“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.

Climate change: 10 ways to save the world

Published: 01 November 2005

Today, Tony Blair will address energy ministers from around the world on tackling climate change. But he is failing to meet his own targets, with British carbon emissions on the rise again. There are, though, measures he could adopt...

1: SET LEGALLY BINDING ANNUAL CO2 REDUCTION TARGETS

New law to commit the Government to reducing CO2 every year by a fixed amount - say, 3 per cent - audited by an independent body. A radical programme would then have to be implemented to meet the target.

2: DECENTRALISE THE ENERGY SUPPLY SYSTEM

Do away with the vast power stations serving the national grid: think microgeneration. Give every city, every town, every village, its own power station, fitted with a combined heat and power (CHP) system, which cuts CO2

3: ALL NEW BUILDINGS TO BE CO2-FREE

Put a power station in every basement: change building regulations to make all new buildings provide their own power, with solar panels, mini-wind turbines and CHP systems to soak up wasted heat.

4: INSIST ON USE OF ENERGY-EFFICIENT LIGHT BULBS

Ban standard light bulbs all over Britain and force us to use energy-saving bulbs instead, which soak up less than a quarter of the electricity. Hugely symbolic gesture which would save enormous quantities of CO2.

5: BOOST NEGLECTED RENEWABLES; SOLAR, WAVE, TIDE POWER

Start giving proper funding and backing to renewable energy other than wind: solar power, and power from the waves and tides. These have vast potential to supply CO2-free electricity, yet are underdeveloped.

6: FOCUS AGAIN ON OFFSHORE WIND POWER

Renew the impetus behind wind farms based in the sea with £1bn of subsidy: after a good start, development is slowing, because of technical and financial difficulties, yet we have unparalleled offshore wind resources.

7: GET RADICAL WITH ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Make sure every house in Britain that can be properly insulated is insulated; bring in much more rigorous labelling that can enable any consumer to see how much energy is used by a product.

8: TACKLE THE GAS GUZZLERS

Raise vehicle excise duty (VED) on cars such as 4x4s; make it more than £1,000 per vehicle and set it to rise further. If you want to be radical, insist on a health warning on the side: This Vehicle Damages The Environment.

9: CURB THE GROWTH IN CHEAP FLIGHTS

Raise air passenger duty to end the cheap flight bonanza, as CO2 emissions from aircraft are the most rapidly rising in Britain and also the most damaging: they go straight into the stratosphere. A vote loser and a tough choice.

10: HAVE A LATE-NIGHT TALK WITH GEORGE BUSH

Do anything you can to get George Bush to change his mind about climate change. The world needs America, the biggest CO2 emitter, to lead the fight against global warming. The President is denying the evidence.

Source: IndyNews