Enact laws and policies to stimulate sustainable practices

The Singapore government should enact and implement laws and polices that stimulate sustainable practices in order to increase public awareness on the need to live sustainably. These policies could come in the form of fines, building of parks, making it harder to own cars. The Singapore government should ban the use of Styrofoam containers by retailers and individual use. It can also make legislation to make it inconvenient to be environmentally harmful. This can be done through taxes paid by the major pollution causing industries such as oil refinery companies and energy producing corporations. The higher the pollution they cause, the higher the tax they should have to bear. On top of that, companies who are investing in new renewable energy should be given tax breaks and subsidies and the innovation they provide would have substantially more external benefits in the future. These are some of the ways that sustainable practices can be encouraged by the Singapore government.

The government should create incentives to encourage the Singaporean public to change their behaviors. They will be more likely to do the ecological action if they expected a reward from doing it. One way to create incentives is to provide tax credits for energy efficiency retrofits and alternative energy generation such as solar and wind energy generation for individuals and corporations. Also there should be a system in place to make it more convenient for the public to exchange their plastic, glass and paper materials for a small profit so that recycling of materials is done more often by the domestic sector. Thus detailed policies on this matter can be carved out by the government and implemented in Singapore to increase awareness on the need to live sustainable and how imperative it is that all Singaporeans change their behaviors.

The Singapore government should also develop human capital by investing in the environmental sector more aggressively. Thus, creating a market for products that consume less energy and the human will to become an entrepreneur in the field. A point of reference could be the bill that was recently introduced in the California legislature to create a Clean Technology and Renewable Energy Job Training program to expand a trained green labor force. A similar initiative could be minored in Singapore to expand the market and create a situation where there are readily available environmentally friendly alternatives to choose from. Human capital can also be developed through the education of the public. An educated public is the most effective way to change the behavior of Singaporeans. The responsibility of reducing the carbon footprint is often not taken upon the public’s hands because people don’t understand what measures to take. A clearer and more precise step by step explanation on what has to be done can be created by the government and distributed among the public to give them a guide to follow. This will create a situation where there is no excuse as to why Singaporeans cannot live sustainably due to awareness already being stimulated by the Singapore government.

References

Mark Posson (May. 19 2011) Promoting Sustainability Through Unconventional Government (May 2011)

Retrieved from:

http://www.thegreentie.org/voices/promoting-sustainability-through-unconventional-government