Mother Nature in Trouble

“Today we're seeing that climate change is about more than a few unseasonably mild winters or hot summers. It's about the chain of natural catastrophes and devastating weather patterns that global warming is beginning to set off around the world, the frequency and intensity of which are breaking records thousands of years old.” These are the words of the newly elected US president Barack Obama. Although the world has developed to a higher extent, the catastrophic disasters happening due to the global warming.

The world is facing a serious problem, which can be declared as a first priority issue. The effects of global warming are serious. This global warming is caused by the heating up of earth’s atmosphere. The primary cause is the accumulation of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Today the level of Carbon dioxide is far away from the levels it has been over the 65000 years. Along the past three decades the level was increasing exponentially. The government of most of the countries have started to fight against the climate change issue.

Although Singapore was not much affected by any of these natural disasters, our neighbouring countries were suffered due to these calamities. The Tsunami which struck Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India claimed millions of lives. Japan and China are often affected by the natural disasters. All these have direct or indirect link with the global warming.

Singapore government is one of the major players in the world to fight against global warming . They have signed the Kyoto protocol to reduce the amount of carbon emissions. The government has released funds for the National Environmental Agency (NEA) and the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources for the study of localized climate change in Singapore. The National Environment agency has came up with biodegradable items to replace most of the plastic items. The introduction of NEWater was an innovative step taken by Singapore. The government has approved to set-up another NEWater processing plant in the coming few years. The taxes of environmental friendly vehicles were reduced so as to encourage people to be concerned about the global warming issue. The Public Utility Board has taken its own initiative is raising awareness about the necessity of using energy efficient electrical items. They have placed advertisements at most of the public places and public transports that shows the efficiency and saving that one can have by being energy savvy. Another major step taken by the government is increasing the taxes of private transport and encouraging people to use the public transport.

The global warming is a serious issue. Our generation has already started to see the effects of this killer. As a matter of fact our generation is the one that can lead to a change for this problem. The main thing that can be done is to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. This can be done by recycling paper, using a cloth bag instead of plastic bags, using a solar water heater and using public transport. The solution is in our hands. 

Engineers Today

"Scientist investigates that which already is; Engineers create that which has never been". This was quoted by famous scientist Albert Einstein. The engineers have a dominant role is the development of technology. It is quite noticeable that during the past decade the technology has developed over a wide range for user products. The big sized CRT displays were replaced by High Definition displays. The mobile phone size was reduced to almost half the size of the hand. These advancements wouldn't have been possible without the Engineers. 

 

In the past engineers who graduated were sought after by technology firms and construction firms. Today this trend has changed to a situation where engineers are wanted by a wide variety of fields including the Banking, Commerce, Finance and Logistic institutions. This is due to the skills they have in systematic thinking and logical reasoning. These qualities enable them to excel in almost any fields they are in.

 

The art of systematic thinking and logical reasoning was attained by the new development in the educational system. The universities are not only focussing on the core modules required for engineering. They have started to train engineers with some extra out of core modules which can help them to acquire skills in many other fields.

 

The way an engineer deals with the problems are different from the way a non-engineer thinks. They analyze the complex problems in a logical manner and come to a solution in an orderly way. During this process of solving a problem they also redefine the problem and make the solution perfect and advanced. This way of approaching a complex problem is due to the versatility of engineering education.

 

As a matter of fact the demand for engineers is never going to cease. With the days passing by fast the engineers are being involved in many conventional non-engineering fields. Our educational system is ready produce engineering graduates for tomorrow’s challenges.