An Inconvenient Truth

In the documentary “A Inconvenient Truth” we can see that global warming is a serious problem that needs immediate attention. The former vice-president of the United States of America Mr. Al Gore showed that it is a problem that requires everyone to contribute in saving the world. Global warming is an effect of temperature rise around the Earth surface and is greatly contributed by human activities. Global warming has caused droughts due to high temperature. The melting of ice has caused the seawater level to increase. These high temperatures have also contributed to the increase in precipitation thus resulting in severe flooding. Beautiful coral reefs around the world are bleaching. These are some of the effects of global warming highlighted by Mr. Al Gore.

There is a need for our government to implement policies and measures to reduce the problem of global warming. Firstly Singapore adopted the “greening” the city policy. The government introduced measures to have carbon dioxide absorbing trees and shrubbery. These were planted along the neighborhoods, parks, industrial estates and in many parts of the island. Secondly we have the transport policies. Being a developed country, many people are educated and many are able to afford their own vehicle. To prevent the growth of motor vehicle, the government has good public transport system in place to reduce the ownership of cars. They introduced the Electronic Road Pricing system to prevent peak period congestion and COE to control vehicle ownership. Lastly we have the climate change policy where the government controls the greenhouse gas emissions. One of the measures taken by the government to implement the policy is to become more energy efficient. It implements the use of energy efficient lightings, refrigerator, air-conditioners and other products to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide from energy use. Industries were asked to adopt energy efficient technologies and equipments. The government provided grant for these industries to fund them in their investment of energy efficient technology.

With these policies and measures mentioned above our government would be able to help reduce the problem of global warming. It is a continuous effort of every individual to contribute and save the world from global warming.

The Expanding World of Engineers

The demand for engineers around the world has increased drastically. This has led the need to produce more engineers with systematic and critical thinking mind around the world to meet up with this demand. Our education system has been successful in creating engineers to meet with the global demand.

As mentioned by Prof Ramakrishnan the engineer’s training helps to systematically analyze information and apply a holistic approach in designing solution. The curriculum structure of our engineering tertiary education is a great contributing factor in engineers training. The modules or subject required by a student to take does not only cover engineering aspects but additional subjects are incorporated to train the students to systematically analyze complex sets of information. Subjects incorporated in the syllabus are not only engineering based but also related to the other sectors. This is what we call cross-faculty modules where students are required to take subject outside the engineering faculty. It broadens the knowledge required for an engineer. This allows a flexible and widened knowledge for engineers in overcoming engineering problem. Moreover the learning structure is now such that a percentage of the performance is based on practical or hands-on approach allowing students to have a better understanding on the systems. This helps them to incorporate themselves to the industry.

Technology is another significant contributing factor. With the advancement in technology around the world, engineers are also required to keep up with technology. Trainings carried out are more technology intensive such that all engineers are IT trained. This helps to process more information at a faster pace. With the increasing use of the IT such as WWW (World Wide Web) information are obtained and analyzed faster allowing engineers to have a holistic approach to design solutions.

In conclusion, proper training and knowledge as mentioned above are very important. This would allow an engineer to systematically analyze information and apply a holistic approach in designing solution as mentioned by Prof Ramakrishnan.