True Happiness

According to the author, he believe relationship, community trust and country's stability are the standard to measure the true happiness. I mostly agree with him. This is because besides these 3 conditions, there are some more other conditions which are based on personality of different people. For the conditions of the author, it is no doubt to fulfill them for true happiness. Human is creature which live in a community and can say to be afraid of loneliness. Human needs companion to carry on their life in a safe environment. With good relationship and trust from companion, human reach the minimum condition to achieve true happiness. Residents of an unstable country won't trust each other and can only fight for their own benefits due to the poor situation. So these three conditions is linked to each other, without anyone of them is hard to achieve true happiness. For me, who love to lead a simple life, always feel contented to the things given is the way to achieve my true life happiness. Without unnecessary desire, there will not be any worry in my life.

Saving Nature, But Only for Man

It maybe exaggerate to say that human take action only for their beneficial. But, this is an undeniable truth. Look at our earth and we will know. Endless war and pollution happens everywhere. The author realize how serious the nature has been wrecked and stated out the root of the problem: selfishness of human. He urge us to look at the nature in a different angle, warning us to take action. Saving nature not for the animals but only for man. I totally agree with the author's idea. Of course, this is another way of human selfishness. Why do i say so? This is because if all other creatures on earth extinct, what will going to happen on us? Any influence will direct or indirect compact on human. So, it is good to remind people to concern on what they do everyday which will affect the earth.

Essay Test

Comparing wisdom and intelligence, which of these two is a more important pre-requisite for people in leadership? Why?

Which pre-requisite ability of a leader is more important, wisdom or intelligence? A successful person in leadership should have the wisdom rather than the intelligence. Obviously, definition of both intelligence and wisdom are different, intelligence, mostly related to academic study, can be defined as the strength of reading, writing or learning skill. An intelligence person has high IQ but may not have high EQ. EQ can be included in 1 of the definitions of wisdom. Wisdom maybe hard to define, but once can briefly describe it as the power of emotional control and good personality or clear mind. Unlikely intelligence, wisdom cannot be gained from book. But through practicing, intelligence can be possessed. Thus, people in leadership should have wisdom instead of intelligence. Several reasons can prove this statement of what a wise person will own but an intelligence person might not have.

Firstly, a leader should know how to how to make a correct decision. For examples, manpower management in a team is crucial when a leader wants to bring or lead hit team to reach the goal. Lots of books teach theory of managing manpower but the way to execute the theory is the key. Interactive skill among each other is not taught or learned by reading lots of books. The method of handing nasty or self-centered members is depended on one’s wisdom. Like a traditional Chinese idioms says, “rather no book than believe it blindly.” The theory in books cannot suit everyone because a difference can also be found in twins. Wisdom of applying it is important. A change depends on different situations and the skill to interact with people is much important then intelligence. A brilliant person might do well in individual work but may fail in group work as he does not know what teamwork is. The wisdom of getting with people is what intelligence people always do not own.

Secondly, the ability to face sudden crisis or difficulties is part of the wisdom intelligent people do not have. Briefly, this ability is more depended on the experience of running an activity or a project. Wisdom is gained from the situation or difficulties faced, no matter whether they are solved or not in the end. In addition, calming down the members and having a clear mind is what a good leader has to do when facing a sudden problem. A wise leader can lead his team get through a crisis in a short time and reduce the loss to the minimum level. An intelligent leader may not know what to do if he has no any experience with the problems.

Last but not least, a wise leader can protect every possibilities and plan well which will happen. This might conflict with the second point in above, but even a perfect man would make a mistake. What we expect from a wise and normal leader? Everything on earth is hard to predict, but having each set of backup plans can shorter the time of chaos. A wise leader can plan and maintain fluency well. The path to reach the goal will be smoother and faster when is chosen by a wise leader. This is also depended on the life time experience. The more situations faced by the leader, the wiser the leader will be.

In a nutshell, a wise leader might not be an intelligent person but he will definitely have intelligent members. To lead a team or a group well, wisdom is the key to be possessed by a leader.

