jiazhi I don't think is sufficient. No country is willing to really slow down their progress to stop and care for our sickly Earth. Those summit talks just end with empty promises by world leaders. Of course, it's not right to undermine their small effort in saving the Earth. They only want the best for their country.
I believe that as individual we can start small. Because if everyone starts to care a little more about the Earth with our knowledge about global warming and going green, we can all make a difference together.

samuel I for one feel that the topic of environment is a pretty touchy one. Reason being that as much as we want to do something about it, most of the time our efforts end up being futile. This is a global issue, simple as that. There is nothing one man can do about a global issue, not that I’m being overly critical or anything but that is just a fact.

frieda The main point of this topic is that personally in my opinion, all that has been done on the side of the government is to 'look' and to 'plan' - but not to 'act'. There's no real proper action taken to really do anything concerning the issue in spite of the fact that its been raised many times already. So far all that's seen are little things that are almost forgettable and negligible which doesn't do much either. If the government truly wishes to really start on something, then they must start with something big; something that will get the attention of everybody before they will actually stop and listen.

On an individual level, I believe that we can start by having everyone be much more aware about the dangers that our future generations may face if we don't start to take our own steps and means to converse and preserve. Even the simple act of saving paper usage can already help in conserving the environment. Individually it may be a small thing, but if everyone does it then things will be and can be different.

yongxing To save the environment, each individual plays a crucial part. Simple things like stop littering and recycling will help to improve the environment. We can also save on electricity which in exchange reduce the burning of carbon.
However compare to international level of environment problem, individual is less significant If the government but out more campaign or heavier fines for the litter or wastage people will definitely be more effective in saving the environment.

johnson To a certain extend

advantages:
Air transport drives economic and social progress
shorten travel time and maximise productivity

disadvantages:
Air pollution
Have to dump excess fuel to the enviroment in order to land

Chia ZiFu Johnson 1B/02

alwl93 I feel that this comment is an overgeneralisation.Air travel has both benefits and problems.
Aeroplanes take a quicker time to reach its destination, compared to ships on the sea and cars on the land.
Anther reason why air travel is beneficial is that many jobs relating to the air travel industry.

The problem is the amount of pollution generated by the flying aeroplane.

Alan Lim 1B/02

gracie I think that air pollution has both benefits and problems, rather than more problems.

Disadvantages:
-global warming
-noise pollution

advantages:
-drive economic and social progress
-generate job opportunities
-only means of transportation to remote areas

Grace Choy
DPCS/FT/1B/02

ruenteh1065756 Advantages:
1.Air travel is the fastest way of traveling on our planet.
We can get from point A to point B much quicker than all other modes of transport such as ships, trains and cars.
2.Comfort.
It is more comfortable to ride in when the destination is far away. Besides, entertainment such as movie, music and games available in the plane too.
3.Convenience
We can book air tickets easily from our favorite travel agency just by making a phone call and we can decide on the spot whether we want to make a reservation.Furthermore,most of the international airports are equipped with comprehensive facilities to serve the difference needs of travelers. For instance, we should be able to locate car rental services easily at most major airports.

Disadvantages:
1.Air pollution.
Airplanes produce quite a lot of carbon dioxide (CO2) as they burn up fuel. This carbon dioxide hangs around in the atmosphere, warming up the earth and resulting in climate change.
2.Noise Pollution
3.Crashing

In conclusion,although air travel does contribute carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, this isn't really all that much in the grander scheme of things. In fact it's estimated that air planes contribute less than five per cent of all carbon emissions - significantly less than the other big polluters such as power stations which are still burning fossil fuels despite the advances made in renewable energy and nuclear power and our cars. Hence, i have to say that air travel create more benefits than problems to the environment.

Teh Ru En DPCS/1B/02

oliviana1043792 I agree to a certain extent that air travel do create more problems. Air travel contributes to global warming as aircrafts are major sources of greenhouse gases especially carbon dioxide. One recent study have shown that "if the Airport grows as planned, carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 could be greater than from all other transport in the regional catchments."

However, air travel also creates benefits.Air travel shortens the travel period as compare to other modes of transports. It also connects people, countries and cultures, provides access to global markets, generates trade and tourism as well as forges links between developed and developing nations.

Oliviana DPCS/FT/1B02

rajendran74 I beg to differ..

Air travel has given us the luxury and the opportunity to transit around the world in matter of hours. Traveling by air ,saves time and time is money.

The only problem with air travel is pollution. But any other forms of travel other than walking also contributes to pollution. Even a wooden boat using sails to travel , requires trees to be cut down. (cutting down trees also contributes to global warming).

Advantages of air travel out weigh the disadvantages..

Rajendran.R 1B/02

ann I do not agree that air travel creates more problem than benefits for the environment. In this gobalise world,goods need to be transport to different parts of the world,people travel to different parts of the world as well,all this transportation and travelling are done by three main transportation vehicles,land transport (trucks),air planes and ships. All these transportation vehicles run mainly diesel and petrol. If we were to put all these three vehicles together and compare,air plane will be the fasterest transportation vehicle.

Land transport will take a very long time to transport things,this means that it will use up a lot of petrol for combustion,which will create lots of harmful gas. At the same time,the amount of goods that land transport can carry is very little,this mean that it had to do many trips to get all the goods transported. Which means,the amount of harmful gas being release to the enviroment will be mutiply by the numbers of trips made.

Ships,although ships transport large amount of goods,the amount of diesel it use per trip and amount of harmful gas released to the enviroment largely outnumbered the amount use and released by air planes.

Although air planes still creates problems for the environment,I don't agree that it creates more problems than it benefits for the environment as compared to the other transportation means

Ann DMR/1B/02

haikal1992 i disagree that air travel creates more problems than benefits to the environment.

advantages:

-shorten travel time
-allows import/export businesses to import more items in larger quantities
-makes the world to be more interconnected
-allows faster arrival of goods from other countries.
-improves tourism
disadvantages:

-pollutes the environment
-causes global warming due to Co2
-uses alot of fuel to run

Muhd Haikal DMR/1B/02

calbee86 I totally disagree with the statement. Reason being, air traveling is one of the safest way to travel through long distance. According to statistic reports, transport by land or sea have actually caused more deaths than by air. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Then it brings us to the 'high costing' problems. Do u trade your life for money? The answer, clear a absolute 'NO'.

Caleb Wong. DMRFT 1B/02

benson To a certain extent,I agree that air travel creates more problems than benefits for the environment.Firstly,it causes air pollution which lead to global warming.

However,there are benefits of air travel. It made transportation easier and more convenient for people and goods. It reduces the time moving goods from one place to another.Thus,it and "shrunk" the world in terms of time take to get from one place to another.

Therefore,I do not agree that the air travel creates more problem than the benefits for the environment.

Benson. DMR 1B/02

bob I feel that air travel brings more problem than benefits to the enviroment.

"Air travel is a growing contributor to climate change and can have an impact on local air quality and noise." Quote from : http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/environmentandgreenerliving/greenertravel/dg_064429

From here we can see the problems bought by air travel.

In conclusion,Some might argue that there are pros bought by air travel (e.g. faster travel time),I feel that the cons outweighted the pros as the problems bought by air travel is longer lasting (affects health + enviroment) compared to air travel.
Toh Jing Cheng DMRFT 1B02

marcuscheng i feel that air travel brings more benefits than problem .

Advantages :
1. makes the world interconnected (etc. makes the world small ,shorten travelling time)
2. helps to improve enconomic (etc. tourism ,transporting of goods)

Disadvantage :
1. causes globe warming

Cheng Wei Ming Marcus DMR 1B/02

aletheajoyhan There are both advantages and disadvantages to air travel.

Advantages would be that air travel takes people to various places much faster than land or sea travel would.
It allows people to see various different places and experience new things, and it especially offers a nice change of horizon.

Air travel also allows people from different countries to meet each other. It helps faraway friends to see each other, face to face and it also forges new friendships with people around the world.

However, yes, air travel does cause to environmental problems. It requires more fuel and contribute to global warming with more CO2.

I feel that perhaps one day with the invention of clean fuel that's able to power airplanes would annihilate the disadvantages of air travel.

reezal I agree with the abovemade sentence up to a certain extent.
Travelling via air means having the usage of much heavier vehicles such as a passenger planes. this planes emits gases at a higher volume compared to small vehicles such as motorcar on land. such gases could possibly be such as carbon monoxide. in this way,this gases could come in a much closer contact to the air in the higher atmosphere,leading to health hazards.

Air travel benefits us by saving travelling time to destinations. Reason being,there are no such things as traffic congestions on air.

Hence ,i feel that its true that travellin by air creates problem,but it also helps us in our daily lives due to its technology.

Muhd Reezal Bin Zailan DMR 1B02

clarissalim Air travel have both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages of air travel is that it enables goods to be transported much more rapidly as compared to sea travel.it makes our lives more convenient.lesser time are also wasted.In addition,it's helps us reach our travel destination faster.it makes the world interconnected and enable to experience the different cultures of foreign countries.

On the other hand,it also has it's disadvantages.one of these disadvantages is that it causes air pollution,increasing the amount of carbon dioxide.this causes the average global temperature to increase which will contribute to global warming which might result in natural disasters (icebergs to melt->polar bears die) and many other problems.this is detrimental to human existence.

