Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'
If aye, then yay!
If nay, well, life goes on.
Yesterday, on The Straits Times: "S'pore rejects emission cuts". Today, on the same paper: "Emissions cut if others do their part as well".
"We are not obligated to set targets or reduce emissions, but ... we will do our part. Whatever we do, we cannot compromise our ability to grow."
Of course, as Andy Ho correctly points out in the article "Reasons for Singapore to be cool on global warming" published in The Straits Times today, the science behind climate change is still in its infancy. The Earth's climate is an extremely complex system, with many different mechanisms operating simultaneously such that it is indeed a nightmare to forecast whether a particular outcome will ensue.
Nevertheless, global warming or not, reducing our emissions via increasing energy efficiency and utilising non-pollutive renewable sources of energy is still beneficial to society. Even if anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions do not cause global warming (as Andy Ho seems to imply), there are many other compelling reasons why we should seriously consider moving away from a fossil fuel-based economy.
Improving energy efficiency will give us more bang for our buck. It certainly makes economic sense to squeeze out more work done from every drop of oil. Likewise, non-pollutive renewable sources of energy like solar, wind and tidal energy have one big advantage against fossil fuels - they won't run out. Plus, they're nice and clean too. As such, if we can get these advantages from increasing energy efficiency and using clean renewable energy sources while in the process cutting our emissions too, then why not?
Granted, the cost of implementing such green strategies do not run cheap. At our current state of technology, many clean and renewable sources of energy are still not cost-effective. But in the long term, their benefits are definitely "unequivocal", to borrow the term the Inter-Government Panel on Climate Change used to describe global warming. Moreover, the green sector is one area of the economy that has tremendous potential which I believe Singapore would do well to capitalise on early. This fact can be no better reaffirmed by success stories such as Denmark's Vestas, the world's largest manufacturer of wind turbines.
As such, there is no reason that cutting our emissions by improving our energy efficiency and switching to cleaner energy sources will compromise our economic growth, as our leaders seem have suggested. In fact, it is a great opportunity for us to carve out a niche.
Instead of being number one at refusing emission cuts, why not be number one at becoming the most environmentally-friendly economy? Since we love to be first in everything, let's make those things worthwhile at least.
It's amazing how I can spend 30 minutes reading about Genghis Khan and his generals on Wikipedia when there are obviously better things for me to do at this juncture in time. *cough* A-levels, ED application *cough*
The stress hasn't set in yet. I'm still feeling rather nonchalant about the whole exam thing. I guess I'm probably just numbed by the endless Chemistry and Mathematics practice papers I have been doing this past week.
The car was cruising along smoothly. Then, the engine sputtered and the car slowed down before coming to a complete stop.
The hardest things to talk and write about are always the ones closest to heart. The issues that have grappled us throughout our lives, the memories we reminisce of bygone days, and the answers we seek to life's many questions - they are all so familiar, so personal. Yet, they are always the hardest to put into words. To sieve out and give proper form to all the intangible thoughts we have within our minds so as to convey the rich flavours of our life experiences is no easy task. I really feel like a coconut drink now - with the top cut open and a long probing straw inserted to dig out all the goodies within. 600 words in 2 weeks, and I have a lot more digging to do. It is proving to be a challenge to complete my personal essay. but I do hope my effort and my earnestness will make it all the more endearing.
The knowledge that one is more capable than what one's grades suggest is certainly heart-wrenching, not in a cutthroat devastating manner, but more of a creeping feeling of wasted opportunities interlaced with a tinge of what-ifs. I'm crossing my fingers that vindication awaits next week.
I'm feeling as though I'm finally free from the clutches of examinations with the arduous Prelims finally over; the same kind of liberating sensation akin to coughing up a handful (literally) of thick gooey phlegm. The A levels just seem so distant. It certainly is something close enough for me to be aware but yet far off enough for me to disregard. But I shan't stress myself too much. I guess I will just take a breather, relax and bide my time for the second onslaught. Moreover, I have the SAT Subject Tests and my personal essays to keep me occupied.
On another note, the results of Prelims are coming back in two days time. In a way, I'm eager to get them back to read through what I've written for the essays. Yet, I do feel hesitant because I do not enjoy disappointments, a by-product of a penchant for high expectations for myself. Even the findings from the PSC Psychometric Test said that I may be "too much of a dreamer". Oh well. Anyway, I don't really have much to say about my performance. No absolute ownage of course; that will require too much luck. But I guess I did fairly alright. At best, I can meet my expectations and in the worst case scenario, I shouldn't be too far off from my usual grades.
Besides, time was so short on most of the papers that for a majority of the questions, I simply penned down what first came to mind. Given that, I really cannot foresee that I'll do much better even if I had started mugging earlier. A lot, I've learnt, boils down to the "moment": as you furiously scribble down your answers almost instinctively while speed reading the questions. There is sadly very little one can do to engineer his grades up a few notches once he has reached a level that approximates his inherent ability. We as humans, sadly, do not have many supply-side policies available to increase our productive capacity by a considerable margin in the short to mid-term. Even the Brand's Essence of Chicken, which served me well during primary school, had little effect on my academic performance in recent years.
Okay, this really deserves a rant. Having saw the elasticities of demand question, I went into a frenzy of explaining those pesky concepts. And in the ensuing mad rush, I forgot that there was the word "distinguish" in the question. As such, I now have almost 4 sides worth of written diarrhoea that would all come to naught if the answer key assigns a L1 grade for answers that did not distinguish. In other words, I'm fucking screwed for Q1a (for the lack of a better word). What a waste really; it was really good marks up for grabs. Argh!
This is certainly immensely frustrating. I hate the feeling of discovering my mistakes after the paper, especially when I discover my mistakes on my own. I seriously can feel my heart breaking for every question that I got wrong which I actually know how to do.
Now back to those Facebook games to help me forget all this shit...
