Flora to Fauna

Shopping is a phenomenon in Singapore. Rare it is that there is such a pilgrimage of shoppers though it should hardly be surprising given the dense concentration of shopping Meccas. Almost every other stop on the well linked MRT would lead one to a building or more with floors upon floors of shops.

Tough it is to escape the temptations thrusted in the face given the accessibility and the abundance. It is too easy. Tempting too is the presence of big red "SALE" signs wherever the head turns, even when one is sipping a cup of steaming coffee reading the morning paper.

Throngs of shoppers is nothing but usual in this island. Advertisements using handfuls of shopping bags is soon to be a cliché. Any reason is a reason to shop, be it the festive season or just down to the having an urge to splurge. Packaging here can be innovative as well, sometimes there can be 3 wrappers surrounding a sweet. Amazing what marketers can come up with to attract attention. The ole heaps of candy in the bag will not do no more.

Interestingly too, owning a shopping bag is a rather foreign concept to them here, well with the free supply of carriers, I guess they can hardly be blamed. A bag for only a bottle of water, how else can one carry such a bulky object. Oh wait, now some of them even thought of that and voila the bottles with handles. Things people manage to come up with can be so adrenaline pumping.

Paper bags accumulated by a person in a lifetime can amount to a forest and plastic bags will still be around after humans are extinct. Carelessly thrown away wrappers, cans and bottles will soon overrun the land when space has run out to bury them in, deep within the recesses.

Saving the environment seems nothing but an empty phrase. Nowhere evident here is the attempt at doing what the catchphrase everyone is familiar with. Putting up big cans along Orchard Road is a feeble attempt though all efforts should be encouraged. Easy it is for people to encourage humans here to try and protect the environment given the excellent information infrastructure that Singapore possesses. Convenient too is the idea to be absorbed when propagated.

Perhaps it is too difficult for humans to imagine resources running low when so much here is in abundance. What people do not see is not in the agenda.