Week 3's lesson was mostly on sustainable development, which is growth without limiting any options for the future generations. There were quite a number of interesting concepts presented, which largely revolve around the switch to renewable energy like solar power. The amount of solar energy that reaches Earth in an hour is enough to feed the world for a whole year, and sadly, much of it is wasted and not harnessed. While there are many ongoing research projects on harnessing solar energy, it seems that many governments around the world are complacent and content with using non renewable sources of energy like the traditional fuel-burning at power plants.
The presentations were interesting and covered a diverse range of topics, but Kartika's talk on the Singaporean environment for creativity caught my attention the most. Its a general thought here that Singaporeans lack creativity due to the "No U-Turn Syndrome" as coined by Sim Wong Hoo, the founder of Creative, where there is an inbuilt mentality to follow the orders of the higher authorities without question, restricting creative ideas and thoughts. I feel that there is an abundance of people with creative ideas for progress and development in Singapore as seen in the numerous innovative projects by the polytechnic students of Singapore yearly, and not to mention Sim Wong Hoo himself. However, in the context of Kartika's presentation, the soil does not support the growth of the seeds, with a large chunk of the blame directed at our education system. The ways to change this are not definite or clear, but what is certain is that this could lead to a future brain drain from Singapore due to the lack of support for innovative projects here. As of now, Sim Wong Hoo has moved to China and engaging in new technological products over there rather than back home.
The key take away points of the lesson were firstly, everyone has a part to play in sustainable development. Yes, there are laws and regulations to ensure industries keep their growth sustainable like limiting pollution etc. However wealthy firms can simply ignore the fines and levies imposed due to their huge profits earned. Firms and consumers also have to do their part with consumers switching over to products made by sustainable means. In the long run, to cater to such a demand, firms will have to review their manufacturing processes and make the switch over. Secondly, the world is indeed constantly changing at a fast rate and innovation is indeed the main key to staying ahead of one's competitors,
I felt that maybe some time could be devoted to exploring why governments and businesses are reluctant to switch over to more cost effective and sustainable processes, like solar energy and certain manufacturing processes.
I rate the lesson 8/10.
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