HOW DARE YOU?!
Carolyn Oei, 20 October 2019
Functions are quite the pain in the arse. The most annoying are the ones organised by government agencies who don’t necessarily practice what their colleagues in the National Environment Agency purport to preach to the masses – reduce, reuse, recycle.
As the world argues about the reusing and recycling parts, it would seem obvious that the starting point should be to reduce.
But, no; disposables rule. The claim is that they’re biodegradable, so that makes them really good for the environment. Hmmm…
I’ve lost count of the number of times that people have said to me, “Wah! You’re so eco-friendly. You brought your own container! You know, I always want to do that, too, but I always forget.” Always.
“It’s actually very easy,” I reply. “If you really always want to.”
That might be my way of saying, “How dare you?!” a la Greta Thunberg’s emotive scolding of world leaders at the UN climate summit in New York on 23 September.
In Singapore, there was a bit of that scolding as well. The SG Climate Rally that happened at Hong Lim Park on 21 September 2019 was about more than packing your own containers; much more. It was about lobbying policymakers and galvanising a movement. It was a demonstration of just how fed up many Singaporeans are with the status quo.
What are rallies for anyway? You try to get things done; you air grievances and preferably in a constructive manner. Rallies are a show of solidarity. So, even making it to the venue, showing up, is some evidence of a desire to be involved. Actually wanting to.
I saw some familiar faces, but most I didn’t recognise because these were young people who are a generation and a bit apart from me. These were the Gen-Zs. There were some millennials, the ones who were born into high-tech ease and convenience and raised by parents who’d stop at nothing to ensure that their precious children got every single head-start possible. There were Gen-Xers like me and some Gen-Y-cusp types who’d swear they weren’t millennials.
The young ‘uns’ voices were refreshing (the youngest speaker was 11). The agenda wasn’t so much to bridge any sort of generational gap as it was to bridge mindset gaps. Container, I always forget, who cares, we’re all going to die anyway…those types of gaps.
Adding their bit to the community banner.
Always good to have a worthy mix of attendees at a rally.
With convenience and “what’s in it for me” so much a part of The Singaporean Way, it seems unlikely that things will be vastly different 10 years from now, sea walls notwithstanding. But I’ve always been a sucker for the universe proving me wrong, so I’ll make a wager on this one as well.
Rally participants taking part in the “die-in”. For more on this, read this article.
LINKS
SG Climate Rally
https://www.facebook.com/SGClimateRally/
All photos taken by and are the copyright of Mackerel.