I am not trying to instill fear but I want you to hear the
truth. I hope my post can change the view of many Singaporeans
about global warming.
I have just watched the documentary called The
Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore. It is about global warming and
how it is rapidly changing our environment and climate. It is a
wake-up call for me. I think most Singapore citizens are not very
well-informed of the impact of global warming. Without the wake-up
call, Singaporeans would just think that global warming is just a
baseless notion and that its effects are purely exaggerated.
This needs to be changed. Every Singaporean need to know the reason
behind the unusual temperature change in many countries - global
warming. Some parts of poor countries like China, India and South
Africa are getting hotter in summer and having droughts as their
rivers are dried up, drought results in famine and starvation. The
damages of the Tsunami in Asia in 2004 will be dwarfed by what
global warming will do to the coastlines. The Tsunami might not
have effected Singapore greatly. But the effects of global warming
will, over the time, be more obvious in Singapore, since so much of
our country is only a few meters above the sea level.
More Singaporeans need to take action and responsibilty to end the
global warming crisis. I know that there has been enormous efforts
of recycling in Singapore. Recycling waste and garbage is not a
mean to end all the environment problems. We Singaporeans are just
so spoilt. We need to change the old habits of consuming energy and
resources. We need to cut down the fuel consumption and cut down
the CO2 in our environment and commute less on private cars, use
fuel-efficient public transport instead of driving a car from
Jurong to Changi, to get to work. The air-conditioning is always at
full blast in the shopping mall. I always need to bring a sweater
or jacket to go shopping in Taskimaya or Golden Village
Cinema.
Singaporeans really need to rethink the scenario 40-50 years ahead
when the oil depletes. Singapore's current economy depends heavily
on international trade. How are we going to get imports when
shipping cost keeps going up? Where are we going to get our
resources/raw materials to manufacture goods for export? The Port
of Singapore is the world's busiest, in terms of shipping tonnage.
We have the biggest oil refinery in SouthEast Asia. But all this
will change with the energy crisis and it will deeply affect us and
the future generation.
We need to be more far sighted, less selfish and be more active in
reducing global warming. We can't just rely on our government to do
the part. We need to spread the words to everyone including our
neighbour countries as well - forest fires in Indonesia are
speeding up global warming.
Global warming might sound like a big term for you. I urge you all
to start taking small steps to fight it. You can use less fuel
(drive a smaller or hybrid car, carpooling , take public transport,
ride a bike or even better, walk), plant more trees or plants, use
less electricity (use energy saving light bulbs), use less hot
water, recyle, support environmental friendly companies, be
Anti-Bush(Geoge Bush would not support/sign the Kyoto Protocol and
the United States is as of 2005 the largest single emitter of
carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels) and spread the
words to your family, friends, school, relatives and
colleagues.
I am proud that Singapore has signed the Kyoto Protocol in April
2006. This signifies the importance of the treaty to reduce the
emission of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases and its commitment
to slow down global warming.
This might be cliche but I will say it. " Save the planet Earth,
and ourselves."
StopGlobalWarming.org
