Hi Everyone. It has been a great blogging experience. This is my first time maintaining a blog. I have been able to write on a few countries’ atmospheric pollutions, mainly Singapore, China & India. A common cause of air pollution would be its burning of coal for fuel & electricity. And every country has its way of looking at reducing its reliance on it. Since we are all facing it, research should be shared not just for info for another person’s research but it should be shared for development too. Technology developed also should not just be made for the intention of profit but to be widely used by other countries. I am not claiming that have not been done but more people need to do it. Only with more people playing our part we can make a difference.

So to end it i would like to end with a quote

Thank you everyone, Good Bye!

For this post, I will look into indoor air pollution. Activities that occur indoor that emit pollutants into our air. Its effects and some solutions.

The thing we used at home we need to be aware if it’s emitting any pollutants. Firstly, the most common and the most dangerous we have seen around is smoking. The cigarettes burned release harmful toxins that will be inhaled by those in the same household. The most vulnerable would be kids. They may develop early asthma or more serious respiratory illness if they constantly inhale the particulate from cigarettes.  Secondly in some countries that still use coal for fuel to cook and warm themselves. It emits pollutants as seen from powerplants such as carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxides. Thirdly, molds, bacteria, viruses that may be brought into our house can actually grow in a humid environment and affect us. Fourth, is the perfumes we uses may contain volatile chemicals that will stay indoor. Lastly not only the perfumes we used the pesticides we used might be harmful too.

Just as harmful as outdoor pollution, indoor air pollution is equally harmful and to some more harmful depending on the size and number of people living together.

Therefore, some solutions would be, firstly grow some plants. Plants can help to purify the air from the carbons and other harmful air particles. secondly, If you are smoker try to stop smoking or at least dont smoke at home. And please! Dont even smoke along your corridors as that will efect your neighbours. Thirdly. ventilate your house regularly. These will help to release the trap pollutants indoor. Lastly, clean your house regularly. We cant see the bacteria or viruses therefore we can just play safe by doing regularly cleaning.

So please be aware that even though we are indoor we may still be expose to pollutants and here are some way we can avoid it

Reference:
What is Indoor Air Pollution?
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-and-effects-of-indoor-air-pollution.php

Indoor air pollution on nurseries and primary schools: impact on childhood asthma – study protocolSofia I V Sousa, Catarina Ferraz, Maria C M Alvim-Ferraz, Luisa G Vaz, Agostinho J Marques, Fernando G Martins
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-12-435

Hi readers. To those that were not aware Singapore faced one of its worst case of haze in 2013.  It can be seen from the straits time article here. It was mainly caused by forest fires and the burning of crops in Indonesia. It was the first time since the PSI was introduced that it hit 401. This post today will be my personal recount on this period in 2013.

Back then, I was still serving my national service with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) as an Automotive Technician. Being a technician we don’t have the luxury of working indoor with air conditioners but out in the vehicle workshops and sweating in coveralls. As the haze was a build-up where the days before it was around the range of 200s it was already affecting us causing discomfort and irritations to our noses and throats. We were made to drink more water to ensure that we don’t dehydrate and faint while working.

As the days go by the situation got worst. Just like how people were rushing to get mask when COVID first hit Singapore, it was the same thing then. Masks were quickly depleted in the pharmacies.  As we are running a vehicle workshop we have some amount of mask ready in camp. We were told to start using it as the PSI climb into the “Very Unhealthy” range. It was inconvenient as it adds up to the heat but it was more comfortable to breathe in those masks than without a mask. When the PSI exceeds 300 and entered the hazardous we were told that we are not allowed to be outdoor and to stay indoors. Since we cant repair vehicles indoor it is equivalent to a stop-work order. We were rejoicing even though it was a serious situation.

When the PSI exceeded the 300s we can see clearly the difference in air quality. Specks of dust from the haze is more visible and there was a strong burning smell in the air. The scent alone is enough to cause discomfort in breathing. Luckily I wasn’t asthmatic then as it would affect me more. I have some campmates that fell sick during the days after that and have to take a rest at home.

Lessons learned from the incident is not to take the benefits of fresh air lightly. We should treasure it and take care of the environment and the atmosphere so that a tragedy like that won’t occur again.

After all the posts on atmospheric pollution in China, now this will be a post on air pollution in the country of some of my ancestors, India.

