My Reflections

Change is all around us. Things change for the better, or worse. We have to adapt to it, or we'll be left behind. Lost, misplaced, and far behind with times. Whether you like change or not, we still have to adapt. We might not like it, but change is always there.

There isn't any winner or loser in change. Maybe more of a gain or lose concept. For example, land supply. When there is limited land, developers might want to cut down forests to create more space. But with every action, there is always a consequence and with every consequence, there is always the pros and cons. It doesn't matter if the pros outweigh the cons or vice versa, there will always be someone or something that gains or lose. Yes, people might benefit from deforestation, the pros are plenty. Space for further development, fertiles soil for farming and so on. However, deforesation causes many many animals and plants to lose their homes. What's ironic is that while, we, gain new homes, the animals and plants have lost theirs.

There's no excuses for pointing fingers at each other. Someone has to take the blame sooner or later. And the one to take the blame is usually a prominent figure in the world. But have we ever considered that, perphaps, the person to blame is actually us? How hard the truth is, it is after all the truth. And i feel that we should face up to it. Because our days left on earth are numbered. And lets try to amend our mistakes and grievances, before its too late.

Kristie

Sometimes we should think more about others.

Changes occur everywhere, and people will try to adapt to it in one way or another. Some changes may have advantages to people but it may result in some disadvantages for others too. For example, people clear lands for their own convenience, for building houses, to have a better life, but do they think of the consequences? Let's say, a forest is cleared to build a housing estate in its place. The animals' living there are not given a second thought. Their habitats will be destroyed because of humans' selfish behavior. If building in that area is a must, then why not help the poor animals relocate to another place first?

Man is too self-centered sometimes. I feel that there's so much more we can do to save the environment. Just a little effort by everyone will go a long way. We are the ones responsible for the earth's crisis and yet the situation is not making a obvious improvement when we know that fact.

Reflection

Changes are inevitable. It is impossible to avoid all these changes, we are moving on everyday and we are changing too, we cannot possibly remain the same forever.

With these changes, people can have more advantages and they can have more space and land for their own uses. But at the same time, there are also many disadvantages to the people as well as the animals. For instance, during the land clearance to create more land and space for the people, animals' habitats are destroyed, and thus many animals are killed. Hence, there will be less forests on Earth and it may also contribute to global warming which will cause harm to the environment and the people on Earth.

Man is responsible for all the changes. Man clears the land and harm the environment for their own sake. People should be more considerate and use other ways instead, such as, mixing land use and building upwards to maximise the land use and provide more space. We shoulg not be so selfish. In that way, we can maximise land use and create less harm to the environment.

Reflection

The change in the world is inevitatble. Things are always changing around the world. It is not something we can control but we can reduce it. As Singapore's population grows, more land is needed.

There are advantages and disadvantages to the different ways of increasing the land. For example, the land reclamation. More land is created from the land reclamation for recreation purposes, buildings, housing and etc. But there is great harm cause to the marine life. Many fishes and corals are dead because of the land reclamation. A negative impact is done on the nature. Forest are cleared in order to increase the land. Land clearance causes the animals to lose their homes. Land clearance not only destroy the homes of the animals, trees and plants are destroyed too, to have the land.

We mankind are responsible for the changes. Because of the need of more land for our own purposes, we destroy the nature. We are constantly be reminded of conserving the nature but we mankind are constantly destroying them. We can maximise the usage of the land other than destroying the nature to increase the amount of land.

Land Clearance

Land clearance can be done in two methods.





Deforestaion and demolishing of old buildings











Deforestation is the clearance of naturally occurring forests by logging and burning. By clearing these forests, there would be more land for further developments. Such as housing estaes, shopping malls, or other facillities.









Adavntages:

• Empty land is created and can be developed for many uses.



• In an unmanaged forest, net carbon dioxide consumption is actually zero. This is because when trees die, they rot, and in doing so release all of the carbon stored over their lives, to combine with oxygen in the atmosphere to form carbon dioxide.



• There are economic advantages. Lumber products are one of the most staple constructive materials in human society. Whether it's raw lumber used for making tables and houses, or paper and other wood by-products, we simply cannot live without the use of lumber. Wood is one of the most basic natural resources, and unlike steel and stone, it is renewable simply by growing more trees. The only real trick to balancing it's consumption is to grow more trees to replace the ones taken.

Disadvantages:

• Deforestation can cause many plants and animals to lose their habitat and become extinct. The food chain may be destroyed.



• There will be soil erosion and the soil would be washed away into nearby water bodies, such as rivers and lakes.



