Session 3: Technology & Industrial Development: Moving Toward Sustainable Development // Technology & Human Development

Brief overview/ Summary:

Session 3 began very interestingly as Prof started the class with a continued discussion from FaceBook on When Nations Die. After processing through the discussion between Prof and Benjamin, I do still agree that the mentality of a dying nation is an internal factor, which is the decision to allow the nation to "die" in either of the 3 aspects mentioned - cultural, moral and social. External events may have shaped circumstances to be what it is but it is ultimately the leaders/government of the country or even individuals to respond however way they want which would ultimately lead to these two consequences: the death or revival of the country.

Moving on here is an outline of what we've discussed in class:

• A change in approach to industrial development: Linear VS Cyclical 
• Moving away from the use of machines for industrial development to a greener use of these existing machines or new environmentally friendly machines. Just to touch on this a little, I feel that instead of viewing this as a negative consequence of our un-green activities, we should see it as an opportunity where innovation and technology can work together to come up with something brand new to help salvage our environment :)
• Discussion on Pacific Garbage Patch: It is really upsetting to see how as humans we not only destroy the planet for our future generations but we also are not able to live harmoniously with other species, in this example the marine life. Our thrown away plastics are in fact causing so much harm to the marine life. They are the ones paying for what we take for free when we check out our groceries at the super market :( 
• Externalities: Taking into account "other" aspects of producing a product aka Environmental Accounting
• A survey did in class to show how much more people are willing to spend on green products
• Michelle's presentation on Are Tablets Really More Environmentally Friendly?
• Edison's presentation on Cloud Computing
• The Shahi Landscape Model for Technology Assessment: Conceptual Framework
• RDA
• Shahi Technology Innovation Value Creation Pipeline
• The key elements for successful innovation
• Adrain's presentation on Space X
• Tarun's presentation on Google

Interesting Observations/ Key Takeaways:

• I never really went into detail about how we are using up resources in a linear instead of a cyclical way and how this actually impacts us and our environment. This cyclical approach reminds me of the 3 Rs that we were taught back in primary school namely reuse, recycle and reduce. What struck me the most was the symbol for the 3Rs actually forms a cycle and how with these 3Rs we are able to therefore move away from a linear approach to a more cyclical one. Interesting fact of the day for me!

• We also talked about the IPP Toolbox which is featured in one of our readings the few ways that the EU are using to promote a greener environment. Under consumer information, labelling is placed under the category and we moved on to do a survey on how much are consumers willing to pay for a greener product. Before Prof posed this question to class, I had already taken note to do a research on this because I myself would not be very much willing to pay a lot more for something that is of the same specifications, except that it is greener. I think this is applicable for all as as consumers, we do not really feel that detrimental effects of our decisions when we choose to buy something less environmentally friendly products as compared to something more green, therefore it does not translate into the dollars we are willing to part with. Prof brought up the example of how this 'labelling' method is used in The Body Shop. 

http://www.thebodyshop.com.sg/en/about_us.aspx

• It is definitely excellent that The Body Shop is one of the pioneers in leading the green revolution, by not compromising on the quality of their products and future resources for the present generation's usage. As I was mulling over this, I thought of another brand that I myself love and so happen to have this paper bag from my last purchase with them.

• Lush, like The Body Shop, is also founded in the UK and prides itself in the au-natural vision of the company. Products used under Lush is fresh and contains little or no preservatives with minimal packaging used - a black bottle/container with a simple fuss-free label. There is no marketing for Lush in the form of paper, which means no newsletters sent to consumer's mail that they will eventually chuck into the garbage bin, flyers, etc. Lush also has a recycling programme that encourage consumers to bring back the 5 Lush pots and receive a free fresh mask! I do love Lush a lot and makes me excited to be apart of the vision Lush has. However, when I think about it, it wasn't all the environmental campaigns that Lush (or The Body Shop) that made me want to purchase their products. If their products were not environmentally friendly, I would still pruchase them because I like it. The environmental factor is just a bonus to me. A food for thought on this issue would be how to change the mindsets of consumers like me to really purchase an item due to its greenness and not make this factor a sideline. This also means that such green products are price elastic, which means that as long as price increases the demand for it falls. As a business entity, this definitely doesn't sound very enticing to me. Therefore another question to ponder is how to make green products more price inelastic to ensure that consumers do not stop purchasing them even with increasing price tags.
• This thus ties in with the video that we watched, titled How Stuff Works and how mankind are now being known as consumers instead of 'fathers/mothers', 'teacher', 'police men', etc. This definitely is true as I have read another article that explains how people now justify their frenzy gift purchasing with the season. Be it Valentines' Day which is upcoming, Christmas/Black Friday Sales which was just over, birthdays, Thanksgiving, etc, there is always a reason to gift gifts and is probably an impact as explained by the video - President Bush encouraging spending as part of economic growth through the fiscal policy. 

• The first video also talked about how developed countries such as the USA are pushing the responsibility of saving the environment to emerging economies such as the BRICS. Here is a funny video illustrating that in the Kyoto Protocol situation.

• Out of the two presentations for session 3A, I feel that Michelle's presentation was really thought provoking and did sparked a few opposing viewpoints in our discussion. Personally as much as I do love reading, the clutter books/magazines/etc create can really be a hassle, not to mention the amount of paper it requires to print on. On the other hand, a tablet might remove these problems but then again it requires rare minerals to produce which is not ideal for the environment and on top of that we would still have to charge it which increases our energy consumption. To my surprise, TWC is one of the very few modules I take that highly encourage us to make use of our laptops and do our work online. There are many others like Analytical Skills, Academic Writing, Political Science that strictly impose a ban on the use of laptops and mobile devices during class for note taking and even our examinations are done on hard copy. To this I say, each his own. Prof might see it from an environmental point of view that using soft copy materials will help save our planet but to these other profs it might be because of other issues such as laptops being more of a distraction etc.

• The RDA translation process was another good take away for me that lesson, especially from Prof Arai's perspective. This is also true in terms of academics or in the working world. A dream will only remain a dream unless one goes through the hard work and toiling (aka nightmare that most people are not willing to do) to make it a reality! :)

• Last but not least, Tarun's Google presentation was also really insightful where he pointed out that Google fosters innovation. I have done a research on Apple in the previous sem and therefore am able to compare these two companies. While Google does seem to have a 'wow' factor in creating a creative environment for Googlers such as the 20% Time (allowing Googlers to use 20% of their time at work to do something they enjoy as a source of inspiration) and the 8 Pillars of Innovation (). Tarun also posted a discussion question in class which asks if the Google culture should be extended to other companies. I gave my response in class which I shall note here:

"I do not think the Google culture should be extended to other companies especially one that is of a different culture as Google or America in general. Of course, other companies can adopt some of their policies and change it to suit their own needs better but companies such as Samsung which is a chaebol are also considered a success as a technology company. There is no one path to success."

• Even though many want to work with Google as shown by the significant number of hands raised when this question is posed, there are a lot of other factors to consider as to if Google's policies can be adopted to other companies especially those that are not in the technology sector such as an individual's personality (whether he is a more structured or open ended/creative person) 

Personal Rating:

Overall, 9/10 as I throughly enjoy TWC lessons and look forward to more :)