Leadership Coming from Youth for a Sustainable Future

Young people are stepping up and taking charge of organising nationwide events, with global impact. One such event is the World Leadership Conference 2011 from 13-15 July in Singapore, which is a platform for youth all over Asia Pacific to come together to learn, voice out and take action to move towards a green sustainable future for Planet Earth. Key speakers include Park Young-Woo, Regional Director, UNEP and TV/film star Denise Keller, advisor to the Climate Project in Asia.

The World Leadership Conference 2011 is a platform for youth all over Asia Pacific to come together to learn, voice out and take action to move towards a green sustainable future for Planet Earth.

One of the key speakers is Park Young-Woo, Regional Director, UNEP. He has served as the UNEP’s Regional Director of the Regional Office  for Asia and the Pacific since 2008. He has a PhD in Natural Resource and  Environmental Economics from Iowa State University and holds a Master’s degree in  Economics from Southern Illinois University. Prior to joining the UNEP, he was the  President of the Business Institute of Sustainable Development of the Korean  Chamber of Commerce and Industry, before being appointed as the Director-General  of International Cooperation in the Ministry of Environment of Korea. Mr Park has served in a number of environmental committees including the Presidential  Commission on Sustainable Development. He has also headed the Industrial  Environment Department at the Hyundai Institute of Eco-Management.

Another keynote speaker who will be on the platform at the World leadership Conference: Denise Keller, The Climate Project Council Advisor (Youth)

Denise Keller shot to fame after winning Ford Model of the World Singapore in 2000. Subsequently, she appeared on the covers of the international editions of Vogue, Elle, and Harper’s Bazaar, amongst other magazines. Ms Keller then served as one of MTV Asia’s VJs, a position which she held on to for almost a decade. She has hosted numerous award-winning television programmes including ‘Passage to Malaysia’, which earned many nominations and won the Best Lifestyle Program award at the 2010 Asia TV Awards. Ms Keller has been an ambassador for several brands including Longines, Olay, Shiseido, and Nokia. She is an advisory council member for The Climate Project, a non-profit social enterprise led by former US Vice-President Al Gore.

And our very own Ken Hickson, Chairman and CEO of Sustain Ability Showcase Asia; Director ABC Carbon, editor of abc carbon express and author of The ABC of Carbon.

For the full programme and details of the World leadership conference go to the website: www.worldleadershipconference.org

by Feng Zengkun The Strait Times (10 June 2011):   

Student leaders step up to organise top events

YOUNG people here are stepping up and taking charge of organising nationwide events.

Last month, the Biomedical Engineering Society’s (BES) 5th Scientific Meeting was organised entirely by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) students. Next month’s World Leadership Conference for the environment is also being put together by student volunteers from schools nationwide.

The events are likely to be organised by student volunteers in the future. The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) and Science Centre Singapore are also accepting applications for their weekly programme, called the Singapore Academy of Young Engineers and Scientists, which will eventually be directed by student leaders.

Students say taking charge of these events has many benefits. Miss Pansy Wang, 22, co-chair of the BES event’s student committee, said she met many industry professionals and made valuable contacts in the course of planning the conference. ‘You put your name out there, and it’s almost like a job interview even before you graduate,’ she said.

Miss Dianne Goh, 22, part of the World Leadership Conference team, said her fellow students’ and her tender years have led many professionals to offer their network of friends and free advice.

‘There’s a lot of goodwill because we’re putting time and effort into these events even though we don’t have many resources or contacts,’ she said.

Mr James Hosking, 37, managing director of green website Eco-Business, has met the team three times since they started planning the conference.

‘Their initial document for sponsors was seven pages long. I took away a lot of words, added charts and helped them cut it down to five pages,’ he said.

Students can also learn from the hard-won experience of those who have gone before them, said Mr Cai Li, 25, a student at the National University of Singapore and a member of the World Leadership Conference committee.

With plans to set up his own green business selling recycled plastic T-shirts, Mr Cai said he was struck by the words of the owner of an organic-clothing company, who is a guest speaker at the conference.

‘He said it’s not enough that the product is green. It also has to be value for money or people won’t buy it,’ Mr Cai said.

Students The Straits Time spoke to said organising the conference has given them a clearer sense of the working world and its meetings and conferences. Another bonus was learning how to manage large sums of money. For the BES conference, the students were given a budget of $12,000. The World Leadership Conference budget is $100,000.

To allay the concerns of sponsors and advisers, the students had to draw up a detailed budget of where the money would go.

‘We borrowed everything we could, right down to tables, chairs and poster boards,’ said Miss Leow Jiamin, 22, co-chair of the BES conference.

Paper fliers were adapted to digital copies that could be broadcast on campus televisions. A committee member also learnt programming languages to create and maintain the conference’s website.

‘The students were creative and made every dollar count,’ said Dr Sierin Lim, 34, an assistant professor of bioengineering at NTU and the students’ adviser.

