MY PERSONAL VIEWS ON TERRORISM

The word "terrorism" gives us ideas of horrible things that are going to happen. For instance, we are all aware of the recent news of Mas Selamat Kastari,it definitely had sent shivers rattling down our spine. In my opinion I think terrorism is not necessary in this world. Having people bombing your own countries wouldn’t be nice at all.

Terrorism is basically the intentional use or threat to use violence against civilians and non-combatants, in order to achieve political goals.

Our government has been taking safety precautions for quite a long time and that is why we are all safe now. Imagine with no safety, what could have happened to us when Mas Selamat Kastari (terrorist) illegally came to Singapore. Our government is continuing to take various actions in order to fight terrorism.

Tight Security measures have been put in a few places such as MRT stations. Other examples include exercises carried out by the various national groups such as the Singapore Armed Forces.

Personally I feel there is a need to be worried. Anytime terrorism could take place in Singapore. Despite the safety precautions there might be a few percent chances that there will be danger. Therefore I am afraid that I will loose my family members, and having seen my country destroyed is definitely something very worrying and sad. Thus, we should all be prepared for anything ahead.


(230 words)

English summary (coffee)

According to legend Ethiopian goatherd found coffee. Coffee was a simple food and beverage for African tribesmen. Now, it is sold in large quantities worldwide. Coffee is now, one of the top in value in trade. All coffee exporting countries and people depend on coffee as the main income and living. In 1975, a frost killed almost half of Brazil’s coffee trees which changed the prices drastically. In 1979, frost hit Brazil again. Every tree lost result in no income for three to five years. The income loss is huge considering 15 million trees were lost. Brazil had to stop the export of coffee. Importers bought it in bulk afraid of the shortage. Prices increased and farmers planted more Coffee which was in abundant and the prices fell. Farmers began substituting coffee for other crops. Both producers and consumers decided to limit production to what the market can absorb, have a reserve and sell at an agreeable price.

English Reflective Summary

Actually my task was about climate change. But, I decided to do on global warming for my first two reflective journals, because I thought it would be relevant to the topic climate change. Now, why is that so, well mainly because climate change is now happening because of global warming. Global warming is the main culprit for these effects. I thought I would want to learn more about the global warming before I touch on the topic climate change.

After a week or two, I started learning more on the topic global warming. Well, it is a very interesting topic. There is a wide range of things that I learnt. In my first article “global warming” it was mainly about global warming and how did it came about. After reading that article I was quite surprised. I did not know that global warming had started way before humans found out. On my other article I learnt the causes of global warming, the effects. Definitely I was amazed, after reading this article. I could not believe that volcanoes and solar variation had small effects on global warming. So when I learn about these things, I could make conclusions very well. I thought if I read more I could come out with more conclusions and would understand the topic very well and I did!

I went on to climate change. I found my third article,’The Great Climate Change Challenge’. That was when I learnt more about this whole topic. It was written that, “Climate change is the biggest challenge facing our society today”, and I firmly agree. I mean, we all know that the climate change can cause many problems. This was also written there “There is no reason for us to hang back and follow whatever international response may emerge. We must use our initiative and take action now”. I really got caught up in this phrase “We must use our initiative and take action now”; personally I think this phrase has a meaning of its own. It does not only refer to global warming, but also refers to our lives especially for students like me. My next article was about the severe climate change affecting flora and fauna. Well, after reading this article, I was definitely heart broken. Imagine living a life without these wondrous creatures. And the last article was on the latest new on climate change. This article was definitely threatening. Since I had a clearer idea on this topic before hand I could very well relate things.

Well, now looking at the current situation. It’s a bit too late to stop global warming. However, we can reduce global warming and there won’t be severe climate change. Majority is because of human activities such as cutting down trees and factories emitting harmful gas. Minority effects on things such as volcanoes.
Now it all depends on the humans. I mean, we cannot stop the volcanoes but we can stop humans.

Before doing this whole project, I knew a bit about global warming but I did not bother much about it. Since now I know how harmful it is to our earth I am going to play a part. By recycling, reducing and reusing. I hope people will stop polluting the environment and refrain from engaging in harmful activities that affect the earth. PLEASE SAVE OUR EARTH!