Deforestation had been pinpointed as a serious environmental problem in Southeast Asia.

Most Southeast Asian countries experienced a rapid growth of development in these few decades. This growth has increased the pressure on the resource base and given rose to new environmental problems. In order to get sufficient space for economic activities, deforestation is the fastest and least funds-consuming way. Thailand, one of the countries in prosperity phase, is one of the culprits. From the Rain Forest Report Card, the forest cover of Thailand in 1973 is 22.56(x 10⁶ ha) but have a sharp drop to 16.74(x 10⁶ ha). The percent loss is 26% of its original own. Besides, due to the highly developed technology, the population is growing fast under the good medical care. In the end, the only way to fulfil the request of land-use comes to the deforestation.

In Indonesia, the plantation is the main method of the citizens to earn their living, especially those small-scale farmers and commercial plantation developers. They burn the forest without any control, causing serious air pollution. Elimination of these tropical forests in Southeast Asia considerably enhances rainfall in those countries. This will indirectly cause the soil erosion and desertification. Last, without any doubt, every creature on earth will face extinction.

Environmental Challenges for 21st Century

According to the World Wildlife Fund, 3 out of 8 subspecies of tiger are already extinct and Sumatran tiger is one of the last 5 subspecies (Sumatra tiger 'faces extinction', 2002). What is the main cause of this phenomenon? Tigers protection has to be taken before the last existing member of the Sumatran tiger dies. According to Mr Chairul Saleh, an official with the WWF in Indonesia, the wild population of theSumatran tigers has decreased to only around 400-500 individuals left in the wild, fewer than half the number living there five years ago (Sumatran tiger on the brink of extinction, 2004). Tigers are seriously threatened in the wild, partly through disappearance of their habitat due to deforestation, but mainly because of the illegal hunting and trading. Hence, several solutions to save the tigers are to preserve their natural habitat and ban illegal hunting.

Firstly, a national wildlife crime network should be built immediately as high demand on tigers’ body parts for Chinese traditional medicine is the driving force of illegal trading. China has a huge highly profitable black market for trading tiger parts which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. This can help create a national lobby and media campaign to raise people’s awareness of wildlife. So, if consumers have knowledge about using alternative products in place of products from rare animals, illegal hunting can be reduced. Furthermore, it can lobby to increase the harshness of sentences against those poachers who hunt tigers for parts of their body such as tiger bones, gall bladders and eyes. Tiger hunting is illegal in all over the world but third world countries do not have enough power to track or arrest the poachers. Thus, bond between countries can be built and strengthened by signing contract to ban the trade of tiger parts or products often sought for use in traditional Chinese medicine. In short, without consumer awareness, the illegal trading and poaching of tigers may continue.

In addition, building parks and establishing forest reserves are good methods to preserve tigers’ natural habitat. Tigers stay and hunt in forest. Once the forest disappeared, tigers lose their living place and source of food as well. Government can help to set aside areas for tiger protection. These places should have these terms: logging is banned and the human population is sparse to put less pressure on tigers. Setting up refuge for the tigers seems difficult for some countries because they need more space to develop their economic activities. But, employment opportunities for the district administration will improve. For example, retired soldiers can seek jobs as guardians of those parks. To prevent the disappearance of tigers’ natural habitat, government can consider paying villagers to protect their own source of survival, the forest which provides the tigers food, water and shelter. In summary, conserving the natural habitat can help to prevent the extinction of tigers.

Last, making zoos become the habitat of tigers might be the only way to save the tigers if none of the solutions above is taken. Maybe after a few decades, Sumatran tigers could only be found in the zoos. Imagine an Asian father points to the tigers in the cage, while telling his son that the Sumatran tigers were once living in the wild and hunting for their food themselves. So, the visitors of zoo will be educated about tiger in the wild, thereby “contributing to public support for conservation efforts” (Owen, 1991, p. 227). In the end, zoos or private ownership by responsible caring individuals will be the last foothold for survival of tigers. To reiterate, habitat is necessary for creatures to continue living, thereby sending the tigers to zoo saves them from extinction.