Hence,i feel that air travel is not good in the long-run.

Clarissa,DPCS 1B02

shanie Yes, I do agree that air travel creates more problems than benefits for the environment to a large extend. Air travel causes air pollution and contribute to global warming. For example, waste gases that is produced by air transportation may decrease the amount of oxygen on earth and difficulties for human to breathe (haze). It also increase the amount of carbon dioxide on earth, which brings up the temperature causes the icebergs to melt. This contribute to the increase of natural disaster.

However, air travel benefits human in economic and social way. Allow people to know more about the world with personal experience, able to earn more money by selling products and sending goods to overseas and for convience purposes.

Therefore, I agree to a large extend that air travel creates more problems than benefits for the environment to a large extend as it brings more harms than benefits to the environment.

Shanie Leong, DPCS/FT/1B02

shalahuddin I don't agree with the above statement.

Airplane is one of the greatest invention in the history of mankind. It greatly shorten travelling time. Doing business with other parts of the world doesn't take as much time as it were.

However, with all the benefits that we gain from air travel, there is also a set back to it. Airplane is a major contributor to the air and noise pollution. It also need a large amount of irreplacable fuel to run.

With all these i still support air travelling. Well nothing last forever right?

Muhd Shalahuddin, DMR 1B02

eileenlove I agree to a certain extend that air travel creates more problem for the environment.
Air travel is the most recent mode of transport made available, however with the usage of combustion, air planes released tons of pollutants into the atmosphere. It also creates noise pollution and brings about health concern to some people.
On the other hand, the advantages of air travel is that it conects people together and enable access to global markets. It saves us alot of time if we're travelling plus provide swift delivery of emergency and aid relieft to it has the lowest accident rate.

Eileen DPCS/1B/02

mingjiao56 I agree with your statement to a certain extent.
On the positive side,
Air travel enables people to travel to another part of the world less than one day. it provides a more comfortable and easier mode of transport. It helps save time for people to travel rather by using cars or ships or trains. Moreover, Airbus, an airplane with two storeys, can ferry double the amount of people around the world . This can also reduce the air pollution everyone is talking about. This is a benefit to the environment. Plus, if air travel contributes to air pollution, doesn't ships, cars, buses and trains also give out harmful toxin gases to the environment? It is a benefit is more people can fit into an Airbus than a double decker bus on four wheels.

On the negative side,
yes it does contributes to the air pollution in the environment and they released tons of it on every trip.

But on the other hand, they released tons of toxins on each trip but can ferry to more people each time. isn't it better?

Teo MingJiao DPCS1B02

yitian I agree that it creates more problems than benefits. Although it makes traveling to different parts of the world convenient, it is causing damage to our environment at the same time.
Aircrafts emit CO2 straight into the atmosphere where it does twice the amount of damage as CO2 released at ground level. This proves that air travels causes more harm to the environment compared to trains, cars and everything else. Soot and water vapour released by planes forms vapour trails which in cold air causes the formation of cirrus clouds which stop heat escaping from the earth.
Even though it does have some benefits, like saving us time when traveling to different countries all over the world, to learn new things, meet new people, see a different part of the world.
There are good and bad things about air travel, but overall, i agree with the statement, because in the long run, our future generations are going to suffer in a polluted environment, just because our generation is self-centered and only care about our convenience.

Yu Yi Tian DPCS/1B/02

hannahinas I believe that while air travel creates problems for the environment such as increasing the number of carbon dioxide released in the earth, the benefits that it provides is unrivalled. Air travels gives us the oppurtunity to see the world as it is. For example, to summer-ridden Singaporeans, winter might seem cool. However, to those who have experienced winter, they know that winter is not to be messed with. They have to suffer because of the cold and wet snow, have enough clothes to ensure enough warmth and be prepared for the possible onslaught of hail. Air travel allow us the oppurtunity to experience the good and bad of being in different coutries and their temperate firsthand instead of judging based on what we see on the television screen.

Also, air travel allows us to help people from other countries at the fastest possible time. When the tsunami hit Banda Aceh, how else did Singapore despatch help with but our air-travelling Chinooks?

Of course, all these results in more carbon footprints that we leave behind but sometimes we have to compromise for the sake of the greater good.

Siti Nurhannah DPCS/1B/02

angelko93 I agree to the above statement to a certain extent. In everything we do and what we have here right now, there will always be an advantage and disadvantage.

The carbon dioxide released by the airplanes does contribute to global warming. Apart from that, lots of crude oil from underground will be needed to produce the fuel and thus, results in depletion of natural resource.

On the other hand, airplanes have great benefits to us. With airplanes, the travel time is greatly reduced, even shorter than taking a ship or vehicles. Airplanes are also able to carry huge loads. Besides, the price of the air tickets are much more affordable than cars and ship. Another point to add in is that, for example, you have a relative who is going to pass away soon, I believe airplanes are the best solution for it only take hours instead of weeks if you take a bus.

Therefore, I feel that airplanes do not create problems than benefits to the environment.

Li Ching DPCS/1B/02

heyhokeypokey
I agree to a great extent that air travel creates more harmful effects than benefits to the environment.
The use of air travel, accounts for 3-5% of carbon dioxide in the air. Besides that, the aviation industry contributes to greenhouse gases from ground airport vehicles. As air travels make take up to quite a few hours, large amount of fuel is needed. Hence alot of crude oil has to be taken from the ground. The combustion of such sources also adds to the increase of waste gases in the air.

Although air travel create threats to the environment, it is still important to us. Without the use of air travel, one would have to take a much longer time to get to another country.

Tan Sze Ming (Niki)
DPCS/FT/1B02

glts10 In my opinion, I think that air travel does not create more problems than benefits for the environment.Firstly, with the advance technology of air travel, the places become more accessible and the time is becoming shorter. For example, a businessman is able to travel to China in the afternoon and be back to Singapore by night.

However, I also agree that the air travel also causes problems for the environment. The airplane uses fuel to travel and thus, producing carbon dioxide to the environment. This causes the global warming on Earth.Besides that, as more airplanes use fuel, the fuel resource is becoming more scarce.
Gerald Liau, DMR/1B/02

p1043903 Air travel creates more problems than benefits for the environment. How far do you agree?
I agree to this statement to a certain extent.
Air travel have its own advantages and disadvantages, however i feel that the advantages brought by the air travel is much more then its disadvantages, for example air travel facilitates us humans to travel all around the world to improve the economics, in times of war and natural disaster air travel are put into good use to aid other countries in need.
As for the disadvantages it is air pollution.
Chong junyi DPCS/02

p1044029 I agree to some extent that air travel cause more problems than benefits for the environment. It is true that with air travel, it makes things more convenient, such as travelling to places faster than other modes of transport. However, that convenience has resulted in a build-up of damage done to the environment which can be irreversible. Most forms of aviation release carbon dioxide (CO2) into the Earth's atmosphere, contributing to the acceleration of global warming, jet fuel using high octane is such example. Not to forget the fumes emitted by the jet engines, which constitutes of nitrogen oxides as well, which is one of a greenhouse gas which can cause irreversible damage to the environment as a whole. With an increase of air travel by the people due to their convenience, environment is made to pay heavily for that price. Convenience is something that most people desire, however to compensate that convenience with
something that can damage our homeland for life, it is not a good bargain. Therefore, I agree that air travel creates more problems than benefits for the environment.

Chua Wen Zhe DPCS/FT/02

gerichoh , imliying , justinongjr like this.

gabrielsee I for one belong in the category of supporters. I believe that we should all learn and know how to conserve our environment, and the disadvantages of not going green. I feel the media does have the influential power to give today's youths a thought about going green. I think for the media to advertise going green, they themselves have to go green first, being a "role model" in a sense. Questionnaires and Lucky Draws with good prizes might also be a good incentive for youths to start going green.

justinongjr I am proud to say that i belong to the supporters category. In my Daily life, I would do my best to throw the rubbish to the bin and as far as possible, i would discard it according to the different section (Metal, Plastic & Paper). I believe that the Media have the magic power to influence the youth today to be environmentally friendly. The reason why I go Green is because of the video shown on television and internet, which shows all those negative effects on the Earth. Through this, I am Deeply motivated to Go Green and to pass on this message to my friends through my actions!

ehdwns8483 I might as well be a supporter for I always envision myself in the future, where the water is clean, blue skies, green patios. Mother Earth has given so much to us, it'd be wrong not to give back. We have the responsibility of taking care of this world, so that the generations to come can enjoy living in a world we did. It wouldn't help if we used up all the resources and polluted the skies and waters, nobody wants that (unless you are a psychopath). I do believe that the media can influence today's youths to be more environmentally friendly. The media is everywhere, and like Gabriel says if there are role models, youths will possibly look up to them and follow their footsteps.

huilinn For me, i belong to supporters of going green. As we are all living on the same planet, i feel that it is our duty to ensure that the environment is clean. I have always been trying to reduce, reuse and recycle different materials in our daily life. Some of the examples are separating paper, cans and plastics and put them into the recycle bin, reusing used paper as draft paper, reduce the use of plastic bags when i go to convenient stores or supermarkets. In my opinion, i believe that the media are able to influence the youth as youths are easily influence by the media nowadays. Media can make use of television programmes, you tube, facebook, magazines, to design different campaigns and activities. By doing this, it will make it more fun and easier for youths to learn more about going green.

jolenelee To be honest, i am in the categories of the neturals. I have in mind that we should always go Green and should Reuse, Reduce and Recycle for the sake the planet and most importantly, ourselves. However, my laziness tends to result me in throwing rubbishes on a normal bin instead of a recycle bin, not bringing a bag to the supermarket and uses their plastic bag, throwing away tons of paper when I can recycle it, etc.