English Reflective Journal Week 5

17 March 2009
7.55PM

During the March holidays, I found an article entitled, ‘Scientists present latest news on climate change’.

After reading this article I was really worried. It really seemed like the world is going to come to an end. What ever effects that were predicted by the scientist in the 19 century have slowly started to happen now.
It was written that, "Climate scientists are preparing for bad news as they review the latest data on global warming at a conference this week in Copenhagen. Like stated in the researches, global warming will arid the climate and regions will grow drier, rising seas will flood coastal areas, melting glaciers will flood communities downstream and then dry up the source of future water supplies, and up to 30 percent of all plant and animal species may become extinct".

"However, since then new evidence has emerged showing that ice caps in the Arctic and Antarctic are melting, which threatens to dramatically raise the level of the oceans and flood coastal cities and low-lying islands.
Global warming has already taken its effects". Things that were expected to be happening in the future are happening now. Everything is happening twice as fast. This is definitely threatening especially to the people living near the coastal areas.


http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/09/europe/EU-Denmark-Climate-Change.php

English Reflective Journal Week 4

9 March 2009
5.55PM


I read an online newspaper article. It was entitled as ‘bird’s can’t keep up with the climate change” tells us about the severe climate change that has been affecting the flora and fauna in certain environments.

"The habitats of wild bird species are shifting in response to global warming, but not fast enough to keep pace with rising temperatures. Researchers in France also found that the delicate balance of wildlife in different ecosystems is changing up to eight times faster than previously suspected, with potentially severe consequences for some species. If birds and the insects upon which they depend do not react in the same way, we are headed for an upheaval in the interaction between species".

"The fact that some birds have responded to climate change had already been noted in individual species". I think this is really tragic. If no action is taken, each and every unique species will be vanishing one by one. And I think this world is made up of these beautiful creatures and species, it brings colours to our lives. Just imagine living life without these beautiful and wondrous species.


http://www.paperarticles.com/2008/08/birds-cant-keep-up-with-climate-change.html

English Reflective Journal Week 3

26 February 2009
6.15PM


On 7th march 2009 I read an article on climatic change due to the global warming in Ireland. It was entitled as The Great Climate Change Challenge.

It was written that, "Climate change is the biggest challenge facing our society today. The only way to achieve the dramatic greenhouse gas reductions necessary to avoid the serious repercussions of climate change is to implement far-reaching, radical solutions. There is no reason for us to hang back and follow whatever international response may emerge. We must use our initiative and take action now". In my opinion, I firmly agree upon what was stated there. And this was what they did.

"Having this in mind, the Green Party put the Climate Change Targets Bill 2005 before the Dáil on 1st December. The Bill sought to put the national climate change strategy above short-term electoral cycle. It aimed to safeguard the fulfillment of Ireland’s climate change targets and obligations. The Bill was recognition that real and lasting reductions in Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions will require long-term forward planning, and provided for a partnership cross-Party approach on long term energy and environment targets".

From here I can conclude that this issue on global warming was a very upsetting, stressing and was a very important issue. It needed people from over the world to put their thinking ability together to understand deeper and do some evaluation for this situation.



http://test.village.ie/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=1288

English Reflective Journal Week 2

27 February 2009
4.47PM


The next article I read in a magazine issued two years aao, was mainly about the scientific meaning to global warming, the effects of global warming and how it is going to affect the earth in the future.

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and the oceans since the mid-twentieth century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased during the 100 years ending in 2005. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concludes that anthropogenic greenhouse gases are responsible for most of the observed temperature increase since the middle of the twentieth century, and natural phenomena such as solar variation and volcanoes probably had a small warming effect from pre-industrial times to 1950 and a small cooling effect from 1950 onwards. I think, as we learn more detailed news about the global warming, we actually realise that small things such as volcanoes had small warming effect in the early century.

The expected long range effects of recent climate change may already be observed. Rising sea levels, glacier retreat, Arctic shrinkage, and altered patterns of agriculture are cited as direct consequences of human activities. Predictions for secondary and regional effects include extreme weather events, an expansion of tropical diseases, changes in the timing of seasonal patterns in ecosystems, and drastic economic impact.

As I was reading this article, I was a bit shocked at certain points. It was a bit threatening, especially when I was reading about the information about the effects of global warming.

(taken from times magazine 2007)