The idea to write this post came after I watched a short news documentary on air pollution in India.  The situation there looks really bad. The reason for its pollution is first, a high amount of traffic. This also due to its high population. However, their vehicles are running on unregulated fuels. The video mentioned that they used diesel that was long outlawed in Europe & the united states. Secondly, their farmers’ arent controlled against the burning of crops after harvest. Even the farmers mentioned that it’s their preferred choice. Therefore being a country that produces their own crops this really adds on to the smog and pollutants in India. Lastly and I feel this is the most severe reason that challenges its efforts. It is their mindset. They are in denial that air pollution is affecting them. They believe it is necessary for the growth of their nation. They also believe in some myths such as polluted air can train their immunity.

There also some solutions mentioned in this video. Firstly is by the government, where it aims to have Europe standard diesel by 2021 & remove all coal power plants. Secondly, there is an environmentalist in the video that suggests having more plants around homes and offices as it serves as a natural low-cost air filter that everyone will be able to afford.

My view on all this is that the reasons for its pollution are shocking. Being in denial of the danger of air pollution is really scary. I feel that this is the most severe issue they have to tackle first. Also knowing how they are handling the COVID situation there it got me even more worried. Being a huge country, this is another country that is contributing to the world’s secondary pollution. However, something inspiring I got from this video is the importance of plants. Previously I posted on trees but that’s outdoor. Plants can be a solution to protect each and every one of us. If each of us adopts this solution I think we can really create an impact on cleaning our atmosphere.

This is the documentary that I’ve watched

Hi readers. While browsing youtube I bumped into a Tedx video that put it perfectly on how an individual can have the power to reduce pollution.

He mentioned that each and every one of us need to make the choice to change our habits. If each and everyone makes small modifications we can make a great impact to the world. These small modifications that he mentioned were changing from using petrol cars to electric cars. Not only that the fleet of heavy vehicles that deliver our online orders too if they were to operate by using an electrical source of power the impact these changes can have on our environment is tremendous. If anyone that was not convinced about benefits of using electric cars they should watch this.

He also mentioned that we should do our part for the environment as it not only for us, Its also for our children and future generations. Providing them a planet that is liveable and not polluted.

However, from what I’ve seen online there are videos made to encourage switching to an electric or hybrid vehicle. But the main reason why people are still reluctant is firstly the cost. There is still a price difference between using this and a traditional gas car. Secondly, to operate it is a hassle,  the user needs to charge it for hours before can be driven, compared this to a visit to a petrol station this is much easier.  Thirdly, the facilities to use electric vehicles is still not easily available in every housing estates.

But I feel that the hassle is just a small price to pay for the improvement of our community.

To watch the video that I’ve mentioned in this blog check it out below

Reference:
The Washington Post:
Why electric cars still don’t live up to the hype
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-electric-cars-still-dont-live-up-to-the-hype/2019/12/30/242ce200-2b29-11ea-bcd4-24597950008f_story.html

How long does it take to charge a vehicle?

https://pod-point.com/guides/driver/how-long-to-charge-an-electric-car#:~:text=Summary,with%20a%207kW%20charging%20point.

Hi everyone, continuing from the previous post, I will now look into the burning of coal & fuel being one of the main reasons for air pollution in china.

The burning of coal is divided according to residential & industrial. With an increase in immigration from rural to the urban areas, some still adopt its traditional methods of using coal as a fuel for stoves and heaters. With the traditional method, there are no proper chimneys to remove the smog from indoor to outdoor causing indoor pollution. There are efforts on solving this but due to the rapid increase of immigration, the efforts are not able to catch up with it.

As for industrial, we have constantly discussed, that the electrical energy needed to operate mainly comes from burning of coal. So the main question is here why are they relying on sources of energy that are emitting pollutants and non-renewable.  Firstly, there is still a low demand for energy from a renewable source, due to its cost and unfamiliarity. Secondly, the government is not enforcing it and still making it an option and only encouraging its citizen, therefore they can simply say no to it and continue with something that is cheaper and familiar.

I feel that more can be done if they make changing their citizen mindset a priority.  All the different groups, organizations & ministers involve need to come together and come out with a solution that all can work on and tackle this issue. I feel that China has the capability to be a major player in reducing air pollution if they are able to collaborate as a nation. China is able to do it as evident by their efforts in combating Covid-19.

In my next post, I will be looking at some solutions we as ordinary people can do to reduce air pollution.

