‘Learning about Sustainability: What A Society Must Do’
Thankful to be able to attend the launch of the SLL to gain deeper insights of the sustainability scene in Singapore. I also had the opportunity to share about Getting the Zero -- the climate change card game I had a hand in co-designing -- with other stakeholders in sustainability education.
Field-based Tour
Keynote - Prof Shane Snyder, Executive Director, NEWRI, NTU
Environmental Sustainability in the World's Fastest Growing Regions: Challenges and Opportunities for Water and Waste Management
Prof Snyder shared about many past and ongoing projects by the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) both locally and regionally. I got to know about several interesting nuggets of information of water management, some of which I immediately shared with my Sec 1 class in the following lesson HAHA:
Water Management Strategies in Singapore:
*A ceramic membrane system is a water treatment system to generate clean and clear tap water by eliminating impurities and turbidity in raw water |
Water Management Challenges in Singapore:
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Water Management Challenges regionally:
Example #1: Arrowhead Fishing Traps (Cambodia) Arrow shaped fish traps are commonly used for fishing in the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia. In the past, they were built using bamboo and wood. However, in recent years, the supply of bamboo has become limited. The price of both materials has also notably increased, leading to higher costs. Therefore, fishers have replaced bamboo material with nylon netting, which is much cheaper and easier to use. Why this is a problem: The use of nylon netting is not environmentally friendly and can cause a lot of problems in the Tonle Sap Lake. This is because the small mesh size catches many small fish (that cannot be sold), and nylon nets contain plastic, a material that does not break down naturally and stays in the environment indefinitely. When the nets are not disposed of properly or lost during operation, they become ghost nets that drift unattended in flooded forests and in large bodies of water, trapping and killing fish and other aquatic animals.  Example #2: Pasig River, Cambodia Pasig River is one of of Philippine's 50 dead rivers. The 27km river cuts through the Philippine capital and was once a vital trade route but Urbanisation and poor sewage planning have left the river highly polluted. The river has long been a dumping ground for the Manila's 13 million residents. Most of it is plastic wrappers, single-use sachets, and packaging materials. Since the pandemic began, surgical face masks are sometimes mixed in among the other floating garbage. A 2021 report by Oxford University's Our World in Data estimated 81% of global ocean plastic comes from Asian rivers and the Philippines alone contributes a third of that total. The Pasig River alone provides up to 6.43% of ocean plastic originating from rivers.   |
Sustainable Development: Possibilities
Resource Recovery: Using wastes as input material to create valuable products as new outputs; aim being to reduce the amount of waste generated and to optimise the values created from waste. Example: NEWSand (Nov 2019)
 Example: Construction materials from waste (NEWRI)  |
Panel Discussion
Ms FOO Peng Er; Vice-President, Group Sustainability, CapitaLand Investment
Q: How is CapitaLand contributing to sustainability as a large corporation?
A: By building new infrastructure/retrofitting buildings that CapitaLand acquires with environmentally friendly features, e.g. Clarke Quay Canopy - use of ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) membrane that can reduce solar heat gain by up to 2°C while maintaining a comfortable daylight condition.
Q: Corporations - Profit > Environment?
A: Based on recent research (see below), it seems that many do not trust businesses to do what is right when it comes to climate issues. However, corporations are increasingly held to higher standards not just by shareholders and an independent board, but also by their staff, who are now becoming more sustainability-focused (and hence would want to work in a company that align with their values, and not just one that generates profits). [*one way individuals can affect change based on their choices!]
Dr Tricia Seow; NIE, NTU
Q: How do we inspire our youth to get involved in the sustainability scene/ help them navigate challenges in effecting change?
A: The goal is to develop environmental literate citizens, and a key approach would be to help them learning about the environment in an authentic manner/through lived experiences. Often, an impediment to agency is the feeling of helplessness. Hence, it is important for us to help students learn HOW to take action; this cannot be an afterthought. Our youth need to know how to take strategic actions by taking into account context, including how to engage with power. We should also focus on building EMPATHY, by hearing from the most vulnerable, those who usually do not have a voice at the table. Taking careful and strategic actions with clear principles in mind is of paramount importance.
Q: We often couch sustainability as a problem (in terms of water crisis, energy crisis, etc.). Our youth may be getting fed up, or be of the mindset that ‘we didn’t cause the problem, so why do we need to solve it?’. How can we change this? How can we inspire them?
A: A potential catalyst for behavioural change would be to expose students to ethic issues to get them started on viewing sustainability beyond the environment, but also in terms of human rights, responsible consumption and production, etc. (*cues UN SDGs haha). Possible topics that may interest them would be the detriments of fast fashion (SHEIN), or planned obsolescence in the technological realm.
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