A Part We Can Play!

This week, I came across an article of a speech given by Ms Grace Fu, Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, during the Singapore Green Hotel Award ceremony held on 27 August 2015 (Ministry of Environment and Water Resource, 2015). In her speech, she discussed the importance of creating a sustainable and liveable environment in Singapore. She also mentioned the practices that hotel managements have adopted to become more eco-friendly. This rings a bell in my mind that we have stayed in hotels before and we could have done our part as well.

Hotels provide many items which are disposable, like toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, shaver, shower cap, body soap and shampoo. We as guest of the hotels can reuse some, or in fact all, of these items. We do not need these items to be replaced every single day. For example, back at home, we use our personal toothbrush for 6 months before changing it and we don’t throw our combs away after use. [Change only when required]

The unnecessary disposal of such items can create a large amount of waste. If a hotel had 200 occupants who stayed for 3 days and had these items replaced each day, at the end of the 3^rd day, a total of 600 sets of these items were disposed. The usage could be reduced significantly by 400 sets if each guest were to play their part in reusing these items. Furthermore, the lifespan of these disposable items are usually beyond the accommodation period and guests should bring them home rather than leaving it behind to be treated as trash.

(Of course do ensure these are reusable complimentary amenities and also take note that some items are “pay when used!)

This reminded us that we can play a part in reducing wastage through the little actions that we can contribute.

Reference

Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (2015). MEWR, News. [Online] Available at: http://www.mewr.gov.sg/news/speech-by-ms-grace-fu--second-minister-for-the-environment-and-water-resources--at-the-singapore-green-hotel-award-presentation-ceremony-on-27-august-2015--230pm-at-parkroyal-on-pickering--william-pickering-ballroom--level-2. [Accessed 29 August 2015].

The Green Little Red Dot

Singapore, a country with land area of 718.3 km², total population of more than 5 million and Gross Domestic Product of S$390.1 billion (Singapore Department of Statistics, 2015), is where I call home. The little island is located in the Southeast Asia, just south of West Malaysia and east of Sumatra, Indonesia. This region of Asia is also the place where the tropical rainforests and the homes of many wildlife species are found.

Given its small size and situated near the equator, Singapore does not have 4 seasons and the temperature of this tiny piece of land ranges from 25.3°C to 31.6°C (Singapore Department of Statistics, 2015). It is hot throughout the year [when compared to countries with winter and spring] and I believe this can be a reason why we are “red” [associating red with infrared and heat].

Hundreds of years ago, this tiny piece of land was covered with rainforest, but today, it is a bustling city packed with high-rise buildings for commercial and residential purposes. Singapore did not forget about the importance of having a “green” environment and spaces were set aside for nature reserves and the building of parks. These green spaces are situated all over the island and the total size assigned is equivalent to 0.8ha of parks per 1,000 residents (Ministry of National Development, 2013). Therefore, Singapore is known world-wide as a Garden City. 

Image of Kallang River @ Bishan–Ang Mo Kio Park (Public Utilities Board, 2014)

According to National Parks Board (2015), Singapore has 4 nature reserve and more than 300 parks located island-wide under their care. The 4 nature reserves are Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Central Catchment Nature Reserve, Labrador Nature Reserve and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

This is how I came about with the name of this blog, Green Little Red Dot.

I strongly believe that urbanisation requires the inclusion of green areas to make it livelier. Imagine living in a place without greeneries and that nothing around you is lively and all you see is just concretes. I don’t think I would be happy living in that kind of environment. Cause it will also be very HOT!!!

What do you think?

References

Ministry of National Development (2013). More Parks and Park Connectors | A City in a Garden | MND Land Use Plan. [Online] Available at: http://www.mnd.gov.sg/landuseplan/city_in_a_garden.htm. [Accessed 25 August 2015].

National Parks Board (2015). Parks & Nature Reserves - Gardens, Parks & Nature - National Parks Board. [Online] Available at: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves. [Accessed 25 August 2015].

Public Utilities Board (2014). A Fine Balance, PUB Annual Report 2013/14. [Online Image] Available at: http://www.pub.gov.sg/annualreport2014/in-focus_s5_where-nature-meets-the-city.html. [Accessed 25 August 2015].

Singapore Department of Statistics (2015). Singapore in Figures 2015. [Online] Available at: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/publications/publications_and_papers/reference/sif2015.pdf. [Accessed 25 August 2015].