Lavanya Goyal

Causes of Climate Change

THE GREAT CLIMATE DEBATE

BY EKAM SINGH

GIGIS,Singapore

When we talk about Climate Change the first thing that comes to mind is one of the main causes of Climate Change, is the burning of Fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels are made from decomposing plants and animals. These fuels are found in the Earth's crust and contain carbon and hydrogen, which can be burned for energy. Coal, oil, and natural gas are examples of fossil fuels.

Because economic growth leads to increased energy use and because cars consume fossil fuels, prosperity in developing countries (like China), leads to more global energy consumption.

But what about developing countries?

In the olden days and even now, A basic rule was followed,

TO GET RICHER, YOU HAVE TO EMIT MORE.

This rule has led to fierce arguments between developed and developing countries about the fairness of reducing emission even though developing countries already do not have much.

But in the past decade, we have seen that preventing climate change is not necessarily coupled with economic growth.

Effects of Climate Change

What are the effects of Climate Change?
As we already know some effects are,
• Hotter temperatures
• Increased drought
• Severe storms
• Rise of sea levels
• Melting of glaciers
The one effect not all people know is that climate change changes the behaviour of humans. In
fact, psychologists say that it is true. However, the weather can’t affect our happy mood but
indeed it affects our negative mood.
How does the climate affect us?
First of all, the weather doesn’t have a direct impact on our mood but, it affects the way we
function and how we live. For example, sunlight in a way affects our mood. The amount of
sunlight we get depends on how our mood is. If we get less sunlight that you’re probably gloomy.
If you get more sunlight you’ll probably feel happier.
What are the causes of Climate Change?
The main reason of Climate change is because of the burning of fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal.
When, burnt they release carbon dioxide in air causing the planet to heat up.
Some other causes are,
• Generating power
• Manufacturing goods
• Cutting down forests
• Using transportation
Name: Mrittika
School: GIG International School, Singapore
Section: 6 B

Climate Change in Singapore
Climate Change is a significant global problem which has not only affected the Earth, but
also us. Singapore, which is a country very near to the equator, is already hot, but due to the
recent global warming and climate change, these temperatures have just increased over
time in staggering amounts
Why is climate change occurring in Singapore?
Climate change has a lot of reasons for occurring in Singapore. One of the most significant
reasons for Climate change is greenhouse gases. The most affective of these toxic gases is
CO2 or Carbon Dioxide. Some reasons for emission of Carbon Dioxide is burning fossil fuels
to meet our energy needs in the industry, building, household and transport sectors in
Singapore.
Not only this, but there is another reason as well. The Urban Heat Island Effect. This means
that climate change or global warming will occur due to the waste heat emitted by vehicles
and factories and the heat which is contained by buildings and emitted during the night-
time, warming the atmosphere more, than it already is.
These reasons have largely affected Singapore and its surroundings. These effects can be
things like increased temperatures, larger amount of health risks, such as sickness, heat
stroke, etc and increased rainfall and sea level.
However one thing to note is that Singapore takes its eco-friendliness very seriously.
Singapore has started managing its vehicle population and has made a switch from fuel oil
to natural gas to produce electricity for many of its own public transport options like buses.
Another thing to note is that it has many advantages, being very small and having aid from
other countries. Overall, climate change is a very serious problem but Singapore might just
find its way through it.
Credit to NEA, Energytracker.asia, CNA and NCCS.

Climate Action: Local to Global

Story:-

( Communication over the phone)

Laura:- Hi Earth! How are you?

Earth:- Hi Laura! Yes i am okay

Laura:- Why are you sad?

Earth:- It’s just that my children(humans) are not treating me properly. Nevermind leave it.

Laura:- I got two tickets to cheer you up

Earth: - For what

Laura:- Art museum

Earth:- Oh really I will be right there!

Laura:- Ok cool

(Earth hungs up on the phone)

Earth:- Hi Laura! I am here

Laura:- Well that was fast

(They enter the art museum)

Earth:- Wow it is full of my pictures

Laura:- You look so young. You look so beautiful with the white smile

Earth:- yeah, My children treated me well but now. Let’s not talk about it. It feels like I am dying day by day. I am losing all my resources like water, fossil fuels, oil ,natural gas, and coal.

