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Singapore has a reputation for being a highly urbanized city state. However, from its limited land space, a large proportion is being consumed for the construction of buildings. Consequently, the space left for the growth of trees is quite small. I see Singapore as a concrete city and I believe that we should pay more attention to make it more green.
Do we make maximum use of the limited space that is left for trees in Singapore? How much thought does the younger generation give to the planting of new trees in Singapore? Is the youth aware of the consequences of a landscape which lacks in greenery? These are some of the issues we can address by consulting the opinions of the youth and evaluating their responses. Subsequently, all these questions boil down to one single research problem; Does the Singaporean youth show sufficient enthusiasm for a greener and healthier home?
In the context of this research project, we can learn the opinions from a selected sample of the Singaporean youth, (possibly the NUS Science faculty students) by conducting an attitudinal survey. This survey would give us an idea about the general attitude they have and also would enable us to make an evaluation about their level of understanding regarding the environment they live in.
Hypothetically I assume that the Singaporean youth does not pay much attention or interest to the environment being more or less green or how this situation would affect the air pollution in a highly industrialized country like theirs. The prime objective of this study would be to analyze the awareness of the Singaporean youth in the importance of growing more trees and make the optimum use of the space left for growth of trees. One other objective is to provide the youth with sufficient reasoning so that their awareness on the matter would be improved and they would be more enthusiastic in promoting greenery in Singapore. Thereby we might be able to convince the relevant authorities and join hands to initiate more environmental projects in Singapore.
Edited : 06-09-08
7 comments:
Hi, I guess you love the environment
I agree with you that young people nowadays are not so concern about the environmental issues. The older generation had done a great job in keeping the environment “Green”, thus the younger generation does not know the importance of conserving.
Another possible reason could be the stability of the people in Singapore. The government did so much for the people; we are in such a comfortable state that we do not bother much about the environment.
There is a lot we can further research on this topic I guess. :)
This is an important area because there is so much the greenery can do for us. Without plants to replenish the oxygen gas which is vital for life, we would all be dead.
Gwen
Well, i have another view of it , i think nowadays people are more aware of the environmental issue.
As we just solely look at the buildings in our city, we can see that the older buildings were built without concerning the environmental impacts, they were just built for accommodating people needs. Not even there was a rule to govern all these constructions of building in the past.
However, BCA nowadays has their stringent rules to govern the constructions of the building in Singapore. It is not possible to get approval for your construction proposal if you do not meet the criteria.
I have a doubt on the hypothesis you made on Singaporean youths do not pay much concerns about the environment.
As you might notice that there are many environment related programmes being carried out in institutes as well as workplaces. NEWater, BCA Green Mark, Green Buildings and even Environment Engineering Course are showing that recent Singaporeans do pay very much attentions to the environment issue.
Due to the scarcity of lands and high population in Singapore,it may not practical to reserve a huge area of forest. However, it is feasible and viable to integrated green with building such as sky garden on top of the building(eg. Auditorium of NTU), even inside the building(eg. Terminal 3).
In fact, by calculating the area ratio of green and the whole island of Singapore. It is still considered as a green city as you can hardly see a commercial building or even an airport terminal that integrated with creative green concepts in other countries.
This is not just a fascinating topic, but a vital one as well. Our quality of life is so inextricably related to our environment! Thanks for suggesting this!
You provide a very good description of your overall topic, your main objective, and your rationale, but you seem to be lacking the main research question. I can sense what that would be, but it might have been better of you had stated it directly.
I read Jacky's comments and when he states that one can hardly see "any a commercial building or even an airport terminal that integrated with creative green concepts in other countries", I wonder how many countries he has visited. I know one thing: I miss the greenery of some of my previous living environments such as rural Japan and urban central Ohio, even while living in "green" Singapore.
hello Vijani!
Here I am again :)
Thanks for the post. I partly agree with your hypothesis, because I hold the view that many of us are sufficiently aware of the current environmental problems, but choose not to be bothered. After all, to conserve the environment, we will have to end up making sacrifices in one way or another.
For example, if one is observant enough, one would notice an exposed trail amongst the patch of grass outside LT11 which leads to the bustop (with 95, 96 and 151). Assuming that everyone knows the negative effects of soil erosion and soil compaction, can we safely say that everyone would be protective of the environment and choose to take the longer route instead? Personally, I do not think so.
Once again, thanks for the interesting post. I'll see you on Monday!
cheers,
desmond
Hi Vijani,
Great choice of topic! Actually, while traveling, I've met many Europeans who have visited Singapore and been amazed by how 'green' it is! It really does cause one's heart to swell with pride to hear one's country being spoken about like that.
One of the aims of the Singapore Green Plan 2012 (SGP 2012) aims to preserve and improve upon the country's existing greenery. In 2004, students participants of the Reforestation and Reach Out Programme had to learn about local flora, then reach out to their peers, in the process coming up with creative ways to share nature with others. This information might be useful to you if you intend to pursue this research! Good luck!
Although I do my part to recycle paper, plastic bottles and metal cans, I must admit that I am not one of those nature-loving, tree-hugging people. However, reading your post has really made me sit up and take notice of the trees around me that we often take for granted.
The idea of conservation of trees and further maximizing the trees:land-area ratio of Singapore is a concept that is new to me. Maximizing the housing population:land-area ratio is something more familiar (think HDB). On hindsight, the same concept and motivation in maximizing space, can be applied to our environment and in this case, trees in particular.
However, I am not very sure what your research question is. Is it "Does the Singaporean youth show sufficient enthusiasm for a greener and healthier home?"? If so, the term 'sufficient' may be vague and 'home' can refer to both the whole country, or just an individual's immediate living space.
Its nice to see you're such a 'green' person at heart!
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