Experts The Straits Times spoke to said having student organisers benefited the events.

Dr Lim said students are better at getting their peers to participate in the conferences.

Two months after the NTU team approached student groups and teachers in schools here, more than 200 people signed up for the conference, double the number in the previous conference.

Miss Leow said this is partly because students are more comfortable confiding their worries to peers. She said the committee was initially puzzled by the lack of submissions from junior colleges for the oral presentation section of the conference.

It was only after they went to the schools that they found the students had little experience in public speaking, which ‘made them shy about giving oral presentations’.

Miss Goh also noted that professionals were often more willing to help or participate because her team is not affiliated with any political or corporate body. ‘There’s less baggage and distrust when it comes to student organisations,’ she said.

Scientists who attended the BES conference last month said the students did a good job.

Professor Jackie Ying, a guest speaker from A*Star, said the conference was indistinguishable from one organised by professionals.

NTU’s Dr Lim said the organising committee of the BES conference is likely to be rotated among tertiary institutions here in the future, but students from other schools would be welcome to volunteer.

For the student committee of the World Leadership Conference, the event next month will be the culmination of their labours.

‘I’m sleeping at 2am every day and checking my phone every other minute,’ said Miss Goh. ‘But I don’t resent a single moment of it.’

Source www.biotechsingapore.com and www.worldleadershipconference.org

Big Business Shows How to Make the Switch to Renewable Energy

The world is ready for the big switch to renewable energy, according to German conglomerate Siemens. Europe’s largest engineering company is gearing up for an expected huge surge in demand by investing billions in research, chief executive and president Peter Loescher told The Straits Times. Siemens is setting aside a quarter of its €4 billion (S$7.1 billion) in total research and development funds solely for green technology research.

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By Aaron Low in The Straits Times (8 June 2011):

The world is ready for the big switch to renewable energy, according to German conglomerate Siemens.

The engineering company, which is Europe’s largest, is gearing up for an expected huge surge in demand by investing billions in research, said chief executive and president Peter Loescher.

He told The Straits Times that Siemens is setting aside a quarter of its €4 billion (S$7.1 billion) in total research and development funds solely for green technology research.

This covers everything from improving energy efficiency to research into renewable energy and water technology.

‘Our green portfolio was €28 billion last year. It has grown by double digits in the past couple of years; (it is) a major growth driver,’ he said in an interview.

‘It will grow from €28 billion to €40 billion by 2014,’ he said, referring to the total size of Siemens’ green business operations, including investments.

Bloomberg reported that Mr Loescher aims to increase Siemens’ revenue faster than that of its rivals. In March, he set a goal to top €100 billion in overall business volume. Its business volume was about €78.6 billion in the last fiscal year.

Analysts have also said that the company is under pressure to spend its huge cash hoard – which doubled in the past three years to €18.5 billion – on acquisitions to boost profits and revenue.

Green technology could well provide some of the momentum for Siemens, as many Asian countries now take an interest in renewables, Mr Loescher said.

Germany has already taken the lead, with its government pledging to double the amount that renewables contribute to its energy consumption to 35 per cent by 2020, partly to make up for the phasing out of nuclear energy.

With Germany as a role model, Mr Loescher believes many other governments will take the issue of investing in renewable energy seriously.

‘Green energy is at a point where it is competitive with the electricity grid levels. For example, with wind energy, rapidly evolving turbine technology makes it such that they don’t need subsidies to be competitive,’ he said.

All of this will become relevant for Asia, as the fast-developing region needs to figure out how to power, house and feed its rapidly growing population, he said.

Singapore will play a key role in Siemens’ Asia strategy, acting as a key hub for emerging markets, added Mr Loescher. One of the company’s research centres based in Singapore is its global water technology and research and development hub.

Siemens, he noted, is also responsible for supplying 20 per cent of energy demand here, and its infrastructure delivers about a third of the water supply.

‘We have a strong, long-term relationship with Singapore. And we see Singapore as a very important hub,’ he said.

Source: www.greenbusinesstimes.com

Flooding the Media with Climate Change Stories

Climate change is not just an environment story because it cuts across economic, policy and social issues. It has become the important context with which to view global developments.

It challenges certain fundamental and conventional notions, for example, on economic growth and its definitions. Already we are beginning to see interesting debates on whether there are alternative models that could redefine growth in the next century. Policies are also being made with climate change at their heart – from Germany’s energy policy to trade negotiations at multilateral meetings.

Then there’s the good news: There are unparalleled opportunities offered by this global challenge, whether it is finding the next renewable energy technology, or inventing a flood-proof system to implement in flood-prone areas – stories that have largely been under-reported compared with the negative stories on the consequences of climate change.

