At the start of this module, I was tasked
to write a self-introductory letter. In that letter, I wrote that I would love to develop my technical writing skills and to
improve my communication skills. In the span of 12 weeks, I believe that I made
improvement in my technical writing. I have improved on my subject-verb
agreement, tenses and grammar. This is because I was more aware on what to look
out for. I believe that now I can write reports and emails with ease and it
could be easily understood by the reader. This will come in handy as there is a
great importance in writing emails and sending an official document to your
colleagues when we go to work. Mastering
the basic writings skills will greatly improve the productivity rate as it
would reduce the time taken to write emails and reports.
I thought I could control my nerves when it comes to presenting, however, during the presentation, my nerves were all over the place. I also felt that my stage presence wasn’t that great, and I was not selling my idea well. Instead, I was more worried on what and how to phrase the sentences.
I would love to broaden my vocabulary to use more appropriate words and also to continue to improve tenses. I can improve it by my vocabulary by reading online news from a reliable English source and incorporate words that I’ve learnt daily.
Overall, I feel like that i have improved my writing skills.
The word entrepreneurship is not something new to many of us,
in fact, many of the people I know are, in one way or another, entrepreneurs. Many people would normally associate this word
with business, however I feel like there’s more to that. Passion and ownership are
few of the major takeaways for me.
At the Mapletree Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum,
valuable advice and tips were discuss. All of them presented a wide range of
ideas and sets of challenges which were insightful, and it gives us a glimpse of
what it means to be an entrepreneur.
One of the major takeaways from the forum is to take
ownership of your mistakes the same way as taking ownership with your ideas and
your passion. I believe that taking ownership of what you do is what separates
you from a normal entrepreneur and will likely succeed more. It was also
mentioned to have confidence in knowing what you’re doing and how to execute your
idea. Throughout the forum, it seems like execution of the idea is as important
or more important than the idea itself as this is what was mentioned a few times
by some of the speakers in the forum. I believe that this mean that ideas that
we have for projects are always perfect in our minds but when it is not properly
communicated it will result in improper execution.
There are a 2 advice from Zack Wilson that stuck to me. They
are: to have support around you and to read classics.
Entrepreneurship is not for everyone according to Ms Nancy
Ling. She added that you should just get started if you have the idea that comes
with what you are passionate about.
In the
article, “Boy Genius Boyan Slat’s Giant Ocean Cleanup Machine Is Real”,
Schiller (2017) reported that the oceanographer Charles Moore observed an
increase in the amount of plastic trash found in the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch. Over time, the accumulation of plastic trash created a walkable
platform. In 2011, the Ocean Cleanup machine (boom) was first introduced
through a TED Talk by Slat and the major cleanup project began in 2018.
Although the project was funded by individuals and companies, it received many
criticisms for wasteful resources and setting an unattainable goal. However,
Slat anticipates that through technological advancement, the project will be
cost effective and efficient. The boom is scalable and would be launched in
2018 after the testing of its prototype. Slat has done thorough research to
better understand the project. With the help of the Pacific’s currents, the
floating device would gather tons of trash.
While the Ocean Cleanup project looks like it
will have a promising outcome, however, I believe that there are some factors
that are overlook in their research.
Firstly, the efficiency
of the boom is questionable. Based on the article, the boom is designed to work
efficiently, however, according to Thompson’s (2018) article, the boom does not
sustain trapped rubbish and does not collect as many plastics as per design. This
may be because the boom does not get pushed faster by the water and wind,
therefore restricting the amount of rubbish collected. Thus, the article should
address efficiency of the boom with statistics collected during the prototype
stage and so that the efforts were not wasted throughout the project.
Secondly, the effects
it has on marine life was not clearly stated in the article. Based on the
article “6 Reasons That Floating Ocean Plastic Cleanup Gizmo is a Horrible
Idea” (Clarke, 2015), the boom will have a biocide coating on the surface to
reduce the rate which it is colonised by the marine life. With the coating, it poses
risk and threat on microorganisms and on marine life as this biocide coating is
meant to kill them with contact of the coating. The boom also poses physical
threat. With the boom collecting floating plastic, some of the marine life
might get trapped with the plastic, it might result in the marine life eating the
plastic and eventually die due to starvation and suffocation. Thus, when the
project is at its peak, more booms will be release, resulting in higher threat
to the marine life and microorganisms. As a result, the ecosystem in the ocean
will be affected negatively as many of them feed on microorganism. The article
should have addressed this issue as this will directly affect our us.
