Project Week

November 29th, 2019

Investigation:

At UWCSEA, we have a wonderful opportunity to go on a trip with others all by ourselves and planned all by ourselves throughout South East Asia in order to complete one or more of the CAS objectives. (maybe more)

For my project week, I am quite interested to do an activity, most likely hiking, but I would most like to do an environmental service, especially with my GC—Gili Eco Trust. This is because we need to maintain a relationship between the school and the NGO we are working with.

Initially, we had some mingle activities and introduction to what Project Week is. At first, it was difficult to find a group that had similar interests and groups that I could find myself working well with. However, almost to the last minute of the deadline, I found a group that I could work with and I have some hopes and worries. Fortunately, there are some people I know including one person from Solar for East and another a member of my GC (is the co-vice chair with me). They seem to be a group that will do work and won’t slack off. However, I am not so connected with them at the moment and I am worried because 4 of them are in a relationship and that could end in a disaster both for them as a relationship but also onto the rest of the group members. But hopefully, everything should be good. Our group are planning to go to Gili and with the GC and hike on Rinjani Dawn. So it that sense, it has really lived up to my hopes for project week.


December 5th, 2019

Preparation:

For our preparation, we have made a plan (and it got accepted) and contacted our supervisor. We are planning a schedule and draft email to the NGO among many things that need to be done. As of right now, our preparation is looking pretty good. In this group, I actually haven’t done a lot of work and it has been spread out, which is a positive and benefit in working in a group. Also, in this case, things are going much faster than if I were to do this individually and in this kind of project it is always better to be in a group assuming those group members not only work well with each other but are somewhat productive.

 

 

Right now, my only main concern with our plan is about hiking. I’m quite an adventurous person and don’t mind hard work so, if anything, I would like for the hike to be as challenging as it can be. Some of my group members are not as adventurous so we need to compromise a bit. So far, we have a provider that will help us, and I am a bit worried that they will provide us with too much, meaning that they will do all the cooking, carrying and setting up the tents. The only good thing would be that we are supporting mainly locals but for me, I would feel too privileged and lazy if this were to happen. So, my hope is that I can at least relieve the load on these providers and help them too.

#LO5


January 24th, 2020

Preparation:

So far in the planning process, we have done a lot, from contacting the NGO and action providers to picking hotels to plan flights to doing all the necessary requirements for medical information and lots more. A lot of forms have been stamped and signed as well.

The process has been quite hectic and there has been lots of planning that I never thought of when going on a trip albeit it is also an unusual trip with lots of hiking and working with service partners. But despite this, there is a lot of planning involved in this sort of trip, even for just a few days. I feel as though project week and the whole journey from planning to execution, is an amazing opportunity that will help me in future projects and really just planning and working together as a team. It is a very special and privileged opportunity and I am quite excited.


February 11th, 2020

Unfortunately, due to the 2019-nCoV situation or Coronavirus, the school has decided to cancel all overseas trips until August 2020. This was decided by the Singapore government in support of international crisis management. It is quite disappointing and it was a once a lifetime opportunity but one cannot get or do everything in their life, and I already have a very privileged life and so I perhaps shouldn’t complain. Although sure, it would be a great experience and I would love to embark on this exciting opportunity, the actual trip part was the only thing left we needed to do. We did a lot of planning and this is a great learning experience that I can use later on in life as planning and organisational skills that are similar to planning trips or just planning, in general, are essential to keep on top of things and in some ways reduce stress.
So Project Week will not be happening this year and hopefully, next year’s Grade 11s will be able to embark on this exciting opportunity.

 

Gr10 GPERS CCP Reflection

During my final part of my GPers (Global Perspectives) coursework, I had to work with a group to work on a sustainability project at school or in Singapore. For my Critical Challenge Project (the project name), we (my two group members and I) decided to work on water management and see if we could do anything to help with the school and the school’s community usage of water. We looked into several different perspectives from the government to Nathan Hunt (sustainability director at UWCSEA), the Facilities office and several global perspectives. We finally decided to work on presenting to the Grade 3s who were currently studying about water. They knew a lot about water and decided to focus on the awareness of what our school is already doing. It did help consolidate their learning, however, I am frustrated that I couldn’t do a lot for the project. I was not satisfied with the work I had done because awareness is really not that big of an issue in UWC and we didn’t do any real action. I feel like there is a lot more I can do. Fortunately, sustainability and especially the sustainability of the environment is an issue and area that I have cared about for a long time and have done several actions of my own to combat this issue.

