wild places | wild happenings | wild news
make a difference for our wild places

home | links | search the site
  all articles latest | past | articles by topics | search wildnews
wild news on wildsingapore
  Straits Times 23 May 07
Why Singapore should take bigger steps to sustain the environment
Letter from Lau Ying Shan (Miss)

I AM heartened to read that the National University of Singapore has taken a step towards making Singapore solar, 'The sun rises on Singapore's solar industry' (ST, May 15). This, and the NEA's BYOB campaign, are some of the first steps that Singapore is taking in being environmentally sustainable.

However, I believe that Singapore has reason to take bigger steps in the direction of environmental sustainability.

Singapore's airport has long been touted as the world's best. Many of my overseas friends fly via Singapore on the way home to their home countries, and all have sung praises of our lovely airport. Having used the airport several times myself, I cannot disagree.

Imagine a day, however, when all flights are suddenly cancelled, not because of the annual haze inconvenience from Sumatra but because the global supply of kerosene - the airplanes' fuel for which there are currently no renewable substitutes - has suddenly been cut off.

Society, having been unresponsive to the global oil shortage because of the influence of greenwash and political lobby groups, suddenly has to deal with the unpleasant situation of family members separated and stranded across the globe.

I would not like to think further about the consequences of such a situation. Yet, the prospect is spooky and unsettling enough. The potential of such a situation happening shows how dependent Singapore is on the healthy functioning of the world economy.

Our red dot burns bright at night on the map because oil and natural gas industries work hard to keep it alight. With environmental challenges facing the world, however, Singapore's status as a bright, red, lively and healthy dot is in a precarious position.

The threat to the aviation industry from diminishing oil supplies is but one of many threats that Singapore faces.

Our economy is so interlinked to the global economy that the collapse of another major economy would lead to a spiralling downward trend for us. It is true that the reliance on diverse resource sources in our economy can buffer us against resource shortages in a particular region.

However, if this resource is crucial to the running of the modern world's economy, or is in high demand globally, we can expect a vicious cycle which would ultimately affect us negatively.

The case is therefore for increasing self-sufficiency, or for improving the global situation.

And it seems that increasing self-sufficiency will not be the panacea, either. There will be a limit to how self-sufficient we can be, for the amount of land in Singapore is in dire disproportion to the population which it has to support.

Moreover, it has to be admitted that our nation-state derives most of its much-valued vibrancy - both people and resources - from overseas. One also cannot neglect Singapore's interconnectedness and, hence, vulnerability, to the physical world.

With global warming, it is reasonable to expect a rise in sea levels, which will inundate some of our already scarce land resources.

The environmental pressures imposed on our neighbours' foresters might drive them to exploit the land to a greater extent, making the forests drier and more fire-prone. We would be expecting more severe haze in the future.

Singapore thus has a very strong case for going green - and not just for giving the Singaporean consumer a feel-good effect.

It needs to go green because its survival depends of the health of the global economy.

More importantly, it needs to go green so that it can assume a leadership role in environmental sustainability in South-east Asia.

We become unsettled by Indonesia's plans to harness nuclear energy to meet its own increasing energy demands.

Yet, the crux is: What grounds do we have to criticise Indonesia's energy management strategies, if our little red dot burns excessively bright due to our own unconstrained and reckless energy consumption?

As our regional neighbours become more economically developed in the near future, it is inevitable that they will start competing with us for the world's already scarce resources.

Many non-governmental organisations advise them to adopt more sustainable development practices. However, why should they bother to listen to this well-intentioned advice when the success story of South-east Asia has taken only baby steps forward in the direction of environmental sustainability?

One might adopt the typical 'responsibility-pushing' argument that our environmental impacts on the global scale are too small to make a difference, and that the focus (and, some might say, blame) should be shifted towards the US, which is baulking over reductions in carbon emissions.

However, given our largely import-dependent society, our carbon footprint is huge enough.

The rice that we eat, most fundamental to our daily existence, for example, has been trucked or shipped here over numerous kilometres, releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases daily.

Even though our immediate activities do not have a huge carbon footprint, the auxiliary activities required for us to carry out our immediate activities do leave a considerable effect on the environment.

Singapore and Singaporeans need to acknowledge that our success and survival depend very intimately on the world's resources.

We also need to realise that these resources are increasingly under strain due to pressures from a human-induced changing environment and increasing demand for material wealth from a growing world population.

And we - both the Government and citizens of Singapore - need to take concrete steps to being more environmentally sustainable. Only then can we really be the model towards which other countries can strive towards.

Only then can we really feel good our position in the world.
links
Related articles on Green energy
about the site | email ria
  News articles are reproduced for non-profit educational purposes.
 

website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com