Laura:- Oh no! So sad. Can I help you with anything?

Earth:- Thanks but I want to make them realise.

Laura:- No I am not letting that happen. I am going to form an organisation that focuses on Earth. I am going to create a press conference tomorrow and I will let them know what is happening and going to happen to our sweet mother. I will let them know we are the cause of your health . I will tell them not to waste precious resources like the elements of earth! I will let them know the consequences are pollution, climate change, deforestation and global warming. They will learn to protect you.

Earth:- Thank you. I will be grateful to you.

Hasini 8A

Climate Change Solutions

Sustainable clothing

Sustainable clothing has not been prioritized in the last few decades. However, with more up-to-date fashion trends, sustainability in the fashion sector and their products is being given more and more importance. However, there is still space for improvement. The WWF is trying to increase the amount of sustainability in these garments and apparels in the past few years and even now. Some companies have agreed to help the WWF in this goal towards total sustainability in the fashion sector, like:-

H&M à The fashion giant explains that unsustainable clothing affects mainly 3 parts:- the climate (The many processes, like, fabricating, dyeing, etc affect the environment by the emitted greenhouse gases. H&M encourages other companies to also reduce emissions like they are in times to come) , biodiversity(Producing fibres like cotton and wool which affects the land usage and using pesticides which affects the cleanliness of water bodies and disrupts the biodiversity. H&M aims to stop impacting the environment negatively and protecting biodiversity)and water (Due to the many water-related processes like dyeing, washing and fabricating which require huge amounts of water. Thus, the big company aims to reduce water shortage to increase sustainability in clothes.).
Anta Group à The Anta Group is a Chinese multi-brand sportswear company who has partnered with the WWF to reduce emissions usage and “pressure” on natural resources. The company strives to protect the environment by sustainably packaging and manufacturing and, developing the water stewardship process. To strengthen the bond between them and the WWF, they have signed an international partnership agreement and with this, they will be able to “collaboratively develop and launch biodiversity-themed, educational products to be released and marketed to potential consumers on e-commerce platforms and in flagship stores”.

Some companies have created sustainable initiatives even without the WWF’S which is equally responsible in nature’s comeback through sustainable clothing. Some major companies who do this are :-

Everlane:- Everlane is a company which believes in high - quality products, sustainability and radical transparency, a value they follow which holds them to always saying the truth to the customer, like the real price of the product, any sort of bad materials or anything a customer is worried about. Sustainability is one of their main focuses, though. They make a huge impact by making their clothes sustainably in such a way, that they will be high quality, low impact and long lasting. Other than this, they maintain a few commitments, like, “55% lower per product carbon emissions¹ by 2030, 46% lower absolute emissions¹ in our stores and HQ by 2030, net-zero emissions by 2050.” Else than this, they promise to keep the Earth clean and strive to recycle their materials especially their plastic.
Nike:- The ultra-big brand had already begun it’s sustainable products from a long time. From time to time, Nike would produce some sustainable apparels, garments, shoes, etc. with of their new campaigns or releases, however, they have taken this to a whole new level. Nike have started Nike Forward to enhance their sustainability by 10x. It is dedicated to sustainability, having 75% less carbon compared to their traditional knit fleece. They call it Forward because that’s the direction they want to go with this. In their clothes, they have 3 ultra-thin layers which are finely needle punched and productions for these clothes such as, Nike Dri-FIT and the Jordan Dri-FIT Sport BC although there is way more than that. They have even released their Luka 1 Next Nature basketball shoes for their shoes section.
Patagonia:- Patagonia has taken environmental responsibility into their own hands. According to them, 89% of their fabrics this season are made with preffered materials, 100% of their down is responsibly sourced and their virgin cotton is 100% grown organically. They also use a lot of recycled materials such as, recycled spandex, recycled polyester, recycled and organically produced cotton and recycled wool. They also have many initiatives and goals they wish to achieve in years to come.