I believe that media can influence today’s youth to be more environmentally friendly. However, this applies only to a certain extent. When I saw the advertisement, be in on the television, brochure, etc. I am very determined on going green but after a few days, I had totally forgotten about it. Thus, I felt that the need to influence the youths, or even the adults, should be a never ending thing and in order to achieve this, there should be more publicity.

rayzacky I definitely am a supporter of going green. My reason for that is simple, natural resources are limited and over time, they will deplete.

Actions in my everyday life however are as green as a Fairprice plastic bag. I would have to thank my laziness for that.

No, the media can't do that.

jaycng Honestly speaking, we can assume that the majority of youths, including me, in Singapore are somewhat unconcerned when it comes to going green. Hence, i belong to the neutrals.

Throughout the years, many campaigns and contests were held to encourage youths to be more environmentally-friendly. These contests usually involves attractive prizes to be won. However, contestants are more attracted to the prizes and non-participants are more concerned about the outcomes of the contests. A good example is the Eco Music Challenge 2010 that was held recently.

Therefore, I conclude that the media hardly influence the youths to be more environmentally-friendly.

peilian Personally, I think I fall under the supporter category and I would like to attribute this to the good family culture I grew up in. My family has good environmental friendly habits and I am definitely a supporters of it. We recycle and reuse as much as we can. For instance, we use the used papers as rough papers and decline plastic bags from shops if we do not need them. Although these are just little things, I believe if everyone does the same thing, it would have a good impact on the world. I think the media influence on the youth to be more environmentally friendly is very little. Today's youth may get to know the threats the world is facing through media. Despite this, action taken by youth to help save the world is very little. Youths are not doing much although they have the knowledge of how they can play a part to help save the world. Hence, I think the media influence is not very effective.

deryoh We may not live to see the end of days, however, the world is where we live in and I honestly believe in preserving it for out future generations. Hence, I'm definitely a supporter.
We've generated so much green house gases that there's already a big hole in our ozone layer which protects us from the harmful rays. And if this generation of green house gases carries on, we wouldn't have a ozone layer anymore.
I've seen many countries that has stepped up the effort to help save our world. Such as setting days which plastic bags are not given out in shopping markets, or not given out at all! Gases that are discharged from factories have to meet certain standards of cleaniness set by the country.
We've also have to got to play our part. Even the smallest acts like reusing of water bottles and recycling of materials, like newspapers, helps. If everyone does this small acts, it'll add up.
Lastly, in my opinion, media has not been of much help in influencing youth to be more environmentally friendly. There are plently of documentaries which states how being environmentally friendly would not affect our daily lives, and lenghten the lifespan of planet earth. But, honestly speaking, I've not seen much change in the youths today.
Enough said, if we all want to breathe cleaner air, we've just got to play our part as individuals.

yinyao I am a cynic of the Going Green Movement. I am aware that individually, as a single human being, even the smallest effort would count towards helping to save the Earth. But, Going Green requires a collective effort from both the public and the corporate world in order to be effective. People tend to preach more than they practise. And I'm no exception. I try to keep in mind to reduce, reuse and recycle. But living in today's world has made it difficult to do so. Actions speak louder than words. Unless more people take actions in going green, it is not going to have enough of an impact on our environment.

The media can be a powerful tool in influencing today's youth to be more environmentally friendly if its use is exploited correctly. The media can emphasise on the urgency of going green by showing the grave consequences that will arise from global warming through TV and print ads, similar to the National Smoking Campaign which use hard-hitting posters to make smokers take action.

amirahzainal I am a neutral when it comes to going green, if i have to be blatantly honest about it. In general, i, if not in depth, am aware of global warming and the damaging effect it can bring to Earth. But i know that i have not done enough in my efforts to go green and keep global warming to a minimum. This is apparent even when i am carrying out the simplest of tasks in my everyday life - i hardly recycle my empty plastic bottles, reduce the usage of paper or reuse my plastic bags. At the end of the day, actions speak louder than words. It takes more out of me than to just acknowledge the problem of global warming in order to become proactive in becoming a more environmentally-friendly individual.

Moving on, i think that the media plays an important role in influencing today's youth to be more environmentally friendly. Various media outlets such as the television and internet can be utilised so as to spread the message of global warming, and show its detrimental effect on the earth. This will then subsequently encourage youths to lead a pro-green lifestyle. The effect may not be immediate but the media is instrumental in increasing awareness about global warming among youths.

cxiaolan To be honest, I am in the category of neutral, even though I do not littering. In some respects, I do well about going green: to recycle my news paper and unused clothes; to buy low-energy light bulbs, high-efficiency appliances. However, I did not intend to go green or to appeal others to go green: using unrecyclable plastic bags as the trash bags; never join any eco-organization.
I do not believe that the media is an efficient way to influence today’s youth to be more environmentally friendly. There are many TV shows, newspapers and advertisements which educate people to go green. But, most of youth just accept those theories rather than taking actions to be environmentally friendly. In my opinion, organizing an environmental group in school is very important, using actions to promote the enthusiasm of youth to go green.

nicky Seriously? I am a hardcore supporter. I always bring a bag or recycling bag when I'm out. Hence, I hardly ever uses plastic bags. In the past, the air conditioning unit in my room was on almost everyday, but for the past few years, the air conditioning unit was on hardly more than a total of two months a year. Why? I was influenced by a brochure that was in my mail a few years ago.

I remembered the brochure containing many information on the global warming issue and the threats it bring. Every sentence I read sent fear down my spine. Imagine when all our coral reefs were gone, the now endangered species becoming extinct and the frequent occurring extreme weathers. All this can hit us even before we die. So, it left me feeling that I should do something now than to regret it when the global warming issues affect us. Because then, I can tell myself that I have played my part.

This thing about media influencing youth to be more environmentally friendly might work, but it will only be a temporary solution. You can broadcast going green messages everyday and it could get into people's head, reminding them to be environmentally friendly. However, once the media stop publicizing, people will eventually forget about it as they don't sense the urgency or need to be green anymore when this little message or reminder stops.

wendy Personally, I do support Going Green. I believe it is important to play a part in saving the Earth as the planet appears to be warming up and it is caused by man’s actions to the environment. The consequences of global warming are disastrous and scary. Flooding and droughts may occur and these in turn could have a harmful effect on agriculture, marine life which equates to NO food for us, NO corals to mesmerize, NO peace for us! As individuals, we can Go Green through ways that are quick, easy and with little or no expense by practicing the 3Rs – Reuse, Reduce and Recycle. For example, using more energy-saving appliances, taking public transport, buying products with less packaging or products which are environmentally-friendly.

In my opinion, the Media can influence today's youth to be more environmentally friendly. For instance, there was this ‘LIVE EARTH’ concert held on July 7, 2007 (07/07/07). The concerts brought together more than 150 musical acts in eleven locations around the world which were broadcast to a mass global audience through televisions, radio, and streamed via the Internet. Furthermore, social networks such as facebook, twitter, youtube could be used as a platform to send the message to the youths.

Therefore, as individuals, a nation and international society, we should work together to save our dying planet.

zhiqi Personally, I believe in Going Green to save the Mother Earth thus I am a supporter. Well, I’ve been a rather enthusiastic supporter of Going Green, probably due to the influence of my family, and friends. Since young, my Mother uses a big recycling bag every time she visits the market. I’ve been influenced to not get a carrier every time I buy something if my bag has enough room to put the items in.

I am grateful also that my friends surrounding me are Go Green supporters too. We usually bring reusable fork and spoon, chopsticks, mugs whenever we have a picnic or whenever we have a party. It is already a rule for everyone to bring reusable utensils every time we gather!

In my opinion, I do not feel that the Media has a large capability to influence today’s youth. The use of media to convey the Go Green message has been going on for probably close to a decade. I guess other than using the media to educate today’s youth on Going Green, why not let them have some hands on experience?

I’ve been to a programme called “Balik Kampong” that is held at Bottle Tree Park on every Sunday morning. The main aim of the programme is to let youths, or rather the public to come together and work for the environment. The organization needs help in things like planting of vegetable, painting on used tiles that are recycled to decorate the green houses, building of a bridge, etc. I feel that this is great opportunity for youths to get influenced because they get to feel and have substantial understanding and empathy towards the environment.

I believe it is not difficult to Go Green because every little thing you do, a little action you do, can stir up a chain effect. In other words, if you are a supporter of going green, you can try to influence people around you and thus it will spread out and influence more people. Little actions like not using a carrier while buying small items, bringing your own utensils for parties, fully utilizing both sides of a piece of paper can help to cut down on the use of resources thus saving the Earth. They are so simple, so why not?

wenjun Neutral is where I would place myself into the category of Going Green. In the modern cultural we are living in, Going Green is the hottest topic which everyone around us would pledge them to Green. However, I'm not part of the trend.