Greta Thunberg, who is a Swedish environmental Activist (and only 16 years old) is very well known in my home country of Sweden. This image below is Greta Thunberg holding up a sign that says “Skolstrejk för klimatet”

I admire Greta Thunberg activism because she is just only slightly older than me but has done so much even though she is so young. I am already involved with many climate change movements and actions. My project was successful but it wasn’t enough. I wish I just could have done more just like Greta but I didn’t. However, as mentioned before, I am already doing a lot. But even then, I still don’t feel I am doing an enormous impact. Here in Singapore, we cannot go on strike for school as my Swedish friends and family could in Sweden. I couldn’t be part of it. Greta has got the attention of many people around the world to be inspired to do change.

In terms of the actions that I have taken, I have tried to reduce my impact on the environment at home. My family is more actively aware of our water and energy usage. We try to produce less waste, for instance, we bring our own containers and cutlery when we need ti when going out and instead of wrapping paper, we use reusable cloth. Furthermore, we also eat less meat than we used to and if we do eat meat, it is mostly chicken and fish but not beef (It is quite hard due to our love of meat in many dishes). We never use any unnecessary plastic (we actually use almost no plastic) and never use an unreusable straw. We compost our scraps and do not have a car. We bike, walk, skateboard or run to wherever we need to go. Moreover, I have been a part of several campaigns with IKEA and SWEDCHAM to convince the Singaporean government to change their laws. I am apart of several environmental services (minimal impact) but I am apart of Solar For East which is direct action and something I have truly felt like I have done something good.

Already now, one can see that young people can make a change like the small things I have done ore the big action that Greta has done. Sustainability is a critical issue as it dictates the future and especially my generation. I do have the perspective that the environment is the most important issue today since otherwise, we won’t be able to live. All other problems seem almost petty when realising the massive consequences of not doing anything environment wise. Sure, LGBTQ+ rights, homelessness, world hunger, poverty and more are all important issues but collectively we will all be able to live. People will suffer but everyone will still be able to live. However, everyone will suffer if nothing happens or no change happens to the environment. Thus, from this point, this is what concludes and supports my perspective that it is the most important issue.

 

Solar For East

 

SFE Overview Poster-1hjqjzk    I have been a part of a student-led group called Solar for East for almost two years. This project was started by Hemal in Grade 8-9 and I soon joined him with 6 other members: Adi, Brooke, Akshat, David, Devin and Issy. After being rejected by the board of finance to being accepted to success and failures, we finally were able to install our first solar pannels.

This installation event that we had (23rd Feburary, 2019)  was the culmination of a two-year-long journey full of hard work and dedication, it was inspiring to see so much support from our very own East community, which made this entire experience all the more gratifying. We wondered to our selves why the community should support solar for east? Everyone here in our community contributing to the carbon emissions our world is emitting at this very moment. Lights, transportation, air condition, our phones and our laptops, basically all of our basic necessities, all need electricity to function. Modern society is literally dependent on our ability to convert energy into its various useful forms. However, the common source of this electricity is causing rising sea levels, droughts and extreme weather changes.

But what many people do not realise is that these changes are not only melting the homes of polar bears, but humans, our own kind, are losing their habitats as well. By 2050 the UN estimates there to be 250 million climate refugees. To put it into perspective, this is nearly the entire population of Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world.

This journey took us back to two years ago, when we were all in middle school with our green shirts on. Mr Thomas, who is the head of the facilities for both Dover and East, gave us a presentation and subsequent tour about our school’s facilities.

 

We learned about sustainability when we were appalled to hear that Singapore and most other countries heavily relied on the burning of fossil fuels for energy. In fact, we rank as the 26th worst country in terms of emissions per capita. And the thought of normal people like me contributing to carbon emissions by simply switching on the lights at home horrified me .

Quickly, we realised that we needed to change the practices of our own community. Despite our sustainable campus, our school was still responsible for the emission of 2,500,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide annually due to our electricity consumption alone.

With our common passion, we joined forces and took inspiration from Dover’s solar program to launch East’s very own renewable energy project back in May of 2017. We met with the facilities department and worked with the solar energy company helping us today to source the very panels that we will be installing. This process was very new to us, but we were happy to even be in the same room as the adults, and actually, be driving the whole process ourselves. In fact, throughout our work, Mr Thomas often told us that without our efforts, no teacher or parent would be taking on the project to make it a reality.

 

We worked long nights with this mindset until our proposal to the Board in November of 2017. Despite the fact that we were students, we needed to research every aspect of our system to the fine details in order to get it approved for funding by the school. It was a really nerve-wracking experience given our age, but we were all very passionate about the project, and we had done our homework. Regardless, during the presentation, we were questioned intensely like any other project that may come to the board’s table. In our preparation, we learned about various financial calculations, solar energy and its applicability in Singapore, how to recycle solar panels after 25 years and which inverters to use. To summarise, quite a lot of thinking had to go into it.

 

With our fingers crossed, we waited until January of 2018, more than a year ago, when we were told that we had been approved and our project had been given the go-ahead. Our proposal to the school involved installing 1130 panels on our school’s roofs, and to support these installations we needed the support of all of you – members of our community who take responsibility for our climate and environment. This period between last January and Today has been incredibly rewarding as we were given the opportunity to do presentations to many students, teachers and parents of our school – Teaching them about solar, and inspiring them to join us in our work.