Lastly, most of the plastic that are retried
are not recyclable. The article stated that plastic collected from the ocean
will be recycled into items such as car bumper, chairs, etc. However, according
to Clark (2015), it states that lower-grade plastic is the
product of melting recycled plastic which is unwanted in the industry. Furthermore, those plastic items have
been exposed to the ultraviolet rays and attacked by the dissolve salt,
therefore their quality compared to the ones in-land are lower. Moreover, most
of the plastic items that are floating around are single used items which are
not usually recycled or reused because the supply of the “best” type of plastic
is higher than the demand. Thus, it is not feasible to recycle the collected
plastic to the items mentions in the article as it is of a lower grade plastic and
will break easily.
In conclusion, although
the project shows a promising outcome, however there are limitations and
aftermath that were overlooked. Therefore, the company should do a more
thorough research and detailed work to achieve better results.
(627 Words)
References
Chris, C. (2015). 6 Reasons That Floating
Ocean Plastic Cleanup Gizmo is a Horrible Idea. KCET. Retrieved, January 31, 2019 from
Irwin, R. J. (n.d.). ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINANTS ENCYCLOPEDIA July 1 … – fws.gov. Retrieved from http://www.fws.gov/caribbean/ES/PDF/Contaminants/kerosene.pdfNational Park Service Water Resource Divisions, Water Operation Branch, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Suite 250, Fort Collins, Colorado 80525
In the research paper, “Environmental Contaminants Encyclopaedia Asphalt Entry”, Irwin (1997) states in the General Hazard/Toxicity Summary that the main hazard associated with asphalt is from the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and alkyl PAHs in asphalt that can move into the ecosystem from the breakdown of asphalt. Asphalt contains many toxic, carcinogenic compounds and leaching harmful PAH compounds which have been documented to be found in water eco systems. Research indicates that asphalt products are also toxic to humans. The Hazards include inhalation of compounds in heated or fresh asphalt as well as ingestion of PAHs entering the food chain as the result of the breakdown of asphalt or via a drinking water pathway, either the contamination of the groundwater used for drinking. The key point of this part of the paper states that asphalt poses risks to both ecologically and humans. This research paper is extremely useful as it supports our main intention to recycle asphalt. Since asphalt is main common material used for roads, we cannot avoid the usage, however, we can control or limit the amount that we use; until more research concludes the awareness to the industry or invention of equalling less harmful material to counter asphalt usage.
In the
article, “Boy Genius Boyan Slat’s Giant Ocean Cleanup Machine Is Real”,
Schiller (2017) reported that the oceanographer Charles Moore observed an
increase in the amount of plastic trash found in the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch. Over time, the accumulation of plastic trash created a walkable
platform. In 2011, the Ocean Cleanup machine (boom) was first introduced
through a TED Talk by Slat and the major cleanup project began in 2018.
Although the project was funded by individuals and companies, it received many
criticisms for wasteful resources and setting an unattainable goal. However,
Slat anticipates that through technological advancement, the project will be
cost effective and efficient. The booms are scalable and reliable modular
system and would be launched in 2018 after the testing of the prototype. Slat
has done thorough research to better understand the project. With the help of
the Pacific’s currents, the floating device would gather tons of trash.
While the Ocean Cleanup project looks like it will have a promising outcome, however, I believe that there are some factors and conditions that are overlooked in their research.
Firstly, the workability and efficiency of the boom is questionable. Base on the article, the boom is designed to work efficiently, however, based on An Ambitious Project to Clean Up the Ocean’s Garbage Patch Isn’t Working, (Thompson, 10 Dec 2018), the boom does not sustain trapped rubbish and doesn’t collect as many plastics as per initial design. This may be because the boom doesn’t get pushed faster by the water and wind, therefore restricting the amount of rubbish collected. As such, the article should mention the design issues and measures taken to ensure that such issues.
