really choose what they need most because, like there is so many products advertising every single day every single minute you know when you're looking at it yes good deal does entice with, go to uh want to buy certain things that you do not need but then at the end of the day fundamentally people will still come back to you know uh


whether they have this budget today uh, at this point of time do they really need this before they buy so advertisement they just trigger impression like oh there's this things that , uh has but, at the end of the day uh whether people will have the desire to buy certain things is still boils down fundamentally to this person like for example


uh for example insurance and property the in the advertisement is everywhere you know like there is a lot of uh people advertising about your know how insurance is, fool and things like that but at end of the day if I already have certain things that I already have it doesn't create a desire that uh I don't need


that much you know in terms of uh like or even for example house you know I see a lot of uh property advertisements and everything but at this point at this point of time I know that maybe financially I I'm not uh uh that there yet to actually get a house or anything I don't really yes I


might look at it but whether a desire to actually own it or not maybe it's uh it's not as as high as there or even like for example I see uh a very good, car advertisements the car really look very grand and thing that but if I am somebody that don't drive or I don't really intend to drive


it doesn't really create that desire for me to really want to get that thing because it's not a need for myself I rather use that money on certain things like you know uh food clothes that I can actually use it every single day or even , things that actually I need to use immediately because as I think as people start


to as as you start to grow uh people tend to uh weigh things more compared to you know, oh I see a good thing I will just buy it because like then I'll be uh after you buy you might regret it then from then you realise that you know ya these are things that I don't really need from there so I don't really agree that or advertisements encourage a desire for products and goods do not need but in fact advertisements just help people to


proritised what they really need before they actually uh make a choice, ya, these my points


uh I do agree in terms of like uh advertisements does makes, people uh you know like maybe it's celebrity endorsement and everything people might uh want to get certain things but at the end of the day uh to have the desire to own certain things is still boils down to whether fundamentally you can afford and whether


at this current point of time do you really need to own that to fulfil certain way for example uh may be for example as a mum, like if you see certain branded things that is really good and everything but, you you may want to own that but


fundamentally you know that the money should be spent for the kids you know things that uh is essential for your kids in terms of rather than you know indulging on yourself and uh and certain things so I feel that uh advertisements yes it it does create that awareness and that


that that point but at the end of the day whether people will still uh want to, purchase certain thing that they do not need uh, may not happen because of their certain status and current situation, and


for example, take to the uh good deals for example like uh, there's a lot of things that uh people may not buy uh which they do not need but at the end of the day is still boils down to the heartfelt of needs like, a lot of people they still choose to spend money on that's why maybe in terms of like food industry in terms of food advertisements uh people need food to survive you know they need to eat every every day so they they wouldn't mind uh advertisements may create a desire for people to


purchase food easily because maybe that small ticket item and something that you need every single day or even clothes they will tell themselves that you know uh everyday I need to wear wear clothes out you know so, clothes to them is a need instead of a want so I think at the end of the day it still boils down to whether their current situation allows them to own certain things and they will logicalise it before they actually uh even if they see a very good enticing ads it may not keep them that


desire that oh I want to own it you know that kind of thing uh even that maybe I'm somebody that, uh has uh maybe I very simple you know I don't fancy that kind of uh, skincare machines that actually help me to you know like you know like a lot of people maybe certain advertisement say that oh you can bring the salon home to your house and you know you can use certain machine to actually uh make yourself look uh pretty I think but if today I'm somebody that doesn't really care that much about my skin et cetera it doesn't


ya but even though I see that oh the advertisement can really uh help me with my skin et cetera I'll it won't make me want to purchase that kit to to bring at home because fundamentally that's not what I actually will do and I know that at the end of the day these are things that I don't need


I rather spend that money maybe on, a monthly facial for somebody else to do it for me or rather, I will choose to spend that money on other things than than this kind of because really though money is spent actually when you add up it's actually quite a lot of money so at the end of the day maybe people might still come back to do I really need this before they actually make a choice even though they seen the advertisements


ya so these are my points


uh ya I do agree that certain uh shopper they're impulsive in terms of uh buying habits, but at the end of the day certain there must be a certain reason why they need to buy certain things uh like for example especially those good deals and things like for example


uh uh certain platform that has uh deals going on, eh maybe when they had categorised certain things usually for myself I wouldn't just scroll through blindly uh I will actually zoom down to the maybe the curtain certain category that I feel that I need


then I will look for the good deals and I think uh these are things that people are usually there is this filtration like they wouldn't blindly uh purchase things that no just because oh I see this advertisement and it's really captivating and it's very good then I, go and buy but rather there is these few pointers that maybe subconsciously in their mind they're already future filtering out you know what are the things that they need so they actually look for good deals I think these are also shopping habits that a lot of people have currently and other than just advertisement I think


sometimes besides advertisement sometimes it might be because of people around them owning certain things that's why they actually feel that they have a need to to certain things and this is actually a shopping habit as well because a lot of us nowadays when we uh shop for things


we do talk to our friends you know what are you certain using and it actually benefit them and when you look at yourself you feel like eh actually I need this in my life because it can actually help me uh to, put certain things more productively and things like that so I will actually purchase certain things that I need so


uh and in this time , especially uh this this period uh a lot of people that uh buying certain things actually because of that , variety of uh accessibility to buy certain things so people may not uh easily buy because they actually need to do research you know and uh make sure that this is what


they are getting and after they buy they need they they will probably prefer to buy certain things that uh can give them more value for example I buy a, a branded bag this actually can uh help me to appreciate in times that's why I'll be willing to spend this big ticket items that's why I actually don't agree that advertisements encouraged a desire for products you do not need buy rather it actually helps


people to decide uh what do they really need most ya,


part one debate topic one


yes I do agree that advertisement are, entertaining, are entertaining and they're they really actually affect the consumer choice because from, for me I feel that, advertisement are interesting but consumer we didn't know what they want so they already have a preferred brand but they're just watching based on entertainment basis


so I do feel that it does not affect the consumer choice as for now, and also, when consumer when they're buying they actually have different things that they look out for, so, this is just one part of it


that uh that helps to, that helps to, uh, let them have a choice to choose so I agree that it actually affect a little bit only and for my case uh normally when I watch advertisement is just to read the storyline and it's just to see what


uh does it bring me to, but, it does not affect the choice that I'm buying for example if I'm buying uh, if I'm buying uh I have a, preferred brand of uh favourite drinks I'm just watching the advertisement for other other competitors is is just due to understand what kind of drinks that they offer


and uh also to understand what kind of storyline they can bring, so but I will still not, choose to buy their drinks, because I already have my preferred choice on my end


I do agree uh with drive to a certain extent as when uh consumer they are looking at the advertisement they not only look out for how interesting it is but they also look out


for the different uh comparison like the products, uh the comparison between, uh their, current choice versus their uh what, what what they have seen, but most of the case when they are actually doing this comparison I feel that


they are still uh, very based on, their preferred choice, because it's uh always due to the familiarity because that's one of the main point that consumer is one of the main point that actually affects the consumer buying, behaviour because they are familiar with the product


so for example if I'm seeing on social media like uh I do see a lot of advertisement on uh social media that shows about this new product that is being launched, but to me I would, personally feel that, I wouldn't start trying as


it's still new to me, so I would actually start by, uh still going back to my own preferred choice, but I will know that I will know back in my mind oh yes there is, this, uh there is this choice, that is available for me


but I will still go back to being a familiar with, whatever that I have, instead of trying out new things and I do agree, review that uh yes there's a lot of different kind of, advertisement that is going on like uh is that is out of the norm


which is like through using a different, uh different types of uh advertisement like uh, skit and skit and other things but I do agree uh I I do agree to a certain extent that all these is just affecting only


uh about a certain percentage, because, like what I mentioned earlier on the consumer buying behaviour the other one of it is actually the advertisements spending, so it depends on what, is the amount that they actually spent on this advertisement because if


to me as a consumer if I see that oh they spend a very big amount on the advertisement, I feel that is actually a, branded a branded uh, a branded item and I will


