Inching Towards Change
By Tey Zhi Wei Jared
Woodlands Secondary School, Singapore
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Inching Towards Change
Senior Category
"It’s worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change."– Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. What small steps can you take to help tackle the climate crisis?
The small steps we take daily will progressively improve the state of the planet we reside on. With the rapidly deteriorating state of the world we live in, everybody should strive to preserve the planet and tackle the current crises that may devolve to become something devastating and leave us on the brink of extinction.
Climate change is one of those problems that have been gnawing at us every single minute of our days. It started off as something that was scoffed at by most people including world leaders and scientists. Now, it has developed into something dire, thanks to mankind’s ignorance of these small problems which have branched out into something bigger. As of today, our world is several degrees hotter due to the mass introduction of greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere. Climate change has been wreaking havoc on the icebergs which have raised sea levels along with global temperatures. The sweltering heat should not be scorned as the amount of deaths caused by the morbid heat is still intensifying further.
Following the Queen’s famous words, we are better off taking it slow than changing too rapidly as humans frequently react a lot better to work handed out in small parts than one enormous chunk.
Some small steps we could take to tackle the current climate crisis is to practise the usage of the 3Rs. The 3Rs are recycling, reusing, and reducing.
Truncating the amount of unnecessary waste we produce is likely the most effective method. It can be done with immense ease by simply trimming the amount of trash we regurgitate on a daily basis. Reusing items, despite its scarce usage, is efficacious nevertheless and can save chunks of waste at a time. One example is reusing the water that was used to wash vegetables to water plants thereafter. This is useful but it requires a living plant that not all people have at home. Recycling is when you use materials that would have been dumped into landfills otherwise, to create other materials. Though this is limited to paper, plastic, glass and metal, it is still an abundant amount of waste. If we recycle all those types of waste, we could easily build houses made solely out of them, excluding the furniture. In fact, there have already been real-life occasions of people creating houses from scratch — recycled trash.
As of today, Singapore has approximated 7.39 million tonnes of waste with 57%, 4.19 million tonnes, recycled which is a stupendously astonishing amount. Nonetheless, we are striving for 70% by 2030 which is at least 6 million tonnes, which is as heavy as at least 857143 elephants. All these listed methods are the least complicated ways in which we can save the climate in the war against climate crisis.
In conclusion, we should not push for drastic changes that would rile or agitate those who see no value in the conservation of the planet. Rather, we should aim for incremental steps that all of humankind can take action on. As mentioned, the tiny steps to leisurely change the world for the better can be as simple as practising the 3Rs — Recycling, Reusing and Reducing.
One small step, one giant leap
One small step, one giant leap
Do you think it is important for us to do our part for the environment? Share with us one small step you believe we should take.
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