丽的周报RED-NEWS第三期-3月28日2013年

Volume3-28th March 2013

新加坡热情庆祝地球一小时

全球环保运动“地球一小时” 又在新加坡热闹登场!

这个由世界自然基金会主办的 *地球一小时*确实是用尽心思 推广爱护地球,注重环保的意识。

在这次的活动中有些非常有趣又有意义的活动。 如:推广干净能源概念的*大家跳跳充电*活动。 当男女老少及各个阶层的参加人士, 在特殊收集能量的电池舞台上,快乐 的舞动跳跃时,也为电池冲了电, 可以欢欢喜喜用团队聚集的电力, 看场电影。 　

虽然新加坡在最近公布的“全球最健康国家”榜单，新加坡高居榜首。　 　　

该排行榜参照了联合国、世界卫生组织（WHO）和世界银行今年5月的数据，结合各年龄段的死亡率、吸烟率、饮酒率和大气污染程度等因素，分别对各国国民的健康程度进行了打分。　

但是,新加坡人的生活方式还是不够 环保。 例如:超市里买东西， 会大量赠送塑胶袋来装购买物。 对于垃圾分类的推广,也并没有达到一定的成效。 但是,主办单位仍然积极地在他们的网络上提供各种环保的方式。

其中有:懒人环保法则

o 把冷气调高一度（24-25度）

o 缩短冲凉时间

o 顺手关灯

o 吃素，少吃肉

o WWF 和地球一小时正在推广 I Will if You Will 活动。 可以上网告诉大众宣你愿意做什么，别人就会回应你的行动。 （实例： 一个希腊的小朋友说如果他的邻居们愿意在他们的阳台上种花，他愿意一个月不吃巧克力）

而我们新加坡在环保工作上也投入不少心力。

如:

o 规定所有的建筑物都要达到(Minimum green mark standards)的环保标准，节约电源

o 为了进一步防止地球暖化的影响, 建立了National Climate Change Secretariat

地球一小时的压轴活动是关灯1小时, 节约电源的活动。

当晚8点半一到,立即关电源,四周也有许多商业大楼响应这样的举动,而许多新加坡家庭也在自己的家中,一起响应节约1小时电源的活动,并纷纷把关灯的照片放上自己的脸书,鼓励大家支持地球一小时的活动。

最后,*地球一小时*在歌声鼓声中划下完美的句点。 也期待下一次的地球一小时, 能够有更多更广的实质环保行动。

丽的周报RED-NEWS第三期-3月28日2013年

Volume3-28th March 2013

Singapore’s Earth Hour 2013

What is earth hour?

Earth Hour was first initiated in 2006, by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), in an effort to show everyone that we have the power to change the world. The concept itself was sim-ple enough, have people to turn off their lights for an hour to take a stand against climate change. However, the simple idea had its merits, great ones at that and what started as an activity encompassing only the city of Sydney grew to include millions of people from over 135 countries around the world.

Earth Hour 2013 in Singapore

So Paris decided to go big and pulled the plug on the lights of the Eiffel Tower, but here in Singapore, we too pulled out all the stops for our Earth Hour. Held at The Float@Marina Bay, Earth Hour 2013 in Singapore was a huge undertaking, probably the largest of its kind ever seen in Singapore. For starters there were many booths on site, participants ranged from schools to companies. Philips was there, showcasing their range of LED light bulbs and reminding us why switching to LED is the way to go; and true to the cause of the day’s event, the Philips booth (surprise surprise) did not conduct any sales. Another eye-catching booth Nature Society (Singapore)’s, which introduced Singapore’s nocturnal wildlife through an interesting game of “guess the fruit!” where fruits of various kinds were sealed in jars for visitors to smell.

Of course, the main event of the day was DANCE2POWER, a radical and fun concept whereby electrical energy to power two big screens will be generated by kinetic energy coming from participants jumping on energy absorbing pads. Many participants got togeth-er and danced (and jumped) to their hearts content, making the dance powered moving screening of Lorax possible later in the evening. Though according to scientists, no energy is

ever lost, only converted, this reporter dare say that many calories were lost that day in the conversion of kinetic energy to electricity, not that those calories would be much missed. Joining in the dance foray were Zumba instructors, Tahiti dancers and the star of the day, Earth Hour’s mascot Panda, who thumped away their evening for the sake of clean energy. Of course, all the dancers’ hard work was awarded by musical performances such as Jack & Rai and Charlie Lim.