I might, want to try and buy it but if I say that, the amount that they spend on doing up the advertisement is just uh, uh is just slightly uh, just maybe a a small amount I would, feel that it might not affect my my buying buying behaviour my consumer choice


so that's my point that saying, uh actually boils down to, how much they're spending on their advertisement and also how familiarised


okay uh I agree for joyce's point uh regarding about how people are looking at uh reviews


instead of uh they're they tried, past reviews and uh in order to buy their, in order to uh, purchase their product but I, also noticed that uh this at this is just one part of it because first of all is the advertisement


that actually captured them so if the advertisement uh didn't captured them so it actually don't affect the choices that they make, so for example if today when I'm looking at uh the advertisement so I'm just knowing that okay this is just one of


the product like for example uh, because I'm I'm a I'm a, mum so I'll always look at uh the, mum's side of product so like for example there's uh I already have my own uh nursing uh, breastfeeding pump so, I already have this pump already so when I look at the advertisement they show me a new set of a new brand of pump I will


definitely not uh be keen at it because currently the pump that I'm using is actually serving me well, why would I even want to actually get a new one so it does not, affect my consumer choice, even if I look at the reviews and all I will be looking at it as I will


I will, it's just creating awareness on my end but it is still not change the way that I, uh the the the product that I'm going to buy, as I already have been using this and is serving me well, so, even if I look at uh like what you mentioned other people's review even with other people's review because sometimes is very uh to me I feel that reviews are superficial because if today somebody pass you


a a a product I will say that uh in the, influencer marketing, side, in the advertisement side sometimes they might not be able to give you a real actual review because it's just uh how they work with the client so sometimes I might not be trusting all those reviews that are


being, uh shared and also another thing about you mentioned that, uh instead of uh, uh celebrities endorsement, I would, uh disagree with that as to me that celebrities are still the


figure for advertisement so today if there is a celebrity endorsement on the advertisement, I would, actually have a higher chance of, uh uh, getting the product so actually I disagree to the point that uh if you as if you get a normal person to actually endorse uh for it it actually might


uh might not uh be able to get the, be able to get the message even clearer so, for advertisement I feel that, uh for for a


outdoor advertisement is rather uh, uh entertaining but it's still, doesn't affect our consumer choice because like uh, I think there's a few pointers that we mention the, the consumer will still


require to actually get familiarise with the product, and, and also with the, with the with the familiarise with the product and also, they definitely need to get to know what is the product all about


before they actually change the choice that they want, so they actually need to actually step in to actually review to to look into review to actually research more about it before they actually change their mind so sometimes it's because due to the review and due to the


uh, due to the review and due to the while researching more they might not even consider that so I do not agree, uh, that it actually affect the consumer choice as a consumer


oh oh oh, part two debate topic two


I agree to a certain extent for joyce point uh, in, in terms of the pictures


does uh is more powerful than mere words but, these are just uh it only touch uh the, visual sight on humans which is the, uh for those pictures but it but what about the hearing


that because uh humans we have five senses so in order to capture all our five senses, uh picture is just capturing the side the visual side of human then what about the hearing and also uh about the taste


so, sometimes we can't uh see the taste uh we can't feel it but what we can do is that uh, words are words on top of pictures, adds on to the, to the to the senses, that we can feel for example if uh I'm looking at


a picture, and then the picture, the picture does not uh the picture has words like !wow!, and a yum I will feel that it's actually touching on, my senses of taste, not just on my visual side so pictures with words


are, definitely much more powerful, so a normal picture is, to to my to my point is that a normal picture does only affect a little bit, on us on human


so that's my point joyce


hi joyce uh I would like to uh


say that I don't agree to the pictures that uh are the, only source that people can get and understand things well, because a lot of times uh picture just only uh, it's actually a very limited uh information I would say to actually uh give people because when ever maybe somebody look at this picture like uh it might be uh for me if I look at the HDB HDB flat picture right I will just say that okay


uh is just a row of flats, but then in order to uh to get closer to the person looking at the picture words are, the ones that allow them to get to understand so for example the the HDB flat I would add in some caption or some words saying that uh it lies in a uh


it lies with a hundred families inside hundred families with different story inside then you will be uh, triggered to get to understand things more instead of just looking at the picture so when you look at the picture you might think that it's just HDB flat but when you look at the caption when you look at the words you will allow you to


trigger your your mind to think about even more things and to be creative with the things that uh that that we are trying to show with the picture so I will feel that it's still boils down to what


you put, in the words to trigger our mind to think because uh, picture can be just a plain picture even if you, put a plain white uh, white picture people will think that, okay is just a plain a blank sheet a blank sheet of picture but if I add in a different kind of words inside it will actually


give a different kind of feeling a different of emotion a different kind of uh trigger a different kind of, thoughts inside, so it's not just a picture but picture with words does affect and also I will feel that uh one of the point that I feel that is that words are also a universal uh tool to actually communicate with people


because it can be translated into different, different kinds of language, but, uh pictures also can but with words it's much more powerful, that's my point joyce


uh joyce I would like to disagree with uh one point of yours that uh, you mentioned earlier on then sometimes the words that uh uh, what once you see the picture you will understand but for words right uh you might not understand the thai word but


uh, but for now with this uh current era with our technology, so so good there's always google translate so it it doesn't matter where, what, words are uh what country uh what language it is but there's always things that could help us to translate to let us understand


so for my case actually I'm more appeal to knowing some foreign uh to, looking at some foreign language so for example if there's a a thai thai word there right I will actually want to understand what thai word it is so it actually captured my mind even more because it's something new that I don't know and I would like to find out more


so actually words are definitely, the universal uh thing that everybody could understand because there's always translation that is done so, if I would say that like a words hub, we can talk about this example call uh the storybook example like if there is uh actually for harry porter the


actually it started with english definitely but it's being translated sixty three times into different language to bring, across to the whole entire world, so, is a storybook that has a cover page with pictures only


but then the rest are all words so, to me not everyone is actually visual is like uh it it boils down to the same point that, uh human has five senses some might be visual but the visual is just a picture part but some are more uh


they're they're more willing to get to know things more by reading and understanding which is to trigger their mind so I do, do not agree that uh picture is the, more powerful than words, I would say that uh words are equally


powerful as well, in in nowadays, oh that's my point joyce


part three debate topic three


I do really think that advertising encourages a desire for products which people do not actually need, as you can see advertisement is actually everywhere like uh especially in our public transport uh while taking the MRT while taking bus even on the road you'll see that the taxi they all do have advertising uh uh advertisement on it on them and I realise that


they actually creates this awareness of things and solution that we didn't know exist like for example, there's once I was on the road then I realise, that uh I saw uh a taxi showing about uh this uh this uh


insurance company that I didn't know that it exists only through the taxi uh advertisement I saw so I was quite uh in shock and impress lah so it's all through this kind of uh awareness that created inside our


mind then and not only that sometimes right it actually, have a solution for us like for uh like for example if a, uh I'm not too sure whether you all know that like the bathroom when whenever I was uh I always have issues on like trying to drill hole to hook things on top on my bathroom so actually right there's uh