I'm a person who prefers conveniences rather than making an effort, like going to those supermarkets, I rather paying 10cents for each plastic bag which I need than bringing my grocery bag from my house. If I got a car, I would drive than taking public transport.

I believe the Media plays an important role influencing the Youths of today. By playing a video on Facebook, Youtube and etc, these platforms will easily conveys an environmental message to Youths of today at an instant. Thus, Media definitely plays a part in promoting Going Green.

liwen I am definitely a supporter. A clean environment makes people feels happier. There would not be anyone who would want to live in a dirty and unhygienic place. Since young, I have been playing my part in going green by abiding with the 3Rs. I have always used recycled paper to makes my notes for studying. In addition, I always try my best to print on both sides of the paper whenever I could. These are just one of the few "green" habits that I have kept up till today.

It is indeed true that the media plays a part in influencing the youths today to be more environmentally friendly, however, I believe that it is only to a certain extent. Youths today are in touch with media everyday. The media can be a powerful tool to educate the youths if it is used appropriately. Through the media, we can raise the youth’s awareness on environmental issues. For instance, there are contests which require youths to use recycled materials to produce an artefact or other useful items. By working on the contests, it reminds them that some materials are reusable.

However, the use of media to influence youth can also be a double-edged sword. The “Live Earth” concert seeks to spread the important message of going green but the occurrences of these concerts have exhausted large amount of electrical power which in turn have an adverse effect on our ozone layer. Thus, the media should be used appropriately without creating a negative impact on the earth.

Through simple actions like throwing our litter into a rubbish bin, we can together make a difference to the Earth. Although an individual effort may seem to be insignificant, the concerted effort of many individuals would definitely make a difference.

wenglenda The topic "Going Green" has been around Singapore for years and I have always been neutral about it. As much as I may like to be more environmental friendly, its has never been my habit to be "more green" like bringing my own bags when doing grocery shopping or making a little more effort to be more environmental friendly. But there are still times where I try using recycled papers for exam notes or throw my rubbish into the correct bins (glass, paper, plastic).

There are times I do things that are considered environmental friendly and those actions came from the media efforts. I read magazines that have columns on teaching us how to make use of items that are recyclable, or notes on how to make the earth greener. There are newspapers where there is a section of it talking about the 3Rs occasionally or discussing about how to make the earth greener. Hence, I feel that the Media will be able to change to youth to be more environmentally friendly.
And that, is only provided if the youths do look into those media (videos, magazines) that are promoting the "Going Green" campaign.

halimatus I would consider myself a neutral when it comes to going green. I will throw plastic bottles into the recycle bins only when they are in sight. If not, I will just throw them into the nearest rubbish bin. I will keep a stack of papers at home with the intention of reusing them; however, I will end up using new sets of papers. I am definitely aware of the degradation of the earth and the effects it has on my daily life. Unfortunately, people tend to be all talk no action, and I am no exception.

The media can be used to influence today’s youth if the right methods are used. Little things such as making use of video-sharing websites and social networking sites which are frequented by youths today could influence them to be more environmentally friendly. However, the media could also contradict the message they are trying to spread when they hold big concerts in the name of promoting a green earth.

jingjing I disagree. The misusing of the recycling bin cannot be said that Singaporeans are not concerned or mature enough to be involved in the recycling programme. In my opinion, I think that the misusing of recycling bin is cause by lazy-ness. It can be very inconvenient to ask people to sort their rubbish then throw them in the correct bin. so due to lazy-ness, Singaporeans then to overlook the chain of consequence of misusing the bin. Singaporean can be said to be very concern about recycling programme. I waasnot sure when has this new trend started, in many events, recycling have been often emphasis. Other than that, environmental education had been including into education system as well. I think this have help to pushed the future generation to think further for the environment, when they have to make use of raw materials. Singaporeans will be involved in the recycling programme with more passion, if more measures can be taken to push them to think further.

After watching variety show, Behind every job. Singapore produces seven tons of refuse everyday and half of it gets sent to NEA's incineration plant to be incinerated? If you think the smell from everyday refuse is foul, the smell at the plant is 100 times worse! I realise how much hard work has to be done to ensure that the rubbish has been classfied and dispose properly. The show has really impacted me, if more of such shows can be shown/publicise, I believe it can get more and more people to be involved in the recycling programme~

geraldine135 I disagree. Although Singaporeans mis-use the recycling bins, but is not the majority who do that. They are still a minority that recycle the correct items and place them in the correct bins. As to why Singaporeans are not concerned enough to be invovled in the recycling programme, it is probably because they are lazy. They are lazy to categorise their rubbish and to bring it down to the recycling bins to recycle them. It could also be because the recycling bins are placed too far from their block of flat, that is why they just placed all their rubbish into a plastic bag and throw it into the refuse chute.

As I have recently watched a variety show, Behind Every Job, there is this episode where it shows local hosts assigned to visit the incineration plant. In this episode, it shows that before the refuse are being sent to incinerate, there are workers whom will sort out Singaporeans' refuse first. Maybe this is the reason why Singaporeans are not so concerned about recycling because there will still be workers at the incineration plant who will sort out the refuse first before incinerating them. As Singaporeans produce tons of refuse everyday, imagine the hours the workers will have to work everyday to sort out their refuse! However, I believe Singaporeans will understand the hardship the workers are going through.

In conclusion, in order to increase the awareness and importance of recycling, town councils should probably come up with more recycling programmes, involving that particular neighbourhood to bring down all items that are recycable. In addition, schools should assigned students weekly to go to those elderly neighbourhood to help the elderly recycle those recycable items as it might be too heavy for them to carry down to the recycling bins. This way, students are able to know the importance of recycling, take part in recycling, and start recycling. If more recycling bins are placed near HDB flats, Singaporeans would then be not afraid of the hassle to bring their refuse down. In short, Singaporeans are just lazy! Therefore if the government wants Singaporeans to take part in recycling programmes, they should start knowing the reasons why Singaporeans are unwilling to do so! They should probably start interviewing neighbours and then do the approriate act. But I believe, with the constant pushing from government, Singaporeans will definitely start to slowly get invovled in recycling programmes, and eventually take the initiative to recycle.

fenyh I agree that majority of Singaporeans are not mature or concerned about recycling programmes. How many percent of actually play our part in the nationwide "Bring Your Own Bag Day" campaign? For some they won’t even aware of this campaign. We are not like the United States where recycling is part of their culture and it’s a habit they have cultivated since young. The supermarket in the states provides disposable paper bags instead of plastic version. However in Singapore we encourage shoppers to bring their own recycling bag but frankly do you? Personally I would rather pay for the plastic bag.

Yes it’s true that only a minority of Singaporeans misused the recycle bin but the truth is a majority of us do not even use the bin at all. As a result there are lesser recycle bins around us now; they have been replacing by monthly recycling bags sent to our letter box. Thus this create problem for those who are keen in recycling their bulky items .Therefore some people would rather dump it along the corridor rather than going the extra mile to sent it to a recycling center.

The recycling projects in Singapore are at the beginning stage. Cultivating recycling culture takes time and so we can’t expect instant success. Statistic has also shown that 15 to 20 percent of the recyclables collected were disposed off. This shows that the general public are not mature or well educated on what recyclable are as they usually put it with unrecyclable items. Many people still treat recycling bins as ordinary rubbish bins. Although schools now, encourage recycling through events, competitions and project to educate the school children. We still have a very long way to go before the general public accepts recycling activities as part of their daily life.

Singapore has a reputation for being clean and green but Singaporeans do not have a reputation of going green.

shuying93 I do agree that most Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programmes. For example, one of the weak link is the "garung guni" engaged to collect the "recycling bags" from each household. They are not interested if there are no "added value" in the bags like old newspaper or electric appliances. So for the other materials which have no “added value” but can be recycled, the “garung guni” may not even bother about it.
In Singapore, how many people actually bother to use the recycle bin? Most Singaporeans don’t even bother to look if it is a recycle bin or a non-recyclable bin. Most of them would not even spend a second to think if the item they are disposing can be recycled or not, they just simply dispose it into the non-recyclable bin because most of them might be lazy to look at which is recyclable and which is not. So to save the trouble, most of them would just throw it into the non-recyclable bin and that would solve the problem of throwing the non-recyclable items into the recyclable bin.
Take a look at other countries such as Japan, households are required to segregate their trash into different recycling bins, if the waste is sorted into the wrong bin, no collection will be made. And in certain boroughs of London, users will be issued a fine if authorities find recyclable waste in their mixed waste bins.
Just by comparing Japan and certain boroughs of London with Singapore, it shows that Singaporeans are not concerned enough to be involved in recycling programmes. User education is a long-term investment. Hence, I believe that it would take a while for Singaporeans to be diligent in their recycling habits, and also, some form of regulation may be needed to get them engaged in the recycling programme.

taywy I agree to a large extent that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme.

