Reading of newspapers always gives
one new knowledge and insights. I read 5 interesting articles (though they are
from “TODAY” newspapers from August 2012) from which I learnt a lot.
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The first article I read was about
where humans will be living when we run out of space on land. The possibilities
of our next homes are sea, sky or desert. This article was about homes and
cities that could be built on the sea. Abu Dhabi has launched a project –
Masdar City, a high-tech eco-friendly city built on the sea. Personally, I find
this is a good idea. Many countries are doing their best to maximise their
existing land, or even creating new land. Countries like Japan have even built
underground cities to overcome land constraint problems! So, building
cities on the sea is definitely a good idea to overcome land-scarcity, seeing
that two thirds of the planet is covered by sea. However, I feel “sea-cities” will
have their minus points too – even while man is living on land, water pollution
has become a global problem as natural water bodies are getting contaminated.
When man moves to live on the sea, doesn’t the problem of water pollution
exacerbate? So, this idea of building cities on seas will definitely require a
lot of professional planning and research. While it may seem a solution to the
short-term solution to land-scarcity; in the long run, Mother Earth’s beautiful
seas could be irreversibly damaged.
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The
second article I read was also about the environment. The increasing acidity
levels of our seas are directly affecting marine life; in particular, animals
with shells like clams, sea urchins, mussels, oysters and so on. Acid in the
sea is making it hard for such animals to grow shells, as acid affects the size
and weight of shells and skeletons. The acidification of seas also makes it hard for
creatures to extract calcium carbonate, which they need for making their
shells. The experts have studied four types of creatures – clams, sea snails,
lamp shells and sea urchins – at 12 sites, stretching across the globe from the
Arctic to the Antarctic. They have observed that the effects of acidification
are the same for all the creatures from all the sites. The only silver lining
is that these creatures have the ability to adapt and evolve to suit the
ever-changing conditions of the sea. However, humans cannot take their
adaptability for granted – these animals are living things too. I feel we
humans can do our part by disposing of garbage properly, so that our garbage
does not end up in sea and make acid levels higher!
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The third article I read about was
about agriculture. This article explained that many are moving from rural areas
to urban areas, which means that farms from rural areas, that produce food for
urban areas, are rapidly depleting. So, there are some possible solutions for cities to
solve this problem – cities can grow their own food to support their
populations! One possible idea suggested in this article is for cities to built
rooftop farms. This not only maximises land, but becomes a steady source of
food supply for cities. Cities can also build high-tech farms and use
technology to produce fruit, vegetable and poultry. Examples are Hydroponics,
Aeroponics and Aquaponics. However, the capital investments to set up these
high-tech farms will definitely be high. So, I feel, since Asia is going to be
the most populous continent in the coming decades, with more than half the
world’s population residing in Asia; Asian nations can sign an alliance to
built a common high-tech farm, wherein all the member nations can contribute
and subsequently yield the produce. This too will be a way of alleviating poverty and
conquering hunger, as richer Asian nations can help the poorer ones. From my
viewpoint, farms in the cities will definitely be of high importance in the
future!
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The next article I read was about
an act by students taking part in the Singapore Kindness Movement. Secondary
school students had observed that young children always look at the
illustrations in picture books to help them understand stories, but in the process, some children
get frightened of certain illustrations like dragons and beasts in fairy-tale
picture books. This just makes the children believe that such creatures
really exist and this will hence frighten them even more. So, the secondary
school students wrote short stories that spoke about respect and kindness for
these kindergarteners. This not only made kindergarteners enjoy the stories as
there were no frightening illustrations, but also taught them core values like
respect and kindness. Personally, I felt this is a heart-warming act from
seniors to juniors. It is a simple act that goes a long way in building a solid
foundation in young children, by rooting core values like respect and kindness.
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The last article I read was the
one I liked best. It is about a Singaporean girl, Yip Pin Xiu, who has a cruel
disease called muscular dystrophy. It speeds up the breakdown of muscles when a
patient slows down their activities.
When Yip was five, her parents let her join her brothers during their
weekly swimming sessions in an effort to slow down the rate of deterioration of
her muscles. A few years later, a personnel from the Singapore Disability
Sports Council (SDSC) spotted her swimming talent. Yip went on to outclass her
opponents in local swimming meets later on, winning six gold medals from six
events. Later on, she became the first Singaporean to win a Paralympic gold medal.
She won gold medals in the Beijing Paralympic Games and in the London
Paralympic Games. She says, “I love swimming! I may stop competitive swimming
one day. But I will never stop swimming.” I felt this was a truly a
heart-warming and inspiring article. Yip has become a pillar of
encouragement to other disabled members of society and has proved that physical
disabilities should not hinder one in achieving success in life. I have learnt
that with great will power, persistence and passion, one will be able to
succeed in life.
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In a nutshell, reading articles of various topics has given me added knowledge on global issues as well as made me learn about values like kindness and persistence. Being a person who does not read newspapers regularly; I have realised that if just 5 articles could enlighten me, I should definitely cultivate the habit of reading newspapers more regularly. It raises our awareness about the world around us and teaches us much.
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