advertisement like I saw on online advertisement that shows that oh actually I can no need to have uh drill uh to drill in my bathroom, uh bathroom, what to uh bathroom uh !hais! uh the bathroom


at at the to drain the bathroom uh hanger I can just use a stick on hanger is all through this kind of online advertisement that gave me a solution uh not the traditional way but a new kind of way so actually actually encourages me


to purchase something that I do not do not really need and also right uh advertising are actually tends to create this uh scarcity of missing out, uh buying a good deal so sometimes the advertisement show some very good deal that we uh that if you don't buy now then you might not have the chance so it actually uh


is making uh it's making me have a fear out feeling like don't want to lose out feeling so it tends to uh then I will tend to actually purchase the product so it actually but by right I do not need the product but it's because I don't want to lose out on getting the good deal


and getting the best deal so I decided to actually go for it and buy their product so it does, uh encourages uh people to have this desire to actually purchase this product so that's my point joyce


uh I do agree to with joyce to a certain extent, that uh advertisement uh just help people to have a clearer choice of what they can have but uh in fact uh I would say that joyce mentioned a few things like for example the house and the cars uh advertisement


these are actually big ticket items but what about the small ticket items which I can give you a very clear example is that , whenever uh I see advertisements uh online showing shopping items like for example clothes clothes is a small ticket item so


today right then maybe like uh this celebrity she's actually wearing uh a cool summer hat with a summer dress in singapore, then I will actually tend to say that eh I could actually get this summer hat and summer dress to wear it in singapore as well so it actually encourage people to actually buy this product but then actually I don't need a summer dress because I can just wear any dresses


but it's because it's due to this kind of small little things that uh advertisement are doing it actually encourages us to actually buy things that we do not need so this is just one example for uh another one is that, uh like if those celebrities they sudden they're suddenly carrying this uh branded bag which I say like louis vuitton so


people they I might not need a louis vuitton bag, but then, if I am able to buy one I will be, uh I'll be uh, sort of uh similar to the celebrity that is holding on to one so it's actually a subtle statement that uh putting me in a same sort of like a same lead as a celebrity who endorsed this brand so when I'm carrying this louis vuitton brand then uh maybe


uh, madonna is carrying I become madonna so it's like a it's not you are definitely madonna is just this subtle statement that uh through, advertising it just, uh encourage people to actually buy this this this kind of product and this kind of uh to get into this brand


ya that's my point joyce,


okay joyce I would like to agree with you but only to a certain extent as that , but like what you mention uh you come out with a few very good, points in in a sense that you mention that people are going for uh in a more logical way people are going for their uh for what


they actually need uh on a daily basis, instead of their wants but a lot of times uh, people always do this thing called there's always different kind of shopper there is around and there's always this kind of impulsive shopper that is around so some impulsive shopper


are the ones that advertise advertisement uh advertising uh firms they're, actually targeting on which is they see this product and they trigger their psychological needs that they require this but they know that they don't need it but it's because they are being triggered in a way this impulsive via that delving triggered to buy this certain items that they thought that


uh they want so it's like a hidden need inside them so there is a lot of different kind of uh, that there is a a whole different range of different kind of shopper but there's a lot of people that always have this hidden hidden need like uh honestly speaking if today I'm looking at a slimming advert advertisement


actually in my back of my mind I will also feel that eh why not, uh, maybe I could be as slim as this celebrities and everything but I know back in my mind that eh actually I do not have the money but actually triggers me to think that maybe next time if I have this kind of money I will definitely go for this so it actually encourages us to purchase items


in the future like a desire to actually know that we can own this kind of thing we can be like this we can be slim so it actually does encourages us, and also like a, it always bring out uh, like people always want to sort of satisfy their desire so they will definitely do things to err satisfy their desire so it might not be purchasing this slimming product that they see on advertisement but they allow allow them to actually want to satisfy this desire by finding different kind of slimming product


to actually get to the goal that they want so it might not be uh, it might not be working for everyone, especially for joyce cause you are very logical in the sense that you don't anyhow spend money but there is, always this kind of impulsive shopper that we can see everywhere and all these impulsive shopper right are those that contribute


to all these economy and it's, it's not a small percentage but there's a lot of rich person because there's always people there's different kind of people they there's people that always also do does shopping, based on, what they like so when they see this advertisement they like they will just buy it so you can it can be it can be different


so, it still boils down to uh, uh, I will still say that sometime uh yes advertisement does encourage a desire for products, that people don't actually need


that's my point joyce


part one debate topic one


okay


all right so far the first question it'll be how important it is to save plant and animal species which are in danger of extinction okay so I'll be arguing the proposition that it is important to save plant and animal species which are in danger


and I'll be justifying the proposition based on three main points which are, the global economic value and reliance on ecosystem the use of medicinal and research purposes of endangered plants and also the last point would be the moral obligation


of human beings as a species to ensure the survival of endangered plant and animal species, so by considering this issue from not just an economic, but also social and philosopher angles I would have demonstrated the need to save both the plant and animals


which is in danger of extinction so my first argument on the point of global value of ecosystem, it has proven that it's about estimated to be about hundred and twenty four zero trillion dollars per year, and the estimated of forty percent of world trade is based on


biological products or processes out of fifty percent of the global six hundred and fourteen million billion dollars a year pharmaceutical industry depends on natural, resources furthermore this economic value of biodiversity is particularly important for certain countries


such for instance it'll be the austria's tourism accounts whereby it actually accounts for around, eight percent of the GDP and it's growing at a rate of five percent per year this value depends on maintaining healthy ecosystems such as the great barrier reef


another example would be say boost economic reliance on the animal tourism such as the whale shark watching other than that in the united states that reintroduction of endangered grey wolf into the yellowstone national park proved to be a huge draw for tourists


and much of this money was used to further scientific research into grey wolf conservation, conservation of endangered species has paid itself has ya sorry has paid itself back many times over hence it's important to continue such efforts


okay then what about the impact of the increase in human population and globalisation in endangering such industries


you brought up the fisheries industries and there is evidence of collapse in many fisheries from overfishing all over the world, example being the bluefin tuna being fish to extinction due to evergrowing appetite for it from increase in population as well as demand from other demographics such as china and america


we are in a point where such industries which were sustainable for generations and centuries are now facing a threat from the extinction of plants and animal species it relies on


okay I'll be moving onto my second argument, my second argument is that endangered species have been medicinal and have many medicinal and


research uses many medicines and new products are developed from plants and other organisms, for example they have been treatments using by by extracting from a plant and that was treated


for anti-malarial drug and that was ever since nineteen forties aspirin originally came from the willow bark pacific yew a nearly threatened species according to the IUCN, produces taxol a chemical which is used in


fighting cancer beyond medicine other products have been and can be developed for plants, these species are only a small portion of the plant species capable of practical use humans have still not found nor tapped into the potential of many plant species around the world however many of these species


could go extinct before we can even discovered them even for plant species that are identified as useful and endangered such as the ones that I have mentioned before, if no precaution is taken they began they may become extinct quickly such would cause their potential to be lost completely even before we can even discover it hence it's important to continue conservation


beyond plants endangered animals have research uses recently the marine biologists have been optimistic that the study of dolphins might help them understand cervical cancer since they are the only species besides human that we know of that can harbour co-infections in their genital mucosa


the extinction of these marine mammals limits to research and develop, and development humans will be able to do


so by your argument we are effectively limiting ourselves to just technology instead of capitalising on all options including plants and animals traditional, chinese medicine is a field of study which has grown in prominence and it rely significantly on traditional herbs plants and animals we cannot solely rely on just technology and science and be narrow minded in this aspect


