Take Action, Don't Wait for a Reaction

A new report from the United Nations has shown that if greenhouse gas levels continue at the current rate, global temperatures could rise by 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2040^[1]. Just a few years ago, we had never seen climate change as a problem as large-scale as this. Now, the realisation dawns on us. If we do not take action now, there will be a bitter future. Icebergs will melt, inundating coastlines, weather patterns will change, resulting in droughts and as the world population continues to boom, poverty will become a norm. Is this a future that we want for ourselves and the next generation? No one wants a damaged, hand-me-down planet, and no one deserves it.

Imagine a sustainable garden in a city. What would you see? I would observe a lush, thick foliage, abundant wildlife living amongst the hustle bustle of human activity and a car-free city. A modern metropolis, solar panels, occasional bus stops and throngs of cyclists.

Singapore, ranked second in sustainability globally^[2], has not yet achieved its full potential. However, one can argue that it has been working hard to do so. With an ambitious goal to reduce its Emissions Intensity by 36% from 2005 levels by 2030^[3], the government has unlocked new ways to make the country more self-sufficient. Multiple initiatives rolled out in 2018 aimed for the nation to emit less carbon, such as quadrupling the sheltered walkway network to encourage citizens to walk and cycle more, but that's just an appetizer.

A pilot HDB (Housing Development Board) Greenprint programme^[4]transformed 38 blocks of flats in Yuhua into Singapore's first green neighbourhood, which included new, smart and sustainable technologies that targeted concerns like energy and water conservation. Solar panels were installed onto the top of the estate flats, while a rainwater harvesting system was put into place. The success of the programme led to its extension to Teck Ghee.

However, I believe the problem truly lies in convincing the citizens to do their part to fight climate change. Through a Google Form Survey^[5], I asked how they thought climate change affected them from the scale of 1 to 10, and 4 of the 11 respondents I asked responded with an answer of 5 and below. What is more puzzling is that even those who knew the great impact of climate change were not driven to change their lifestyles and habits to the maximum. That got me thinking, do Singaporeans really know the full impact of climate change?

To me, this calls for an immediate change. Climate change is an incoming typhoon about to hit Singapore, if we are going to avoid its wrath, we will have to step up our game, doing all that we can manage to lure it away from our path. However, Singapore is not made up of just one individual, hence, education is one of the methods that can keep everyone on the same page.

One way of education is through compulsory seminars for adults and talks to schooling children, teenagers, as well as children in kindergarten. Less invasive methods would be through letters to the citizens or emails, which they can read in their own time. Despite this, merely cramming information into the heads of Singaporeans might not do much on its own, building interest in this area of concern is just as important. Carnival games organised by Community Clubs as well as schools can not only reinforce bonds between friends and family, but environmental-themed games can also build on to the knowledge that people learn in the classroom.

However, this might not necessarily garner the attention of people of all age groups. Another way one can try to attract attention to this environmental issue is through social media, the trend for most teenagers and young adults. Environmental organisations can collaborate with famous Singaporean personalities to promote climate action. In addition, they can use hashtags as a way to gather attention to the issue, such as #tryeverythingonce, which can allow people to try using eco-friendly products or make simple changes to their lifestyle and feel the advantages of doing so, hence making it a habit. One of the best advantages to this is that it will raise awareness of climate change among the young, and it will be easier to influence them to take climate action, once they learn about the harm climate change brings, as they might not have formed an opinion about it yet.

Moreover, we all know a significant trait of Singaporeans, being Kiasu, or afraid to lose out to the crowd. Environmental groups can collaborate with government officials to start an app, similar to the Healthy 365 application released by HealthHub, which allow users to scan a Quick Response Code, or QR Code, to earn points whenever they order a healthy dish or ingredient, which can allow them to earn vouchers upon reaching a certain number of points. A new app can be coded to do just that, to reward users who visit shops which have environmentally-friendly practices, such as using a limited amount of energy per square metre, or by using fans instead of air-conditioning. Other functions can include doing environmental quizzes, reading and writing articles on climate change and climate action, as well as rewarding eco-friendly behaviours by sending a picture to the managers of the application to earn points and redeem coupons and vouchers.

