World pollution - who to blame?

another scary news today about the future of the world..
of course.. the hot topic "global warming" again
A report said that by the end of the century, there will be 1.1 - 3.2 billion people suffering from water scarcity causing by global warming,
200 - 600 million of people facing food shortage, and 7 million of homes suffering from flooding.
And.. the Great Barrier Reef.. if u haven't been there yet like me.. u'd better hurry.. it's going to become "functionally extinct" due to coral bleaching.

well.. i'm not going to talk about the details of the report coz everyone can read it from the news.
what i wanted to say is.. who should we blame all these things? and who are we blaming now?

Global warming and pollution is such a hot topic that u can actually link it with everything..
so.. I can almost hear someone talk about something related to pollution everytime when I have discussion in class..
when I say "class", I mean every class.. in different modules..
well... maybe this is because I'm a business student..?? I dunno..

I realized something interesting today when we were discussing about "free trade" in my Asia Pacific Business & Society tutorial..
we were talking about what we like / dislike about free trade...
somebody brought out the point of free trade leads to more pollution..
yes.. of course.. pollution..
she said something like..
some developing countries like China are benefited from free trade so that those countries can boost up their economies..
but on the other hand.. these countries usually dont care about environmental protection coz they're so focusing on developing their countries...

well... sounds ok to u? yes.. i think for most of the people nowadays..
yes.. we do blame for developing countries for polluting OUR world nowadays more..
but.. should we do that?

I'm not defending China just because I'm a Chinese.
but let's think a bit more before we blame..

yes.. these countries.. China, Indonesia, India.... they are all producing lots of pollution now..
but what about in the old days???
what about when those so called "developed countries" were not yet developed?
remember the days after Industrial Revolution in Europe - those "Western countries"?
if you compare the amount the pollution produced by 1 factory in China now and 1 factory in UK back in those days..
I really wonder who is the biggest pollutant...

but the thing is.. people didn't know about pollution at that time..
or even if they know.. they would have behaved the same as the developing countries now..
because.. nothing is more important than "getting better life NOW"
if the people in your country are starving, dying everyday.. would u care about pollution at all??
if u were the government of those countries, how would u face your people?
how could u tell them something like:
"no, we cant have more factories, we can't make and sell more goods.. otherwise ur grand-grand-grand child will not be able to enjoy this beautiful world... oh.. but i know that if we dont keep on selling goods.. u will die soon.. so.. u won't even have ur son! sorry!"

from experience.. for a country to be "developed", to make the people of the country to have good standard of living.. there is a certain path..
they either start from agriculture/fishing -> manufacuturing goods -> high technological products -> services.
seems to me that.. it's really hard to skip the "manufacturing" part..
even we can.. a country cannot be developed without developing lots of infrastructure, right?
its so easy for countries like US to blame China for polluting the world.. killing our tomorrow...
but what did they do in the past, and even now??

well.. u guys may think I'm crazy.
but I really think that.. if those developed countries didnt develop at all..
we will not have the distingush between "developed" "developing" and "under-developed" countries at all!
and those countries that "fall behind" will not do things to "catch up"
and the resources in the world will not be so unbalanced!
then.. there will not be so much damages!

but okay.. the damages are already here..

if those developed countries are sooooo "care" about OUR world..
what they can do.. is just give little help to the developing and under-developed countries.
help them to solve their problems..
but why don't they do that??
of course they wont!! they are so scared that one day these countries will be stronger than them!
but.... grow up! if u don't help, where the hell is the future?
well.. my English is just too bad.. I don't want to use "help" in my last sentence.. but really dunno which word to use.. anyway..

okay.. I have to admit that I'm a bit sensitive today...
let's go to bed now..

Settled down

I was going to write these last nite..
but after long long time of typing... the whole thing gone suddently!!


anyway.. let's start over..
many many things happened since the last time I wrote here.

I went for a 2-week trip in Australia with my family to celebrate my sister's gradution.
The trip was better than we expected... it was quite another long story to tell..
I may need to write it on another day..

Just 1 day after my family head back to Hong Kong, I started my journey to Singapore.
I arrived on the 28th Dec 2006, since I didn't get any confirmation from the hostel of NUs before I fly,
I booked a hotel for a few days to make sure I've somewhere to stay.

This is really my first time in life, stepping on a country without knowing anyone, what an exciting experience!
When I first went to Australia, my sister was already there.

My hotel is located in Aljurnied, which is quite a low class red light district to me... I'm not sure about this.
but u can see a lot of "ladies" standing everywhere on the street at nite... or sometimes even in the morning...
so.. when I walked on the street at nite.. I was stared by everyone on the street.. hahah.. quite scary...

So, I went to my hostel to see if I can check in a bit earlier.. and the answer was "yes.. as long as u pay for the extra days.."
so here I am in my hostel room.

The semester has already started for 3 weeks now..
most of the things are fine to me.. especially the work load here are slightly lighter than in ANU..
Here in NUS, I'm taking 5 modules (which is considered to be too much for exchange students....)
for those 5 modules, only 1 of them has final exam.
and as far as I remember, on 1 or 2 have individual assessment.
all others are bascially with 1 group project (report + presentation), 2 quizzes and participation..
While in ANU, we normally have all of the above + final exam - quizzes + 1 or 2 individual essay/report for each module

However, one thing I have to really try to get use to it is that.. most of the modules in Business Facualty here have 3-hr lectures...
I really wonder who made this kind of decision to have 3-hr lectures?? Do they know that people cannot concerntrate for so long?
The worst thing is.. during those 3hrs.. we ususally only have 5 minutes break!
It really kills me... I didn't fell asleep during those lectures, but I'm sure I can't take 100% out of it.. maybe only 70% or even lower..
coz sometimes I just have to let my brain take a rest or do a bit day dreaming before I can put some more into it..
Just checked with my timetable.. I've got class on Mon, Tue, Thu and Fri.. and one 3-hr lecture each day!!
Give me a break~~

something happened last week..
I won a 2nd prize in a photo competition held by the Internationl Relation Office of NUS. I was so excited!!

The competition is held for international students at NUS, the theme is "Looking Out.. Looking In"
I submit 1 photo each for the "people" and "lifestyle" category.
and I won the 2nd prize with the "people" one..
I never won any prizes in photo compeitions before.. (of course, I never participated before I start learning photography)
Actually, I also participated in another photo competition but I didnt win.. hahaha..
But.. I'm going to submit some photos for another competition again~~~
good luck to me~~
well.. I try to upload the photo which helped me won here... see if u like it or not~~
feel free to comment~