we should embrace all aspects and potential for the medical industry


then wouldn't that depend on perspective, traditional eastern medicine, practitioners will argue that the most practical and efficient approach uh beyond traditional herbs plants and animals, while a more western-centric practitioner would mirror your sentiments however I do agree with you that with resource scarcity


a sacrifice has to be made and we cannot embrace both avenues for the medical industry that said I want to emphasise is that different individuals may disagree with your view on the advancement of technology and science in a field of medicine especially in traditional eastern medicine


all right then I'll be moving onto my last point, that it is important as, the will to protect these endangered species in fact to animals and nature in general demonstrates a certain value of society if the species goes extinct its lost forever


theodore roosevelt once said when I hear of the destruction of a species I feel just as if all the works of some great writer have perished to him a lost of a species is akin to a tragedy, as a society we have a moral responsibility to prevent this from happening especially because animals are sentient beings like us


an international panel of neuroscientists declared in twenty twelve that non-human non-human animals also have consciousness, and that humans are not unique and recognising themselves in mirrors or in making decisions


hence we should also treat animals like sentient beings and protect them, as we would protect ourselves from harm and extinction if not we will be exhibiting speciesism, and arbitrary distinction based on the incorrect belief that humans, are the only species deserving of moral consideration and such speciesism like racism and sexism is a form of prejudice unjustified and irrational


hence it is important that we strive to save the species in danger of extinction


your last argument is coming from a purely philosophical perspective without considering, the value these animals and plants are bring to to society, however we should approach this from a holistic angle where all possible angles are considered


only then can we truly have a fair assessment as to the importance of these, plants and animals and their potential extinction


ya I agree everyone will have their own values and personal philosophy which they subscribe to and no one, is more correct than the other however I believe we can both conclude and agree that from an economics standpoint there is little room for different ideologies given the sheer dependent society has on ecosystems


is something which consumers uh government regulatory bodies and many other stakeholders should place more of their emphasis on


part two debate topic two


so for debate topic two, environmental concerns and economic growth cannot coexist do you agree are we arguing the proposition that environmental concerns and economic growth cannot coexist


the main emphasis of my proposition is rooted and the fact that resources uh are scarce and finite here on earth and with an ever growing economy and population, it can only, exist if it continues drawing on the current pool of resources which


implies environmental concerns to me assumption I am taking is that the use of, scarce and finite resources equates to environmental concerns, with these key arguments I will have hoped to demonstrate that environmental concerns and economic growth cannot coexist


so for the first argument from an economics and investment point of view economic growth is defined as an increase in the amount of goods and services produced per head of the population over a period of time, by this very definition I agree that economic growth cannot coexist with environmental concerns simply by the virtue of the limited and finite resources we have on earth the first way to generate economic growth is an increase in the amount of physical capital goods in the economy


adding capital to the economy tends to increase productivity of labour, newer and better, and more tools mean that the workers can produce more output per time period, for a simple example a farmer can harvest more crops by expanding its plantation area


in this aspect the increase in, physical goods in the economy by increasing productivity tends to rely on existing


by expanding his plantation area and land space there will be environmental impact to the newly procured land, this would come in the form of removing the ecosystems or sacrificing the previous use of the land's purpose to make way for his expanded plantation area this argument applies to the vast majority of economic growth given that resources are limited here on earth


in addition the other arguments for economic growth is to, grow a labour force in sheer size and also increases the human in human capital growth in the labour force implies increase in the number of people which will in turn require more energy and resources


increase in human capital means labourers become more skill at their crafts raising their product to believe through, skills training trial and error or simply just by being more familiar with the practice


however in order to be more skilled labourers will have to invest in their skills and this would also require the usage of resources which is a finite source here on earth, by all definitions of economic growth there's simply no room for it to coexist with environmental concerns


well I agree that technological improvements over time can be used to measure economic growth it does not change the fact that technological improvements come from come with environmental concerns as well to innovate and develop new technology for improvement


requires significant finite resources from the environment, companies such as facebook for example invested heavily in the research and development of products such as virtual reality and predictive chatbots these


such investment requires a significant amount of, investments of resources such as electricity


and energy which is derived from the burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity and power plants, in the aspect the R&D involved already utilise a finite resources from earth and is thus indirectly and environmental concern the very fact of the matter is that any economic activity requires a form of energy which is already an environmental concern for


yes however this would not be possible as of now since many other countries apart from germany are unwilling to slow growth and are reaping growth at the expense of the environment, despite constant economic growth it can spur greater technological advancement which would aid in the procurement of alternative sources of energy


not only that the environment brought about industries, which can help growth hence I believe that if governments are willing to help with good and effective policies economic growth and environmental concerns can coexist in the near future


the problem essentially lies with the government's will or the lack thereof where the uh where the often populist tone adopted to win elections are often at the cost of preserving our natural our natural environment, where it must be emphasised it is our responsibly to protect and care for it in the meantime however


there exist significant theories and research suggesting that environmental concerns and academic growth cannot coexist, critics such as the club of rome argue that a narrow view of economic growth combined with globalisation is creating a scenario where we could see a system a systemic collapsed of our our planet's natural resources


concerns about negative environmental effects of growth have prompted some people to advocate lower levels of growth or the abandoning of growth altogether, energy economic theories hold the rates hold that rates of energy consumption and energy efficiency are linked casually to economic growth


the garrett relation holds that there has been a fixed relationship between current rates of global energy consumption and the historical accumulation of world GDP, independent of the year considered it follows that economic growth as represented by GDP growth requires higher rates of energy consumption growth


seemingly paradoxically these are a sustained through increases in energy efficiency increases in energy efficiency were a portion of the increase in total factor productivity, some of the most technologically important innovations in history involved increases in energy efficiency so these include the environment the great improvements in efficiency of conversion of heat to work the reuse of heat


the reduction in friction and the transmission of power essentially through electrification, there is a strong correlation between per capital electricity consumption and the economic development


once again I believe this argument is based on a very ideal state of society however in order to have job opportunities resulting from environmental issues and not impact the environment there has to be a sacrifice or diversion of funding and resources from other sectors


in order to support these jobs in terms of salary and resources it has to be taken from somewhere else or possibly from the taxpayers collection, that being said there will not be any next economic growth if these jobs are created at the expense of other resources be it the taxpayers collection or other departments and the government these jobs cannot magically sprout from thin air without


having to utilise additional or current resources available, so perhaps a question that we should ask ourselves is whether or not there can be sustainable economic growth alongside environmental concerns


the keyword here is sustainable as there is bound to be economic concerns from almost every angle we look at it however whether or not the economic growth justifies the environmental impact and how sustainable it is in the long run, that's the question we should be asking ourselves too


ya I guess I could agree to a certain point but that being said when you're mentioning


nonprofit organisations wouldn't that also be in the form of running based on human resources, and,


part three debate topic three


okay


okay, so for


debate topic three it's on, is it possible to protect the environment when many countries require increasing amounts of, energy to progress, are we arguing the proposition that it is possible to protect the environment when many countries require increasing amount of energy to progress are we justifying the


proposition based on three main points, which are, the availability of alternative energy resources, increase in government's environmental awareness to protect the environment, and lastly it'll be the cooperations responding to increasing changes in consumer trends and patterns to go green


these key factors have been the forefront in our economic outlook, and, by addressing the question accordingly, I would have demonstrated that it is possible to protect the, environment when, many countries require increasing amounts of energy to progress


so in today's world where the world population industrial production and economic growth are surging at breakneck pace, energy consumption is expanding and mankind's insatiable desire for energy arable land and natural resources are both deleting natural resources and damaging the environment