• Erosion’s removal of the upper horizons of the soil results in a reduction in soil quality i.e. a diminution of the soil’s suitability for agriculture or other vegetation. This is because the eroded upper horizons tend to be the most nutrient-rich. Also, because the finest constituents of eroded soil tends to be transported furthest, eroded soils become preferentially depleted of their finer fraction over time; this often reduces their water-holding capacity.

Demolishing of old buildings can create more land and which also means more buildings can be built or more land is available.

Advantages

• Similar to those of deforestation. old unwanted buildings can be torn down to make room for new ones.

Disadvantages

• Some buildings have historical value in them and by demolishing buildings of bygone times, we wipe out every vestige of the past forever. No one would deny that there are many superb modern buildings which are truly representative of the very best architecture of our age. But these are rarely the utilitarian blocks which are to be found in many cities.

Ways to increase land

1. Storm-water ponds


Storm-water ponds are actually concrete ponds. They are built on empty sites, like of those under flyovers. This can prevent land wastage. One of them can be found under the SLE. Water will be collected during thunderstorms and then pumped to Seletar Reservoir.


Advantages:

• Water collected can meet the need of 10,000 households
• Addresses the problem of water constrain

Disadvantages:

• Water will not be collected unless there is a thunderstorm
• There may be periods of dry spells, resulting in failure in collecting water

Land reclamation

Land Reclamation in Singapore

• Method of land reclamation

The landfill method is used to reclaim land from the coast and the swamps in Singapore. It is also used in reclamation works involving the merging of islands.

In the early years, the fill materials evacuated from the hills in Bedok, Siglap, Tampines and Jurong were used for filling the reclamation areas. In recent years, sea sand obtained from the seabed is the main source of fill materials for reclamation. The reclamation contractors import the sea sand from the neighbouring countries such as Indonesia.

• Land Reclamation Agencies

Other than the land reclamation of the offshore islands of Pulau Bukum, Pulau Bukum Kechil, Pulau Ular and Pulau Ayer Chawan by two private oil companies, land reclamation is undertaken by three public agencies in Singapore. They are Housing and Development Board(HDB), Jurong Town Corporation(JTC) and PSA Corporation.

Among some of the future large-scale reclamation works are:

1. a long island off the east shore and the length of which will stretch from near Marina East to Changi for waterfront housing and recreational development and roads.


2. Pulau Tekong and Pulau Ubin for housing and some industrial development when Singapore's population exceeds four million.


3. Pulau Serangoon and Punggol Point which will be reclaimed for quality housing.

Land reclamation has modified the coastline of Singapore, extending it seawards, especially on the eastern, north-eastern and western parts of the island, and changing it quite beyond recognition. Large coastal areas have also been straightened by building dykes across estuaries, particularly in the west coast across the estuaries of Tengeh, Poyan, Murai and Sarimbun. Many offshore islands have become larger. Future reclamation will add more changes to the configuration of Singapore.

• Advantages

1. With more land, more buildings and infrastructure can be built.

2.Reclaimed land is also present on neighbouring islands for housing, industry and many more purpose.

3. Can prevent flooding.

• Disadvantages

1. Land reclamation can be damaging to corals and marine life. Corals are usually moved to another place when land is to reclaimed. Corals might not be able to survive in that certain habitat, and thus die out.

2. Marine life, such as fishes, might out have enough food after the underwater plantations are destroyed due to reclamation of land. This applies to the food chain

3. The waters might also be polluted from the soil used to reclaim land, causing fished to die and blocking out sunlight, depriving the underwater plants of growth.

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YELLOW BANANA :D

Creating Nature Reserves

In Singapore, we have nature reserves, like the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, which is an area of protected land for the benefit of its plants, wildlife and physical features. Land is regarded as an important natural heritage.


Advantages:
Land conservation can minimise the loss and damage, so that more land can be made available for human uses.
Land conservation can help to keep the areas for the future generations.
Land conservation can minimise damage to the environment

Mixed Land Use and Building Upwards

In Singapore, different activities( residential, commercial, and industrial ) are carried out together in an area, forming a mixed land use. For instance, in a zone, you can see commercial activities occupying the ground floors, residential flats occupying the upper floors.
Many buildings are also built upwards with multi storey as multi storey buildings use up less land and provide extra space for housing, offices and recreation. For instance, in Singapore, you can see HDB flats or condominium almost everywhere.

Advantanges:
People can enjoy the convenience of a variety of activities at a small area.
People would not have to travel long distances.
Scarce land is free up for the other purposes such as military and reservoirs.

Disadvantanges:
Large number of people may result in traffic congestion.
Large number of people may result in crowded environment.
Large number of people may result in high noise level.