Composite indicator for green city development in Singapore

Amid the global challenges of climate change and warming, governments worldwide have increasingly prioritised green growth strategies, with Singapore being no exception. However, Singapore's rapid urbanisation and limited land resources present unique obstacles to environmental conservation. This research aims to evaluate Singapore's advancements in becoming a green city by building upon the methodologies outlined in Lee and Chou (2018) and developing a set of tailored green city indicators aligned with the Driving Force, Pressure, State, Exposure, Effects, and Action (DPSEEA) model. Through the application of principal component analysis (PCA) and common factor analysis (CFA), the study will assess Singapore's journey towards achieving a green and sustainable future, culminating in the creation of an aggregated composite index. Following this, sensitivity analysis was conducted to offer further insights into the robustness of the findings. Lastly, this research identifies key areas for policy intervention, which hopefully help Singapore to accelerate its progress towards becoming a fully-fledged "green city".Bachelor's degre

Mindfulness is not enough: Why equanimity holds the key to compassion

In order to appreciate mindfulness, it is necessary to focus on the concepts of non-judgement and acceptance as these attributes underpins the practice. Non-judgement is a label celebrated within a variety of helping professions and as a value at the core of much practice. In the context of mindfulness based interventions, accepting thoughts non-judgementally is an essential skill. However, the author argues against the ability of individuals to be non-judgemental given the profundity of its meaning and without other skills in place (without the practice of equanimity). The author puts forward a conceptual model of judgement and ‘naturally occurring ignorance’ in order to explore the potential barriers to practice. The author hypothesises that equanimity is the key mediating factor in being non-judgmental and therefore having the ability to generate compassion. A conceptual ‘cycle of judgement’ was created and discussed. Further, a theoretical model of ‘naturally occurring ignorance’ was created in order to confirm the barriers to equanimity, with the motivation of cultivating compassion