purposes. Many people have said that environmental concern is of a less priority than studies and work. I am with them. I will not compromise my time spent on school related stuff but I can definitely give way for leisure and entertainment.
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On the train!
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Reponses to ANU partner
Category Global Hectares:
Food 36%
Mobility 33%
Shelter 3%
Goods/Services 28%
Total 4.5
Number of Planets 2.5
The questions which you will be discussing in the tutorial are as follow:
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. Devise 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?
For your information, my footprint is 3.2. Most of it is spent on food and transportation. As a large portion of the food we eat in Singapore is imported due to the lack of space to grow our own food, it’s very hard to cut down on the amount of food I’m currently taking. I don’t eat a lot of meat but mostly imported processed food. So yea... Maybe what I can do to reduce my ecological footprint is to work on the transportation aspect. I’m driven around by my dad and boyfriend so this actually contributes a lot more carbon than to take the public transport. So I should really learn the appreciate Singapore’s government in developing and enhancing our transportation system such that it is rather convenient to travel around the state via public transport. By taking public transport, I believe it can seriously cut down on my footprint.
Alright going to question two. A few examples of the resource output and waste input will be the use of electricity, water, and of course largely papers and materials. You can definitely see long queues at the printing area in NUS libraries at any point of time during the school hours. People still prefers to hold on to the hardcopies as it’s more readily available for revision and referencing. In addition, NUS, that is considered a big campus uses a large amount of electricity, for obvious usage such as lights, air-conditioner, and other electrical appliances. As it is summer for Singapore all year long, it can be rather disturbing and uncomfortable to work in the warm and humid weather. Therefore the air-conditioner becomes a must to almost everyone. So I guess air-conditioning contributes the greatest to the overall usage of energy.
As such, it is important for NUS to look into useful strategies to reduce the overall ecological footprint to help preserve and protect our environment. Some of the more common seen ones are:
1. The use sensor in various parts of NUS, particularly in the toilets and tutorial rooms.
2. Amendments to the water tap in campus to a more efficient and water-saving one.
3. Increase in the number of recycle bins for papers, plastic, and cans across all buildings in campus.
4. The printing mode is set automatically to print on both sides of the paper. However, students can still change it to the alternative of single sided printing. Many students are still printing on single page for reports that have to be submitted.
All of the above are the more commonly seen ones. There may be other innovative strategies which are more complicated(involve more work, research and the use of advanced technologies) and not known to majority of the student population.
NUS has a Office of Environmental Sustainability that organise events to promote the importance of sustainability. We have a meatout Thursday where people are encouraged to cut down or totally do without meat in our diet for that day. I find it interesting as it is a fun and new approach to cut carbon footprint. But the sad thing is many students are not very responsive. The people who carry out the plan are only either the members of the organisation or a handful of interested parties. I will say almost all the students still follow their normal diet. I guess this is a significant problem with promoting environmental issue in NUS. NUS doesn’t put much emphasis on such events. It is very pragmatic. Most resources are directed to areas which will help the university to progress economically, which is also what the Singapore’s government is doing. Basically things and aspects that do not put food into the mouths of Singaporeans are seen as unnecessary and insignificant. So most of the environmental-related events and actions are highly voluntary. Even when NUS carries out the strategies as mentioned earlier, I believe it is also due to other reasons that do not serve the environmental purpose.
There is also this NUS Earth Hour coming up. In support of the WWF Earth Hour global initiative, participating faculties, offices and departments in NUS will switch off all lights, except emergency and street lights on 27 March 2009, Saturday, 8.30pm to 9.30pm. Beyond Earth Hour, the organisers would like to encourage all students and staff to take this opportunity to switch off all lights, air-conditioning, computers and other electrical devices whenever they are not in use.
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Responses from ANU partner
What can you do to reduce your own ecological footprint?
There are many things that can be done to reduce my ecological footprint. I read somewhere that there would need to be 13 earths to sustain the ecological foorprint of a person living in Bondi. Because we only have one earth, I think that individual responsibility is imperative. So what are some things that I can do?
- Eat locally: Coming from Sydney, where the opportunity is scarce, I find that it is possible to eat fresh fruit and veggies that have been locally grown. This saves carbon emissions normally used for the transportation of food.
