Geography

"Geography is the study of earth as the home of people." - Yi-Fu Tuan

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What causes turbulence and is climate change making it worse?

A Singapore Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing in Bangkok on May 21 2024 after encountering sudden, extreme turbulence, which resulted in one death and dozens of passengers injured. Scientists have linked the increase cases of severe turbulence to climate change.

Read the article to find out more. In the video, CBS News senior weather producer explains how the human-caused phenomenon affects the flight path.

Singapore's SUSTAINABILITY PLANS - A City of green possibilities, an energy reset

The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment shared the government's plans for Building our City of Green Possibilities on their website. Watch Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean talk about the Green Plan in 2021, and Minister Grace Fu's elaboration in 2022'.

Speeches by the Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Trade and Industry at the Committee of Supply Debates 2022 sharing about Singapore's plans to "green" our buildings, which currently contribute about 20% of our carbon emissions, and economic investments in decarbonising and greening our industries.

Read: Speech by Minister for National Development, Desmond Lee and watch the summary video by the MND on their budget goals for 2022.

Read: Speech by Minister for Trade and Industry, Gan Kim Yong and watch a clip of the plans and challenges for developing a more sustainable economy and the use of 'green' energy sources.

Earth Day 2021

Co-curated by Ms Ashley Zhang (Geography Teacher) and Ms Jolenta Wong (History Teacher)

This year’s Earth Day happens on the 22nd of April with a theme “Restore Our Earth”. Read more below.

A little bit of history...

Do we know how Earth Day came about? While the first Earth Day was launched in 1970 in the United States, the course was set way earlier in 1962 with the publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. The book raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and the inextricable links between pollution and public health, resulting in the launch of Earth Day that provided a voice to this emerging environmental consciousness, and that put environmental concerns on the front page.

Twenty years later, in 1990, Earth Day went global. It also gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Significance of Earth Day today

Today Earth Day is a widely recognised observance participated by many around the world. Its global significance lies in that Earth Day’s objectives are closely aligned with many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; see picture above). The goals 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 examine clean water, clean energy, sustainable communities, responsible consumption, climate action, protecting bodies of water, and taking care of everything on land—all of which align perfectly with the purpose and point of Earth Day.

Furthermore, with the COVID-19 pandemic, as a stark reminder of the vulnerability of humans and the planet, Earth Day remains ever more important to combating such global scale threats. United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres noted that, "Had we been further advanced in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, we could better face this challenge."

What about Singapore?

While Earth Day gave voice to worldwide consciousness about the state of our planet, Singapore also recognises the importance of local environmental movement that addresses our own needs and issues. Hence The Singapore Green Plan issued in May 1992 was the country's first formal plan to balance environmental and developmental needs in Singapore. It was presented at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (commonly known as the Earth Summit) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992. Today, Singapore Green Plan 2030 seeks to rally collective actions to tackle climate change and make Singapore a Green and livable home. Many aims in our Green Plan 2030 aligns with the aims of Earth Day 2021, like the emphasis on emerging green technologies and innovative thinking that can restore our Earth.

Singapore Green Plan 2030

On 10 Feb 2021, the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment released a video for the Singapore Green Plan 2030. This was followed by speeches from various ministries at the Committee of Supply debate in Feb and Mar 2021. The national target was to peak carbon emissions by around 2030, and to do this, the government would implement a series of other policies and strategies.

The plan compiles existing strategies and introduces new directions, such as investments in electric vehicle infrastructure and school programmes to strengthen environmental awareness among young students.

Find out more by watching the video, or by visiting the SG Green Plan website: https://www.greenplan.gov.sg/.

Winter is here?

Last weekend saw some of Singapore's coolest temperatures and heaviest rains in a while. Many of us enjoyed the 'air con' weather, and can expect to do so for the rest of this week.

On the other hand, the storms also brought about serious problems in different parts of Singapore and the region.

(Expand this section to read more.)

From a mini landslide at Outram and Pasir Ris, and the collapse of a 22m-tall Heritage Tree at Fort Canning (right in our neighbourhood!) to massive flooding in Malaysia, where more than 9,000 people had to be evacuated.

Why did such a heavy storm occur this weekend? Associate professor of science, technology and society Winston Chow from the Singapore Management University's School of Social Sciences explains that there is a combination of different weather factors that have led to this:

First, this is the period of the Southwest Monsoon bringing moist winds over Singapore.
Second, South-East Asia is experiencing the La Nina phase, which could bring about wetter-than-usual weather over the next few months. (La Nina is a weather phenomenon that occurs every two to seven years on average. You may be familiar with her brother, El Nino. Learn more about El Nino and La Nina here and here. )

While this incident has not been directly linked to the effects of climate change, we can expect that with global warming and changing weather patterns, we will see more of such extreme rainfalls. And what is happening in our regional neighbours could very soon be happening to us, as we quickly face more risks due to climate change.

Image source: Straits Times
Posted by Mr Ngiam, 5 Jan 2021