Reference:
Environmental health in China: challenges to achieving clean air and safe water
Junfeng Zhang, Denise L. Mauzerall, Tong Zhu, Song Liang, Majid Ezzati, Justin Remais
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4210128/

Politics of Renewable Energy in China
25 January 2019
https://www-elgaronline-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/view/9781788118149/9781788118149.xml

Hi Everyone. Thank you for following my blog.

During my previous post, I touched on Air Pollution in China and found out that increasing car ownership & heavy reliant on the burning of fossil fuel for sources of electricity are the main reason for the smog covering china’s urban areas. The focus on this post will be to explore more on one of the factors, increasing vehicle ownership.

A study was done in 2019 to analyze the reasons for this and the current efforts towards rectifying this issue. There is a gap between vehicle emission control methods and the development of the vehicle industry. The reasons for this are first, there is a huge increase of vehicles and demands for it. As its citizen income increased more are able to afford a vehicle thus increasing the number of vehicles on the road.

As seen from diagram above we can see the increase picks up in the 21st century. This is also happening due to the urbanization of its citizens. Living in the city provides them a need for a motorized vehicle.

Second, there is a problem with its road design. The roads are not designed to meet the expansion in vehicle ownership. Traffic congestion always occurs causing slow traffic. With slow traffic, more pollutants are emitted around the road areas.

Third, is fuel quality. The government does not have the right to design the fuel quality standards. This is managed by a committee with a majority of members that are related to the petrol chemical industry. Therefore their priority would be profit over the environment. It will also take time to improve their fuel quality.

Fourth, as the fuel standards improve, its vehicle standards are not improved simultaneously. Its fuel quality lags behind the vehicle standard. The cars ended up using lower quality fuel in a higher quality engine which still emits pollutants due to its fuel standard.

Fifth, this is an interesting point as I feel that this is something that Singapore is facing too. There is a slow development of clean energy vehicles. Its main focus is on electric vehicles and their hybrid types.  However, when they focus on this, infrastructure have to be made to make its usage possible. Infrastructures like car-park with chargers and its outlets have to be built. This takes time.

After going through all these five points. I feel that it is not a huge problem just a matter of shifting priorities. Fuel standards and vehicle standards have to be work on by the same committee where this committee consists of its ministers that are focused on improving its environment. Rather than just focus on building high rise apartments & offices, they should work on improving its road networks at the same time. Lastly, more resources can be put into improving its car-park to make it electric car-friendly. With more of these, the citizens will be more willing to make the swap to at least a hybrid car.

With all in agreement, air pollution can be controlled.

Reference:
Vehicle emission and atmospheric pollution in China: problems, progress, and prospects
16th May 2019
Jin Wang, Qiuxia Wu, Juan Liu, Hong Yang, Meiling Yin, Shili Chen, Peiyu Guo, Jiamin Ren, Xuwen Luo, Wensheng Linghu, Qiong Huang.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6526014/

After my last post, I’ve looked online on how bad air pollution in china really is. I am curious as I’ve been reading on how air pollution cause birth defect, respiratory diseases & premature diseases but is it that bad till birth defects are increasing in china?

I found a journal article about pollution in China(Liu, et al, 2016). The article did a study from 2004 to 2012.  During that period it showed an overall increase in pollutants level in the atmosphere, population exposure to the pollutants, and increasing deaths due to respiratory disease that may be due to inhaling the pollutants. The exposure was increasing due to the increase in the urbanization of its citizens. As there are a high number of traffics and industrial activities in the urban area, it makes it a heavily polluted area. To make matters worst, they live in the urban area with their whole family causing exposure of pollutants to their kids.  In the BBC news video, a stall owner was interviewed and he claims that his children’s health is affected and coughing as the usual symptoms. Another citizen also mentioned that they cant leave and migrate again as there will be cost involve that he won’t be able to afford and he also claims that the other urban cities are also affected.

In my point of view, I feel that efforts to counter air pollution need to be accelerated. The 2 main causes of heavy pollution are still because of high car ownership and heavily reliant on the burning of fossil fuel for energy. They have plenty of human resources with the capability to focus on research on development for better source of energy and vehicle technology that does not emit pollutants.  They are also at an advantage with the amount of land they have to build clean energy infrastructure.  I also feel that if they put more effort into innovating new technology that benefits the environments it could be used to alleviate their economy too as they can import the energy to neighboring countries and export the technologies.