- Reduce wastage: I try to turn off my appliances at the powerpoint. A lot of energy is wasted on phantom power. They also recently put a shower timer in the bathrooms of B&G, so from now on, I will be taking 3 minute showers. Little things such as printing on both sides of the paper, reading bricks online instead of printing, cycling to and from places.
Wastage can also be reduced through a reconsideration of how we consume material goods. Thousands of litres of water goes into producing unnecessary products. One way to avoid this is to buy things second hand- this is actually fun. You have to be a little bit creative when vintage shopping and that’s the part that actually makes it enjoyable.
When it comes to washing, I always dry my clothing on the line- clothes seem a lot cleaner and crisper if they’ve been on the line. My mum thinks I’m a particularly pedantic dish washer in that I am always turning the tap off when I washing up- I try to use as little water as possible.
- Recycling. There is a great little compost system called the Bokashi Bin system that basically decomposes food waste without the need for worms. It was designed so that people could use them in their apartments apparently. One of my teachers had one and I think they’re great- the nutrient ‘juice’ produced is fantastic for the garden. There’s also a great little paper recycling kit that can be used to create you own fancy papers. When it comes to food containers: I try to re-use them as much as possible: for storage, use at the food co-op etc.
- A couple of years ago I heard Tim Flannery speak and someone asked a question about carbon offsetting. Tim said that because he had to fly around the world quite often, carbon offsetting was one way to tackle this issue. However, Tim mentioned that instead of paying an extra $2 of something whenever he purchased a ticket, he tried to do things at home. Initiatives such as installing energy efficient appliances, starting up his own veggie garden, installing a solar energy system etc.
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?
Lots of universities are now starting to recognize the importance of sustainability as a multidisciplinary initiative. For example, universities in South Carolina, USA are trying to integrate sustainable initiatives through teaching, research, community service and facilities management. They have created a network that links all the teaching faculties through conferences and various ongoing programs.
In terms of waste outputs, there has been a huge move to integrate recycling initiatives throughout many universities.
I think that a lot of these initiatives contribute to promoting the idea of sustainability and creating awareness and a need to change. In terms of contributing to an overall footprint, there are many more large-scale initiatives that need to be implemented. (changing sources of energy is one that springs to mind)
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?)
CAL dining: UC Berkeley is changing the way that food is consumed on campus: Fruit and veg is sourced from local sources, they cook free-range eggs, take away containers are made out of recycled materials. There is also an ethical element to this: Workers are paid an award wage and the CAL dining community is promoting the concept of slow food cooking. (I like this concept of trying to cook without the use of ready made stuff in jars)
At the University of Copenhagen, a completely carbon neutral building has been built. It’s now the home of the faculty of science and is used a ‘world’s best practice’ model.
Oxford has taken a different approach to instigating alternate transport methods by reducing the number of car spaces available on campus. To counter this, they have a website that details a variety of alternatives. They are currently liaising with government bodies to implement more bike paths and other initiatives.
Devise 2 strategies that ANU or NUS could implement to reduce their footprint, and enhance sustainability. Who is responsible? Individuals changing their behaviour, the univerisity changing the way it conducts business, or both? Why?
Solar panels! Yesterday, today and tomorrow will all be sunny days. Canberra seems to get a lot of glorious sunshine so why not harness the power of the sun? It’s possible to use the roofs of many buildings to house the panels. I heard about one proposed plan where owners of the massive warehouses in Sydney could form a partnership with energy companies where the ‘lease’ the roof space of their buildings for the installation of solar panels. The warehouses then pay for the energy created by these panels. The proposal highlighted the fact that if all the roofs of the warehouses were used, enough energy would be created to meet the needs of all of the activities within the warehouse.
The university as a whole is responsible for sustainable living. It’s not just up to those who are doing this course, because that is never going to be enough. To do this, the university needs to highlight the importance of sustainable living to individuals. There needs to be greater recognition of the fact that the environment interacts with all human beings. (so, yes, a change of mentality is needed to spark more initiatives)
Another strategy to reduce footprints would be to reduce wastage. Many food outlets on campus use large amounts of plastic containers etc. A simple strategy would be to offer a discount on all food if people bring their own containers – or if universities were really harsh, there could be a blanket ban on all takeaway containers.
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