Firstly, when we’ve the many kinds of Recycling Programmes, be it the “Bring your own bag day” Campaign, “Recycling at Home” through the National Recycling Programme, or what have you, how many of us Singaporeans actually took part in it? For this, there are three groups of people. One, people who are unaware of these programmes at all. Posters, banners, commercial ads and every kind of advertising gimmick up, but still, the majority just doesn’t know of the programmes’ existence. Two, people who knows about it, and does something about it. The keyword here is “something”. Some people respond to the recycling programme for just a while. It could be that they’re just too busy to remember it after their recycling act for three days, or what they’ve done for that few days is just for the sake of doing so, to say that “I’ve done my part for the environment”. And of course, there’s this group of people putting in their utmost effort to participate in every of the recycling programme, which makes up the third group. But how big is this group? Regretfully, it only holds up to the minority of the minority among Singaporeans.
In a sense, I’m more inclined to think that Singaporeans are just not very concerned towards the environment. In a developed country like Singapore, we all live in a life of luxury, so comfortable that none of us would want to change this lifestyle just to suit the recycling programme. “We’ve rubbish bins, so let’s just throw our rubbish into the bin. Who cares whether it’s to recycle plastic, glass or paper; it’s so troublesome.” or “The shopping centre will provide us with the shopping bags needed, so why bother to take this ugly and dull recycling bag which doesn’t suit my dressing today, and it’s such a chore to take an extra bag out!”; such mentalities are commonly going around at the back of most of our heads, simply because we’re used to the life we’ve led for years, where recycling isn’t the hot topic of the town. In addition, Singaporeans will think that Singapore will have the ability to get what’s needed easily, and hence there’s no need to go about recycling this and that – they could just be easily bought by the government soon! These are wrong and immature concepts that have been instilled in our minds by no one else, by us.

Hence in conclusion, I agree that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme to a large extent. But still, impossible is nothing. So long as everyone is being taught of the right thinking, and is willing to start contributing more and more to the environment each day, given time, Singapore will also be a recycling country!

amirahr I do agree to a certain extent that majority of Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme. Although schools may have done their part in helping to create awareness by organizing talks about the recycling programme or giving out pamphlets about the recycling programme, the students may not cultivate the habit of recycling at home. It may be because they fail to see the importance of recycling and cannot be bothered to get themselves involve in such a programme as they feel it does not benefit them.

Apart from not taking part in the recycling programme, there are certain Singaporeans who misuse the recycling bins by throwing their rubbish in the wrong bin. There are also lesser recycling bins in HDB estates which may be because lesser Singaporeans are taking part in the recycling programme. For example, Singaporeans would rather sell their newspapers to the “karang guni” because it is easier and more convenient for them as the karang guni come and collect the newspapers from at their door step. Another reason for people not taking part in the recycling programme may be because they are not aware of such a programme as there is not enough exposure about the recycling programme. I realise that there are no posters, pamphlets or anything related to recycling in my neighbourhood.

Another example to show that there is only a minority of Singaporeans taking part in the recycling programme is when Singaporeans would rather pay for plastic bags than bring their own bags when going shopping because they feel that it is such a hassle. Unlike in other countries, we are not given paper bags when going grocery shopping, which can be recycled. Plastic bags cannot be recycled and the recycling programme cannot be a success without the help of Singaporeans. I feel that Singaporeans tend to be selfish and would not make the extra effort to help out in any programme unless they get a reward in return or the government impose a law on recycling.

In conclusion, I agree that Singaporeans are not mature and concerned enough about the recycling programme to a large extent. However, with more awareness and effort from Singaporeans, the recycling programme can be a huge success. Singaporeans need to show more concern and be more aware of such a programme.

veiledscoops Singaporeans have been reminded countless of times to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; The three 'R's that have been implanted into our minds from the National Environmental Agency. Many posters and advertisements have been publicized however, till now, we now know how ignorant Singaporeans are.

Globally, Singapore has the lowest recycling rates in the developed world - A source found by a group of students from the National University of Singapore.

This shows how amateur Singaporeans are towards recycling and saving the environment.

Singaporeans have been familiarized and pampered to think that they have whatever they need anytime and anywhere. Shortage have never been a problem in Singapore, which causes recycling to be a minor factor to worry about in Singapore. However, Singaporeans are oblivious to the situation the world will face if they do not reduce, reuse and recycle.

The "Go green" campaign happens annually for a few weeks. But what happens after the campaign movement ends? Singaporeans goes back to their daily lives, where rubbish goes into trash cans instead of the recycling cans. Similarly, for the "Bring your own bag day", it was a complete failure the first time it was launched. Thus, a second round of "Bring your own bag day" was relaunched, where participation from the public was a notch better. However, after the "Bring your own bag day" movement ended, Singaporeans, went back to their comfort wagons and enjoy the convenience of keeping plastic bags from the supermarkets. Recycling bins are not so much of a common sight in Singapore but one should know that they do exist. However, even if an area has a recycling bin, the other recycling bins are miles apart. Singaporeans, as we all know, will not be willing to travel not even 100m to the recycling bins. They would rather throw their rubbish into the rubbish bins which are a more common sight in streets or public places in Singapore. Recycling bins are also located in residential areas. However, only a minority of them has the privilege of having the recycling bins. Even if they have recycling bins, only one large recycling bin is available for a cluster of HDB residential flats. A typical Singaporean will not be willing to travel two or three blocks away just to throw their bags of recycled items.

Therefore, I have come to a conclusion that Singaporeans are oblivious and not environmentally-alert enough towards recycling. Furthermore, recycling is not for the good of the country, but for the good of the whole world as well. To notice the insensitivity of Singaporeans towards being environmentally friendly, it is completely disappointing.

jeryl "Taking care of the environment is something which concerns all of us. We don't all have to take on global causes, but each of us can contribute locally by keeping Singapore our island clean and green," said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the launch of the Clean and Green Singapore 2011 campaign.
According to what Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said, it is true that everyone can play a part in going green in Singapore, but how many Singaporeans would actually do it? At Punggol Primary School, students have turned old bottles into flower pots, at Jurong Primary School, students have created bottle gardens, and these are the two schools out of 328 schools which went the extra mile in going green. What about the other 326 schools which did not go the extra mile in going green? Students, teachers and even the principals have individual responsibilities in implementing ‘go green’ campaign in school but from what I have researched, only two schools went the extra mile in going green in their school, not talking about taking part in go green campaigns outside. Therefore I agree to a large extent that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme.
Do you know that there are more than 1,500 recycling bins all over Singapore? Recycling bins are placed not only in HDB estates but also in food courts hawker centres and coffee shops. Having to eat out almost every day, I noticed that the cleaners there do not even sort the cans/plastic bottles out but instead, throwing it all into the main rubbish bin which is meant for the leftover food.
How often are Singaporeans really concerned enough to throw the correct rubbish into the correct recycling bins? Not very often I would say, in HDB flats where I live, I see big rubbish bags and old furniture left at the very corridors. Majority of Singaporeans, I would say, have the lazy nature in them where doing things the fastest and easiest way is sufficient. Majority of Singaporeans are not mature? Not concerned? Once again, I agree to a very large extent.
I personally believe that even if the government comes up with a Go-Green campaign in Singapore, people would do and take part for the sake of doing it, not out of their own will. It is disappointing to know that and the government should do something about this issue before more Singaporeans do not see the importance of ‘going green’ in Singapore.

zhengjpzhengjp i agreed with the statement saying that singaporeans are not ready for recycling programes.

from my obersevation, although there are recycling bins provided at many places but people seldom used them. of of the reason is that i think most of the times the government will do the go green jobs so that the citizens take all these efforts for granted. they may tend to forget that they need to make their contributions as to make the country to run the go green programmes successlful. it is because that citizens are already living in a clean and green environment so many of the people do not have the mindset and support for go green programmes.

"Generally, I feel that Singaporeans are not ready to embark on the trail for a better and greener environment.Unlike other countries like USA, Taiwan, Japan, etc.I am saying that is because recently our company recently brought in a revoluntionary Green product which had a very successful exposure in the USA and had enjoyed great publicity response over thereBut down here, not only the response from our surveys came back with negative or cold response in view of using a Greener product but when i search thru the web in Singapore, we had very little site which supports a Greener environment."
(http://www.reach.gov.sg/YourSay/DiscussionForum/tabid/101/mode/3/Default.aspx?ssFormAction=%5B%5BssBlogThread_VIEW%5D%5D&tid=%5B%5B452%5D%5D)

this is a statement made by a guest, it goes to show that other guest to the country also feel that most singaporeans are not ready for the reclycling programmes.

although all the people are educated and taught about the importance of recycling but many still do not bother to care. back to the roots to the problem, why do people not ready for the recycle programmes?

in my opinion i think is because that people do not have strong moral values in them. for example, if there is no laws against littering, i think most probably many people will litter. another example is the reserved seat in the trains and buses, althought there are signs to show people to give up their seats to the needies but many of the people will pretend not to see the signs or pretend to sleep when they see any needies. does it means that signs are not strong enough to influence the public or people are just selfish? so maybe the law needs to step in for the keeping the reserved seat as well as for the recycling programes to go well?

but of course to a small extend there are still people who does care about recycling programes. like one of my friends mum, she will always use the reclycle bins when she sees them.

in conclusion, i felt that the reality is the world is moving too fast and too competitve which make many turn into selfish individuals hence in order to involve all into the recycing programes is pretty challanging and when neccessary maybe the government can take more serious actions to enforce the recycleing programes.


jiangping

nhmay I agree to a large extend that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme.