Secondly, the effects it has on marine life was not clearly stated in the article. Based on the article “6 Reasons That Floating Ocean Plastic Cleanup Gizmo is a Horrible Idea” by Clarke, 2015, the boom will have a biocide coating on the surface to reduce the rate at which it is colonised by the marine life. With the coating, it poses risk and threat on microorganisms and on marine life as this biocide coating is meant to kill them with contact with the coating. The boom also poses a physical threat. With the boom collecting floating plastic, some of the marine life might get trapped together with the plastic items, it might result in the marine life eating the plastic and eventually die due to starvation and suffocation. All in all, when the project is at its peak, more booms will be released, which will result in a higher threat to marine life and the microorganisms.
Lastly, most of the plastic that are retrived are not recyclable. The article stated that plastic collected from the ocean will be recycled into items such as car bumper, chairs, eye wears, etc. However, according to an article by Clark (2015), it states “Plastics’ polymer chains break down too readily when melted, meaning that your water bottle becomes a lower-grade plastic product…” which is not wanted in the industry. Furthermore, those plastic items polymer chains have exposed to the ultraviolet rays from the sun and are attacked by the dissolved salt, therefore their quality compared to the ones in-land are lower. Moreover, most of the plastic items that are floating around are single used items such as water bottles which are not usually recycled or reused because the supply of the “best” type of plastic is higher than the demand. Thus, it is not very feasible to recycle collected plastic materials.
In conclusion, though the project shows a promising outcome, however, there are limitations and aftermath that were overlooked. Therefore, the company should do more thorough research and detailed work to achieve better results.
(619 Words)
References
Chris, C. (2015). 6 Reasons That Floating Ocean
Plastic Cleanup Gizmo is a Horrible Idea. KCET. Retrieved,
January 31, 2019 from
In
the article, “Boy Genius Boyan Slat’s Giant Ocean Cleanup Machine Is Real”,
Schiller (2017) reported that the oceanographer Charles Moore observed an
increased in the amount of plastic trash found in the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch. Over time, the accumulation of plastic trash created a walkable
platform. In 2011, the Ocean Cleanup machine was first introduced through a TED
Talk by Slat and the major cleanup project began in 2018. Although the project
was funded by individuals and companies, it received many criticisms for
wasteful resources and setting an unattainable goal. However, Slat anticipates
that through technological advancement, the project will be cost effective and
efficient. The machine is a scalable and reliable modular system and would be
launched in 2018 after the testing of the prototype. Slat has done thorough
research to better understand the project. With the help of the Pacific’s
currents, the floating device would gather tons of trash. The long-term goal is
to fully utilize the Ocean Cleanup machine and reformed the collected rubbish
into new items.
While the Ocean Cleanup project has a promising outcome to
clean the ocean from plastic items that are floating, it fails to point out
some of the solutions that are more
feasible, cheaper and friendlier to the marine life. Slat’s claim to recycle the
rubbish collected is not a very brilliant idea.
Firstly, the Ocean Cleanup project was introduced as an initiative to clean up the ocean efficiently and will be cost effective. However, based on an article by REDEFINE “6 Reasons That Floating Ocean Plastic Cleanup Gizmo is a Horrible Idea”, it clearly states that there are more efficient and cheaper way to clean the ocean. One of the points states that clearing the plastic waste that are washed in the shores is one of the on-going initiatives that helps clear the plastic waste. Another initiative that was suggested was to stop the use of single use plastic items. With this small daily effort, it is definitely cheaper and efficient than the idea of Slat.
Secondly, Slat had a vision for a massive machine (booms) to
clear big plastic objects in the ocean, however, this massive machine might endanger
marine lives. Based on one of the points
from REDEFINE’s article, the massive booms that are floating pose as a threat
to the marine life. As the plastic items are trapped within the boom, some of
the marine lives such as planktons, seals, dolphins might be trapped within the
plastic items and the “ghost nets”. These marine lives might end up eating the
plastic items, eventually dying due to starvation and suffocation. These
massive booms were designed to trapped big plastic items, however, smaller
items that were broken down by waves and wind could not be trapped easily.