Being among countries with some of the highest carbon emissions per capita in the world, Singapore has a staggering average of 10.3 metric tons annually per person. This is contributing to the fact that Singapore has been impacted from climate change too. And due to our continual consumption of energy, the problem is getting worse. The average temperature in Singapore has risen from 26.6 degrees to 27.7 degrees in 2014, and there has been an increase in average rainfall in recent years. That is why it is so important that all of you are helping change one of the most pressing issues we are faced with today.

The East campus alone consumes 5,975 mW hours of electricity per year. With our goal of 1,130 panels, we would be able to save 7%  of our annual energy expenditure, which is over 173,625 kgs of carbon. The system would be capable of powering 1.4x the entire 15-floor boarding house throughout its lifetime of 25 years, and in total,  it will save the emissions of just about 4 Million kg of CO2 where each dollar donated to the initiative can save 6 kilograms of carbon. To put this in perspective, that’s equivalent to about the mass of 53,333 Mr. Thomases.

Every single person here has the potential to make an extremely significant difference, with even a single panel saving 3 and a half tonnes of CO2 from being emitted.And to be able to physically see the amount of people in front of us now who have contributed and are just as passionate as us about this issue is truly a dream come true, when at the age of 14, it seemed like making a difference was so far away.

The ‘tagline’ of our project is ‘lighting up classrooms and imaginations’ which we feel links perfectly with UWC’s mission which is to use education to foster a sustainable future. This is why we value influencing the mindsets of those around us just as much as we value monetary contributions from the school. We believe that the solution to the climate crisis lies between the ears of those around us and this is why we give presentations to anyone in our school that would like to host us. Starting off as middle schoolers with no real knowledge about solar energy, to installing these panels with you today, has taught us that no matter what age you may be, your ideas, with enough effort, can become real solutions to today’s problems. Some of our biggest supporters, such as the Parents association have been instrumental to helping us reach this long-awaited day. Their support in donating 26 entire panels has taken us strides further in achieving our goals.

As well as this, we aimed to get students involved in new activities through the 30 days for 30 dollars challenge. Students took on an activity; swimming, running, or playing the piano, every day for 30 days, and earned a dollar each day for completion of these activities. Altogether, this challenge raised enough money for a panel each for the Grade 4 classes involved, and was a great opportunity for the students to have a direct impact on the donations raised. We have recently established a class donation portal where class parents or teachers can organise for their class to sponsor a solar panel as a class, and if you think your group is up for the challenge, reach out to us!

 

OSCAR

SLIDE 12:

Now, after all of this hard work we have raised funds for our first 65 panels and will installed 30 during the event. The rest of these panels will be installed by our generous class donors – the majority from the primary school – to provide them with a powerful educational experience and let the system act as an open classroom for generations to come. For our next installation, we set our sights on funding 100 whole panels and coming back together to expand our system. On the wider scale of things, our project will eventually require funding for 1065 more panels to reach our ultimate goal, but this will take longer than the time that we graduate in – 2 years – and so we are excited to hand on the project to students from junior and middle school in a couple of short years.

 

 

The event was a massive success, we had loads of people coming, about 100 when we initially planned for 20. We had interesting presentations during the day, and everyone was always entertained. We had great refreshments and I had interesting conversations with donors and those who participated. Even Mr. Alchin (the head of high school), as well as Graham Silverthorne (head of campus), were there.

 

       

Final Reflection Post on Service: Urban Gardening

Urban Gardening has been fun and exciting. Through this service, I have progressed quite a lot and have learnt much about gardening and sustainability. Although I had a vague idea that green rooftops were sustainable I wasn’t exactly sure why or how. Green roofs act almost as an insulation and so a building doesn’t need as much air conditioning as it would normally do. In addition, although Singapore has no winter season, green rooftops also act as an insulator to the cold during winter. Thus they reduce energy costs and the Urban Heat Island effect which is a process in which urban environments absorb heat making the hotter than the surrounding rural areas.

Green roofs also provide shade, remove air particulates (as in pollution, especially carbon dioxide) and produce oxygen. They last twice as long as normal roofs and reduce and sometimes slow stormwater runoff. So this is what I have been contributing to school and what I have learnt about green roofs in urban environments and sustainability.