Climate action is vital to reducing the harmful effects of climate change and through my survey, I have realised that education is key to paving the way to a sustainable, low-carbon emission city. The Singapore government have indeed put in a great effort to keep to their pledge to reduce the Emissions Intensity by 36% from 2005, or 0.113 kilograms per dollar, by 2030, but I believe that the battle against climate change has to be done by both citizen and government, especially those of the younger generation, who will be feeling the effects of climate change if we do not act now.

How Singapore Can Avert the 'Tragedy of the Commons'

An apocalyptic world where natural resources are depleted more expeditiously than they can replenish themselves. A country where citizens produce waste faster than the country’s environmental capacity can support. Companies which embrace planned obsolescence - and unknowingly add on to the amount of waste generated. In 1968, American ecologist Garrett Hardin coined the term "Tragedy of the Commons" to describe the social dilemma whereby individual users who pursue their own self-interest behave contrary to the overall collective welfare of society by depleting or spoiling shared resources through their collective action. For some uncanny reason, Hardin’s words seem to ring truer than ever in the 21st century of today, especially in the area of consumption and production.

To most, it would definitely appear that the "Tragedy of the Commons" is unlikely to befall upon our city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a perfervid supporter of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), one of which (Goal 12) espouses the vitality of responsible consumption and production^[1]; Singapore-based companies such as KFC have recently embarked on a "No Straws" crusade^[2]; a 2015 study published by Nielsen revealed that 55% of Singaporeans were willing to pay more for sustainable products^[3]. Indeed, an informal street poll this reporter conducted with 70 respondents revealed that 70% of Singaporeans are confident that Singapore will not face an ecological crisis one day due to its "impeccable waste management system", to put it in the words of one respondent.

Yet, this is merely one side of the picture - we are unfortunately, not as responsible, as we sanguinely think we are. According to BBC^[4], the ecological footprint of a Singaporean is 5.9 global hectares, which means to say that it will require 3.4 Earths to support it!

Additionally, despite companies’ attempts to be more responsible production-wise, Singaporeans are arguably unreceptive - after KFC launched its "No Straws" campaign, this reporter noticed that many Singaporeans merely turned to other food-and-business outlets in the vicinity to procure their straws, with ‘victims’ such as Kopitiam at Greenridge Shopping Centre lamenting about the problem - and who were, in turn, publicly slammed for their lack of support for KFC’s environmental move. Mr. Gan Rui Yi, recipient of NEA’s EcoFriend Award, whom this reporter interviewed, expressed his disappointment at this phenomenon, "It takes both hands to clap - consumers must also do their part to reduce waste."

Somewhat ironically, the Nielsen study which revealed that 55% of Singaporeans were willing to pay more for sustainable products also found out that sustainability was not high in terms of Singaporean consumers’ minds especially when contrasted to the region - a staggering 80% of consumers in ASEAN were willing to pay more for sustainable products versus Singapore’s 55%.^[3]

The ramifications of an ecological or waste crisis happening to Singapore are unthinkable: economy-wise, it will desecrate our global reputation as a tourism hub and diminish the quality of our exports; geographically speaking, we will run out of already-scarce land to bury our refuse; on the political stage, it will also strain our diplomatic ties with neighbouring countries like Malaysia if they were to be adversely affected by our environmental woes.

How, then, can we avert the insidious "Tragedy of the Commons"? Firstly, the Singapore government should implement more efficacious environmental awareness campaigns that aim to sway the mindsets of consumers towards responsible consumption and recycling; for example, there has yet to be a major campaign centred around encouraging Singaporean consumers to ruminate on their consumption habits - in the words of Melissa Tan, Chairman of the Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore, "what is needed is a mindset change"^[5].

We should also encourage more bottom-up campaigns that bring the community together to engage in responsible consumption; for instance, local social enterprise Sustainable Living Lab runs Repair Kopitiam at Tampines and Jurong West, a community initiative this reporter partook in that teaches people how to repair items, including shoes, in an effort to combat "throw-away" items.

Just as importantly, there should also be a paradigm shift in the mindsets of businesses towards responsible production, beyond superficial stints of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Firstly, there needs to be an evolving of the anachronistic business models that have fuelled revenue in the previous century at the cost of the environment to implementing circular initiatives that are regenerative in design; secondly, to adopt science based targets that are grounded in scientific knowledge of how anthropogenic impacts affect vital resources; and thirdly; to engage in Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs) to direct corporate behaviour in the larger context of society. For instance, many corporations are already engaged in responsible practices - one such example is City Developments Limited (CDL), which owns City Square Mall, an eco-mall this reporter conducted his fieldwork at - this reporter found out that the mall had installed a twin-chute pneumatic refuse system and had environmental messages plastered all over its walls to remind shoppers to consume responsibly.

