Front Page News

Today, on the front page of the main Singapore news paper was an article on “Global warming; The climate’s ripe for change”. This viewpoint followed the 15 minutes of lights out on Wednesday evening in Thailand. Not as a big an effort as Sydney’s lights out, and not nearly as well patronized. But it’s a start in somewhere like Bangkok. The press coverage was a great thing to see in Singapore. Front page articles like this bring the issue mainstream; with the apparent support of the Singapore Government.

The article is reasonably informative covering the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its third assessment report released in Bangkok earlier in the month. It positions the Stern Report in the UK and the increasing violence witnessed in storms; relating this to climate change. It also mentions the awakening of the Australian public through the issue being bought to the forefront in the coming Australian elections. Finally it covers the deforestation in Indonesia, via burning off; and the impact this has on Singapore.

What I do like about this article is the way the writer brings in the recent memory of the SARS epidemic, and how the adoption of avoidance behaviour succeeded in preventing an outbreak. He says that “It was a lesson in human adaptability for the sake of survival”. Spot on comments, given the slowness of the public to respond to this much greater threat. Articles like this raise public awareness and bring it to an emotional level. One that I feel is necessary to invoke reaction.

Here in Singapore they have started to allocate funds for Green House reductions initiatives. And, the Government seems more in tune with the needs of the people than in Australia. So, getting it mainstream in the face of the people (front page Straights Times) is a good thing.

More could be done here in Singapore. The government have a good handle on adjusting the supply/demand dynamic of cars on the road through a system of auction for number plates. As the number of plates available is reduced the price goes up and the demand goes down. Australia needs some common sense approaches like this…… But why not extend this? Why not adjust the taxation on cars according to their standard measured fuel consumption? Increase the tax proportionally to poorer levels of consumption. Penalise fossil fuel over-use and reward thriftiness. This could be an extension of the way supply/demand is tweaked; making it directly related to CO2 output.

Emissions trading in considered one of the more effective approaches to Green House reduction programmes implicit in Kyoto Protocol. Let’s maintain the approach to Land transport at an individual level and use carbon taxing as means of getting everyone to contribute and be responsive to their carbon footprint and environmental impact. This could be extended to trucks and taxis, given their use of diesel. Bio-Diesel is a viable alternative which again could use tax systems to influence the demand side of the equation. Singapore could embrace this very quickly given the supply chain and distribution systems neatly package within the one island.

Now that public awareness is increasing; let’s take the political initiative in Singapore to the next level. Nirmal Ghosh, correspondent for the Straight Times, thanks for a well written and well positioned article.