Furthermore, I have developed many group skills such as communication, leadership and organisation which is needed to maintain a healthy garden and a well-contributing group. I have also learnt a lot about gardening which includes gardening skills such as transplanting, propagating, fertilising. Or tools such as the difference between spades and shovels, and what a hoe is used for. I have also learnt different types of plants and what they need or provide through research such as how beans (image below) grow fast, release nitrogen into the soil and need to grow on something:

I have learnt a lot more about plants and something interesting that I have learnt is how asexual banana plants will grow smaller banana plants around the main one, which started happening when I transplanted a banana plant to my bed:

Moreover, not only have I been contributing to environmental sustainability but I have also used the garden for other purposes such as giving fruits, mainly papaya, to Fresh Fruit Friday, a service aimed at providing fresh fruits for migrant workers. I have also been planning on providing vegetables to another service which aims to provide fresh vegetables to the school community, and planning to give information sessions to parents on how they can make their own garden, especially grow their own food. This service has in somewhat inspired me to be more environmentally aware and I have started to grow into my passion for the environment.

 

Below are some photos of the evolution of my and my partner’s garden bed.

              

 

The Design Journey and Sweden Part 2

Now to the second part. This summer, I talked with Sara and Jens Fager, my aunt and uncle who are both designers about my RM (Resistant Materials) coursework in which I am designing a product for my parents Sara works as a designer at Ikea and Jens is a well known designer in Sweden and has his own design company

Here are Sara and Jens Fager

 

I am creating a sustainable lamp with storage documented in a design portfolio which currently has 25 pages and 14,000 words. I am at the stage in which we have consolidated the design and I am now planning for production. Since I am at the stage where I think I am going to pursue architecture yet still fundamentally considering about the environment in my design, this is a great step forward.  Although it was difficult to decide between Music and RM, I think it was a good choice that I took this course. In addition I am playing the cello in the High School Symphony Orchestra so I have regained that passion. Grade 8 was the year I realised what I really wanted to do. All the things that I thought was important or had fun with, which is the environment and building/designing things respectively, was there but I didn’t realise before that this should be what I should do later on in my life.

The lamp that I am creating will be sustainable in the sense that it will hold a long time and there will be a use of “green” and sustainable materials. Everything from the light which is LED to the storage to the base will be as “green” as I can make it. Although this is a difficult product to make, I am up for the challenge and it has been quite successful. Here are seven pages that I thought might be interesting too look at as I am unable to show you all my work. Some of the pages are not finished.       

 

The Design Journey and Sweden

With an enthusiastic response from my mentor who thought this story would be very interesting to read, I decided to create a post on it.

Mamma = Mother

Pappa = Father

Farmor = Paternal Grandmother

Farfar = Paternal Grandfather

Mormor = Maternal Grandmother

Morfar = Maternal Grandfather

*Can you see the pattern? Far = father, mor = mother. For example, farmor is father’s mother.

Let me start with my extended family. My pappa’s side, huge. My mamma’s side, quite small. Every year my family returns to Sweden, the country, despite our (my whole extended family) different cultures and nationalities is something we can connect to deeply. Fortunately, we all can speak great Swedish. My family, as well as my aunt (lives in France), are the only ones who do not live in Sweden. Luckily, everyone else lives in southern Sweden, in the region of Skåne. In a way, it feels as though our family as a whole is moving in closer and closer. My pappa’s brothers live a 10-second walk from each other and my aunt lives a 1-minute walk from my farmor who is a 30 minutes drive from my farfar and only an hour from my maternal grandparents. We are very close to each other as a family and summer, which in my minds means Sweden, is the best time of the year. Jul (a combination of Christmas, Hanukkah and other celebrations) is second.

  
Malmö, a quite eco-friendly city and where two of my uncles live.

We do the same things each year in Sweden and we try to be there as long as possible. I would rather have all the holidays crammed into the summer because, for me, it is almost what keeps me sane nowadays with all the school work, expectations and that stuff. Here is a breakdown of my summer:

After arriving at Kastrup, Copenhagen airport, we travel to Malmö by train on the Öresundsbro (a bridge that connects Sweden to Denmark). We might first go to my maternal grandparents in Höör, which is literally going to my grandmother into the woods. Mormor, a survivor of World War II during the Nazi occupation in Germany, and morfar, a ballet dancer but had to quit his career because of polio, are always so welcoming. There I get my yearly dose of National Geographic magazines which my grandparents have collected for over for what seems like 50 years. They actually collect a lot of things, but they have got a huge red house. It drives mamma crazy, though. My mormor and I might have some lengthy discussions or my brother Alex (almost 13) and my sister Leia (8) might go out into the woods. Although I am not scared of cats in general, there is one cat, the neighbour’s called Simba. We have a tension between us since we had a fight a few years ago. But anyways, we’re there to just relax and explore.


The Flag of Skåne


Where is Skåne in Sweden and the communes in Skåne?

