Timed Essay

Comparing wisdom and intelligence, which of these two is a more important prerequisite for people in leadership? Why?

What is the difference between wisdom and intelligence? Are those seeds planted from early youth? People want to possess both wisdom and intelligence. It seems that intelligence is most possessed by geniuses and prodigies. But are these two so important for leaders? We can see some people who possess effective leadership skill although they do not have good wisdom and intelligence. But having these two qualities will make them perfect. Furthermore, wisdom is more fundamental than intelligence in dealing with leadership since wisdom can have a higher chance to cultivate basic instinct to make correct decisions and lead the more effective social environment.

Most people accept that wisdom is a by-product of getting older. In my culture, the majority of people imagine a wise person as an old person. Why do they accept so? Since people can gain valuable experiences throughout their lifetime, these experiences will make them wiser. In other words, people can train themselves to acquire more knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom can make us to get sensible decision. It is an important quality for leaders. People approach wise people to get solutions of their problems. Older people have a more tendency to calm than young people. They are good at regulating negative emotions and they have good chance to become wiser. Although all old people are not wise, old people can get wisdom if they manage to control themselves and have desire to learn more.

The point of view of intelligence is different from wisdom. Intelligent people are appreciated by their environment. They have the ability to absorb what they learn quickly. They can get a clear solution for their problems. Most people see a bright child as an intelligent person. They presume that this child get the ability from birth. People imagine intelligence with youth. An intelligent person can also give effective leadership. There are a lot of youth societies organized by intelligent young people. Intelligent people show their ability from young adulthood. Their intelligence can make them to become smart and rich. Therefore, whenever they encounter difficulties, they rely on their intelligence to solve problems.

Leadership skill is an important to be successful for an organization or a country. A good leader can make his team happy and energetic. As a result, this team can overcome any hardship or troubles it faces. A good leader is a very important role for any team. Anyone can be a leader but cannot be a good one. To be a good leader requires many abilities such as social skill, a spirit to look after his or her team mates, the capability of making correct decision and so on. Both an intelligent person and a wise person can be a good leader. Although people appreciate a good leader, it is important for him or her to be a good leader forever. The mannerism can change if he or she does not have a good wisdom and intelligent. Since leadership skill is so important, a person should try to increase his knowledge by reading books, etc.

A person may not have both skills to be an effective leader. If only one of these skills is allowed as a prerequisite in leadership, wisdom would be more important and fundamental. In spite of possessing a good leadership skill, an intelligent person can become lazy or have a low social skill. Whenever he faces difficulties, he has a higher chance to overcome these because of his intelligence. Then, he wants to be dependent on his intelligent. His perseverance may become less and less. Another circumstance he may encounter is that he does not want to listen to others’ opinion. What he thinks is right and his team must follow his plan. As a result, there will be some social problems between him and his teammates. The team spirit is less and less. On the other hand, a wise person can develop social skill more and more. Because of his life-long-experiences, he can make a suitable judgment. He can decide whether he should accept others’ opinion or not. Moreover, he can balance and control himself more with his wisdom and knowledge. These are the reasons why wisdom is more fundamental than intelligence.

There is a saying that “no one is perfect”. Of course both wisdom and intelligence are essential in leadership skill. What wisdom can give us more is to control our mind better. A wise person can gain life experiences more than intelligent person. Whether a person is old or not is an unimportant for leadership. Both wisdom and intelligence can be found in any age except childhood. But a wise person becomes wiser through his or her lifetime experiences. Although anyone can be a leader, the probability of becoming a good leader for a wise person is much more that for an intelligent person. Hence, wisdom is a more important prerequisite for people in leadership.

Timed Paragraph

Briefly compare and contrast any two waste disposal schemes(e.g. zero waste and landfilling, landfilling and using incinerators or any other methods you know) and decide which one might be more suitable for your country.

