Where will we be in 5 years?

It's been a long week and a variety of reasons have kept me away from blogging. Hopefully this week will be better.

I was going to write about something school-related that happened to me a couple of days back but as I was surfing facebook, I saw 2 things that hit me.

First, several people invited me on Facebook to do some "Where will you be in 5 years..." thing.

Next, I chanced upon this video. It's pretty old but the message inside is still very relevant in today's world.


It was taken in 1992, when a 12 year old girl, founder of the Environmental Children's Organisation, shook the world with a mind-blowing speech about the effects of our actions on the environment. Her message was simple and in Singaporean terms, it basically said "Wake up your idea!".

Interestingly, I had the privilege of emceeing for the inaugural National Sustainability Conference 2009 organised by National University of Singapore (NUS)'s Office of Environmental Sustainability. We had 3 days of speakers with diverse backgrounds speaking from the perspective of government, business, academic and even students.

Looking back, I can't help to wonder whether her words fell on deaf ears. It's been about 17 years and from the presentations at the conference, things look bleak for us. It seems to be the same old story, academics trying to educate and warn us about the consequences of our current emission levels, businesses attempting to convince us that they are doing their part, government seemingly caring but still unable to find a solution that appeases everyone and students boldy pushing forward with initiatives that sound effective.

It is however heartening that so many people turned up and stayed on until evening on a Sunday. Maybe we are improving and the world is becoming a better place to live in. Maybe not and all our efforts go to nought. I guess we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, I hope the video inspires you to make changes to your lifestyle for the environment.

Note: I have recently gotten into the habit of sleeping without air-conditioning. Slowly but surely I'm making the change too. Have you?

P.S. Read about the girl in the video here.