How visiting Singapore will boost your hope for the future
Singapore is as diverse as it gets. Life here takes place somewhere between modernity and tradition. Living spaces are shared among various cultures and traditions. Despite its extremely high population density, green spaces occupy a significant portion of the city’s area. And environmental education is everywhere.
Visiting Singapore helped me look into the future with a smile on my face. However, things aren’t always as they seem. Join me on a journey through this concrete jungle… or actual jungle!
A short note on history
Firstly, how did Singapore get to where it is today? Singapore transitioned from being a British colony to integrating into Malaysia, and then became an independent state, ultimately taking off economically.
During its time as a colony, Singapore became a significant hub of trade in Southeast Asia. That’s when it witnessed major immigration waves with people coming from the Malay Archipelago, China and South Asia.
After gaining independence from Great Britain, Singapore was part of Malaysia for just about two years (from 1963 to 1965). However, the two countries couldn’t find common ground on important key principles. The first Singaporean Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, dreamed of promoting a state of cultural and religious harmony and equality. Malaysia, however, stuck to its “Malay first” approach.
During this time, different races were clashing in Malaysia, until in 1964, tensions between the Malay and Chinese communities triggered the death of 23 people and left many more injured. One year later, Malaysia expelled Singapore, which thus became an independent state.
Social harmony and equality
From then on, it seems like Lee Kuan Yew didn’t look back. He started tackling the housing crisis and economic problems by promoting foreign investment. Of course, he also developed his ideas on social harmony, embodying racial equality in the law, addressing ethnic enclaves, and establishing English as the common language. His successors took up the foundation he established and further developed it.
Coming to Singapore myself, I felt like their endeavors paid off. Although there are some predominantly Chinese or predominantly Malay neighborhoods, the people of Singapore seem to mingle and live together peacefully. And everyone was so incredibly polite. “Please, step aside. Kindly step aside, please” is still stuck in my head from an ordinary lady entering a somewhat crowded bus. Obviously, everyone stepped aside immediately, making space for her.
So, what do people do when they don’t need to worry about social problems and fighting each other? In Singapore, I feel like all this energy goes straight into nature conservation.
Environmental education is everywhere
The Singaporean authorities take environmental education seriously. They’ve understood that simply banning environmentally harmful practices won’t do the job. Bans need to come along with explanations to trigger people’s intrinsic motivation. So, in Singapore, it’s not just: “You’re not allowed to do this and that”. It’s “Please, don’t do that. Here’s exactly why and how it benefits you!”
Informative signs are therefore all over the place. Found a water reserve? Here’s how to behave in this area. Spotted an interesting plant in the park? Learn all about its medicinal uses and its vital role in the ecosystem. Throwing garbage away? Note that the garbage bins are specifically designed to impede wild monkeys from entering them and foraging.
The list goes on and on. But it never gets boring! So, hear my words and, when you’re in Singapore, take a break, read the signs and level up your environmental knowledge. Oh, and don’t ever throw your chewing gum on the ground! This ban, exceptionally, comes without any further explanation. Instead, there’s just a ridiculously expensive fee on it, which I think is amazing! (And maybe not even ridiculous, after all.)
Wildlife and green spaces
Green planning and environmental education have visibly paid off: wildlife and green spaces are abundant throughout Singapore. I don’t know if this is exaggerated, but I feel like in 6 days spent in Singapore’s “City Parks” I’ve seen as much wildlife as in 14 days traveling in Malaysia. That includes snakes, lizards, monitors, squirrels, monkeys and all types of birds.
Much of this wildlife can be spotted in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Huge as they are, I had to come here on two separate days to see all it has to offer. That’s probably because I spent ages in all its different museums and educational centers. Here, you can learn everything about Singapore’s urban conservation projects, such as the green corridors.
Green corridors are additional vegetation areas that aim to connect the city’s green spaces, such as parks and reserves, functioning as a sort of bridge. They help increase wildlife habitats and stabilize ecosystems. The project is visible all over Singapore, as streets are lined with giant trees that offer additional benefits: providing shade and cooling the air.
Green plan
Singapore hasn’t always been so green. In fact, only 0.28% of its primary forests remain after economic growth led to the clearing of most of them. All the green you can see in the city is secondary forests, covering 20% of Singapore’s surface today.
While this might seem shocking at first, I find it a good example of how we can rectify past mistakes. Singapore’s reforestation efforts were so successful that the city became a lush green oasis once again.
And they didn’t stop there: with the Green Plan 2030, Singapore is taking it one step further. This plan entails the creation of even more green spaces (ensuring every citizen lives within a maximum of ten minutes of a park area), greener transportation, better waste management, and much more.
But is that the whole picture?
Now, I have to say one thing: it’s all fun and games until you check Singapore’s CO2 emissions. These are actually quite high, according to the World Bank (9.6 tons per capita per year, compared to the world average of 4.7 tons), partly due to the state’s reliance on fossil fuels and imports.
Accordingly, Singapore is currently not on track to meet the climate goals. And even the goals it set for the future are not yet ambitious enough to change this situation. Sorry to destroy the perfect picture I just painted of Singapore. In the end, a story is never told until you look at all angles of it.
But the point I’m trying to make is this: Singapore, unlike many other nations, genuinely makes an effort. They try out new things, understand the importance of creating a change and set up a great project to take the first step in the right direction. And I approve this message!
What can we learn from Singapore?
As you can see, I barely have anything negative to say about this tropical gem. In all honesty, I would have loved to spend a whole extra month in Singapore, exploring more parks and the surrounding islands that are part of it as well.
Singapore is truly unique and has shown me that things can be done right, allowing people to live together in peace, thrive economically, and make space for nature. We can only hope that other countries will follow in its footsteps and join the journey to becoming green cities. Because if this is our future, it’s brighter than I ever imagined.