I believe that economic progress today necessitates mankind's utilisation of the earth's resources and damage of the environment, however I believe that it is possible to both enjoy economic progress and protect the environment at the same time


nuclear energy, which does not emit carbon and where by-products can be, stored underground without damage to the environment, other forms of alternative energy also includes depth of the wind and solar energy where although


some might seem prohibitive and capable of providing the only small amounts of energy, it may actually allow entire towns to be powered if harnessed and distributed efficiently, that's the case of saint david's a town in southern wales which successfully


leveraged on such technology to reduce its household carbon footprint to almost zero, a testament to how technology can allow an economy to function and progress while protecting the environment at the same time america france and japan are also relying heavily on nuclear energy


nuclear is the largest source of clean power in the united states and it generates more than eight hundred billion kilowatt, hours of electricity each year and produces more than fifty-five percent of, the nation's emissions free electricity


this avoids more than four hundred and seventy million metric tons of carbon each year which is the equivalent of removing hundred million cars off the road, the thermal energy from nuclear reactors may also be used to decarbonised other energy intensive sectors such as transportation which is the largest contributor to carbon pollution today


yes I agree that it may be a challenge in today's day and age whereby storing of nuclear energy would pose as, the most we'll put this in, a challenge for most as these like countries such as Fukushima like they were not expecting the outbreak but it happened so these could maybe have been avoided but


I'm just hopeful that in the future with improvements in the storage of nuclear energy as well as cheaper and more widely available alternative energy sources, is possible to protect the environment when many countries require the increasing amounts of energy to progress


another reason why I believe that to protecting the environment and academic progress is possible, and becoming ever less mutually exclusive is the increase in environmental awareness, and the desire to protect the environment whether for altruistic reasons or for self-interest


today thirty percent of paper and plastic waste in the US has stated, as stated by the US environmental agency, is recycled, this is despite the fact that recycling is often a low profit margin business that requires government subsidies to operate


a thirty percent recycling rate is an achievement that shows a government can push for more for both progress and environmental protection at the same time with enough political will, also air travel of the bloody the bloodlines of world economic machine is beginning to become cleaner with the fury of firms such as


france's uh climate mondi which encourages air travellers and gives them a medium , to compensate for the carbon they had, cause to be emitted during their flights this is done by paying an extra, but


small sum over the air tickets price which then goes to fund tree planting events and to replace the dirty burning wood stoves of poor sub-saharan africans with cleaner electric or petroleum stoves


would argue that the ends justify the means even if you feel that the intentions matter more even if governments act with commercial terms in mind it did ultimately achieved the case of protecting the environment, which proves that it is possible


it was just not well-intended, okay I'll just move on to my final reason why I believe the progress and environmental protection may go hand in hand, is that of the system of capitalism and a desire of the business to maximise profits


the increase in environmental consciousness and the desires of consumers to purchase green products and cleaner cars have led to a paradigm shift in markets where companies are now incentivised to produce green products or to sponsor green movements


companies such as Toyota and Honda have taken advantage of such a change in drivers' preferences by creating smaller cleaner cars and even the hydroelectric cars leading them to progress and turn profits while protecting the environment at the same time


appearing green is also a trend for companies which are in the service sector, the wall street research from has concluded in two thousand eight that green corporate citizenship adds profits to a company's balance sheet


this could explain why highly respected wall street firms like Goldman Sachs and the Bank of America have been sponsoring environmental reform projects in china, thus it is seen that capitalism and businesses inherent desire for profits can and is increasingly leading to for its both progressing and protecting the environment at the same time the environmentally sustainable growth of business could quite possibly be either


waves of the needs of the near future, I believe that it is possible to protect the environment, while striving for academic progress notwithstanding the latter requiring increasingly more energy to accomplish, this though is contingent on the fact that the development of alternative energy sources and the increase in environmental consciousness among people governments and firms are sustained at the current pace


it's while this argument may hold true developing markets have the ability and the runway to transform its economy and to that of france or japan where it's possible to achieve such goals


developed economies like france or japan once started out as developing markets too


oh yes uh that is true and I believe that everyone of us plays a, part in saving and protecting our environment, no stakeholder is too small to ignore when it comes to ensuring that we have an environment which is sustainable for generations to come


part one debate topic one


yes I actually agree with you however there are some counter arguments to this point the first being the rise of tourism, as a form of economic growth is something only prevalent in the nineteen early nineteen hundreds going into the twenty-first century prior to the industrial revolution there was no concept of wildlife for animal tourism


and we have been thriving as a society for several thousands of years without the concept of animal tourism, so for economies which depend on natural resources and ecosystems, they would have found sustainable ways of maintaining economic


growth since their start date if they were not sustainable they would have collapsed to begin with, so take the the fisheries like industry for example which is one of the oldest industries to exist until date they have found sustainable ways of fishing


as such, commercial farming and ensured that this industry will be sustainable for a long time we have relied on fishes and and seafood as our staple for many societies and, this has been sustainable for a long time


however as for conservation of endangered animals and species, it's only an economic and resource strain without any foreseeable benefits or or payback for example one prominent example is the global tiger recovery programme the GTRP which aims to save tigers from becoming extinct in the wild


and double the wild tiger populations which estimates between a hundred to two hundred million spent per year for the next ten years, and all this is just to save uh a small population of tigers and just one species from extinction extinction in the wild


there are thousands of endangered species to be saved and the question really is how many are we intending to save in two thousand and ten, the cost of managing tiger reserves alone cost at least eighty two million dollars, according to the economist to reduce the threat of extinction for endangered species all over the world almost five billion dollars could be spent on this area yearly with an additional seventy-six billion to both establish and maintain protected areas for threaten wildlife these figures are just


from a well from a just published study in the journal science and underscores the extent of funding record needed to preserve bio biodiversity around the world so with that that would be the first counter argument I have against your first point


that is a valid point however I believe that there should be a balance and this is where I believe regulation and government policies are put in place for a reason, restrictions on how much a fisherman can fish a day, as well as the imposition of catch share systems in uh scandinavian countries such as norway ensure that there is always going to be sustainability


in the industry so I think from this angle I I truly believe that this is where local as well as regional governments play a huge role in determining the balance between the extinction of an animal species versus


the ever increasing demand for for globalisation, I think at the end of the day we can both uh agree and conclude that it is about sustainability in terms of economic value and the survival of us animal of an animal or plant species


that that is a very valid point indeed however, wouldn't you like to consider with the advancement of technology in the medical field as well as improvements in drug developments by pharmaceutical companies


wouldn't the reliance of such, medicinal products developed from plants and animals start to decrease as we we progress into the twenty-first century, I mean this this argument might have been valid maybe in the twentieth century where technology and the development of science is not as robust and advanced as what we have right now


and conservation of medical purposes, from this endangered animals and plants species is, clearly not as effective as research and development on chemical compounds and, and, research for for new drugs which has which have created far greater medicinal drugs such as paracetamol and many others to named so


my argument is that as we progress even further as a society maybe into the late twenty-first century or the start of the twenty-second century, I I believe that it is a logical fallacy to deduce that by virtue of humans not tapping into the potential of many plant species around the world


there exist endless potentials and possibilities for medicinal purposes this line of reasoning is not substantiated and I I do feel that it is wrong to assume that just because we have not tested all the different endangered animals and plants means that there are boundless possibilities


the the very fact of the matter could be that this is as far as we get, from medicinal plants and animals


well in a perfect world I I would definitely agree with you uh unfortunately we are limited by, resources here on this earth, with scarce resources such as money funding natural resources manpower and even time I I believe that the most practical and efficient approach would be to


to would be to focus on limited resources and to expand our efforts on technology and science for medical advancement, however I do agree and I would like to echo your point that if we we we had unlimited resources here on this earth and the and the option of exploring both routes is feasible


we definitely should not rob endangered species, pertaining to plants and animals as medical and research uses


ya I mean I agree that different communities may have different perspectives as to how technology and science contributes to to medical improvements over traditional herbs plants and animals which faced potential danger of extinction


while while that is a valid point there is also another school of thought which is the survival of the fittest which is a phrase coined by charles darwin in his darwinian evolutionary theory as a way of describing the mechanism for natural selection


the, biological concept of fitness is always defined as reproductive success and in darwinian terms the phrase is best understood as survival of the form that will leave the most copies of itself in successive generations