 
Öresundsbro

After that, we might go near the southernmost point in Sweden in Beddingestrand where we have a 400-year-old cottage. This is where I might play tennis, golf and mini golf. It is also there I build the tree hut. There we might meet my mamma’s only brother Johan, an engineer, married to a music teacher called Jenny. They have two girls Sofia (14) and Karin (11). We might also go to Malmö and other towns. In some years we might go down to Europe, mostly France or we go to my pappa’s friends house, Micke and we stay there for a week. This is close to my paternal grandmother’s house who has a bed and breakfast and is an artist. Then there is the moment that my whole family has dreaded for: syskonveckan (siblings week) which should more accurately be known as kussinveckan (cousins week). This is where all my pappa’s sibling’s (2 brothers and 2 sisters, sometimes even his half brother and 2 half sisters) families come together as a family. This is the most action-packed moment in the summer holiday. My siblings and the cousins which are Hampus (12), Casper (8), Estelle (7 and a half), Ellen (7), Karla (6), Jonathan (4) and Edit (almost 4), and I go and play tennis with the Algerian Karim except for Lilla Lou (1 and a half). Every day there is a new activity and one of those is going to Hallands Väderö, an island that we travel by boat with our favourite boat captain (I forgot his name but he really looks like an old sailor). We rent the camping place owned my Matts (he is a must (a joke from Henrik)). We swim in the ocean, which we do almost every day in Sweden. We might kayak to the seals or explore the island. We might play an old Viking game called Kubb or even fish crabs and fish.


Kubb (The Viking Game)

   


All the images above are images of Hallands Väderö


My tree hut. The newspapers is for the outdoor mattresses that can be put there. However, I fractured a bone in my left foot when using traditional wooden shoes and so I couldn’t finish. 

 Farmor’s B&B Some of farmor’s paintings Själderviken, the harbour where I sail

Hembygdsparken. A park. The red cottage is displayed there and it was my farmors father’s house who financed the city of Ängelholm with his shoe factory. 

  Havsbaden, the beach at Farmor (the people are not anyone I know)
Farmor’s B&B

Furthermore, every dinner is prepared by a different family. One day we might have the designers Sara and Jens or the engineers Henrik and Tessan, now an economist. Or the doctors, Marcus and Lea. The artists, my farmor and Sofia, will cook on another day and they are a painter and musician respectively. As you can imagine I love the summers in Sweden which are not too warm but has been very hot this year. It is always so hard to come “home”  in Singapore. And as a very nostalgic person, I miss everything from the shops at ICA Maxi to the radio at my grandmothers, to the sound of my extended families voices to everything that is in some way connected to Sweden. It is so hard for me to illustrate to you how wonderful it is in Sweden. Everything from cycling in Ängelholm or sailing in the Skälderviken, to skateboarding to Vejbystrand to walking to the tennis courts to play golf with pappa to everything. I have gone way off from what I wanted to start but for me, this is such a huge deal. I hope you can relate to me somehow. I think it is very important for all of us to appreciate what we have, especially given the opportunities as us students at UWCSEA. It feels in some way so revitalising and refreshing to get this all out of my system to share with others. I felt as though I needed to write this down. Writing for me is so much easier than talking because I can think and get in the mindset. Also, I am multilingual so all the languages in my head can be confusing. I wrote Swedish (just a bit) in a Spanish exam because I was thinking in like 4 languages at once and so I got jumbled up. There is so much more I wish to tell about Sweden and more, but I will leave it there. However, this is only the first part of this story.

As mamma said:

How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard”

— Winne the Pooh

 

Quick References of Images:

Sommartrafik på Bjäre: linje 4 till Havsbaden i Ängelholm, kvälls- och helgtrafik på 523 Torekov-Båstad. (2018). Mynewsdesk. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/skanetrafiken/pressreleases/sommartrafik-paa-bjaere-linje-4-till-havsbaden-i-aengelholm-kvaells-och-helgtrafik-paa-523-torekov-baastad-1419118

Väla skog | Naturskyddsföreningen Skåne. (2018). Skane.naturskyddsforeningen.se. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from https://skane.naturskyddsforeningen.se/hittaut/nordvastra-skane/vala-skog/

Cottage / Vacation rentals in Ängelholm, Helsingborg, Skåne County, Sweden for rent.. (2018). Stugknuten.com. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from https://www.stugknuten.com/stugaeng.asp?stugid=17267

Flag of Scania. (2018). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Scania

Øresund Bridge. (2018). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%98resund_Bridge

Regeringen backar om stängd Öresundsbro. (2015). ETC. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from https://www.etc.se/inrikes/regeringen-backar-om-stangd-oresundsbro

Skåne County. (2018). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sk%C3%A5ne_County

Skåne County. (2018). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sk%C3%A5ne_County

Ängelholms Hembygdspark – Family park in Ängelholm | GuidebookSweden. (2018). GuidebookSweden. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from https://www.guidebook-sweden.com/en/guidebook/destination/aengelholms-hembygdspark-family-park-in-aengelholm

