XianHao's Point of View

现今环保运动是否真的有效？
As we move into the digital and informative age, we begin exploiting much of Earth’s resources so much so that it has backfired. The Earth’s resources are depleting and we have done so much harm to it that its climate condition and the occasional natural disaster threatens to wipe out the entire human race. And then we wonder, have we been doing anything to stop this from happening? Are these methods effective? My answer is as compared to the past, the campaigns and many methods that we tried as of today as been fairly effective in trying to improve the Earth’s condition.

Global Warming and other issues relating to the Earth’s health has been the hot topic recently. This goes to show that the methods we are using does creates awareness and it reaches out to a lot of people out there who might not be so sure of the actual situation. With the help of the media, efforts to improve the Earth’s condition seem to have been rewarded with much results. Celebrities have a huge influence over the masses, so when authorities uses them to advertise and to encourage people to participate and do their part to Save the Earth, its natural that it will create lots of attention and many people will follow suit since their “idols” or favourite celebrities are also doing so. Also, many documentaries were also made to increase the people’s awareness to the situation. The most successful one will be that of the documentary initiated by America’s political figure Al Gore. His documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth”, which talks about global warming as not only manage to capture much attention but has also manage to successfully educate viewers about the topic. This documentary even went on to winning the prestigious Oscar’s Award. With saving the earth being the “In” thing nowadays, it seems quite wrong to say that the present methods and campaigns are ineffective.

As compared to the past, we have been effective in our efforts to save the earth since with the improvement in research and development, we are provided with more alternatives. In the past, for example, people were asked to either “Reduce” their usage on fuel or “Stop” using them altogether. But many of us never did realize that asking people to reduce or stop using fuel in the world where technology has been constantly improving, is not possible. People naturally don’t want to lose out, so these methods have proved to be ineffective. However, in present context, people are presented with more alternative energy sources. These energy sources such as hydrogen and solar energy proved to be more environmental friendly. Being able to carry out their daily chores and at the same time do their little part in saving the Earth, lots of us are generally more open to these ideas and are willing to try it. With more alternatives present, all of us have the privilege of choosing the one we feel is more practical and more suited for us. This is will help bring in more people to do their part in saving the Earth, making the efforts made more effective and rewarding.

With “Saving the Earth” topic being a popular and hot topic, doing our part for the Earth will be more convenient. For instances, when recycling bins are everywhere on the streets to help people recycle their unwanted paper, plastic bottles etc. Do you think streets will be filled with these recycling been if its not that popular? Naturally no.

Also, efforts to Save the Earth are more effective when governments encourage it. Which has been the trend nowadays as governments of various countries have encourage its people to contribute and do their part in Saving the Earth.

On the other hand, there might be some people who feel that the amount of money spent on creating awareness being too much. And some of these money are in fact being used to generate more waste which brings harm to our atmosphere, for instance, the Live Earth concert. However, I feel that the amount of money used to create awareness is justified as it is more important that everyone of us takes part in the conservation of our planet then leave the task to just the authorities. In order for people to do so, awareness is needed, and in return, when more people join in the effort on conservation of the planet, our efforts will prove to be more effective. In response to the recent Live Earth concert, where people are concerned that the amount of carbon dioxide produced due to the plane flights the celebrities take to perform in this concert are doing more harm to the Earth, we see celebrities fly across the globe everyday even if there is no Live Earth concert so why not at the same time do a little something for the planet?

All in all, I feel that the present methods on Saving the Earth have been quite effective. However, for these methods to be more effective, these methods we used have to continue and have to be improvised with time. In local context, I still find the Singapore government not really emphasizing these as compared to other countries. The government should set the example and role model first so that its people will follow suit.

Xian Hao

P.S:~ Zhui Xing members submit your articles soon!!!