Citations

Assoune, A. (2021b, March 16). Anta Group And WWF Sign A Powerful Partnership. Panaprium. Retrieved October 9, 2022, from https://www.panaprium.com/blogs/i/anta-wwf

Environmental Responsibility Programs - Patagonia. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2022, from https://www.patagonia.com/our-responsibility-programs.html

Everlane. (n.d.). Our environmental initiatives. Retrieved October 9, 2022, from https://www.everlane.com/sustainability

H&M. (2022). Our work with WWF. H&M Group. Retrieved October 9, 2022, from https://hmgroup.com/sustainability/circularity-and-climate/our-work-with....

Nike. (2022, September 21). Nike Forward. Retrieved October 9, 2022, from https://www.nike.com/sg/a/nike-forward?cp=32474922017_search_%7csg%7cBrand+-+DSA+-+EN_EN%7cDSA+-+All+Webpages%7cGOOGLE&ds_rl=1300698&ds_rl=1300698&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj_STuafT-gIVAJlmAh19BgNiEAAYASAAEgJAg_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

By Arkadeep Singha (Class 7A)

Building through Interactions

Climate Actions

Jeans Jeans are a common and popular fashion in the 21st century. Many people use it but not many people know the dark and dirty way of making jeans. Today I am going to show you how jeans are made and the advantages and disadvantages of jeans and many more.

Firstly, Jeans have their good and bad sides. Many of the jeans you have are made from unsustainable materials. Let’s find out what bad sides your daily jeans have

Disadvantages

Cotton firstly to grow takes up a lot of water as cotton I one of the thirstiest plants on the planet. To get the color of the jeans is another story itself. The jeans dye is so very harmful, to the water bodies. It is so bad that people that live nearby had to leave due to the lack of food and cleanliness of the water

Advantages

Many of the jeans have now used less harmful chemicals by decreasing the darkness and washing and cleansing it with chemicals to decrease its effect. Due to the effect of water pollution, many companies like Levi’s have made goals to have cottonfree jeans and shirts. Denim has taken this to another level by creating an entirely different brand called Taylor stitch organic 68’ denim. Denim has also started using Tencel which is basically dried-up wood pulp. In Belgium, the jeans are 50% made out of old jeans and 50% of Tencel which removes most of the hazardous chemicals used. This uses 6000 liters of water less than a regular pair of jeans. Now you must be like removing all your jeans and throwing them in the trash, that will just cause more harm. There are many ways you can reuse them too.

These are some things you can do with old jeans :- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nulpilk4 WYw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMA0G mb6_RM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7jgTeL 3mik

Now it’s your turn to reuse your old jeans and make a difference in your society

Chekith 6B

Climate change – Comic By Hasini ,GIGIS, Singapore Story:-

(on the phone) Laura:- Hi Earth! How are you? Earth:- Hi Laura! Yes i am okay Laura:- Why are you sad? Earth:- It’s just that my children(humans) are not treating me properly. Nevermind leave it. Laura:- I got two tickets to cheer you up Earth: - For what Laura:- Art museum Earth:- Oh really I will be right there! Laura:- Ok cool (Earth hungs up on the phone) Earth:- Hi Laura! I am here Laura:- Well that was fast (They enter the art museum) Earth:- Wow it is full of my pictures Laura:- You look so young. You look so beautiful with the white smile Earth:- yeah, My children treated me well but now. Let’s not talk about it. It feels like I am dying day by day. I am losing all my resources like water, fossil fuels, oil ,natural gas, and coal. Laura:- Oh no! So sad. Can I help you with anything? Earth:- Thanks but I want to make them realise. Laura:- No I am not letting that happen. I am going to form an organisation that focuses on Earth. I am going to create a press conference tomorrow and I will let them know what is happening and going to happen to our sweet mother. I will let them know we are the cause of your health . I will tell them not to waste precious resources like the elements of earth! I will let them know the consequences are pollution, climate change, deforestation and global warming. They will learn to protect you. Earth:- Thank you. I will be grateful to you