Now is the time to save these magnificent cats before they vanish from the earth forever. If we do not want humans to be the last creature on the earth, it is time to wake the public up now and take immediate action. Extinction of humans maybe is exaggerated but if watch from an angle of long-term, what will happen to the humans, the final stage of food chain, when halfway of this chain is broken? Each creature stands an important position in the eco-system which indirectly influences every members of the eco-system. Protecting tigers is not solely for the next generation but for humans in present now.

Bibliography

Owen, W. (1991). Great Cats: Majestic Creatures of the Wild. (J. &. Seidenstickers, Ed.) Emmaus: Rodale Press, Inc.

Sumatra tiger 'faces extinction'. (2002, June 7). Retrieved February 16, 2008, from BBC NEWS Asia-Pacific: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2031509.stm

Sumatran tiger on the brink of extinction. (2004, March 16 ). Retrieved February 16, 2008, from WWF - UK: http://www.wwf.org.uk/news/n_0000001145.asp

Reviewed Paragraph: Comparison & Contrast

Recycling has been identified as one way to conserve resources. How might the approach to recycling differ between a developed country and a developing country? Choose two specific countries to illustrate your answer. The recycling procedure of developed countries is systematically arranged. For example, in Japan, garbage is separated into three types, burnable, non-burnable and recyclable. At least two kinds of disposable bins can be found at most places in Japan. This phenomenon can be hardly seen in developing countries. For instance, in most of the cities of China, the citizens do not categorize the kinds of trashes and not even make use of the rubbish bin provided. The habit of throwing rubbish everywhere exists due to the poor education of recycling among people. Engineers in Japan have now mastered the skill to recycle cell phone parts (“Gizmodo Team,” n.d.). Furthermore, the electronics recycling there is being processed under controlled conditions. In “E-Waste Around The Globe”(n.d. para.4), it is stated that in order to protect our atmosphere from the poisonous chemical, plastics must not be recycled. However, we cannot find any such controls in developing countries. Workers, even worse children, use their hands to do the recycling job in scrap yards. Developing countries often do not have the skills or infrastructure to deal with electronic waste safely. Like the area of Guiyu in China, people manually dismantle printer. This shocks the reporters of New York Times as they know the consequence of touching those chemical by hands, do not even mention how affecting the neighbouring communities and environment (E-Waste Around The Globe, n.d. para.10). In the end, recycling turns into a bad process instead of a good process. Reference: E-Waste Around The Globe (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2008, from http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/recycling_of_waste_materials/index.html?query=THIRD%20WORLD%20AND%20DEVELOPING%20COUNTRIES&field=des&match=exacthttp://gizmodo.com/gadgets/recycled-parts/japanese-researchers-recycle-old-cell-phone-parts-into-pcs-325822.php Gizmodo Team(n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2008, from

My impact on the earth's environment

If we notice the poster pasted near the counter in nus co-op, we will find out the usage of plastic is a little over in our life. For an example, a plastic pack for a magazine and some stationaries. I realize that i have been doing harm to our earth for such a long time. Although i always reuse those plastic pack as a dustbin, i can still reduce my plastic impact on this beautiful planet. Say no to plastic carrier! I always carry a bag in case i can put anything inside it. Try no to use the plastic carrier as it cannot to be recycled. "We can choose not to eat the plastics but the turtles cannot." This slogan influence me most. In addition, i am not a can drinks lover and i bring my own water bottle. I avoid increase the pressure on the request of source. What i can do is a little thing but if all of us do together, this is a huge power! Save our earth!

