Plastics: The Crisis

Putting my cap on, I started picking up some trash. I was really close to the water at one point and saw something swimming in the water. It looked like something a brown and slimy. It had to be an otter! It just lingered around this one spot near the beach for the longest time and eventually started climbing onto my nerves. When no one was looking, I went closer to the murky water. I saw the otter quickly swimming away, freeing itself from a mangled brown plastic bag now suspended by the water. I waded into the cool water and picked it up, absolutely disgusted by what was just seen. This is a story from Beach Clean Up volunteer Khantey Lim.

This is a service called “The Beach Cleanup” that goes out to Changi beach to pick up tossed trash. They spend an hour there and find heaps of plastic on the beach. This service helps to fish out most trash and their chance to get washed into the ocean, clearly making a difference to the marine environment.

Gandhi once said “There is enough in the world for everyone's need, there is not enough in the world for everyone’s greed”. The crisis of overconsumption is that people are blindly using resources for pleasure without awareness of its impact on the Environment.

Plastics cover up most landfilling spaces in numerous places around the world. The problem with plastic is that it is made out of polymers. Polymers are a bunch of long noodle like strands that are woven together and held tightly by chemical bonds. The problem with polymers is that they don’t biodegrade naturally as they are too large for microorganisms to break down. Plastics are also quite expensive to recycle, and they release harmful gasses into the air when they are. This means that plastic is a material created by humans that has been designed to throw away. All plastics that have been created still exists in some shape or form cluttering up our planet and destroying lots of nature. The more we dispose it, the more it harms our home.

Researchers say that 50% of used plastic is landfilled, 30% of it is made into durable goods and the remainder is disregarded. These disregarded plastics eventually find themselves floating into oceans, which causes lots of inconvenience to marine life. Some animals choke to death trying to eat these plastics thinking that they are food while others have consumed so much plastic that they are not able to eat any real food- hence making them starve to death, and even some animals get entangled in it- and they cannot survive the long lasting durability.

Plastics live a very long life. Almost too long, while the plastic is floating in the ocean, the sun can break them down into tinier pieces through a process called photodegradation. These microscopic plastics are found in oceans, beaches, and stranded on land. Micro plastics attract toxic chemicals. These micro plastics are then eaten by marine animals, then these micro plastics are then transferred throughout the rest food chain. Scientists are still trying to find out the effect of this on humans.

UWCSEA is making an effort to reduce plastic consumption. This school has changed our takeaway cutlery and glasses to Cornware. Its a healthier material for the environment. Also, every 2 in 3 students in the Jra classroom say that they are willing to bring in their own lunch box to get food from the canteen. If bringing a lunchbox to school becomes a routine, there will be less plastic and food waste disposal at the school, creating a greener environment. The school shop has also started giving out paper and cloth bags instead of plastic ones.

If we consume less plastic, less plastic would have to be manufactured. Over time, there will be less plastic that would be washed into the ocean and cause inconvenience to marine life. Also, less trees and wildlife habitats would be destroyed to create plastic landfill sites. The best part is that the air we breathe would be a lot less polluted because less plastic would need to be created and incinerated. The wildlife population in the world has almost halved since our existence on earth so these measures should be taken as quickly as possible. Visit this site to find out more about how you could start living a plastic free life.

In conclusion, we should be aware of the plastic problem. We can see through our own eyes that this is a large issue, that will only get worse if the problem is not taken seriously. Whenever you see a piece of plastic loitering around on its own, find a trash can where it could be safely disposed off. Ask if you could get recycling cans and ensure that plastics are recycled or disposed away from wildlife habitats. And always remember that you can reduce, reuse, re-fuse, recycle, and re-design. Get creative with these R’s, up-cycle trash into treasures to raise awareness about the plastic problem. Find alternative solutions to your plastic consumption. Every action counts, make your change now!

Antartica? I thought this was Singapore?

“Can you turn the AC up?” A student in Mr Douglas's math class asked on a rainy tuesday morning. “It says its off but it doesn’t feel like it, I mean I’m Canadian and I’m still feeling cold!” Mr Douglas said, laughing to himself. The moment the students had entered the dull classroom, a chill ran down their spines and throughout the lesson they were fidgeting in their seat attempting to keep themselves warm but sadly failing. They couldn’t focus on their learning because of the strong, chilled air blowing down on them through the vents.

As soon as they were dismissed from class the students sprinted out of the ice box, into the narrow corridor hoping that they would ‘thaw’ as they got outside. “It was so cold, I was going to die!” one of the students exclaimed to her friend. “I know right, my teeth were legit chattering,” her friend replied. They walked fast to their next class in hope of restoring some heat in their bodies.

This wasn’t the only experience the students had with cold classrooms at UWCSEA. Many others have complained that the air conditioning is to low and should be increased to a higher temperature. There is also visual proof, of how cold the school is, by the number of students wearing sweaters to school.

Not only is sitting in cold class rooms uncomfortable for the students but it is also bad for their health.They are constantly going from hot to cold every time they step in and out of their classrooms. This can students to become sick from the rapid change in temperature. Another negative effect of keeping the air conditioning low is the environmental side. It would take up much less electricity if we kept the temperature lower and it would reduce the schools electricity bills. UWCSEA spends 60% of their electricity bills on cooling. This can be cut down by simply turning up the heat. It’s cheaper, healthier and more environmentally friendly too.

Written by Aditi

A-Team

The group of 30 or so girls went silent on the field. Ms. Thomson knew it was late around 4:30 and everyone was eager to go home but even more eager to find out the touch teams . She held up the clipboard and anxious faces and started to spread through the girls.

