This article by Tristram Stuart in today's FT Weekend Magazine is sobering, and a wake-up call to almost everyone - governments, businessmen, entreprenuers and consumers. Imagine the amount of food, and the resources used for production and transportion, being wasted. Yet billions of people around the world are starving!
The global food supply chain is in serious need for reforms.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/87a89020-66a1-11de-a034-00144feabdc0.html
Saturday 4 July 2009
Saturday 27 June 2009
The Climate Change Climate Change
Interesting read on anti-climate change.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB124597505076157449-lMyQjAxMDI5NDI1NjkyNzY1Wj.html?freeRegConfirmButton.x&mg=com-wsj#articleTabs%3Darticle
I am wondering when this debate will ever end ... or is it relevant and useful at all?
The arguments for clean tech development are still strong: to provide more affordable and accessible energy alternatives to oil and gas. Especially in developing or undeveloped countries where distributed energy generation from solar, biomass, etc. is more affordable and pragmatic.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB124597505076157449-lMyQjAxMDI5NDI1NjkyNzY1Wj.html?freeRegConfirmButton.x&mg=com-wsj#articleTabs%3Darticle
I am wondering when this debate will ever end ... or is it relevant and useful at all?
The arguments for clean tech development are still strong: to provide more affordable and accessible energy alternatives to oil and gas. Especially in developing or undeveloped countries where distributed energy generation from solar, biomass, etc. is more affordable and pragmatic.
Sunday 1 March 2009
A new type of "black gold"
Read from this very interesting and educational article, "Can you dig it?" from 28 Feb 09 edition of the FT Weekend Magazine on 'biochar'. Biochar has been touted as one of many panaceas to capture CO2 from the atmosphere, especially when our natural carbon sinks are currently overloaded and unable to cope with increasing CO2 emissions. Some companies are already working on commercialising biochar, which can be easily produced by heating organic materials such as wood, straw or crop waste in the absence of oxygen - a process known as "pyrolysis". The potential of biochar is heavily promoted by the International Biochar Initiative, a non-profit organisation. However, biochar's potential to sequester carbon for long period, and the methods to produce biochar in large commercial scale are still contentious. As it is now, the UK Carbon Trust is unconvinced about the potential benefits and it disallowed companies to include biochar product of pyrolysis as part of carbon savings when these companies apply for funding.
It seems to me that biochar technology is undergoing the same challenge as other sustainable development technologies when they are still new and quantitative methods to prove their long term effects on the environment are often contentious. More work by scientists (to prove the benefits), engineers (to develop large scale production methods) and entrepreneurs (to commercialise the technology) is needed. More critically, governments need to be more open and flexible - they are often the biggest hurdles with conservative mindsets. So, watch this space as I track the development of this technology.
It seems to me that biochar technology is undergoing the same challenge as other sustainable development technologies when they are still new and quantitative methods to prove their long term effects on the environment are often contentious. More work by scientists (to prove the benefits), engineers (to develop large scale production methods) and entrepreneurs (to commercialise the technology) is needed. More critically, governments need to be more open and flexible - they are often the biggest hurdles with conservative mindsets. So, watch this space as I track the development of this technology.
Saturday 28 February 2009
How my journey started..from blue to green
This is my first ever blog posting and I started this to document and share my career change journey; from a naval career to a career in sustainable development. Hopefully, my blog will inspire more people to consider a career that will help to create a secure and sustainable future for our children. As a completely new comer to sustainable development, I also hope to get comments and advice from the experts.
So, how did my journey start?
It was about one year ago when the serious thought of changing career crossed my mind. After
a relatively exciting and rewarding 11+ years in the Fleet and sailing all over the world, I was getting restless after one year into my deskbound job in headquarters. The thought of a 'forced' career change in another 8 years, at a relatively difficult age of 45 , to probably the civil service or a defence company did not appeal at all to me and finally prompted me to resign in early 2008. I wanted new challenges, do something different, have new experience. I left the Republic of Singapore Navy on 1 Sep 2008.
What to do next after leaving the Navy was not quite clear at that point. What I do know is that I want to run a business. I want to be an entrepreneur. Creativity and innovation (and rebellious) were in my blood - major reasons for wanting to seek a new experience. Therefore, a major gap I needed to plug was knowledge about running a business, and to build a completely new professional network. So I decided to go to business school, where I am now at London Business School undertaking the Sloan Fellowship Programme.
