Thanks for your comments! Too bad it had already been broadcast. Nevertheless, it was all very good thinking! I have received the next batch of questions, this time about Christmas. Will post them later tonight.

here some of my thoughts on the questions for your radio show, albeit a bit late.

# How much is being written about the environment in the media?

- Hardly anything…unless it is about the forest fires in Sumatra (in late 2006), or about floods in Malaysia or Indonesia…there was maybe something about the Bali Summit recently, but in general, there is almost nothing about environment. The exception is when environment becomes an economical issue, then there is some attention to it.

# How much is it being talked about privately? At work, in the streets

I would say it is a topic everyone is aware of, but which is isn’t very much discussed privately at all. In some classrooms these issues are being pushed as an awareness-raising issue, but as a society, there is still a bit of silence in the issue.

# Do people recycle?

I venture to say no. In my building, I was shocked to find people throwing trash ‘in natura’ down the chute, without using as much as a plastic bag. I also realized, by observing, people do not separate wet from solid trash, or cans from paper and plastic and glass. There needs to be some major awareness campaign here.

# Do people buy environmentally friendly cars?

Not at all. Singapore is somewhat polluted because of diesel-run taxis and public transport. It will take a while until taxis use natural gas, or public transport becomes electric. Or even have a bicycle path in the city, which would be perfect since Singapore is flat and the distances are relatively short, despite the heat. But the best beginning is if people could start relying more on public transportation – it would save on the environment and minimize traffic which is very bad in one of the most densely inhabited cities in the world.