As you all can see, Singapore had been trying their best to encourage Singaporean to reuse, reduce & recycle for the past few years in many ways such as educating them in school, television, newspaper, radio and other forms of media tools too. However, up till now, do you think Singaporeans did play a part in it? Honestly speaking, I think the majority don't. If they did, then why do we still find those recycling bins being mis-used AFTER SO MANY YEARS?

I personally think that Singaporeans are mainly lazy and this result them to be immature. To many of them, they can just throw their used cans/ newspaper in their house rubbish bin. Why would they want to walk down to their HDB flats to throw it or just to recycle it? They will definitely find it a hassle to do so. On top of that, not all recycling bins are located below HDB. Sometimes they have to walk a further distance just to recycle their items. And if they find it a hassle to do so, I would say that they are not mature enough to think for the earth. Just because they are lazy, it results the earth a HUGE problem in many years to come later. Thus, I think they are not mature enough yet.

Besides that, most Singaporeans are not concern about recycling issues because there’s no issue about it NOW. That doesn’t mean that in future it won’t have any problem just because you don’t see a problem now. Singapore is trying their best to prevent global warming and etc. However, Singaporeans don’t think there’s a need to do so. They should start to change their mindset about recycling. Most of them always think that, “I don’t have to do it, because others will.” However, if everyone have this common mindset, who will recycle and save the earth?

I remembered there was once Singapore want us to put all recycle items in a green bag and leave it outside our house. It was quite successful from start. Everyone was enthusiastic and everything. But what’s happening now? Are Singaporeans still doing it? The answer will be no. Maybe there are still some, but i believe the number is getting lesser and lesser.

In conclusion, I personally think that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programmes. Most of them are lazy, they have the wrong mindset in mind as well. Thus, I think that Singapore can try to work closely with Singaporeans. Make all the recycling campaign BIG and ONGOING. Let Singaporeans realise the importance of recycling and if it’s ongoing, Singaporean won’t get a chance to forget about recycling easily. Make it more close to them by having neighbourhood event, giving them goodie bag. So as they help they might feel happier too !

HWEEMAY/depm/06

tanmc I believe Singaporeans are ready for recycling programmes, and are already going through some of these programmes right now. This can be seen from the numerous recycling programmes available in Singapore which promote the 3 Rs. These programmes are very well received by the general public and therefore, we can infer that Singaporeans are playing a big part in reycling. As such, it will not be wrong to say that Singaporeans are actively embracing the act of recycling and do understand how important recycling is with regards to saving the environment.

I do not agree that recycling bins being unused or misused is a reflection that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme. I believe such recycling bins have been misplaced i.e. they may have been placed at inappriopriate or inconvenient locations that residents of HDB flats do not pass by or notice with ease, and therefore, this may lead to reduced usage of the recycling bins. Also, it could also be that the recycling bins were not properly labelled, leading to misuse as there may be a misunderstanding in the actual use of the bin i.e. without a proper label, many will treat a recycling bin as a rubbish bin. Therefore, I strongly believe that such treatment of recycling bins is an accurate reflection of Singaporeans' mindsets.

depm06

shahirahr I agree to a large extent that Singaporeans are not matured or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme.

For the past couple of years, Singaporeans have been constantly reminded of the 3Rs ; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Students in primary and secondary schools are the main targets as it is believed that the young should be taught about the importance of saving the environment. However, how can the youth and students be motivated and driven to save the environment if working adults and middle-aged Singaporeans, mainly their parents, do not lead and pave the way for our own children? Young Singaporeans need direction and leadership in cultivating a good life habit of making the conscious effort to preserve and protect the environment. There should be a constant conscious effort to protect our environment and not a habit that we get into on weekends, holidays or “recycling-days”. This is what that lacks in our community, particularly the adults. As such, before we start telling our youth about the importance of protecting the environment, we must first correct our adults who are choosing not to put in the effort to participate in the campaigns and recycling programmes available in the country.

It is evident and clear that Singaporeans are not ready or mature enough to be actively be a part of the global movement of saving Mother-Earth. This can be seen through the recycle bins that are not only not utilized but in fact misused by the community, recycling bins that are vandalized, damaged and strewn with rubbish and bulky items that were disposed off. As such, we can see that even though Singaporeans know the purpose and reason for the recycle bins being around the neighbourhoods, they turn a blind eye and are blatantly ignorant about the country’s on-going effort to build a society that is environmentally-friendly. A huge majority of Singaporeans are not even participating actively in the campaigns launched by the government to promote the green-initiative. The “Bring your own bag day” campaign received very poor response as Singaporeans are seen to rather pay more for the non-biodegradable plastic bags than to bring their own shopping bags for the sake of convenience. I feel that this is very selfish of Singaporeans as even though they are fully aware that plastics are very harmful to the environment as they are non-biodegradable and combustion of plastics release chlorofluorocarbons that depletes the ozone layer. Being aware of how hazardous and harmful plastics can be, Singaporeans ought not to be selfish and take a more proactive approach towards protecting the environment.

In conclusion, it is clear that Singaporeans generally do not participate in Go-Green campaigns that much. In fact, most are doing things that harm the Earth. However , we can’t deny that there are indeed some of us that go to the extra mile to do our part to save the Earth despite through small things such as saving water and switching off the power when electrical appliances are not in use. It is in my opinion that Singaporeans should follow in the footsteps of people in other countries all over the world in having the conscious effort in protecting our environment in every way that we can even if it is in the expense of our own convenience, to create a better home for the future generations.

Shahirah R.
DEPM05

vivian0510 I agree to a large extent that there are many Singaporeans out there who are still not ready for recycling programmes.

Firstly, I believe it is because they are too lazy to categorize the waste materials before throwing them away. Typical singaporeans would just throw it in a common bin which will solve their problem of getting rid of their waste. Futhermore, Singaporeans live in a fast-paced society and people are usually caught up with work or studies. Thus, the common excuse is that they could not afford the time to meticulously seperate their rubbish before throwing them away.

Another reason why individuals are not playing their part in environmental conservation projects is due to the tragedy of the commons which we identified in 1968 through the eyes of Gerrett Hardin. It meant that people tend to shrink responsibility because they feel that others will do the job in conserving the environment and hence they will be able to have a free-ride. Thus people are not encouraged to play a part.

Last but not least, Singaporeans are very pragmatic and a simple act of categorizing their trash would not bring about any tangible benefits in the near future and hence they are not encouraged to do so. This is a very logical postulate.

However, there are also people out there who play their part by throwing their waste into the recycle bins. Therefore, i think it is not right to stereotype all singaporeans to be immature and not ready for the recycling programmes.

For example, there is a programme held by the National Environmental Agency (NEA) in collaboration with the Housing Development Board (HDB) whereby each individual households are encouraged to bag their recycable trash and put it outside their house and the personnels would then come to collect it on a monthly basis. However, how many Singaporeans actually actively participate in this program? The answer is, a minority of them. This has led to the eventual removal of this program.

In essence, the majority of Singaporeans are not putting in enough effort to conserve the environment due to laziness, the fast-paced nature of our sociey as well as the tragedy of the commons, thus leading me to the concluding stand that Singaporeans are not ready for recycling programs.

Chua Vivian
DEPM/FT/1B/06

tingting I agree to a certain extent in the point of saying putting recycle bins in HDB estates will often not used or mis-used and reflect that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme.
As I believe Singapore has been putting lots of effort in educating the next and current generation on environmental issues. For example in schools, they allocate a space known as the recycling corner in both their classroom and their school, but the recycling corner usually ended up to be their nearest rubbish bin and what usually are in there will be paper ball and newspaper the school gave. For projects conducted within neighbourhood like sorting out their rubbish, newspaper/old clothes collection, usually results in inactive participation. Having to go through so much trouble, they still fail in the part of conveying the message on the importance of recycling. The mis-used of recycle bins does not only happen in school but also within the HDB estate as most of the residents are just plain lazy to find the right bin to throw in their garbage, and also to sort out their garbage. So as compared to countries like Japan or Hong Kong, we had contributed little or nothing to environmental issue. “Japan is a model country in terms of recycling. Their efforts have surpassed many countries. Japan has recently passed a number of laws that have helped the country’s recycling issues. These laws have produced tremendous results in Japan’s favour.” [http://www.uwstout.edu/static/rs/2007/Recycling.pdf]
In the nutshell, I think Singapore still have lots of things to be done on the recycling issue before it can really be known as the Clean and Green City.
Chua Ting Ting DEPM/06

peiqin Singaporeans are definitely ready for recycling programmes. The past few years the government has been setting up the base for promoting recycling programmes. Like for example, it is common in schools to see recycle bins. These recycling bins and recyclables collection are usually provided for free by the public waste collectors who are also in charge of collecting waste from the schools. The government educates the public from young, children in kindergartens and childcare centers can deposit their recyclables in nearby centralised recycling bins or in recycling bags. In addition, they include activities into children’s curriculum, and often provide talks and encourage students to recycle.
Other activities that government has introduced include Project E.A.R.T.H. (Every Act of Recycling Trash Helps), placing recycling bin under HDB blocks, the Bring Your Own Bag Day (BYOBD) and many more. Bins that are placed under HDB blocks are often used by households. The trashes in every house mostly are by house wife. House wife are known for their thriftiness and their ability to reuse every item in their house. They know what to throw and what not to throw, and things that can be recycled or reused. Thus, I feel that bins are not misused, but used to its fullest capacity.
With the amount of effort that the government has put in, I believe that Singaporean is ready to contribute their part to save the environment.