I do believe that we should not meddle with nature in this aspect and we should just let it be decided by the survival of the fittest letting endangered species go extinct is merely an accelerated evolution of sorts that we should keep our hands out of


by meddling and interfering with, mother nature's potential for extinction, we are not bringing out the best of the environment and the evolution of animals to actually realise their true potential as a species


ya I mean I agree don't you agree that, personal values and the philosophy or rather the the individual beliefs, of an individual will impact how one approaches the


question in the sense, so take the medical and philosopher take the medical and research argument for example, there will always be different ideologies with, what people subscribe to so if you you ask someone who is more inclined to traditional herbs and medicines


as opposed to uh uh society which relies more on science and technology I mean who are we to say that one is more right than the other right


debate topic two


your argument assumes that the method of production is constant throughout time however what about technological improvements which can also be used to measure economic growth, based on your example on farming or plantation land the farmer can actually purchase new machinery or invest in new innovation to increase the output of his original plot of area


so this way he can increase the amount of physical goods in the economy and achieve economic growth without expanding his original plantation area and sap into more finite resources here on earth, as we enter into the twenty-first century the advancement in technology has been very significant in our globalised economy


we have seen every businesses developing technology to improve the harvest yield and output of production, not just for plantations but all across the economy, automation and robotics have helped increase manufacturing output and in an effort to accelerate manufacturing innovation key examples such as Ford Motor Company has brought


advance engineering expertise and technology together in a single location, three D printing is the most widely recognised and accessible form of additive manufacturing and Ford Motor Company has been a trendsetter in this field since its acquisition of one of the earliest three D printers back in nineteen eighty-eight


today's technology though this technology was initially focused on the techniques of rapid prototyping uh manufacturing and three D printing are now being used for more than just simple production and concept models, with the development of new materials and processes this form of manufacturing will emerge to assist production in economic growth and to act in support of mainstream production


so on the production floor workers can actually collaborate with advanced manufacturing experts to identify ways to achieve economic growth and save time and money, this actually includes the design and the printing of three D replacements, and another key example is actually Amazon the tech company and they actually automate automating around the problem when packing customer orders


so humans actually still place items on the conveyor belt but in Amazon the machines would actually build boxes around them and take care of the sealing and labelling so this actually saves time and effort as you achieve, increase in economic growth and output without expanding on the land itself


if that is the case what about the the use of renewable sources of energy being utilised for economic activity and R&D then


because with, greater economic growth this would spur greater innovative processes into a more reliable and better source of energy so, reliable means of extracting such energy resources can be derived which essentially means that those areas which are hard to reach energy sources like


reserves of oil in shale rock can actually now be extracted without the exorbitant price tag, along it so germany for example a developed country, it is a pre-eminent economic power in central europe and has an EPI ranked sixth in the world so EPI is actually how well countries perform


on high-priority environmental issues in two broad policy areas, first being the protection of human health from environmental harm, and also secondly the protection of ecosystems, this is because germany has been continually adapting and using alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar energy


so, as wind and solar energy has become more available uh many many countries and even companies have begun development on it and this would prove to be a a viable source of, energy so even with economic growth


environmental issues and concerns can still be acted upon and germany with its entire economic prowess has managed to strike a fine balance between high economic growth and and protecting the environment for its future generations


yes that is quite a convincing argument, , however when we are looking at the case of job opportunities as a form of economic growth


I would say that it is possible to incorporate both economic and environmental concerns in the process of creating more employment opportunities, job opportunities, have been created due resulting from environmental issues and it remains a relatively new industry


so this means that as the industry further develops in expertise and experience, more people would be able to secure a wider range of well-paying jobs, and this can be in the form of, wildlife ranger or even health safety security and environmental officers


by providing environmental product protection to the environment there will definitely be more opportunities for higher employment which will lead to more productive workforce and resources, and this would actually lead to lower unemployment and ultimately economic growth


so from this aspect we can argue that environmental preservation and economic growth can actually work hand in hand complementing each other thus I actually disagree that economic growth and environmental concerns cannot coexist


yes I I agree and I strongly believe that this is something, governments and large corporations should seriously consider, so as we progress into a new era of technology where everyone basically owns a smartphone and wi-fi is now a basic human right as declared by the united nations recently


I believe that how government and our societies tread the line between economic growth and environmental concerns will determine, how mother earth will be shaped into, we all play a part in in this aspect


but what is certain is that we cannot maintain the same economic growth run rate and, ignore or shy away from the environmental concerns, so to to mirror your sentiments definitely sustainability is the keyword


which we should focus on, and this should be the guiding beacon and the pillars which governments and corporations should move towards in the future, I I would also argue that, not only that


there are a lot of nonprofit organisations which are not, tied to corporations which has played a huge role in ensuring that that it there that, and economic growth and environmental concerns do coexist together so let's take the


the palm oil forestry and organisation for example they are in charge of ensuring that the extraction of palm oil from palm trees is done in a very sustainable way and these organisations are nonprofit


non-government-linked and they actually ensure that there is sustainability in the wrong long run so yes I agree that, it is a very tough outlook when it comes to ensuring that economic growth does not affect the environment that being said we do have a lot of


organisations from nonprofits even government agencies and corporations as well as individuals like us which will which will help in in this situation wouldn't you agree


part three, debate topic three


while I agree that there are significant benefits to alternative energy such as wind solar and nuclear, there there has already been economic impacts resulting from the use of such technology, mainly nuclear energy and


this is epitomised in, the past where we saw japan's nuclear meltdown in Fukushima back in twenty eleven, and this has shown us that the extent of the effects where despite the root cause of it being a natural disaster this is actually a poor post-disaster management which has led to many problems


the resulting radiation leaks in Fukushima have inconvenienced thousands hundreds of thousands, caused, much consternation among entire nation regarding its continued use of nuclear energy you see a lot of social impact where people are displaced and they have nowhere to go and this not only causes economic harm but also social and cultural harm as well


in addition to human collateral damage, the environment also was not spared plants and fishes were severely affected by the radiation leaks there were many uh if the the sea the sea life as well as the ecosystems by Fukushima were heavily damaged and impacted by the radiation


so like you said theoretically on paper if nuclear energy is stored underground safely without damage to the environment it kind of seems like the the clear cut winner and front runner for alternative energies, however uh if you look at it from a very practical and a very real world stands historical data there are many unexpected events such as natural disasters like tsunamis and until we we cannot confidently conclude that


the world will progress and rotate without any unexpected natural disasters if anything change is the only constant, and, we should actually be prepared that more natural disasters would occur and this will actually lead to more catastrophes for the environment and the economy


