Singapore, no matter how much it tries to promote itself as a clean and green city, is a city of skyscrapers, buildings and apartments. What environment? You mean that row of trees that one passes by every day to get to work or school? or the 'famous' Bukit Timah Hill, highest peak in Singapore? We have little in terms of forests and swamps and mountains, well, duh, since we are living in an island.

So, what exactly can we do to 'save' the environment? As you know, I'm a damn lazy person, and asking me to do drastic stuff would be like asking a monk to eat meat. [ lousy analogy, I know. Bear with it.] So yeah, just one simple thing that we have all learned before:
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Reduce: is to bring down, as in extent, amount, or degree; diminish. There's actually so much that we can do. For reducing, we can simply cut down on the wastage of resources, like switch off various appliances when not in use. You might think that this isn't a lot, this wouldn't really make a great impact, but if everyone does it, wouldn't it amass to something large? Reduce on the usage of plastic bags, instead, carry your own tote when going out to shop. Plastics are harmful to the environment as it is non-biodegradable. Or if you really have to use plastic bags, try cramming everything into one bag. Cars, although not as pollutive as before, can also add to pollution as they give out carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas that can lead to global warming, [this is assuming that your car has a catalytic converter] so taking public transport would be better. I mean, Singapore is so small, from the east to the west, it's only an hour long journey by train. Probably shorter if you take the bus, so why bother driving? Not only will it help the environment, you get to cut down on expenses of upkeeping a car.

Reuse: is to use again, especially after salvaging or special treatment or processing. We're sort of a throw-away society. As in, as soon as something is used up, we'll just throw it away and get something new. But do you think about whether the object can be reused in any form? As scrap paper for you to do brief calculations, used envelopes to keep some documents, cardboard boxes to store your stuff, turn unwanted cds into decorations? There's so much that we can do, it just depends on us, whether we want to do it or not.

Recycle: is to treat or process (used or waste materials) so as to make suitable for reuse Isn't this like the easiest? You don't even have to recycle the stuff yourself, you just need to dump them into the bins which will then be sent for recycling. What I don't get is why people don't even bother to do something so simple. Every week, we're given a large green plastic bag, which is supposed to be collecting empty bottles, old clothes, unwanted papers, etc, anything that can be recycled. Put it outside your apartment and someone will go around collecting them. It's not even troublesome, but yet, very few people do it.

Can we make a difference? I hope so, for the sake of our environment. Seriously, I want my future generations, be it my children [as if] or my relatives' children, or whatever, I want them to be able to enjoy all the wonderful sceneries that we have, the [relatively] fresh air that we breathe in, clean water to drink, the various animals that we see. I think that it would be unfair to deprive them of all these that make our world a beautiful place.

Saving the environment isn't much. Not when everyone puts in a little effort to make it great.

cross-posted to my writing journal

Labels: freetalk, musings