DEPM1B05- PEIQIN

peijunt I agree that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programmes.
I find that Singaporeans are not mature because they are not contributing much enough to the environment friendly issue even after the educating of environment in school, radio, Television and road show event.
First of all I think that not all Singaporean will take the initiative to throw their stuff into the specify bins. They would rather go to a nearer bin than going to the recycle bin which is further from them. So basically they did not see the need to recycle stuff and reuse them. They think that it not their responsibility to do that and they will wait for other to do.
And secondly, I think that it true that most Singaporeans are not mature enough resulting in mis-using the recycle bin. Once you open the bin, you will find a lot of junks eg. Banana skins, rubber bands and pens, are thrown into the recycle bin. You will also be able to find items inside the bins are not being classified correctly.
And lastly, the “bring-your-own-bag day” campaign did not really fulfill its purpose. Not many Singaporeans will be willing and mature enough to bring their own bag to supermarket that particular day. Some would even choose not to go supermarket on that particular day because they find it troublesome.
In conclusion, I think that Singaporeans should be more environments friendly and be willing in reuse, recycle and reduce. They should throw the right thing in the right bins and not throwing other unwanted stuff into it. Walking longer distance to use the recycle bins is a way of providing the next generation a better environment.

DEPM1B06 PeiJun

kfangting I agree to a large extend that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in recycling activities.

Although the government had tried their very best to instill recycling habit in Singaporean, it does not work. Many Singaporeans do not see the point of recycling. I often hear people saying that disasters that many countries are facing now will not strike Singapore; therefore they are not worried of it. These environmental problems have yet to bring great difficulties to our daily lives and therefore, many still do not see the consequences of not ceasing environmental problems from getting bad to worse. It reflects the selfishness of typical Singaporeans and that they are not concerned how the disastrous consequences would affect our next generation. Just because it is ‘none of their business’, many or I should say the majority of them are still reluctant to start recycling. It is difficult to change their mindset and make them believe that their actions do make a difference. They find it a hassle to get involve in recycling programmes, be it collecting materials at home or depositing them in the recycling bins. Therefore, many people are not concerned and do not see how important recycling is.

On the other hand, some might argue that Singaporeans do participate in recycling programmes. Have you ever seen people queuing up to exchange their recycling materials to receive something in return? This does not indicate that all of those who are queuing are doing recycling because they want to contribute to the society. Instead, it might be the rewards that are making them to do so. Also, we seldom notice people depositing their collected materials in the recycling bins. “We had saved religiously, but the payout was terrible,” James remembers. “That was the last time I ever tried to recycle. It barely paid for my gasoline to get down there.” (http://compostinginsingapore.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/how-true-why-people-dont-recycle/) Based on this statement, we can see that people are doing recycling due to incentives but not on purpose to save our mother Earth. People are complaining even with a little amount of incentive, can you imagine if recycling is totally without incentives, I doubt people will be willing to recycle.

In conclusion, I felt that selfishness and lack of concerned is the main problem why people do not participate in recycling programmes. Singaporeans need more encouragement and time to get used to the recycling habit and participate in various recycling programme.

DEPM/FT/1B/05 Fang Ting

jiahui Firstly addressing the issue of recycling. By recycling, it does not mean that the public is suppose to dump their rubbish into the recycling bin everyday,instead recycling could be done in a way or another.It should not be limited to just the usage of recycling bins.Also, other than recyling,reducing and reducing is also equally important. In fact, recycling is happening all around us, it is just that we are all oblivious to it.

For example, nowadays parents are using plastic bottles to grow plants which is also recycling but just that we are reusing this item for any usage which could also be considered as recycling. Also, the exercise about the public bringing their own bags on wednesday is also receiving a lot of support and this is an act of reducing the usage of plastic bag which is non-biodeagradable. Hence, both the reducing and reusing is quite successful. Now,to address the problem of recycling. Firstly for recycling, there are a lot of recycling drive going around in schools in singapore. For example, in my former secondary school, our school had the annual recycling drive competition which offers attractive prices to be won and through that, the students are motivated to do their best and try hard for the drive. Surprisingly,tons and tons of newspapers and tin cans were gathered and the drive was more than just successful. Hence, the award factor comes into play.

For singaporean, we are driven by the seduction of money. It is a basic human lust and greed. Through money and benefits, we human are willing to put in our effort. For example, elderly are always sloggin their guts out to gather tin cans at coffeeshops and then crushing them and selling it for money. The reason why they do that? Because of the monetary benefit! Since those recycling programmes did not offer any monetary benefit, hence we typical singaporeans do not care much about it. Hence we are not to blames for being immature, There should be some form of benefit to actually drive the singaporeans to actually put in effort to do their part in protecting mother nature.For example, there could be maybe a reward of 10 cents for every gram of recycled material that is dumped into the recycling bin. Hence, singaporeans are more motivated to support the recyling programme.

Hence, i conclude that singaporeans are not immature or unconcerned, it all boils down to whether there are any benefits for them.

Yeo Jia Hui
DEPM 1B/05

qiaoting I disagree. The statement "This is a reflection that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme." is a type of generalizing. We cannot based on some mis-used recycling bins as a conclusion that all Singaporeans are not mature or not concerned about the environment. Not all Singaporeans are realistic and benefits driven.

Although the change of attitude is slow. there still is a change! Which is better than not doing anything. These few years the government has been producing environment friendly events to help further promote the use of the three Rs. Reduce, reuse and recycle. I believe almost every Singaporean is aware of the monthly program of "Bring your own bag day"This is helping us to create an avid habit of bringing our own bags for shopping purposes. Lots of other shops have promotions for being environmental friendly too. If Singaporeans are not mature or concerned about the environment, would there even be any promotions about it in stores?

Personally, my family and some of others that I know of do separate the trash from the recycled materials. I believe that as long as one person does their part in recycling, there would be an influence to the others. Bit by bit the situation to turn out to be better.

QiaoTing DEPM 1B/05

yuminakajima well, there's always two side you can take, either you agree or disagree. for me, I'm on the fence.
and why so? the reason are as follows:

You can't fault Singaporeans on the whole as not ready to go green just because of un-used and mis-used recycling bins.
As said above, recycling is not just about the recycling bins being fully utilise. recycling comes in a lot of ways.for example, In singapore, the refillable packs of houshold products are the MOST popular in supermarket. this shows that singaporeans do take the effort to make sure that the product bought is environmentally friendly, which also means that Singaporeans are learning how to go green.

However, it may be somewhat true that singaporeans are not ready to go green.
In Singapore, we are fortunate enough to be well to do, which results in us being wasteful-( we waste resources/things very easily)
we have not seen as much suffering as poorer countries, thus leading to us being very spoilt as a whole. Also, we have never encounter any shortage of stuff, such as plastic bags, therefore causing us to have this" it wont happen to us" mentality and attitude, so we waste and use as much as we can. not just that, In hawkers, we do not even clear our own plates, we let the old uncles and aunties do so, how much more would we do recycling at home/work/school. we are too spoilt.

Singapore is a young nation. It takes time for our society to change mentality. with education and proper teaching, I believe that this recycling situation would improve. More and more recycling campains would start and more people would put in the effort to go green.

Nakajima Yumi.
DEPM 1B/05

zeliatan I disagree that Singapore is not ready for the go green projects in Singapore.

We can't use the example of recycling bin to judge Singaporeans mentality. Recycling bins is only a small part of the Go Green project. We should look at other parts of recycling in Singapore. Yes, there are still citizens out there that still do not bother about the whole go green rah rah in Singapore. But we still have a lot of people out there that cares.

In my view I feel that people have been recycling a long time ago.

Take a recycle bin as a karang Guni man now. They are invited to households to collect unwanted papers, spoiled electronics and etc. These Garang Guni then either recycle the materials or fix them to sell again. Isn't it recycling? This time people just have to take an additional effort to go downstairs to recycle those materials.

Re-using of Plastic soda bottles as waterbottles has been what people have been doing all along. Re-using of plastic containers to contain food. We have been re-using many things all along.

We are always told ' Use two sides of the paper!' 'Bring your own bags to the supermarket!' and etc.

We have been doing the 3Rs (reduce, recycle and reuse)for very quite some time, how can we say that Singaporeans are not changing for the better of mother Earth?

The government had put in effort and money to advertise and persuade Singaporeans to Go Green and i would say they have done a good job and should continue doing so.

People say that culture cannot be changed overnight, so does our mindset.If everyone educate one another and remind one another to continue doing their part to Reduce, Recycle and Reuse. I am sure the new generation to come will be better than before.