“I know some of you are going to be disappointed in the teams but we need to speared the experience and skill throughout the teams.” This made the girls even more scared and anxious. She moved her eyes back down to the clipboard, a quick glance back up.

“B-Team..” And then she started to read out the names. Names would pop up here and there, as every name was said girls like lost puppies would stare down to their hands. As she read out more and more names, hoping not to hear their names, people started to fidget with their water bottles. There were twelve or so girls who were picked to be on the B- Team, some of them wen’t sad and some of them looked really shocked to be on the bottom.

“ Well with the B-Team done.... Now leaves the A-Team.” Everyone who was not called during the (scary other word) past two minutes, rejoiced inside. Ms. Thomson started to read out names again, but this time for the A-Team. As their names were said girls started to sit up taller and smiles showing their white shimmering teeth started to appear.

Written by Kiana

MS Rules VS HS Rules

UWCSEA east campus has a new rule this school year, no electronic devices besides the schools laptop during break and lunch only for middle school students and teachers but is this rule really fair? On September 2nd, a high school teacher was spotted walking out of the middle school office during lunch time on her phone. Later in the day, a high school student walked down the stairs, texting. High School students were opening their laptops, even so, they weren’t even working on school appropriate work but playing computer games and watching videos on youtube.

The rule only applies to middle school teachers and students and not high school and junior school teachers and students. How is that fair? Is it because high school students are more mature? Maybe. Is it because the school doesn't expect junior school kids to have their own phones and electronic devices? Could be. But the question is, is it fair to middle school students. No, not at all. Almost everyone has a electronic device these days, thanks to the popularity of the companies Apple, Samsung and Microsoft. It isn’t fair for the middle school teachers either.

What about some of the teachers that teach both middle and high school? Does this rule apply to them? Students are seen in the science hallways frantically typing on their laptops to finish a assignment they forgot to do at home, there are already middle school students that are already breaking this rule, won’t seeing the teachers use their devices encourage the students to use their own technology? Emergencies come up and a phone would be useful for the students to call their parents, this rule would prevent them from using their phones and having problems. Is the rule useful then?

The school should consider the consequences of a rule before making them. Rules should be considered thoroughly before made, enabling that the rule does not upset many people, then it would restrain disagreements. A rule has its pros and cons, but if the cons overpower the pros, the rule would just make our lives more complicated.

Written by Karen

Middle School G8 Social Hopefully Improved

Middle school socials were always a fun place to go for some people but for some it was like hell and you couldn’t get out of it until the end. Last year in the grade 7 social, there were people trying to escape the social because of how boring it was. Not only did people try to escape there were people (mostly girls) crying over relationships or their friends turning their backs to them. According to the G8 Student Council, it won’t be tragic like last year’s.

The G8 Stu Co. has announced that socials will be coming soon. According to one of the Stu Co. member, he has stated that “Socials won’t be as chaotic as last years…” We still are uncertain whether this is true since the social is still unconfirmed. Many people really want a social that they find interesting or worth taking time to go. For instance, David Chabio (8ANc) has quoted that, “I think that if socials have something actually fun, I would go to it but Grade 7’s was just a complete waste of time.” This isn’t only applicable for David but for others that have been asked, about 90% of the the interviewed people had the same answer.

Many people that have been interviewed has recommended that the Stu Co. could input some activities that groups of people could do together such as dodgeball, capture the flag, etc… Stu Co. should ask the grade 8 community to give them recommendation on how they should improve it since there could be people that have really good ideas but have no way to share it.

Now, it all depends on the Student Council of grade 8 to make an amazing social. Maybe we should just try to enjoy the socials and be grateful that our school are capable of hosting a social. If Stu Co. can’t make a good social, I think it’s up to us to just deal with it.

Written by Youngchan

Are Parents Pushing Kids Too Hard?

On Monday the 8th of September , an eighth grader was seen in the UWCSEA East karate dojo, After school. He was seen talking to Shihan, the head instructor about joining the activity. The 8th grader , was new to martial arts , whereas his older brother had joined the dojo 4 years prior. As this reporter noted when watching the class, the difference of four years of practice was huge. Even though the older sibling had only been doing this martial art for four years, he had attended practices multiple times a week and went to most of the sparring tournaments and gradings.

Meanwhile, the younger sibling was struggling through the vigorous stretching exercises and warm ups, and evidently unused to and uncomfortable with his surroundings. In other words, out of his element. His stance is off and his movements uncertain, always keeping one eye on the instructor and one eye on his older brother. His older brother on the other hand was completely in his element. The older sibling runs through the exercises with confidence, sometimes getting called on by the teacher to count and lead the class, sometimes used as a demonstration example.

As a chinese saying goes “ Practice for 10 years, perform for 10 seconds”. It means you may have to practice many years to become good at something, and the brothers are a great example of the effects of hard practice. Research shows that it takes approximately 10 years to become an “expert” at something. Many people take this to heart, especially parents. As statistics show, many asian families enroll their children into extra curricular activities at an early age and important school subjects such as math, science and english.

Music in particular is a common one. Research shows that studying an instrument helps develop children. Learning to play an instrument requires hand eye coordination, determination and diligence, all good traits to have. But when is enough? Surely there is a limit on how hard you can push a child before their spirit breaks? The true dilemma is how hard to push children. Is it a waste to spend the first few years of a childs life on fun and play, instead of enrolling them in several activities in preparation of school? Or is it more of a waste to let the child grow up without carefree memories of toddlerhood and grow up a smart successful person? Is it right to deprive a young child of happiness? Many parents ponder this, and in this day and age, this could mean the difference between a happy childhood and a depressed one.

Written by Jasmine