Society Leaders and Conservation

Up until now, we've got a bunch of people passionately working to arrest the climate change and biodiversity crises that the world is facing. And they're all the same faces, mostly from the scientific world. However, slowly but surely, more and more people are awakening to the idea that something may have gone horribly haywire. Incredibily, "more and more" does not seem to include the so-called "upper echelons" of our society.

Here what everyone should do. Find one nice day to hang around outside parliament house on a day where parliament is sitting. Take down the makes and models of every minister's vehicle that enters the parliament house. Then go to http://www.epa.gov/emissweb/ to check out the efficiency, air pollution scores and emission levels of their vehicles. Our leaders are probably among the most polluting individuals in the country! Never mind the flashy businessmen with their tank-like Mercedes, we're talking about a country's leaders. They are supposed to set the examples. You might also notice that Singapore isn't actually very vocal when it comes to the environment. We keep quiet about shark's fins, their petrol guzzling vehicles, the fact that Singapore is a hub of illegal wildlife trafficking, the usurping of Khatib Bongsu and their incredibly stupid decision to cut an expressway through Bukit Timah, the huge ecological catastrophes that our society contributes too. At the same time, tiny ant steps that they take when its convenient are trumpetted like we just saved the world from impending disaster.

Let's move away from the politicians. Besides, if they did restrict shark's fins and tighten fuel efficiency rules whole industries would fold and they would lose their votes and according to them, when we stop voting for them, the country would go under. (Incidentally, that might happen if the ice caps continue to melt) So let's take a look at the religious people. After all, Ataturk once said,"Religion is an important institution. A nation without religion cannot survive."

No wait, I don't see anything. Big fat nothing. The major religions have not done anything significant to address any of these worldly problems. And I wonder why not. We have church congregations spending millions in building new churches with (Horrors!) air-conditioning. How about passing the hat / bag around for money for say, replanting our forests or funding environmental campaigns instead of nodding knowingly at the perceived accuracies of some obsure armageddon prophecy? Do religious leaders even know the severity of climate change?

The conservation movement, in all honesty is not moving fast enough. Dengue is moving to Europe. The Arctic ice-cap has a path melted through it. But people are still more interesting in asking gods and priests for 4D numbers. And they get there in their Lexus / Mercedes / BMW SUVs.