So writes Jessica Cheam, one of Asia’s most respected “environmental” journalists writing in the Straits Times. Read More

By Jessica Cheam in The Straits Times (12 June 2011):

It was a strange confluence of events. Last Sunday, I was in Budapest, Hungary, participating in a journalists’ seminar organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation (Asef) on climate change and the media’s role in furthering the debate.

It seemed fitting as it was also World Environment Day. And on that day, Mother Nature seemed intent on reminding Singapore of the unpredictable force that she is – Singapore experienced its worst floods this year, which ruined the retail shops in the basement of Tanglin Mall and caused Bukit Timah Road’s canals to overflow and flood the roads.

This came on the heels of recent tragic news that an Indonesian boy had drowned in a flash-flood incident, when he fell into a drain in the Moulmein area concealed by the high water levels.

Singaporeans were instantly abuzz about the floods. Not again, they complained. Last year, Singapore had also experienced heavy flooding in June and, in particular, parts of Orchard Road such as Liat Towers were flooded, among other areas, destroying millions of dollars’ worth of goods. A review of our flood-prevention systems then led to flood levees being installed in Orchard Road, and plans were made to enlarge and widen drains.

But it looks like it was not enough. Tough questions are now being asked: What has changed such that our drainage system, which worked for the best part of the last three decades, is no longer adequate?

A few reasons have emerged: rubbish choking our drains, overbuilding in certain areas that results in water hitting concrete with no place to go, and alert systems that failed.

But there’s one other important factor – one we cannot control – which is that Singapore’s climate patterns have changed, likely permanently, and our low-lying island is set to see heavier precipitation from now on.

Inevitably, climate change has been mentioned in the news coverage of the floods. Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan acknowledged the ‘very high probability that our weather patterns have changed’, and that Singapore’s planning norms and building codes must be reviewed in the light of this development.

Although weather events cannot be specifically pinned on climate change, there is an emerging consensus that the increase in the incidence of extreme weather events across the globe is due to unpredictable and changing climate patterns.

The public, who on a normal sunny day do not give two hoots about the environment, have suddenly sat up and taken notice.

Are Singaporeans finally feeling the impact?

Across the world, we are seeing trends of nations being awakened to this new reality. Climate stories were but page-fillers in Pakistan, for example, until the country experienced massive floods that claimed many lives, then they were given the same top coverage as terrorism, governance and the economy.

But the challenge is sustaining the momentum.

When the floods subside, and the sun shines again, will Singaporeans forget?

How do media practitioners bring home to the average person that the choices he makes today, the government policies he supports or rejects, will ultimately have an impact on his daily life in the near future?

At the 6th Asia-Europe Journalists’ Seminar, this was a question that 30 journalists across Asia and Europe grappled with.

Following the high-profile United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen in 2009, media coverage of climate change dropped drastically, back to 2005 levels, according to DailyClimate.org.

Similar trends were found in studies by other institutions such as the University of Colorado and Oxford University. Earth Journalism Network executive director James Fahn, who spoke at the seminar, noted that this was also partly due to ‘climate fatigue’. People have grown tired of phrases such as ‘climate change’ and ‘environment’.

This is partly because stories on the climate and environment often involve bad news: floods, loss of lives, melting glaciers, rising food and energy prices, and so on.

So what can we do?

The seminar threw up a set of recommendations (full details can be found on Asef’s website www.asef.org), which remind media practitioners that, to borrow Mr Fahn’s words, climate change is not just an environment story.

It is not just an environment story because it cuts across economic, policy and social issues. It has become the important context with which to view global developments.

It challenges certain fundamental and conventional notions, for example, on economic growth and its definitions. Already we are beginning to see interesting debates on whether there are alternative models that could redefine growth in the next century. Policies are also being made with climate change at their heart – from Germany’s energy policy to trade negotiations at multilateral meetings.

Then there’s the good news: There are unparalleled opportunities offered by this global challenge, whether it is finding the next renewable energy technology, or inventing a flood-proof system to implement in flood-prone areas – stories that have largely been under-reported compared with the negative stories on the consequences of climate change.

The seminar also noted that while writers should be careful not to provide ‘false balance’ in stories, such as by including misleading or inaccurate statements from climate-change sceptics, they should also strive to be objective and reflect any new developments in climate science – even if they challenge the current consensus.

This helps climate change reporting, as a whole, gain credibility.

Most importantly, stories on climate change need to speak directly to readers, to help them understand their role in this global challenge.

The stories on the floods in Singapore are a good example of how climate change can affect the man in the street.

People may ask: Why should we care? And, how do my consumer choices matter?

Well, they matter a lot, since the complex problem of climate change will ultimately affect the price of the petrol you put in your car, how much your plate of noodles costs, and what type of jobs you can expect to see in the future.

It’s important to keep it on the agenda because, like the floods last Sunday, it could come out of nowhere and catch us unprepared.

Source: www.cjcpig.wordpress.com and www.wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com