But as Hardin rightly opines, conscience should not be heavily relied on to police "commons" - and as such, more governmental legislations should be implemented to mandate responsible production and consumption. For example, Singapore has mandated waste reporting for large commercial premises like shopping malls and hotels, and in July 2016, requirements for businesses to use sustainable resources in packaging and minimise packaging waste overall^[6]. Yet, there has notably been a lack of legislation mandating responsible consumption for consumers - for example, unlike countries such as China and Malaysia, Singapore has been hesitant to implement a "plastic bag tax" or ban for fear of backlash; but perhaps now is the time to put in place such legislation so that consumers will internalise the external social costs of their deleterious consumption habits.

In conclusion, the "Tragedy of the Commons" can be averted through responsible consumption and production. The onus is now on Singapore, a champion of environmental causes, to set a role model for other countries by achieving the goals set out under the SDG 12 - and be at the forefront of responsible consumption and production. Let us prove Garrett Hardin wrong.

Climate Change: Looking Back for a Solution of Today

When we think of solutions against climate change, we think about being more environmentally friendly and wasting less. Many view this as an inconvenience and a modern phenomenon we need more to adapt to with a similarly modern approach, as seen with the metal straw craze and sudden "ban-on-plastic".

However, the last people we often think of practising such solutions this is our grandparents. I remember the second-hand embarrassment as I watched my grandfather pull rolls of plastic bags in NTUC, before stuffing it into a trolley and walking away. I never knew where all those plastic bags went, and maybe I don’t want to know which landfill or ocean it is in now.

Yet, what if I told you one of the ways to mitigate the effects we have on climate change can be drawn by our grandparents?

On the 5th floor of an old HDB estate, you’ll find two rows of plants lining the sides of the walkway. Mdm Siew Cheng will be there with her trusty spray bottle and scissors, tending to her garden every day without fail. While she may not be a gardener, she is my grandma and her small garden is one of the ways she practices responsible consumption.

This small garden is home to 16 different vegetables and plants, which my grandma has tended for the past 20 years. Every morning at 6 am without fail, she prunes and sprays her mini-farm and these vegetables feeds our family. Her chye sim with soup and her rosemary with steak are utterly delicious, and our family goes over every Saturday to collect our "share of the harvest".

When I ask her why she goes through the trouble, she responded, "it’s yummy and I save money". Yet, she isn’t aware of the impact her tiny garden has had on the environment other than the fact that it has kept our stomachs filled.

To save on money, she has installed recycled plastic bottles to water her plants so that she doesn’t overwater them and only sprays her plants with water when necessary. Her pots are all taken from her neighbours or from the rubbish bin downstairs, recycling what would have ended up in a landfill.

In her attempt to live healthier, my grandma turned her farm organic as well. Leftover vegetables that would have ended in the dustbin are used as fertiliser for her plants. And after trial and error, my grandma’s home-made pesticide was simply an orange or banana peel left overnight. She found after trial and error that snails and other pests would fester on the peel and she could simply remove them from her vegetables after leaving the peels overnight.

"I don't have to throw rubbish away often now… it's good for my legs too and saves money" was her reason behind all these little actions. However, I was met with an "aiyo no la" and "sure boh" when I shared with her of the positive impacts her actions have had on the environment.

However, one of the biggest impacts her farm has had was reducing plastic and pollution.

When we purchase vegetables from supermarkets, they are often wrapped in plastic and these end up in landfills or polluting the oceans, harming sea creatures. And on tiny island Singapore, the food seen in supermarkets and goods such as pesticide are more often than nought imported from other countries. Yet, we tend to forget the pollution produced when moving these consumer goods from country to country, whether transported by ship, land or air.

Her small actions in making her farm were done to save money and effort, but yet has had such impacts on our environment. Yet ironically, our reasons for not being more environmentally friendly or taking actions against climate change are because it costs extra, or it takes extra effort.

So maybe we don't need an all too modern solution which requires us to buy more metal straws or ship something from overseas. Maybe what we all just need to do is to look at our grandparents' older consumption habits… or just a pot with vegetable seeds.