THE PROPENSITY TO CUT DOWN TREES IN THE GARDEN CITY

If the woodchuck could chuck wood, how much wood would the woodchuck chuck?

The hooha over Ministers Shanmugam and Balakrishnam renting palatial government-owned bungalows at 26 and 31 Ridout Road forced the government to conduct a parliamentary session to clarify the matter. One of the many revelation is the ministers do not like trees. How else a conclusion can one make from ‘before and after’ Google map photos. What is one to make of this after all the environmental sustainability and climate change talks? Just another NIMBY (not in my backyard) incident. Vast amount of greenery disappeared just to accommodate 2 ministers. This included, according to ‘ownself-checked-ownself’ report, 21 huge hundred year old heritage trees. Quick to the defence, Minister Edwin Tong explained 19 of trees were dying and diseased and had to be cut down in any case. Coincidence or what? Members of the house had no follow up question why the trees were left to rot for 42 years after British withdrawal in 1971 and gifted all ‘black and white’ bungalows to the government. The competence of Singapore Land Authority to manage heritage sites needs scrutiny, and hello, who’s the boss of the agency, Mr Shan of 26 Ridout Road.

In Feb 2021, online voices were loud about a huge plot of land at Kranji forest being cleared. Unable to sweep the story under the carpet, JTC was forced to respond to the public. Well, what do you know, another coincidence or what? JTC had actually discovered earlier on Jan 13 that contractors had “erroneously” cut the trees down. Had there been no public outcry would JTC have discovered the contractors’ error? Last I heard, contractor Huationg was given a slap on the wrist stern warning.

In early 2021, netizens created an uproar to news of government’s plan to destroy the mature and wild Clementi forest to make way for development of another HDB estate.

Why all this propensity to cut down trees?

Singaporeans are by far unable to exercise critical thinking and connect dots. Perhaps decades of an educational system skewed towards rot text book learning instead of mind development, the culture of a nanny state, and ingrained Confucianist ideals, have something to do with it. That’s a discussion for another day.

I was overseas for many years and returned end 2017. There was one new thing I noticed. On the street where I lived, there was an NEA (National Environment Agency) signboard that exhorted residents to leave tree trimmings outside the house for collection every Wednesday. I was piqued because it is very extremely rare of government to undertake such services free. Then one day I had to do something about a small wild plant outside of the back fence. It had grown entwined into the wire mesh fencing, damaging both the fence and back communal drain. Nearby workers could not be enticed to do some moonlighting. I had to do some exercise myself and cut down the plant with a rudimentary kitchen chopper. Always considerate of others, I had twigs and leaves stashed into 5 garbage bags and branches neatly secured in 5 bundles. These I left at the front of the house. True enough they were gone the next morning.

Over teh tarek one evening with my brother, I brought this up. He told me I had been away too long to notice there has been heightened zealousness of NEA and NPB (National Park Board) to trim trees on public areas. And the reason? They needed fuel for the power plant that cools the man-made inhouse garden of ‘Gardens By The Bay’.

Singapore's Gardens By The Bay

Incredulous. That cannot be true. At least if it’s coal, I can understand. But firewood? I googled and indeed it is true. The power plant uses a Combined Heat Power (CHP) steam turbine, which is fueled by wood and horticultural waste from across Singapore. There is some innovative and complicated engineering system there, designed to attain carbon-neutral electricity at the site. The same system is used for the indoor garden Jewel at Changi Airport. It seems the system has been lauded internationally and several countries have visited to learn if they can adopt the same technique to meet their own needs.

Accolades for Gardens By The Bay for ideas, innovation, and daring to venture. Cost justification wise, I have no comments. I am here just connecting the dots for why the propensity to cut down trees and where all those wood went – to a furnace that requires wood and more wood, in a tiny island which simply has not much supply to satisfy its ferocious appetite. The anomaly of a penchant to cut down trees even as Singapore is an aggressive promoter of environmental sustainability is not lost to the observant.The insatiable need for fuel has made government trigger-happy to cut down trees.

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