Waste disposal problems can become a serious case in the future since there are a lot of new products coming out day by day. Local authorities are trying to manage waste disposal schemes by using methods such as planning to use zero waste, incinerating, etc. When comparing waste disposal schemes, zero waste method will probably become better than any other. Zero waste is based on the fact that everything we use will be composed of reusable materials. As a result, we can apply a lot of means to turn waste into a profitable resource. Bath councillor Roger Symmonds said that " The word 'zero' is not strictly accurate. It may not be achievable. But if we get anywhere near, then the benefits for health and jobs will be enormous." But the drawback is that every nation needs to collaborate with each other and restrict by means of law and regulation to use reusable resources only for all products .This simply implies that we need to change a lot of current products into new designs which will consume time and money before being successful. On the other hand, if we use incinerators to clear out wastes, there cannot be problems about time and money for developing countries. People can easily use incinerators for a large amount of waste. The disadvantage is that it has much more potential to harm environment. But it has strong benefits for certain waste types such as toxins since high temperature can destroy these kinds. If my country needs to decide between these two methods, using incinerators will be more suitable. Since my country is a developing country, technology and money are main points to consider. Zero wast requires technology, time and money so that it is difficult for developing countries to fulfill these requirements. In conclusion, both methods have their pros and cons, but for the current situation, it will need research and take a lot of time for zero waste to outweigh other methods.

References
Collins,J.(2002,Oct 3rd). Radical plans for waste could herald a big clean-up. The Guardian Weekly.p25.

Revised Paragraph

Identify an existing problem that is being caused by climate change in the world today and explain how that problem can be addressed.

Since the climate change affects us in many ways, there becomes a lot of problems concerning with it. One of the problems is that many species are facing extinction. This is mainly because they cannot adopt the new environment quickly. This phenomena is also related with global warming. But global warming is also the sign of climate change as the whole world becomes warmer and warmer. Why does this happen? This is mainly because our ecosystem no longer balance completely. This is the negative side-effects of climate change.

As climate change makes the world warmer, species such as polar bear, salmon,penguins are being threatened. And also the mainland animals such as tigers, leopards become endangered species. The worst is that it can potentially cause catastrophic and long-term changes to the environment and people's lives around the world. People's life may become worried-level. Cold water fishes are scarcer and coral-reefs are being damaged.To prevent countless species being forced into extinction, we need a definite solution to solve it out.

First, we need more meetings like KYOTO protocol. These protocols can lead us to collaborate each other. Second, the respective government can define the forbidden areas, control and regulate the areas to breed endangered species.Third, we can make artificial control system to maintain some species which need special conditions. But it costs so much that we cannot maintain it so long. Since the root is the climate change,we all need to try the causing factors of it. Scientists are also researching to get technical fixes.Some parts of the solutions are available.But the most important is that everyone has a role to play in implementing solutions at all levels of society.We must Take Action!

Do you agree with the author of "Saving Nature"?

I partially agree with the author. It is good for emphasizing man over nature. But, do we only need to preserve nature only for self-preservation? I think it is too selfish to care the environment for the sake of human only. All animals are living things. So are plants. We all are being in the same world. We all are parts of the ecosystem. The ecosystem of the world must be balance. The author chooses man over other things every time. Although man is important, we need to be considerate other living organisms.

According to biologists, almost all organisms have their role in the ecosystem.To prevent the fact of getting people killed in war,is other animals' life being disturbance fair? In my opinion, it is not. We should find the alternative ways to be benefited both. Will a sane environmentalism always do for our own all the time? It is true that we should protect the environment since it is man's environment. But it is also other living things' environment. I understand that sometimes we need to sacrifice others for the fundamental one. We do not want to sacrifice others beings. So, we need to live in a way of mutualism. I would like to say that saving nature, not only for man, but also for other living organisms. And, I also support that "nature is our ward, it is not our master".But, we should respect each other of being existence on the earth!