Hence i conclude that we are actually ready to go Green but it just takes time for people to change.

Zelia Tan Jia Yi
DEPM/1B/05

melissatal First and foremost, Singaporeans are Singaporeans and forever will be Singaporeans. So, what I am trying to say and percieve is that Singaporeans are incorrigible and are not exactly environmentally conscious.

Given that there would be a recycing programme set up by the government, initial reactions of Singaporeans would not be as enthusiastic as to what the government would propose. They would complain about it being troublesome and that they would need time and what nots to adapt to the go green culture. Singaporean culture is such that if the government wants something to be done, like in this case, recycling being the main objective, they really have to pump in funds to commercialize the 'Go Green' message through all means of media publicity-radio, television,posters, school talks,road shows,campaigns etc.

So, personally, my stand would be that NO, Singaporeans are still not ready for recycling programmes and the government needs to do more iniatives if they really want the nation to Go green. \m/

Although recycling bins have been placed in HDB estates, they are often not used or mis-used, This is a reflection that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme.

Do you agree?
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As to the second part of the question, it is an absolute YES. It's obvious enough. The recycling bins are put there for a purpose- to reuse, reduce and obviously recycle to make the earth a better place to live in. But Singaporeans living in the HDB estates don't seem to be making full use of the recycling bins or are just plain oblivious to their surroundings and do not even notice the recycling bins.

So, YES, i do agree on the point that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned about the recycling programme. I strongly believe the main reason is because us SIngaporeans know that our country is just a small little red dot on the map and we don't contribute to environmental issues because we are too small to be noticed,when actually, for all we know, every small contribution to save the environment is counted. \m/

Melissa Tal
DEPM1B/05

p1033018 I disagree that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme. There will definitely be Singaporeans who are involved actively in the recycling programme and hence, we should not generalise that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough.

The recycling programme is a relatively new programme that was introduced to singaporeans a few years back. If we were to compare the efforts put into this programme with the past few years, we definitely have made huge improvements in a way that more and more Singaporeans are more concerned about the Go Green issue. Singaporeans are also working hard to come up with more eco-friendly schemes to help save the environment.

We are slowly but surely making progress to help save the environment.
As to whether Singaporeans are ready for the recycling programme, I do not think of it as a question but rather we should do our part as a community to save earth.
With regards to the misuse of recycling bins, of course, there are a minority of singaporeans who will just make life difficult for the people who are sorting out the recycling bins by just throwing their rubbish in any of the recycling bins. this could probably due to laziness.

Every once in a while, a big plastic bag will be placed at our doorstep which is to be used for recycling.i believe that Singaporeans are not using the recycling bins because they could probably be putting them into the plastic bags for collection.
There is also this Bring Your Own Bag Day. This helps with the awareness of going green. Even though it is only one day in a week, at least its a start. Who knows maybe in future, we will have to start paying for plastic bags.

Therefore, i disagree that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme when we have already started to do our part to help save the environment.

Elaina Minjoot
DEPM/1B/05

lowjh In this fast growing world of technology, we are using too much material that we are not able to replenish for and thus this calls for a case of recycling. Recycling not only helps to reduce the case of lacking on raw materials but it also helps to save the environment as refining raw materials like iron for the construction of other materials required large amount of energy which will thus be harmful to the environment. In Singapore’s context of recycling, I feel that Singaporean is still not ready for recycling programs. This is because as shown in a research done by the straits times, even though there’s a lot of recycling bins around, Singaporean has been abusing it use. Even though this problem persists the Singapore government has not been doing much preventive measures to counter that and thus I believe that Singaporean is still not ready for recycling programs.

Although recycling bins have been placed in HDB estates, they are often not used or mis-used. This is both a reflection that Singaporean are both immature and not concern about this issues as the issue on recycling is not heavily emphasised in Singapore. However I feel that the Singapore government should do something about this issue. As in the long run, in order for our society to be able to sustain itself we have to adopt recycling heavily. This is because Singapore as a small country, we do not have natural resources and hence we have to import from other countries. The government has to come out with policies or campaigns to publicize the importance of recycling or else in the long run Singapore will suffer.
Low Jun Hao
DEPM 05/1B/FT

chingyanni I believe that Singaporeans are not ready for recycling programmes yet. This is due to the certain reasons stated below. First of all, unlike Japan, who established the recycling cause in their country a long time ago to the extent that it is already a culture, Singapore was introduced to the “go green” campaign a little too late which doesn’t leave an impression on Singaporeans and causes them to brush off the idea of recycling..Most Singaporeans are not cultivated from young to recycle and go green and as such, are not really ready for recycling programmes yet. Plus, Singaporeans typically are self-centred people and don’t really care about saving the environment, which partly is due to the lack of government initiatives. However, if these recycling programmes are initiated and more stricter on Singaporeans for a long period of time then Singaporeans will start to be more concerned about recycling and the environment. In order to mature Singaporeans into being more concerned about recycling the government and local environment activists should not only strongly encourage Singaporeans to recycle more but also convey the message to everyone that how serious the global environment issues are affecting our lives and what we can do to salvage the world for our future generations by using all types of mediums like creating advertisements or even movies about these issues to create further awareness about the environmental problems and leave a deeper impression on Singaporeans too.

CHING YAN NI
DEPM/05

sheila2155 I agree to a large extent that that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme.

This can be seen that from Singapore trying their best to encourage people to reuse,reduce and recycle through flyer, media etc. One of the examples is the National Environment Agency (NEA) implementing the National Recycling Programme (NRP) since 2001, where recycling bags or bins are given to residents living in HDB housing estates and landed properties.These recycling bags and bins are provided by the appointed recycling contractors and the recyclables are collected fortnightly (once every two weeks) at your doorstep. It was quite successful in the beginning but as time goes by, only a small minority group of people is doing that.

This shows that people do not find recycling as a major issue in Singapore and would not even bother about it at all. In this way, the people are not mature enough to think for the environment. If one could reduce the amount of plastic bags used each day, bits and bits adding together could make a great difference in helping to save the earth and reduce global warming.

Placing recycling bins in HDB estates is an obvious answer to people to recycle their items. However, from what we see is that people often does not use or mis-use them. Another reason as in why people does not choose to recycle their items in the recycling bins below their block is that they are lazy to walk the extra few more steps. This is because there is a refuse chute inside their house or they can just sell their newspaper to the 'garung guni'. They have this mindset that it would be easier for them and save their trouble from walking down.

In conclusion, I agree that the recycling bins in HDB estates are often not used or mis-used due to the reason of Singaporeans being not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme.

Sheila DEPM/06

fengshan I disagree to the point mentioning about Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme. As what we all know, almost the whole world is GOING GREEN, not to mention about Singapore. Even shopping malls and housing estate are also going into eco-friendly. Thus, as we walk along the neighbourhood, we would be able to recycling bin placed at the void decks of HDB flats. But most of the time, it was more like a small scale rubbish chute below each flat. It would be cluttered with bottles, papers and everything else.

It might seems that Singaporeans are just being inconsiderate by just dumping their rubbish at the recycling bin when they could just throw down the rubbish chute at their own level. but however, not everyone understands how does recycling of rubbish is carried out. Normally, people think that, by just placing their things, like empty bottles, carton cardboards by the recycling bin, they would be playing their part in GOING GREEN, but most of the time, the recycling bin area would be cluttered and messy before the personnels could arrive in time to pick up the recycling materials. Hence, people would just place their stuffs there. They were just unsure of what they should do and how does recycling was being carried out.

However, I agree to a certain extent that Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme. When they had just finished their food or had just finish using their tissues and they are trying to look for dustbin, but it was nowhere to be found. Thus, for convenience sake, they simply just dump their rubbish into the recycling bin when the things that they had thrown is non-biodegradeble, unable to be recycled.

Therefore, I agree to the point whereby recycling bins are often not used or mis-used due to the reason of Singaporeans are not mature or concerned enough to be involved in the recycling programme.

Feng Shan DEPM/1B/06

joeylee I agree to a certain extent that Singaporeans are not matured enough to be involved in the recycling programme. However, a small amount of Singaporean still has the habit of recycling every day, week or month.
We cannot deny the fact that most people do not litter but neither do they recycle. One of the main reasons why they don’t recycle is because the recycling bins are too far from where they were standing at and hence they were too lazy to walk to the nearest recycling bin to throw their rubbish. Another main reason is because they do not know how much the earth is depleted of its resources. They do not know the side effects of using too much of the earth’s resources.
Singapore has launched many recycling projects such as recycling week etc. Not only have those, some of the supermarts such as IKEA, NTUC implemented a recycling scheme whereby buyers have to bring their own bag when they purchase anything from the store. Every plastic bag cost around 0.5-1.0cents. They all have only ONE main purpose, which is to train us Singaporeans to start to recycle, save the earth! But in my opinion, these campaigns are like just forcing us to recycle against our own will. Hence, I think these campaigns are not quite a success in Singapore as people still do not recycle on our own.
However, a small group of people living in Singapore still recycle. For example, in my family, only my maid recycles. Every once a week, she will bring all the used bottles to the recycling bins near my house to recycle. I think it’s still good even when only one member of the family recycles.

Joey Lee DEPM/06

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