Eco Not Ego

On Sunday while nursing my usual caffe latte, I came across an article in the papers which moved me to write in to their forum. It showcased these green citizens who were committed to small gestures in their lifestyles, and by doing so were making big statements about their cause and beliefs. As such, I decided to pen a letter to congratulate them and encourage more people to follow their shining examples.

Attention to the Forum Editor
After reading the article "Eco Or Ego" on Sunday 12 August 2007, I had to write in to express my admiration for the people featured. Going green is an uphill task and not an easy decision in our world of convenience. But having said that, it takes so little to make an effort to recycle, reduce and reuse in our daily lives. For example, for 2 years now my colleagues and I have been bringing our own lunch boxes in our own bags for takeaways from the hawker centres (we work in the CBD area). Initially some hawkers expressed amusement and some even berated us for causing inconvenience to their operations (just because it takes a few seconds more to pack the food into our boxes; anyway we've stopped patronizing these stalls).

We find that we need to tell the hawkers we are 'saving the environment' and some of them have soon gotten used to our colourful lunch boxes despite the occasional odd stares. No doubt it is a simple practice but it also takes a lot of commitment, faith in the cause and courage to carry out your beliefs. Imagine if more people adopt this habit and even start using our beautiful traditional tiffins, it will help to reduce the thousands of styrofoam boxes, plastic containers, plastic utensils and plastic bags used for takeaways everyday.

Corporations can also implement easy environment-friendly policies such as stipulating a minimum airconditioned temperature at a comfortable 25 to 26 degree Celsius, which should be sufficiently cool and not Antactic-cold. How many times have we walked into freezing shopping malls, cinemas and hotel lobbies, and consequently suffer unnecessary colds and flu? Whenever I gave my feedback, the standard absurd management response is that the aircondition system is centralized and that there is nothing they can do (come on, who are you kidding?). Just the other day while shopping at a major department store, I also had to tell the cashier not to pack my friend's household purchases in a paper bag which was then packed in a bigger plastic bag. To me, it just seems like an awful waste of resources.

In the new green world, convenience is becoming a dirty word. Everything is so blindly and conveniently handed to us that people forgot where our water, electricity, food and goods come from and the amount of precious energy and resources it take to make and dispose them. Singapore is far from being a green society among the other First World nations. The first step it needs to do is to create more transparency to educate its citizens, young and old, on energy and resources management.

Planting trees once a year or bringing your own bag every Wednesday are a good start but just not good enough in the long run. As it is, the current realities of global warming are alarming and frightening, and the global environmental decline far outpaces the protection and conservation measures. Everyone should see themselves as global citizens and start making conscious wiser choices which in turn should be supported by companies and governments worldwide. Just remember every action has a consequence and it will have a trickle-down effect on the next generations.