in in the in addition, alternative energy sources are still in general not as cheap from a cost point of view compared to drilling for oil and hence not many countries actually adopt it however I believe that the near future with today's pace in the advancement of alternative energy technology


and in order to circumvent the predicted disaster of oil running out by say twenty fifty, alternative energy will definitely become cheaper and be more widely adopted by many different countries and economies to protect the environment at the same time and this I believe it's a very possible eventual out outcome


however I believe that such choices are increasingly becoming ones that are made out of commercial interests and or self-interest where people are actually feeling the negative effects of environment environmental damage so


we as consumers we we see that this environmental effects have impacted us like the increase in global temperatures and we we pushed for climate change, and from a wider perspective from a government point of view there's also examples back in twenty o eight after the beijing olympics concluded where beijing actually reimpose car quotas to reduce pollution levels and protect people's health and attract tourists and investors


so I believe that this, sense of self-interest and as well as commercial terms are more than ever leading to such green decisions being made to protect the environment and this, while not all insignificantly would actually inhibits economic growth


while I agree that companies can make an an environmental impact, this green initiatives are by by large firms right they are actually like you mention mainly as a result from, environmental consciousness and the desires of


what what actually happens when consumers decide that they have a change of heart, will this change how these companies operate to cater to the consumers, the key influences which can make significant change are reliant on consumer trends and patterns as opposed to their own company mission or motto


by that I believe that that, that, the company's mission and motto is more inherently not as altruistic as we we seem to think but it's more to cater to consumer demands, another argument I would like to make is that it's also for the case of developing markets and economies


developing countries' desire to ensure energy for all at a competitive price to achieve, and sustained economic growth and poverty reduction, so in their desire to develop and improve the standard of livings of their citizens in developing markets


these countries will opt for the goals of economic growth and cheap energy for all, and this will actually lead to environmental pollution and degradation more so energy access at a lower price is necessary to make, the industries in developing countries


actually competitive and contribute to economic growth job creation as well as development, so ensuring energy access to the population, and enhancing the competitiveness of local industries may actually require providing energy at lower prices through energy subsidies


this will actually encouraged energy over-consumption waste as well as inefficiency and also fuel, environmental pollution, most developing countries especially those in sub-saharan africa depend majorly on natural resources for revenue and foreign exchange


and, these economies are driven by funds generated from a lot of usage and dependants on natural resources such as coal oil and gas agriculture as well as forest resources, the livelihoods of those masses also depend on these resources


however the exploitation and processing of some of these resources result in environmental pollution and degradation, a key example would be the exploration of oil and activities in multinational oil companies in the niger delta region of nigeria which has actually caused substantial land water and air pollution however for nigeria to maintain its current economic growth path


and sustain its drive for poverty reduction oil exploration and production will continue to be a very dominant, and omnipresent economic activity this is also the case with a number of many other developing countries and economies in south east asia uh south america and not just limited to the likes of africa


that is true but some countries definitely take longer to become


to, to transition from a developing market to a developed market, but yes I agree and I am hopeful that in the distant future when, most or if not all economies and countries are developed, it will be more feasible to protect the environment while increasing our energy consumption


it is also important to, two re-emphasise and reiterate, that the role of the consumers like us also play a huge part in this, governments corporations and and many other, organisations tend to act based on the demands of


the consumers like us in this economy and we all have a huge role to play in protecting our environment


part one debate topic one


okay so we're actually at this issue called, have you heard of the three Rs reduce reuse recycle, okay it's not new


but let's actually recall why do we have to do it, whats so good about recycling okay, let me quote you some statistics, if you were to recycle one thousand KG of paper kilogram okay do you know you can save seventeen trees and singapore is known to be a green nation


if you were to recycle an aluminium can you actually save ninety five percent of the energy used to make a new one, !wow! is like buy get back ninety five percent back energy okay , if you were to recycle a glass bottle


you will save thirty percent of the energy used to make a new one, okay is less than aluminium but it still saving thirty percent, so given that is all these like you know good benefits let's look at what what singapore has done


if you are looking at the non domestic rate, it's actually quite good seventy four percent, specifically for singapore okay we are low lying nation


so climate change is threatening our way of life and existence, so if we actually don't use recycling as a method okay reduction reuse can only do so much and it has more severe economic implications


compared to recycling, it could actually had achieved, more relatively more benefits, so, besides the economic there's also the climate change issue


okay the truth is with more people in the country in the world, with more organisation, at, so the there's more critical need for them to actually, get recycling since there'll be more waste


I'm just going to quickly pause here so what we have done so far is actually talking about the three Rs , what's so good about recycling and why is it so important


so if I may just come in quickly at this point so ah it's interesting that you actually has say actually is not three R is, five Rs, so the additional Rs ah that you have shared and given example are things like reduce reuse, okay this is commonly known and also like you have things like refuse so like the straws at fast food restaurants even at repurposing of waste and it's not just like individual there's a lot of


social ground up efforts on it, so what I'm also hearing is like not all plastics can be recycled lah so that's the truth even with the categories and everything so uh there's also the thing about increasing education especially the crux of it I'm just going to touch on this point a bit more it is true that it's not just absolutely how much we


recycle it's actually about recycling right, so what happen was in singapore the blue bins we saw the blue bins now estate unfortunately close to forty percent of them cannot be recycled


I myself I actually make a effort to like you know clean my bottles and then put in the blue bin nicely and I get very frustrated when people just treat it like a rubbish bin


I've seen things like cigarettes I've seen things like drinks inside so back to the topic, I will say it's not just about recycle so I'm still supporting the stand but I would like to highlight recycling


so things like education actually supports it, further, so uh singapore is actually doing this quite aggressively in twenty nineteen uh ministry of water and environment resources actually got, fifty citizens to work together to form a citizens work group on recycle right so it's actually about co-creating solutions and is feasible solution something that can be that done within their household and yet scalable so it's not just about top


drop uh top driven down initiative is really like what can you do at your home and some of the examples are really like things like commonly use apps, okay so you have something and then education pop up things even like tweaking the way out, recycling blue bin


how does it look like the design so people are like fully aware what should go in what should not, so in actual fact this has been ah publicised, it's actually public source data so they actually have released some new infographics , telling people what can be recycled what cannot be so that's the education campaign that's very strong there


okay is it sufficient so ah, there could be more done so therefore that actually is more important to recycle, now let's uh let's contrast this with actually things like reduction, okay reduction is easier said than done


have you, actually encounter at the fast food, I am not sure why my internet is not moving uh so


my laptop is hanging , I am just going to continue to talk so that I have the sound, ya so , hello can everyone hear me


ah ya I think just now at nine forty three that means the timer on the screen there right, until all the way until eight fourteen the screen went, blank, okay so I'm so sorry that was a technical glitch so as I was saying uh


uh, well my two other phones are still recordings so I'll continue I did I didn't press stop lah so , okay, so I was saying that the crux of recycling right should not be just increasing the absolute amount is actually talking about recycling right


and there have been drives talking about recycling right, okay things like education campaign so which is actually saying that you need to educate people even things like , changing the info grab changing the technical infrastructure like they're they're talking about one of the proposal by the citizens will group is actually saying that oh shall we just change how the bin looks like so people are more aware etcetera etcetera so


better so that we can actually manage waste so I'm also go going to quickly counter what you have mention about reduce and repurpose, so when you talk about reduction right


can you can you recall what was the backlash or like concerns of firms initially when they said no straws, no plastic, if you actually read all the posting right some people said I'm, going to ban this shop it's my right


to have a straw how can you actually say no to, me so (ppc) I'm sorry (ppc) with that, again it's like it's easier to say but it's uh, hard pill to swallow so people need time to adjust to it


