The concrete lava to feed our 6.9 or 10 million more human masses

 

Now you can still see these fields......

 

 And soon, you may not. As they may be converted into these…..

these…..





 

and these…….

 

 

The fields are fast-becoming an oasis in this concrete jungle of ours. Fields which I have paid so little attention to in the last decade, almost non-existent like so many other things around me, that immediately spring into meaningful existence the moment I lost them or am going to lose them.

Seconds are ticking. These green spaces which live with us unnoticeably, may very soon succumb to the irresistible monetary yields of property development.

“The fields and copses are in retreat; the concrete is spreading like slow lava.”

An apt observation from Daniel Hannan, a MEP of South East England with reference to the impact of UK’s unchecked immigration on UK’s [Here] physical landscape, could be applied to Singapore’s context with little difference, except for the speed of the spread of the concrete lava. Ours is devouring our once valuable green spaces like a bush fire. In replacement are blocks of concrete building that bring along even more carbon dioxide and heat emission.

We prided ourselves once as the garden city, way before the birth of the new gadget Garden by the Bay. Not so much about the abundance of individual parks and gardens but that the idea of the entire island being the garden itself. Trees form an indispensable part in our living quarters. We have avenues of trees on our roads and estates, which can be a luxury in many urban centres, and there is the availability of green spaces intertwining residential areas.

These days, the number of concrete blocks is seriously set to overtake the number of trees that we have although I would have no statistics to prove this. The green spaces which I used to be indifferent to and as well as this garden city of ours, have to make way for the newly-tinted Singaporeans and foreigners seeking greener pastures over here. At the expense of our very own green pastures which are dwindling at an alarming speed.

Somebody is pawning our green spaces.  

The Rainfall and the Heat

So Vivian, climate change is not the sole culprit for our ponding, flash floods, floods or whatever innovative terms used to describe the situation of large amount of water that obstructs our way of passage for a prolonged period of time. If only you would behold the number of buildings produced in the last decade alone and the imminent ones listed in our “Draft” Master Plan. Simultaneously, new underground MRT lines are constructed, emptying our grounds underneath.

When buildings devour the green space where rain water could drain, we will be in turn devoured by our tropical rainfalls/storms.

It is a cause and effect. Humans are part of the environment. And I am not a scientist nor a doctor.

The reality of disappearing green spaces is compounded by the amount of CO2 produced from the constructions itself and post-construction human activities. We know what CO2 will bring. Inevitably, we contribute towards the increasing temperature with increasing CO2 emissions.

Concrete buildings are also adding weight to our island. We are looking at tons and tons of concrete buildings that we have generated and will eventually generate in a span of two decades.

A Stressed-Out Island

Someone is stretching our little island both overground and underground with excessive constructions of buildings and digging of tunnels.

Our island is sinking literally and gradually with the amount of weight that is piled onto it. The sea level is already rising, with or without our island sinking.

Not only our people are stressed out, our poor island too.

And all pursued under the name of Singapore inc.

There is no master plan as to when this lunacy of unrestrained constructions will slow down, if ever.

So, appreciate our remaining green spaces while the sun shines.