Viking Game. The ancient Viking would play Kubb. Why keep your eye on the Kubb? Kubb is a wooden block used in the game with the same name. Its bee… | Icelandic viking camping | Pinterest | Ancient vikings, Viking age and Gotland. (2018). Pinterest. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/236579786647514978/?lp=true

Designer portrait: Sarah Fager – IKEA Today. (2016). IKEA Today. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from http://ikea.today/designer-portrait-sarah-fager/

Jens Fager design. (2018). Finnishdesignshop.com. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from https://www.finnishdesignshop.com/Jens_Fager-d-216.html

Galleri Hyttstigen. (2018). Boka.engelholm.com. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from http://boka.engelholm.com/sv/se-gora/a344485/galleri_hyttstigen_344485/detaljer

photo5.jpg – Picture of Hallands Vadero, Torekov – TripAdvisor. (2018). Tripadvisor.com. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g1144023-d3967075-i202251326-Hallands_Vadero-Torekov_Skane_County.html

Hallands Väderö. (2018). Sydsverige.dk. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from http://www.sydsverige.dk/?pageID=280

SHL – Malmö Live. (2018). Shl.dk. Retrieved 17 August 2018, from http://www.shl.dk/malmoe-live/

 

Personal Statement

In the midst of the Midsummer’s day, or midsommarsdag as known in Sweden, and right at the coast of the southernmost point in Sweden stood a cottage so ordinary in Skåne (southern Sweden). Close to it, a juniper and moss-shaded green, and quite an ordinary forest shielded the fierce wind from the Baltic sea that day. However, what lay deep in the forest was a trädkoja, which in Swedish translates to a treehouse, but what was strange about it, wasn’t because it stood out, but rather because it blended right into the birches and ashes. You see, the treehouse was built with natural materials around it, no tools were needed in the construction except a saw, but there was a ladder from an old playground nearby. It gave a new meaning to sustainable architecture. Cousins, siblings, aunts and uncles from all over Skåne came, and either admire or aided the construction. Despite the few days when the logs from the second level fell down on unsuspected visitors or even one time when the whole structure broke down, we managed to build it up again and make it even sturdier. Hence, this expresses one of the fundamental passions that I have which has somewhat woven intertwined with each other is the environment and design.

Furthermore, in terms of academics, I don’t have any huge goals at the moment. I feel like the effort that I am putting in now is sufficient, sometimes even too much. Therefore, my “goal” in the academic side of things is to continue that effort and work that I am doing in academics. Of course, if there is anything that I in the future have trouble with, I will do as I have always done, to work hard onto improve that particular topic. As mentioned before my two passions are the enviornment and the design, or a least so far. Likewise, for service I am going to continue in Grade 10 to do the services that relate to the environment which are Climate Change and Clean Energy (college service), Urban Gardening (college service, East Solar Initiative (service started by a student) and Gili Eco Trust (Global Concern). Moreover, I used to play a great deal of sports, and a range of sports as well. I have been trying to balance academic and activities as well as service but it hasn’t worked out as I wanted to. Although I wish I could compete in a team, I don’t have time for that. This is why I have decided to do Floorball on Wednesdays and Badminton on Saturdays. Thus, for next year, I will do a similar sort of arrangement. In order to look slightly beyond my time in High School, I think it is safe to say, or at least at the moment, that my plan is to enroll in a university that considers environmental sustainability, and study/purse architecture (specialising in sustainable and “green” architecture) or something that relates to the environment. This isn’t the final plan, but I suppose it is good enough for now. The university that I would enrol in would probably be in Sweden, as I am Swedish and because they are free there, or possibly Canada, as I have a Canadian passport (my father’s Canadian)

I am not that type of person who wants to be the best at everything (although it may seem like it to some people, I really wish it weren’t true that I am good (not perfect or best) at a lot of things) or the person who does extra work, doing internships or anything like that. However, maybe I should consider doing some work that relates do what I am passionate about. In addition to that, at times, I feel like I have too many services that I commit to. Furthermore, I am in the High School Symphony Orchestra because I like that type of music and playing the cello (although I really want to try some jazz instruments because that is also something I’m interested in). In fact, I had real trouble deciding whether to do RM (resistant materials) or Music. I want to be that type of person at the High School concerts who is in the background and plays a range of instruments. My goal for music is to play in the orchestra for High School Musical next year and to perhaps try a range or a different instrument, and be more involved in the school concerts.

For me, except for my passion and the importance of environmentalism, I think that one of the most profound belief that I have is that everyone should have some purpose, something that is significant, even it is small, it has to have some impact. Of course, I would hope that one would do something good, but even it is bad, it should be significant. I don’t believe in any higher deity, but I feel like if your alive, you have to do something that is worthwhile. In the back of my mind, I sometimes feel hatred toward obnoxious jerks or if I feel like some person doesn’t care about the environment or other people. That they are selfish or that if they didn’t exist (I am sorry about this, but this is truly how I feel sometimes) nothing would change, or that the world would be a better place. Of course, if all humans didn’t exist, the world would definitely be a significantly better place, but I think you know what I mean. Thankfully, I don’t lash out or do something mean to them, but this is a problem but also a deep belief that I have.

