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³Do your bit for the environment, MM urges.²
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Habitatnews. Nature-related news for the busy Singaporean.
Webpage: http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/index.php
To subscribe, email: habitatnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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In case you missed it!
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ST, 8 Nov 2005: “Do your bit for the environment, MM urges.”
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“Do your bit for the environment, MM urges.” By Aaron Low. The Straits
Times, 08 Nov 2005. Start worrying now - world leaders have to work at it
and so do Singaporeans, he says.
THE man who takes the long view when thinking about Singapore's future, is
once again training his sights on an important long-term issue: the
environment.
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's message to Singaporeans during Clean and
Green Week, which began on Saturday: Look at the big picture and understand
how the world's environment will change in half a century. Singaporeans must
do their bit - now - to conserve the environment.
Speaking during a tree-planting ceremony in Queenstown on Sunday evening, he
said that earlier that afternoon, he was in Orchard Road viewing a photo
exhibition by French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
The exhibition, which he found 'very instructive, quite terrifying', is a
collection of 120 photographs highlighting the ecological destruction
wrought by the over-exploitation of natural resources.
Mr Lee, the force behind Singapore's Garden City concept and decade-long
drive to clean up the rivers here, was struck by the disproportionately high
consumption of resources over the years and reeled off a list of figures to
show this.
From 1950 to today, the human population has doubled to 6.5 billion, but
production of goods and services has gone up seven times, while the amount
of fish caught and meat produced has gone up five times.
Energy and oil consumed multiplied seven times and carbon emissions went up
four times in the same period, resulting in a rising number of natural
disasters around the world.
'If we go on at this rate, I believe mankind is in jeopardy...before 100
years, 50 years, there will be many problems,' he said.
One problem was the 'consume and throw away' society. The Americans, for
example, consume 10 times more per person compared to Europeans or others.
India and China now have a combined population 12 times the size of the
United States. When both countries start to consume as much as the Americans
in 50 years' time, the problems will be intensified.
'We have to start worrying. Every year it gets a little worse. The leaders
of the world have got to do something,' urged Mr Lee.
Singapore must do its bit as well - by having sustainable growth: 'Whatever
we consume, do not increase the pressure on land and the environment.'
He also called on Singaporeans to be conscious of the environment and not
pollute the water supply. Throwing rubbish into drains, for example, will
pollute reservoirs such as the one in Marina, expected to be operational by
2009.
'Why must we do that? Don't do that; we are going to drink that water,' he
told residents at Tanjong Pagar GRC.
Plans to open up Bedok Reservoir for recreation can be replicated in Marina,
but it 'requires a population that is trained not to pollute its own
environment'.
Nature Society president Geh Min was delighted that Mr Lee spoke about
environmental issues.
'I always thought he was a man of vision and action. Hopefully, he can do
this on an international level because when he talks, people listen and
things move,' she said.
Copyright © 2005 Singapore Press Holdings.
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Habitatnews: http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/index.php
Editor: N. Sivasothi (sivasothi@...),
Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, NUS
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For recent nature and environment news in Singapore, see also:
WildSingapore (http://www.wildsingapore.com/)
For internet resources on nature in Singapore, see:
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/links/
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