The Two Things I Read The Other Day

Firstly is "The Chemical Engineer" newsletter that I got every other month on so via being a member of the IChemE (Institution of Chemical Engineers). I have to admit, I’m a bit apathetic at times, mostly because I enjoy student life and not really looking forward to the so-called ‘real’ world where you have to work and all, so I don’t really keep tab of issues pertaining to my career of choice. However, after seeing a colleague of mine reading scientific journals for fun (yes, he read journals because he was bored!) I decided maybe it’s high time to pay a bit more interest. So I ended up reading the newsletter, and I found an interesting article about the European Union’s new policy on the environment. Basically, at a current summit in Brussels, European leaders have decided that by 2020, a fifth of the energy used in EU has to come from renewable sources. Furthermore, they’re also planning to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 (Makes you think of the Malaysian vision 2020, isn’t it?). Even the UK government itself announced that it would make it a legal obligation for the UK to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The second thing I read the other day is the comments on Digg. Granted, I always have a neutral-hate relationship with the website. This is mainly because when it comes to articles about important issues, e.g. Iraq or the environment, reading the comments can make you feel really frustrated with the fact that there are lots of morons in the world who don’t have a clue but kept spouting nonsense from their mouths as if they know everything. I was always left in a sour mood, so I tend to not go there often. There was an article about global warming that day and I can’t believe they are still people who think global warming is bogus. It’s sickening. And since most of the commenters come from this particular country (which unsurprisingly does not have good policies on the environment), you can really see the difference.

Compare and contrast. On one hand you have the EU already in action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, you have the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, whose people (some of them, at least) still think global warming is a hoax and whose emissions is predicted to keep rising in the next few years or so. I hope they realize that the whole planet is gonna be affected by this, not just them, so it’s pointless if some parties don’t play a part.

Yaz.