Hello, my name is Clive. I am a first-year student from the Bachelor of Environmental Studies program in the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Living in Singapore, we have the luxury of being in close proximity to beaches and the sea. Thus, I have spent many mornings and evenings strolling along the beach with my family (afternoons are too hot), exploring the marine life when the tide recedes. Here are some photos from a visit to Pasir Ris beach last December.

While at the beach, my family decided to do a clean-up, both as a form of education for my younger siblings and to do something for the environment. As I was picking through the sand for rubbish, I felt saddened at the sheer volume of trash on our beaches. This was on a microscopic scale compared to the vast expanse of the environmental problem we have.

Within an hour, my family had run out of bags to store the trash in.

 

Experiences like these push me to question the environmental impact our actions have. What other problems are we causing to our environment? How do these actions affect us and the world around us? As familiar as I am with Singapore’s beaches, I still have a lot to learn about the world’s environmental crisis. As I thought about my theme for this blog, I wanted to explore a world far separated from my bubble in Singapore. Therefore, I decided that I should learn more about glaciers and share my knowledge with everyone!

 

 

Glaciers are structures of ice made from fallen snow, compacted after a long period of time. Glaciers are an essential part of ecosystems and human society. Glacier runoff support rivers and many human activities like agriculture, acting as a significant water source for many. But glaciers are melting fast. Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are melting at 6 times the rate as compared to 30 years ago. Keeping at this rate, sea levels will rise between 0.29m and 1.1m by 2100. Water scarcity will be an even greater problem as well.

During the course of my learning, I aim to share my discoveries with everyone, and find out exactly how important glaciers are to the Earth. This will be a blog about Ice and Us. Stay with me to learn more in the following weeks!