Singapore in tough environmental balancing act
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SINGAPORE — Singapore prides itself on being a clean and green city but a booming economy and a high-consumption lifestyle have made it one of the world’s biggest carbon polluters per person.
As a major United Nations summit is being held in Mexico to find ways of curbing the carbon emissions blamed for global warming, Singapore’s environmental balancing act poses challenging questions for the rest of Asia and the world.
Singapore’s green credentials are in many ways very strong and it is establishing itself as a regional renewable energy hub.
Yet, if all Asians emulated Singaporeans’ modern and often luxurious lifestyles, greenhouse gas emissions would spike alarmingly.
“If everyone in the world enjoyed the same level of consumption as the average Singaporean, we would need three planets to meet the demands placed on our resources,” World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) spokesman Chris Chaplin said.
Singapore was last month listed by the British global risk advisory firm Maplecroft as the world’s seventh largest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitter relative to its population size..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101204com3.html
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