Sulawesi Eco Dive: Outdoor Education

From April 1st to April 9th, I had my first trip to UWCSEA and probably the biggest one that I have ever had. Although it was supposed to be the joint between East and Dover, we were only East because all the Dover students couldn’t come as a result of some particular problem, mainly medical. However, it was an amazing trip as we did lots of things.

Before we even went on the trip, we had some preliminary training days (2 in total). On the 4th of March, we did some icebreakers and made sure that we knew everyone who was coming on the trip. Furthermore, we tried our wetsuits and, mask and snorkel. We swam 200 metres and floated for 10 minutes. Finally, we looked through the first section of the PADI Manual.

Moreover, on the 25th of March, we looked at section 2 and 3, answering the questions and looking at the videos. Through this, we have learnt what our equipment is going to be, hand signals underwater, understanding how underwater affects the environment we know, our confined (>5m) and open water dives (<5m), pressure, and lots more.

On the first day, we mostly did our travel to Makassar and stayed at an airport hotel. On the second day, we arrived at the site and looked at the most important spots near our shelter and worked through sections 1 and 2 again for the PADI theory as well as completing a few quizzes. We completed our first confined water dive where we learnt all the necessary equipment and how to use it. Finally, we had a beach clean up with some local English university students and listened to a presentation about Operation Wallacea. On the third day, we started off by doing some more practice diving and learning about buoyancy as well handling equipment underwater We looked through more of the PADI theory. Finally, we listened to a presentation about the Global Fin Print which is a shark and ray (elasmobranchs) monitoring project. During that day, we swam 200 metres and floated for 10 minutes. Our accommodation was quite nice but there were mould and cracks everywhere including ants and millipedes. The toilet got quickly dirty. However, there were many days when I decided to jump off the jetty and do some flips. Furthermore, most of our diet was vegetarian with the occasional fish and the special chicken on our barbecue day we had on our second last day. There is a schedule every day and it was tiresome because we had to wake about at around 5 to 6 and sleep at 9 and there was always a lot going on a day. We had lectures and dives mostly, with some downtime, but not that much. We also only ate Indonesian food.

On the fourth day, we finished the theory by looking at planning a recreational dive. We completed two open water dives and learnt about coral reefs and how corals grow and what species there are. They are in fact animals. On the fifth day, we completed the PADI exam (47/50 is what I got) and the confined water dive sessions. we also did an open water dive but there was a really strong current. However, we have mastered our underwater skills and we also did some snorkelling. We also looked at different signals for invertebrates and fishes. We identified the different invertebrates and fish species in our lectures today. On the sixth day, we tried our first fun dive or recreational dive as we are now PADI certified. We practised some reef monitoring through the use of belt transect or line-intercept transect. Imagine a 5x5x50m rectangular space and count all the species of invertebrates and fish and that is a belt transect. The other is a line intercept transect where you identify the benthic (floor) cover for 50 meters.

On the 7th day we went to snake island by a fishing boat and hoping to see dolphins, but we didn’t. Anyways, we saw a huge school of pink whiprays, lots of black tip and white tip reef sharks, all kinds of invertebrates and fishes whether that was a sea snake, moray eel, see stars, lionfish, needlefish, goatfish, trumpet fish, angel fish, clown fish, surgeon fish and lots more. We did our transect method and realised that there were lots of algae, but lots of hard coral. In order for a coral reef to be pristine, it needs to have 70-80% hard coral cover, but there was only 60%, but that is still very good. There were lots of algae but fortunately, there were invertebrates and fish species that eat the algae (parrotfishes and sea stars, for instance). We looked at a documentary called racing extinction.

On the 8th day, we travelled to different places around Bau Bau rather than diving because we aren’t allowed to dive within 18 hours before a flight due to the nitrogen in our blood. We went to the fish market in order to inspect what the local population are eating/consuming or catching/selling. We went to a fort made out of corals as well as a night market and other places around Bau Bau. We had a final barbecue night where we engaged in several activities with the locals and ate fish and chicken, with the usual vegetarian meals.

Pantai Nirwana (our usual dive site)

Bau Bau

Belt Transect

Line-Intercept Transect

 

Research Question:

How are the local residents of Bau-Bau contributing to the local coral reef in both direct and indirect ways? 

Before I even answer this question, I would like to talk about which of the SGDs (sustainable development goals) and points on the sustainability compass I find most interesting.

 

Although I care about all of the SGD goals, the ones that concern me the most are 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 or in other words, goals that directly concern about the environment. Thus, nature is the one I will focus on in terms of the sustainability compass.