Timed Paragraph

We can say that once we use any product, waste will be created at the same time. It looks impossible to prevent the appearance of the waste but what we can do is to manage the waste usefully and efficiently. For example, land filling is a traditional and common way that used easily found in many countries. Why do most of the developing countries using this method? Many of these countries, especially those having a large domain, use land filling to bury the waste as the least money and manpower consuming method. Each machine needs 1 operator to function. But, without a careful method to guide operators, the organic waste might leak out after a long time. Hazardous chemicals will endanger the environment and the health of citizens who live in the neighbouring area. However, a new system called zero waste is slowly turned to by many developed countries. Based on reducing the high pressure on the resources, zero waste is a good way because zero waste can be “reused, recycled and eve repaired” (Collins, 2002, p.25). On the other hand, the zero waste system can indirectly bring more development of the economy and technology, for building up the recovering facilities, working opportunities are created and research for technology will be rapidly processing. Besides, everyone can take part in the zero waste system. Citizens can choose to use the items which are made with recyclable materials. In short, zero waste system is better than land filling to handle waste because zero waste system will not do any harm to the environment and will save our earth from source drying.

For my country, Malaysia, land filling might be the better way to handle waste. It is because for now, Malaysia is still lacking scientists or engineers which are familiar with the zero waste system. Besides, most of the undeveloped area in Malaysia is rainforest area. It brings only disadvantages if uses these areas to bury waste. But from a long-term angle to see, zero waste is the best way. So, the government of Malaysia should promote the correct idea to the citizens for raising their awareness and slowly develop the zero system.

Reference

Collins, J. (2002, Oct 3^rd). Radical plans for waste could herald a big clean-up. The Guardian Weekly. p.25.

What difficulties do you have writing?

Every time when i am given a topic to write, the first things i will do is google-ing the details i can use on the topic. Why I always do like this is because lacking of information and vocabulary, especially those scientific words or descriptive words.

People often say that a good article should have good description and informative content.
Unfortunately, what i lack are these two important things. In order to improve my writing, do more reading is the only and most efficient method, although it may consume a lot of time to see the result. Newspaper is a good material for reading. Besides getting the latest news occurring around the world, i can learn a lot of vocabulary too. In addition, write more is also another good way.

Perhaps, no after a long time, i could write my essay without keep repeating some words. This will sharply increase the readers' interest to continue look at my essay.

Environmental problem in Malaysia

A tropical natural bounty, but can this treasure be kept?

Malaysia is fast becoming an industrial country in the last few decades. But today, as the consequence of this remarkable growth with industrialization, many of her rivers, lakes and sea have become polluted due to the disposal of industrial waste. In a short word, we can say water pollution is seriously happen in Malaysia.

Human cannot survive without water even though 1 day. Deteriorating the water quality is the way of committing suicide. Even so, the citizens of Malaysia do not realize about this fact. Oil leaking, industrial waste and rubbish throwing can said to be happen in Malaysia everyday. You may think that I am puffing and think this is ridiculous.

This can easily proven by looking at our river everywhere. Rubbish cover the the surfaces of the river, oil float on the sea and dying fish due to the poison chemical waste. What happens recently at the Melaka Strait shocks everyone. What can we do?

Without the correct idea of protecting our country, we can do nothing but receive the bad result bring by water pollution. No fresh water, no fishes for food and even no any creatures in river. Even worse, the ecology related to water will be disappear.

Will Malaysia become a hell like this? No unless we start doing something useful now. Stop throwing rubbish into rivers, scheduled check the ship and perhaps prevent from using the product containing material harmful to water.

My life is meaningful?!

Haha, sure my life is meaningful!

What gives my life meaning? I really cannot deny that happiness is the fuel to let me continue my life. Everyone has their definition for their happiness. It can be when you walk outside on a beautiful summer day, look around and suddenly feel a rush of pleasure. Or when you come home with a brainfag and tired body and you see a delicious dinner waiting for you on the table.

For me, my happiness is to find all the people around me having a smiling face. Why do I say so? It is a fact that I am a person who are easy to be influenced by others. When I am in happiness, I like to share with my friends, making them feel happiness too. When they are unhappy, I will start feeling unhappy. That’s why I like to give a helping hand to my friends, or maybe you can say I am a “geipo”* person. I like to be the person you first have in your mind when you need help from or share your joy with. Walking around your neighbourhood, having everyone smile and say Hi to you, isn’t it is the most happiness in our life? Life is short, why don’t make it happy and joyful? There is why I always say “Study smart among books, Play hard with friends!” XD

*geipo: a word in Chinese dialect means over-helpful. ^^