Faris Abdulkadir Basharahil, Straits Times Forum 13 Feb 08;
I REFER to the letter by Ms Charissa He, 'Saving the Earth: NEA not targeting the right people' (Online forum, Feb 9).
She feels that it is less effective to target youths in combating environmental challenges.
I am an avid youth volunteer who is in the midst of forming a not-for-profit organisation.
She wrote: 'Shock and scare tactics seemed to have worked for drink driving and smoking, so why not try it out on anti-environmentalists?'
I disagree with that view. The main target group of environmental conservation is not anti-environmentalists but rather people who are simply not bothered.
Youths are the leaders of tomorrow. They may not have spending power now; however, they have influence and may help create positive peer pressure.
Singapore is a very clean and green country. However, in my opinion, it is mainly due to effective governance and cheap foreign labour and not so much because we feel for the environment. And that, to me, is the root of the problem.
Currently, I am a committee member of an informal (unregistered) youth group that organised a programme to paint dustbins along busy Orchard Road.
It was a refreshing and a soft approach to environmental problems and the average age of the organisers was 19.3 years old. The project aims to change perspectives towards the environment. And that will intensify the initiatives by the Government.
The challenge of promoting environment conservation in Singapore is long term. The commercial is just one avenue of a People-Public-Private sector approach undertaken by the National Environment Agency. Government efforts, alone, are not sufficient.
I encourage Ms He to do her part by influencing her friends to organise projects to change people's mindset of the environment. Through us doing something for the environment, we will nurture ownership to mother nature.
