Sitting here, it’s hard to remove the human made sounds from the natural ones. Singapore is really just one huge city and though there are areas of rainforest, ocean, or even mangrove forests, it feels above all, as a place truly completely man made. Now, if I pause to listen I can hear the wind rustling through the trees, and though I can see a small river nearby, I can barely hear the water over the sounds of cars and people.
When I was in Singapore’s mangrove forests a few days ago, which were only half an hour from here, I remember it felt like a completely different world. Though we were still close enough to the city to see it clearly over the water, the sounds of cars and machinery were gone for the first time in a while. The buzzing of insects was ever present and the chirping of birds came through every so often. I saw more abundant fauna in those few hours that I spent there than in most of my time in Singapore put together. There were horseshoe crabs, mudskippers, so many birds, spiders that were literally bigger than my entire palm, and even a crocodile. As we walked a squirrel even started following us on a nearby fence.
Though the mangrove forests are protected in Singapore, there is a stipulation in the legislation, saying that if the government is in need of that land for something considered pressing they can repurpose it. To me, that characterizes the way the government in Singapore operates and also why an increase in social justice is so necessary but currently so lacking. In terms of sustainability, there are definite efforts being made, and quite successfully. Public transport is absolutely the norm, and the buses and the MRT are the easiest and most used modes of transport around Singapore. That’s further made true by the 100,000 dollar tax that needs to be paid before you even pay for a car if you want one in the country, which is done to try and minimize traffic in the already small area. There are also efforts to integrate green spaces with urban spaces which can clearly be seen, however larger green spaces like fields are constantly being bought by developers to construct housing for the ever growing population. Things like waste management are extremely well thought out though, and seeing trash anywhere in Singapore is honestly a surprise, which definitely has positive impacts on things like pollution. Still, Singapore is seen as the 2nd best place in Asia and 17th best place world wide sustainability wise, which means that while there is definitely still a lot they can do, they are already accomplishing an important and significant amount.
Still, one of the biggest problems I see is with the chemical and oil industries in Singapore. Both are extremely big and both employ significant amounts of migrant workers from nearby countries especially Malaysia to do the more physically demanding jobs. Many workers either commute every day from Malaysia or live in cramped dormitories that are often overflowing. They don’t even all have AC which is basically a necessity in Singapore. Also many efforts that Singapore is taking to mitigate the effects of climate change such as building walls around the island and installing solar panels are all done by migrant workers. This is definitely something that needs to be reckoned with when considering how environmental advancements will be implemented, and I hope Singapore will begin to more seriously consider this issue in the future.
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