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Singapore Green Plan

My Reflections:

The Singapore Green Plan (SGP) is a plan for aiding Singapore to become a city with high standards of public health which is pleasant to live in and where the Singaporeans care for the environment. It was presented at the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro. At the summit, more than 100 countries committed themselves to ensuring that minimal damage is done to the environment in the process of developing their countries. This scheme raises global awareness of environmental conservation and thus it is a form of globalization. In addition, the active participation of so many countries all over the world shows that the world does spare a thought for the environment and that the world has a common objective, that is, to protect and conserve the environment.




There are various action programmes in Singapore Green Plan including environmental education, resource education, clean technologies, environmental technology, nature conservation and noise management.

One of the action programmes in Singapore Green Plan involves public education on environmental issues. Students are taught of environmental issues in Singapore through subjects such as Geography etc. Besides the “Bring Your Own Bag” campaign that is launched recently, there is another campaign which is the annual “Clean and Green week” which aims to encourage Singaporean to participate actively in protecting the environment.

In addition, public is encouraged to purchase products that are environmentally friendly and such products usually carry a GreenLabel. The label serves to allow easy identification of environmentally friendly products. When visitors from foreign countries to Singapore purchase such environmentally items, they will know that such an environmental protection scheme is ongoing. This is also a form of globalization.


Another action programme of Singapore Green Plan is clean technologies. The SGP aims to reduce air pollution which includes using cleaner fuels to generate electricity, making more efficient use of transport system and promoting cleaner industrial processes. For example, new cars have catalytic converters to convert toxic exhaust gases into less harmful ones before they are released into the air. In Britain, different rates for parking permits based on vehicle fuel emissions have led a string of other areas around Britain following suit, i.e. there is cheaper parking for greener cars. In Singapore, cars are fitted with catalytic converters while in Britain, cheaper parking rates are offered to greener cars. Though these two approaches are different and that they are executed in countries, they both aim to reduce the amount of harmful gases emission and to combat air pollution. From here, globalization can be seen in from the similar objective that both Singapore and Britain have to minimize air pollution. It is also certain that many other countries are reducing air pollution, but with varying approaches.

The public transport system is also constantly improved to encourage the use of public transport instead of private cars as this is a more efficient way use of energy. In particular, the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) is a cleaner mode of transport as it uses electricity instead of patrol. Again, MRT is not only confined to Singapore but is also present in other countries such as Japan, America and Europe etc. Thus, it can be seen that MRT is globalized and that MRT is definitely environmental beneficial.

Singapore's "Bring Your Own Bag" Campaign

My Reflection:
As mentioned over and over again, the depletion of natural resources, different kinds of pollutions, global warming and ozone layer depletion arise mainly from our activities, in the process of modernization and globalization. These problems have resulted because we misused our natural resources and abused the Earth but it is not too late for us to do something about all these problems. We can play a part by conserving the environment.