The impact on the earth's environment

I have some impacts on the environment.I like to spend water by the time I take shower or wash.I know that I should not spend freshwater.In my country, water I use is not very clean. I usually don't care about water resource since we can get a lot of water and it is raw water that we receive. But when I am in Singapore, I heard that freshwater is imported from Malaysia and it is an important case. When I use toilet, I find that the amount of water to clean out is much less. It is also true for basin and sink.They use automatically close mechanism in the tap so that not to waste water.In my country, some people forget to close taps after using basin which means we spend water.I think my country's basins' and sinks' taps should be substituted with those.The other thing people want to save water in Singapore might be because water is totally fresh--people can drink directly from tap!So, they value it.In my country, water is raw water.We need to boil it before we drink.Though most of the people want to save water, their interest is less as they can get water a lot.

The another thing is electricity. Over 50 % of the power plants have considerable carbon footprint.I am used to save electricity since in my country, we could not get the light full time.Sometimes, we could only use electricity within alternative period.Government encourages people to save the light, to understand the cause and effect of saving it and, as a result, we have low carbon foot print.But in Singapore, people do not keen so much to save electricity.Even in toilets and sinks, they use automatic sensor to flush water.Although the amount electricity is very little for each one, the total amount is huge.In my opinion,we should use man mechanical energy to flush water.

I absolutely appreciate the idea of saving the earth. Everyone should try to save the earth as much as they can.One's act is,maybe, nothing, but the total act is a huge advantage.For me, I try to not to spend electricity, water.I use every paper on both sides.I know that some ways of saving the earth interfere with my personal comfort.Nevertheless, we should try to conserve the earth as much as we can so that next generation can have benefits.

Difficulties I encounter whenever I have writing

Whenever I need to write an essay, a letter or something like that, the first problem in my mind is what should I write down. I don't know where should I start and it takes me a bit longer than others to initialize it. After that step, I have a momentum to write further. But the problem is how to organize an essay effectively and efficiently through out writing. I have had a problem that after writing down an essay, my essay was somehow not in chronological order ,or the arrangement or partitioning paragraphs did not match completely.

How can I resolve them?If I have writing at home, there will be no problems since I have sufficient time to re-edit it. But it also takes longer than it should take. If I am writing it at exam-time,then I will have the pressure to finish it in time. It makes me worse.So what I need is practice to finish within the limited time. I need to manage my time well to plan and organize an essay. I know that I should write down a drift or outline first. But sometimes, I am lazy to write preliminary sketch. Because I am not used to writing mindmap or outline first, I cannot manage to finish on time when I make that step first. Although my essay is well organized, it is incomplete- too bad.

To summarize , it is my fault not practicing. I know that I need to prepare to get a good essay within the limited time. The biggest weakness I have is that I cannot response or analyze simultaneously. It takes me longer than other.I suppose that the best thing to do is to practice writing more in an effective way.

Deforestation - an important environmental issue in my home country

My home country - Myanmar, rich in natural resources,flora and fauna, is facing tropical deforestation.How can such a problem occur though she is covering with vast amount of forests?
Shift cultivation, using wood as fuel, extracting timber and other kinds of tree as commercial- products are the cause of it. The effects are forest depletion, soil erosion, land slide/mud slide, flood, etc.From the ecological impact, it severely damages to the ecosystem which is afflicted to rare flora and fauna.
Shift cultivation is a traditional way of life to provide rural people with basic needs.It is a poor form of land use so that try not to make it.The more increasing the population, the more energy-consumption is needed.The fuel-wood is the most depended one since it is the easiest way for rural people.Though government forces people to replant trees,it is not sufficient.To reduce heavy reliance on fuel-wood, people try to use alternative sources of energy such as biodiesel,solar energy and wind energy.Maybe it is difficult for them to use these at first, these will surely fulfill the requirement.Now, government is focusing on biodiesel and hydro-power,
which is a prospective way.
The China's rise of buying teak and hardwood from Myanmar also causes the potential to deforestation and desertification. According to UNEP, the rate of reducing of forests is around 220,000 ha per year.Since the country is the developing country, the economy can place pressure on natural resources and environment. Over 70% covered with forests is now degrading. To solve the problem, the government needs the international NGOs to collaborate. And,the most important one - every citizen needs to understand the cause and effect of it and should try to do as much as they can enthusiastically.