I just wanted to use this space to express my genuine sadness to see this semester come to an end. I’ve been teaching this course for 3 years now (though this is my first time coordinating it), and I have never had such buy-in to the blog before. To have this durable record of such diverse and informed pieces of writing by my students – well, it’s hard to express how gratifying this is. I will consider myself fortunate if I have a group that is even half as engaged as this one was. And by the way, it’s worth noting that a large fraction of my students were 3rd year students. My deepest thanks for making this website so wonderful !

As a member of the Green Party of Canada, I receive occasional updates on my FB page. This morning, it was a shared link to an article about the conversion of a decommissioned coal-fired power plant in Ontario to a solar farm. My initial reaction was “looks like a step in the right direction”. And it may well be one. After all, burning coal is the dirtiest way to generate electricity. But I’m left with two big questions. First, how much electricity will this solar farm generate (as in the percentage of the original capacity of the coal-fired plant)? Here, I’m thinking about land-use. Second, considering that cradle-to-grave analysis of solar energy production reveals some negative environmental impacts, especially related to the production of panels (which uses rare-earth metals and some pretty nasty chemicals) and their eventual disposal, what are the downsides of going this route? I don’t mean to denigrate clean technologies – I am supportive of developing solar, wind and geothermal power generation – but I can’t help thinking that there should be at least as much, if not more, emphasis placed on reduction of demand as there is on implementation of alternative sources of energy. Why doesn’t the Green Party and, for that matter, the Government of Canada (well, why not all governments?) really starting pushing urban populations to reduce consumption?

The following blog post, by Adam Frank, discusses a very recent paper by Marina Alberti, who reviews the evolutionary implications of urbanisation. The post and the paper, in TREE, make for some very interesting reading.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2015/03/03/390349330/can-cities-change-earths-evolution

For the past couple of weeks, from my 19th floor apartment, across Clementi Road from NUS, I’ve been seeing one (or perhaps more) peregrine falcon(s). Last Friday, it was soaring at roughly eye level directly in front of my home office, before it slowly made its way toward some of the taller buildings across the street. I wonder if there is a nesting pair right here on campus. Makes me feel at home !

kindly taken 29-01-2015 (and stitched together into a panorama) by the talented Greg MacDonald, looking north and eastward from Kent Vale, on the NUS campus

While walking home this evening, I heard a sound that was almost like a dog barking, but not quite. Being a super duper owl enthusiast (as my left arm can attest), I started off in search of the caller. It was a spotted wood owl (Strix seloputo). A quick Google search revealed that I’m not the first person to spot this species on the NUS campus, but I may well have been the most excited ! Apparently, this species’ population was once thought to have dwindled to no more than 10 pairs, but sightings seem to be increasing. Very cool.