"Buses and taxis turn green" - but WILL YOU?

Buses and taxis turn green!

In a move to do its part to conserve mother earth, SMRT is launching a fleet of environmentally-friendly vehicles.

Aside from a clean and green commuting experience, the new Euro V buses are also the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.

Dong Tianzhao with more.

Duration: 2 min 55 secs

from The Straits Times (online) - Multimedia

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO

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Some interesting points:

Transport sector: 19% total CO2 emissions
(but that 19% is composed, more dominantly, of private transport)

newer vehicles: 42% less nitrous oxide pollutants than older counterparts

there will no significant changes in fares (for taxis and buses)

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My first impression is that such a change is brilliant. (Finally) there’s some concrete change towards environmental friendliness rather than mere empty talks. (Finally) something to write about in the news.

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A move towards environmental friendliness is always welcomed. Likewise, I firmly believe that charity events and donations are very noble and respectable causes. Yet in the cases above, rather unfortunately, there is still a need to be slightly sceptical – to discern and pick out the truly ‘altruistic’ ones from the rest, for some may simply be taking advantage of the situation to buff up their personal/corporate image by riding along the “go green” hype.

Environmental Friendliness. Environmental Friendliness. Environmental Friendliness.

I think the EF word has proved to be an extremely lucrative term. (Gasps)

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I don't know what to make out of it. Somehow, there is a feeling that this change isn’t too significant. Perhaps, that it is not as big as it seems. I think it would be apt to describe it as: the biggest, smallest change. That is, it is a large scale change, but its impacts are tiny.

I consider the effects to be tiny because changing the buses and taxis would hardly impact our lifestyles and our mindsets.

If you have to get from location A to B urgently, you would just use whatever form of transport that is fastest and most convenient. And if it is by bus, you would take the first that arrives – be it one with a smoky exhaust, a solar car, a compressed natural gas fuelled car, or even a magical flying carpet...

If people’s mindsets do not change for the better, I doubt upgrading the hardware will be of much use. If this continues, we will just see more legislations forcing fine Singaporeans to install the latest catalytic converters, solar panels, fuel cells, and so on… Effectively, technological upgrades and improvements are commanding us to change our lifestyles. That is not going to be helpful. We should not be the slaves of technology. What we want is the reverse – the hardware to be commanded and driven by the people.

Achieving a mindset (software) change is not difficult, look:

If this carries through, and if the major supermarkets* and retailers follow suit, living through a day without sinfully touching a plastic bag may be possible. A month later, using plastic bags would become a conscious consideration. And a decade later, maybe you can find it in the antique shops.

*If I remember, NTUC did do something similar, but it takes effect only on a particular weekday… or something like that, so it wasn’t too effective. Pls correct me if I am wrong.

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