While applying to the Sloan programme, I had to answer an essay question on my career plans after graduation. I wrote about eventually running a business, but I also had to think hard about a business that I will be passionate in. Coincidentally at that time, Al Gore and the IPCC had just been awarded the Nobel Prize and after reading about their work, I got interested in
climate change. Watching and reading Gore's work, "The Inconvenient Truth", got me angry ... and worried - I was worried not for myself, but for world that my two young children will potentially live in. But there is hope that if we start taking the right actions now, global warming can be reversed. So, with engineering training in my blood, I wrote passionately about wanting to work in renewable energy in my essay.
Attending the Sloan programme has turned out to be a life-changing experience. The array of networking events and company presentations threw me into a confusing matrix of career options and considerations during my first term. Then, Lehman Brothers collapsed 5 months ago and the global recession started - which turned out to be a good thing for me personally. As the job market turned increasingly tough, I had to be more focused. After some reflections during the Christmas break, I was no longer confused and made a firm decision to pursue a career in clean technology and sustainable development.
The first few months at LBS has signficantly expanded my knowledge horizon about sustainable
development, beyond renewable energy. My international business project on 'Water Sustainability' has exposed me to the challenges of providing clean water in both developed and developing countries in the future - climate change partly has to do with this but the way we consume, pollute and mismanage water supply is also a major factor. I learned about sustainable building design and construction from the Responsible Business and Energy Clubs events and networks. I also started learning about the entire array of clean technology, but has focused on solar technology, energy efficiency and green buidling, which I believed have the greatest potential to either replace conventional fossil fuel or abate carbon in the atmosphere.
I have taken small steps to start my new career. On 15 Jan 09, I passed
the US Green Building Council's LEED AP exam and have since joined several global networks of sustainable building professionals. And just this week, I have just agreed to undertake a research project for Solar-Aid, a non-profit organisation with several microsolar and macrosolar projects in Africa and South America.
And so, my exciting journey...from blue (navy) to green...has just started.
So, how did my journey start?
It was about one year ago when the serious thought of changing career crossed my mind. After
a relatively exciting and rewarding 11+ years in the Fleet and sailing all over the world, I was getting restless after one year into my deskbound job in headquarters. The thought of a 'forced' career change in another 8 years, at a relatively difficult age of 45 , to probably the civil service or a defence company did not appeal at all to me and finally prompted me to resign in early 2008. I wanted new challenges, do something different, have new experience. I left the Republic of Singapore Navy on 1 Sep 2008.What to do next after leaving the Navy was not quite clear at that point. What I do know is that I want to run a business. I want to be an entrepreneur. Creativity and innovation (and rebellious) were in my blood - major reasons for wanting to seek a new experience. Therefore, a major gap I needed to plug was knowledge about running a business, and to build a completely new professional network. So I decided to go to business school, where I am now at London Business School undertaking the Sloan Fellowship Programme.
While applying to the Sloan programme, I had to answer an essay question on my career plans after graduation. I wrote about eventually running a business, but I also had to think hard about a business that I will be passionate in. Coincidentally at that time, Al Gore and the IPCC had just been awarded the Nobel Prize and after reading about their work, I got interested in
climate change. Watching and reading Gore's work, "The Inconvenient Truth", got me angry ... and worried - I was worried not for myself, but for world that my two young children will potentially live in. But there is hope that if we start taking the right actions now, global warming can be reversed. So, with engineering training in my blood, I wrote passionately about wanting to work in renewable energy in my essay.Attending the Sloan programme has turned out to be a life-changing experience. The array of networking events and company presentations threw me into a confusing matrix of career options and considerations during my first term. Then, Lehman Brothers collapsed 5 months ago and the global recession started - which turned out to be a good thing for me personally. As the job market turned increasingly tough, I had to be more focused. After some reflections during the Christmas break, I was no longer confused and made a firm decision to pursue a career in clean technology and sustainable development.
The first few months at LBS has signficantly expanded my knowledge horizon about sustainable
development, beyond renewable energy. My international business project on 'Water Sustainability' has exposed me to the challenges of providing clean water in both developed and developing countries in the future - climate change partly has to do with this but the way we consume, pollute and mismanage water supply is also a major factor. I learned about sustainable building design and construction from the Responsible Business and Energy Clubs events and networks. I also started learning about the entire array of clean technology, but has focused on solar technology, energy efficiency and green buidling, which I believed have the greatest potential to either replace conventional fossil fuel or abate carbon in the atmosphere.I have taken small steps to start my new career. On 15 Jan 09, I passed
the US Green Building Council's LEED AP exam and have since joined several global networks of sustainable building professionals. And just this week, I have just agreed to undertake a research project for Solar-Aid, a non-profit organisation with several microsolar and macrosolar projects in Africa and South America.And so, my exciting journey...from blue (navy) to green...has just started.
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