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