On my first dive, there was a lot of trash in the ocean and on the beach. However, that was because the wave movements made the garbage and plastic from the neighbouring islands and elsewhere wash up to Pantai Nirwana’s shore. However this still clearly illustrates that there is some trash problem. Even on the other days, there was still loads of trash in the ocean and on land. If you go around Bau Bau, you will see that there is a limited amount of garbage cans and trash all over the place, mainly plastic. Of course, this isn’t necessarily their fault because they were quickly introduced to this material that is really hard to break down. They thought it was just like the rest of the materials which would mean that if you chucked it away, it would;t harm anything and decompose naturally. Thus education is the key to show that this form of materials needs to be handled correctly and sustainability. The trash directly affects the coral reefs, because over time, even if the trash is on land, it will enter into the ocean. There, marine life and animals will consume the plastic which is toxic. This either harms the food web or designates a certain section of the marine life. Furthermore, the plastic is not a good place for marine organisms like corals to grow and reproduce on so too much of it, means no space for marine life to prosper. However, by far, the biggest factor and impact is that harms the marine life when it is consumed by them or when it damages them either by entanglement or other injuries.

However, this is not the only contributing factor, one must also take into account for the fishing which is one of the largest occupational jobs and economic wealth at Bau-Bau. Although some fishing methods are illegal like blast/dynamite fishing, there are still reports that it happened. Even I heard a blast and saw the effects of it. Fishing is probably an even more significant and critical impact on the coral reef. First of all is the fuel used in the fishing vessels, if that is leaked into the ocean, it will kill and harm marine organisms. Furthermore, the sound of the boats can damage communication between organisms especially dolphins. If a fishing vessel drops an anchor on a fragile coral reef, it will destroy a coral that has been growing for thousands or even millions of years in a matter of seconds. Cyanide fishing, of course, poisonous to the coral reefs and the bamboo booby traps can result in bycatch. This bycatch is critical because it might be wasted or the species that is caught is endangered and or it takes a long time for the organisms to produce offspring like sharks. When we went to the fish market, we mostly saw species that were okay to catch, although there were some bycatch and tuna that was being caught. Rays were also caught which is quite bad because they take a long time to produce offspring and there were even some turtle eggs. But fortunately not anything too big. Finally, overfishing definitely destroys the marine life and food web, and blast/dynamite fishing destroys the coral reefs and fish species just like the anchor.

This is what I found from my research.

 

Reference:

Pantai Nirwana

https://lifestyle.okezone.com/read/2017/02/15/406/1618709/sejarah-patung-naga-yang-jadi-simbol-kota-bau-bau

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Illustration-of-sampling-methods-on-a-5-meters-transect-four-levels-of-identification_fig2_281810260

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZMrwIaVcf3JKOPpzRcogjQHVGTDa3VAckK6b16rXkdw/edit#slide=id.g2798522785_0_21

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/meetings/2015/un-sustainable-development-summit/en/

Tesla Roadtrip

Two years ago, my family and I rented a Tesla Model S for a road-trip across Western (although I wish I could see more of the Eastern) Europe starting from Sweden and ending near Spain where my relatives live. This year, we are planning to do the same thing however we are going a more eastern route. However, we haven’t got a Tesla yet so the best thing we are planning is to rent a hybrid (of course, not the best solution to climate change) and for a huge chunk of the trip, ride a train with the car inside it to minimise our carbon footprint.

So…What is a Tesla?

Well, Tesla is an American company that specifically specialises in electric vehicles, energy storage and solar panel manufacturing. Image result for tesla logo

They are an amazing company and they do amazing things. For example they have the solar roof, which looks like a roof but functions exactly like photovoltaic panels:

Image result for solar roof

Image result for solar roof

Image result for solar roof

As well as battery storage:Image result for battery storage tesla

Image result for power wall

They have several cars and vehicles. Such as the Tesla Semi, Tesla NexGen Roadstar, the old Roadster, Model S, Model X, Model 3 and the upcoming Model Y (images shown in the order listed) We drove the Tesla Model S two years ago, and we would like to try the Tesla Model X. Image result for tesla semi

Image result for nexgen roadster

Image result for roadster

Image result for Model s

Image result for Model x

Image result for Model 3

Image result for Model 3

References:

Tesla Roadster next-gen: Elon Musk considers 0-60 mph target under 2-second for ‘Maximum Plaid’

http://www.thedrive.com/polizei144/7242/2011-tesla-roadster-sport-3-0-review-the-worlds-best-fourth-car

https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/25/13403520/tesla-consumer-reports-reliability-ranking-model-x

https://www.tesla.com/en_CA/solarroof?redirect=no

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1108774_3-california-battery-storage-sites-come-online-one-from-tesla

3 Home Battery Solution Providers

Tesla Logo

https://www.tesla.com/en_CA