Therefore I feel that more effort has to be put into this win-win situation for the benefit of their citizen and its economy.

reference

China’s rapid development on Youtube;

China toxic smog – BBC news:

Spatial and temporal trends in the mortality burden of air pollution in China: 2004–2012
13 October 2016
https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0160412016305529?via%3Dihub

Let us start this post with a fun fact, About 15 billion trees are lost each year due to deforestation, forest management, and changes in land use. 

So for this post, I will be blogging about the trees in Singapore, how it decreases since the development of Singapore began, my views on the matter, and measures in places to control the number of trees from decreasing further.

So based on the reading When Tigers Used to Roam: Nature & Environment in Singapore it provides an overview on when how the trees decline. It all started in 1819 when Singapore begins to turn into a port city. Lands were cleared for the incoming migrants, area for trading, and agriculture. Back then the agriculture causes the soil to be infertile within 20 years and fields were left barren and more trees have to be felled to do more agricultural activity as that was one of the main sources of product for trading back then.

In the early 1900s, deforestation still continues even after some attempted measures on conserving it for natural reserves, it was still unsuccessful with areas deforested in the conserved natural reserves to build railways, water catchment areas & military camps.

When World War 2 happened it made matters worst due to the destruction of wars destroying the forests & nature reserves inclusive. After the war in January 1951, there was legislation gazetting Bukit Timah, Kranji, Pandan, Labrador, and the Central Catchment area as nature reserves making this a measure that is still in place till today.

According to the article, Singapore have lost 73% of its greeneries due to its activities for the past 200 years. However, there is good news as according to NParks, an authority that takes charge of the conservation & protection of Singapore nature reserves, a restoration plan is in place. Launched in 2015, the plan will take 10 years to create secondary forests in the nature reserves area.

In my opinion. I feel that trees are important for the maintain of us humans & the environment. We both need it. Even some may rebut that there’s always air filter. But I feel that the natural way is always the better option. Air filters need the energy to run and source of energy may cause pollutants, therefore the net improvement may be zero. With more trees, it can help to convert the carbon dioxide in the air into more fresh oxygen for us and cleaner air for the environment. It can also reduce the greenhouse effect and combat global warming.

In conclusion, I am glad that we are having a restoration plan but I hope that more can be done in the urban areas. I feel that there should also be more attempt on educating the public on the importance of
greeneries and more collaborative efforts with residence in the housing flats then just the estate management trying to plant some trees.

Thank you for reading till here and see you on my next post!

Reference:

Bolton, Doug. “There are 3 Trillion Trees on Earth – but They’re Disappearing Fast.” Independent. September 2, 2015. Accessed: January 22, 2020.

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/how-many-trees-are-there-on-earth-10483553.html

When Tigers Used to Roam: Nature & Environment in Singapore

A write up on the deforestation in Singapore

http://www.nlb.gov.sg/biblioasia/2018/01/10/when-tigers-used-to-roam-nature-environment-in-singapore/

NParks unveils Forest Restoration Action Plan for nature areas

25^th Jan 2019

https://www.nparks.gov.sg/news/2019/1/nparks-unveils-forest-restoration-action-plan-for-nature-areas

I was browsing through youtube and I saw this video. It is about a video about a boy named Ke Yuan that is born without ears. He was abandoned a few days after birth and was left at an orphanage. The video shows the sad truth that’s happening in China. In the last 20 years, the number of birth defects has jumped by 20% with an average of 900 000 children is born each year with defects. Some were abandoned as there is little social security for the disabled in China. Therefore if they are born into a family that couldn’t afford the necessary expenses to provide a living for the disabled child, there’s a chance the child might be abandoned at one of these homes.

One reason why there is an increased amount of children born with birth defects could be due to air pollution. Air pollution could affect the growth of the fetus. Particulate matters that are in the mother’s reproductive organs could be the reason that affects the growth.

After watching this I feel sad. These children are innocent and they can’t avoid the situation they have been put into. Even their parents may be innocent too as they do not choose to breathe in the pollutants. However, if the reasons for air pollution were taken more seriously from the beginning and control measures were put in place earlier, these children may have a better chance at a normal life.

But thankfully there are orphanages that takes care of such children, there are also kind souls that helped these kids by adopting them and providing a family home for them. While reading the comments i came across a piece of good news about the boy.

The good news is that after a year from the video, a singaporean couple adopted the boy as seen in these 2 parts documentary, Part 1 Part 2.

References:
Environment and Reproductive Health in China: Challenges and Opportunities
https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.1205117