Thirdly, Slat claims that the rubbish collected can be recycled
to produce items like car bumpers, chairs, and eyewear however this might not
be the case as single use items are not recommended by the recycled companies
to be recycled. These companies are not willing to reuse these recycled materials
because the strength of plastic will be reduced after it is melted and becomes
a low-grade plastic. Meanwhile, Slat’s machine is designed to collect plastic
that have been floating and exposed to ultraviolet ray, with this condition of
the collected materials, these materials are far worse than the items that are “recycled”
on land.
Although it is our responsibility to clean the ocean, it is
also our responsibility to fully utilise the resources that were allocated.
In the article, “Boy Genius Boyan Slat’s Giant Ocean Cleanup Machine Is Real”, Schiller (2017) reported that the oceanographer Charles Moore observed an increased in the amount of plastic trash found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Over time, the accumulation of plastic trash created a walkable platform. In 2011, the Ocean Cleanup machine was first introduced through a TED Talk by Slat and the major cleanup project began in 2018. Although the project was funded by individuals and companies, it received many criticisms for wasteful resources and setting an unattainable goal. However, Slat anticipates that through technological advancement, the project will be cost effective and efficient. The machine is a scalable and reliable modular system and would be launched in 2018 after the testing of the prototype. Slat has done thorough research to better understand the project. With the help of the Pacific’s currents, the floating device would gather tons of trash. The long-term goal is to fully utilize the Ocean Cleanup machine and reformed the collected rubbish into new items.
I agree with the Ocean Cleanup initiative, however, I believe that there is room for improvement, for example, preventing rubbish from being thrown into the ocean and; the machine cannot fully clean up the ocean because some of the rubbish is in the seabed.
In the article, “Boy Genius Boyan Slat’s Giant Ocean Cleanup Machine Is Real”, Schiller (2017) reported that from 1997 to 2003, the oceanographer Charles Moore observed the amount of plastic trash found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has increased. Over time, the accumulation of plastic trash created a walkable platform. The Ocean Cleanup machine was first introduced through a TED Talk by Boyan Slat when he was 17. In 2018, the major cleanup project began in the Patch. The project received many criticisms for wasteful resources and setting unattainable level.
However, Slat anticipates that through technological advancement, the project will cost less and be more efficient. Floating big booms would gather the trash with the help of the Pacific’s currents which will be collected by a boat at least once a month. The system will be deployed in 2018 after the testing of the prototype. It was announced that $30 million effort was raised for this foundation. The massive device would be made up of 50 pieces connected to extend up to 60 miles. Slat’s design a low risk and scalable system. Slat expects to collect tons of debris monthly.
Through expeditions, Patch’s trash was mapped extensively. Slat has done many mathematic models to better understand the project. The long-term goal was to fully utilize the rubbish collected and reformed into new items.
I am writing you this letter with the intent to introduce
myself, Nicole Vale, one of your students from Group 2 in Effective
Communication Class. I graduated with a diploma in Civil Engineering with Business
in Singapore Polytechnic (SP) with a scholarship from Building and Construction
Authority. After graduation, I served my scholarship bond with Sembcorp as a
site engineer.
My goal for studying in this module is to develop technical writing
skills and to improve my communication skills. My long-term aspiration is to be
a great engineer that handles projects both internationally and locally. As for
my short-term aspiration, I aspire to be a professional engineer. Through this module, I would like to attain a
better command in my English writing and at the same time, I would love to
learn how to speak in a more concise manner.
My weaknesses are not being able to properly express myself through communication with the right words and the lack of reporting writing skills. I tend to repeat myself and use examples when I interact with my peers so that they can understand me. I hope that with your help, I will be able to improve in these areas.
As for my strength, I interact well with my peers and professionals alike. In my time as a site engineer, I often had to interact with people of different backgrounds such as workers, supervisor and management which developed my interpersonal skills. In my experience, oral communication is very important as it help communicate with people of different background.
In conclusion, I hope to learn and improve my overall
communication skill as I believe that this is will greatly benefit me in the
future.
Nicole Vale 