Hello

Dear reader,

Welcome to my blog! I am Si Hui, a Year 1 Environmental Studies student at the National University of Singapore.

Here’s a photo of me at Puaka Hill, Pulau Ubin!

On this blog, I will be exploring the environmental effects of celebrations and festivals.

My inspiration for this topic stemmed from my interest in waste. The idea of waste was something that never sat well with me. Perhaps it’s how I was brought up. I was taught to use things up before buying a replacement, and wasting food was frowned upon.

While reading up on waste, I discovered that Christmas is the most wasteful time of the year. Approximately 108 million rolls of wrapping paper were discarded in 2017 in the United Kingdom alone (Sheffield, 2016). This set me thinking about the environmental impacts of other celebrations, like the practice of dyeing the Chicago River green on St Patrick’s Day and the air pollution from New Year’s Day fireworks.

What are the ugly truths that lie behind our glamorous festivities?

Follow me on a journey around Singapore and the world to look into how various celebrations might have an impact on our environment and how our happiness today might lead to a hazardous tomorrow.

 

References:

Sheffield, H (Dec 22, 2016). How to stop Christmas waste and the thousand of tonnes thrown away each year

Retrieved from:

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/how-to-stop-christmas-waste-and-the-thousand-of-tonnes-thrown-away-each-year-a7489766.html

2 thoughts on “Hello

  1. huilin

    Hi Si Hui!

    This is indeed a special point of view to celebrations especially since I myself do not normally think of the bad environmental impacts that would result during celebrations and this is rather significant since it is a global issue. Do you think that people would actively change how they celebrate the different occasions after knowing about the bad environmental impacts they cause?

    Hui Lin

    Reply
    1. Si Hui Post author

      Hi Hui Lin,

      Thank you for your comment!

      Personally, I am also guilty of focusing too much on the joyous aspect of celebrations such that I overlook the environmental impacts.

      For some festivals that are culturally sensitive, like the Hungry Ghost Festival (Look out for this in my next post!), it is understandable that people would be more resistant to change. However, one recurring problem from celebrations that we can tackle as individuals is our consumption habits. Consumption levels are known to spike during festive periods in the name of celebrations, generating waste as people buy more than they need.

      While it is unlikely that people will actively change their levels of consumption from celebrations immediately, I feel that individuals are increasingly open to environmentally-friendly alternatives. For instance, I have observed that more couples are opting for wedding favours such as bamboo straws or potted succulents instead of the usual teddy bears and mugs that their guests may never use.

      I think this shows that individuals are recognizing the importance of protecting the environment and given alternatives, people are ready to make a change.

      Cheers,
      Si Hui

      Reply

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