Finally when lights-off time finally rolled about, the floating stadium went black (minus all the flashing lights from overzealous photographers of course), followed by the Helix Bridge, the Singapore Flyer, numerous buildings in the CBD and even the Arts and Science Museum. The moon that night looked exceptionally bright and for once we would see stars that were not lights from the top of office buildings. It was refreshing to say the least.

But staying green isn’t just about dancing pandas and jumping people.

What is Singapore doing to stay green?

Believe it or not, a lot effort is going into making Singapore green (both literally and figura-tively) and sustainable. According to Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Acting Minister for Manpower and Senior Minister of State, Ministry of National Development, all buildings in Singapore are re-quired to meet Minimum Green Mark Standards, a green building rating system developed by BCA (Building Control Act) that evaluates buildings’ environmental impacts and perfor-mance. An Energy Conservation Act is also in the works that requires large energy users to implement energy management practices. And after all the flooding in Orchard Road, it is safe to say that we are experiencing the impacts of global warming (though I suppose the never-ending heat from the sun may have clued us in a while back, have prompted Singa-pore to establish a National Climate Change Secretariat that works closely with the WWF to sustain Singapore’s developments and manage climate change impacts.

Thankfully, staying green for us layman is not half as complicated or bureaucratic as the government.

Lazy man’s guide to staying green

According to CEO of WWF Singapore, Ms Elaine Tan’s speech at the WWF, if people all over the world consumed like Singaporeans, we would need 3 earths to sustain us. As it stands, we are living on one and a half earth, although last we checked, there was only one earth, the one we live on now. Therefore it is important that we do something about our consuming habits. But lets’ face it, sometimes laziness overcomes the best of inten-tions and we, more often than not are simply too tired to follow through many green practices.

So it is very fortunate that we can do and what we are encouraged to do are really easy and convenient. First, there is the raise your air-condition temperature by one degree (ideally from a 24 to a 25), which after one click of a button on your remote, is pretty much self-staining. Second, there is the wear less to sleep tip, which goes hand in hand with the raise by one degree concept. Apparently just raising your air-condition by one degree makes a huge difference, though as for the specifics behind it, we will let Google and scientists handle them.

Then there is going vegetarian for perhaps thrice a week because, and we quote “Less meat is less heat.” Given that cattle are taxed in certain countries for their flatulence, the idea has its merits; it is also good for your health, not to mention that vegetables are easi-er on your wallet too. Perhaps the hardest, most challenging action to take is switching off your lights. We all know how difficult it is sometimes to raise your arm that extra 30 or so centimeters to reach up to the light switch and flip it off when you leave the room. But according to scientists, an average person takes 30 days to form a habit, therefore as long as you persevere for 30 days, switching off light swill just become second nature and soon enough you will not even notice that you are doing it.

Of course, for those who wish to be a little more advanced, you may wish to brave Earth Hour’s “I will if You Will” campaign. What this campaign does is it basically allows participants to dare a chosen audience to do something green in exchange for a dare of their own. One of the most adorable examples, provided by the founder of Earth Hour was that of a kid in Greece. He has pledged to give up chocolate for a month if his neigh-bours will green their balconies. We here at Rediffusion are deciding to make a pledge ourselves, but with everyone taking part, it is hard to come up with anything creative and unusual on our half. Perhaps, you, the reader, could dare us by giving up your latest vice. We await your challenge.

See, staying green is easy!

Sustaining people sustaining earth’s sustainability

In conclusion, saving the earth starts small, it is unreasonable (and unrealistic) to expect everyone to turn into tree-hugging junkies overnight; but if each of us take a small step, we can go a long way. Just by doing something small, we can change the world.

So let us all do our part to sustain ourselves sustaining the earth’s sustainability shall we? (Now, trying saying that three times fast)