how much time we need we don't know so meanwhile if a waste still generated that's why recycling comes in as we things on repurpose so again we have to look at the amount of resources channelled into it to come up with the repurposing of the product, the example you get a book is, sounds easy okay we just pas the book from A to B


making it for repurpose, the cost the dollar cost energy costs etcetera etcetera could be much higher than just recycling it because there are existing facilities high fixed costs being incurred that helps with the recycling


so back to these uh just to highlight so uh using singapore as an example, we actually say that okay twenty two percent domestic recycling rates is too low let's go up to thirty percent okay so actually it's quite a big jump uh eight percentage basis point


in, and for the, firms they actually talking about increasing it further to more than eighty percent so this is actually to highlight that there is still strong room for growth on recycling for both households


and firms, so I'm not saying that the other Rs don't work so well but noting that uh


reduce as for repurpose you need to generate the waste first then you can repurpose, and, it actually costs more consumerism because when you repurpose your right reselling certain products again, so that's my that's my discussion about uh why is it important to recycle right and the relative advantage recycling has over reduce and repurpose


this is further elaborating on what you say so uh if I were to see it as a, flow so uh upfront it would really be refuse ah if you can't say no to it let's just be mindful of the economic implication because refuse consumerism so your whole sectors is going to strain if you can't refuse you still need to consume it so you can reduce for example


you mentioned about potion of, good, so I know which country you're talking about it made headline news yesterday so uh, the question is, what is actually waste waste it could be something that people like excessive, consumption the consumerism therefore they generated it and therefore refuse and reduce help


helps, but what if the waste are essential items that you can't, refuse or you can't reduce, I'm just gonna the quote one example maybe personal usage items things like ah sorry for, the ladies maybe uh, okay


sanitary items you can't refuse you can't, reduce, reduce them you need to use them you need to use them, ya


just to confirm I press the red button first


part two debate topic two okay ah


I'm supposed to go first but I will just take the next one minute to plan a bit okay


talk, this topic called examine the claim that the world is too dependent on oil, let's recall what's another name for oil it was known as black gold, gold in black color, why so let's recall the different uses of oil


whenever you drive you're using petrol where does petrol, come from, crude oil whenever you is a factory that produces thing, where does it come from, energy energy source from fuel go back to crude oil, , but as you can see oil is everywhere in our life


, so now the thing is, how did it enter our life to this extent how come we had this dependency so much let's recall a bit of history so ever since in the nine in the eighteen fifties right, so there was actually this thing called the steam engineer so before


that looks actually cold engine so in that the steam engine and therefore there's uh industrial revolution easier word to understand so there was really like strong demand for fewer that could actually generate like uh elect generate energy that helps to benefit all so


that was actually quite a big turning point in the eighteen fifties whereby all, oil kind of like displace coal and actually that brought a brought great economic development for many countries , and the nineteen hundreds okay beyond oil there were lot of byproducts being generated things like stove


things like, engines things like lubricant for industrial machinery, okay all this led to grow in demand for oil, so earlier I give you an example of a steam engine now I'll give you another example of a transport, model T ford


okay ford is very well known to be a car maker and that was actually like the first car that was being produced okay and cars it required fuel so therefore it required oil, so as you can see there's growing demand for oil and the brook uh, , due to industrial revolution and also buy products


next what happened was since there's a rising demand it was matched by rising supply so you actually had more countries coming in actually supplying oil in the late, nineteenth century countries like US, russia netherlands britain so all these are like okay wait we let's


let say oil as a main commodity one trade in why there's always sustained demand in it no problem okay as long as the market wants it we will produce it I will, be a player in it so actually it created a high dependency of all in their trade okay


so ah continuing another example of a country your middle east countries so all these are actually like countries, that realised that the market crisis the high demand for oil I'll produce it and as a result a huge sector of the economy becomes so oil dependent, now I'm going to go on next to talk about the


problems, when we say it's too dependent on oil it means that is the issue of it we're too reliant on it, I'm going to give you the key, areas which will be economics, environmental and political, so it's just a PPE uh PEE sorry okay first


countries that depend so much on oil economic for example countries like saudi arabia the middle east countries, they are highly oil dependent because in the first place they have oil in their back, yard, so they will just extract it and then after that sell it to other countries


to the extent that where oil price was rising, they were very happy they sold it off at very high price but when the oil price collapse, their whole economic were like oh dear, I even if I sell it off okay


most of the country will have to import oil , where oil prices are freaking high it actually caused this thing called inflation imported inflation, go back to two go back to nineteen ninety seven asian financial crisis developing countries like indonesia they was struggling


okay a piece of Tempeh which is like a tofu or like something equivalent actually jack up by more than four hundred percentage points because of inflation oil prices was rising sharply so whether or not you are importing or exporting country it cost too much fluctuation when you have too much dependency on oil as a main sector


okay second one environmental who, can ever forget the oil spill, okay, in actually like ah, two thousand and ten, in mexico so what happened was there was a deep, drill deep water drilling a rig


and as a result something happened, what was it it was actually a four month oil spill, so what uh after next is for the US administration actually said, total ban no new offshore products, no new offshore drilling projects allowed as they reveal their


safety environmental, so while is a four month break, things like water pollution things like marine, life, okay things like flora fauna in the sea, sea, and definitely it has long term implication okay so if two thousand and ten it's just a four month


does does an, do with drilling I'm going to quote you another example even the transport of oil it creates problem, , so there was actually this exxon, fell this oil spill it was actually a tanker so and it struck in the worst place


the tanker struck a reef in alaska, okay things like the winter animals so it was actually the worst, disaster in US history and what's the clean up bill


two billion, up to now whether it's fully cleanup okay that's still there might be still patches of oil that deep down in the in the, ice do we call it ice, or glacier because it so deep, by the, time it gets as into it it's all there and don't forget


global warming climate change maybe by the time, the ice melt, might still see segments of the black gold there, okay so that's definitely the environmental problem, third one I'm gonna tell you when we become too dependent on oil, politics


earlier on I started by saying that many countries depend on oil okay, I, and it's becomes a major trading chip, if I'm not happy with your country I'm not going to sell you the oil, so I'm going to quote several countries okay things like, in arab


the first oil embargo, same thing in nineteen seventy three just with a very short span of six years they had the second oil, embargo okay this was actually due to the #yom kippur# war okay and as a result again that was very high inflation it's one of the most well known in nineteen seventy three


okay , moving a bit more backwards, even like nineteen forty one what happened was


main players in world war two so it's all it's a political chip because we already talk about the use of oil, as a essential item for transport production and even at daily life, okay so due to all this in the worst case, people can use it as a bargaining chip, even in good times


governments are using it as a political political chip , if you look at nineteen forty three right, US president franklin roosevelt actually like kind of struck a deal with uh saudi, the country saudi because they know that, that time


oil was vital to the US security so in exchange there was financial support okay so its political relationships you choose your friends based on what they can provide you and here they looking at oil, , and arab countries actually came together and formed OPEC


okay organisation of petroleum exporting country in nineteen sixties because they were like, kind of like, frustrated since the western oil companies and US was like imposing caps and everything so as result the OPEC countries was formed, and we recall OPEC actually have very strong control


over oil production, and therefore influencing oil price, every time I hear the news OPEC is doing something OPEC is doing something, so again how did this arise, it's because they know that oil is a important bargaining chip, okay they could use it to negotiate with the world this actually highlights


why the claim, the claim on why the world is so dependent on oil, okay I'm going to pause here now, now, what we have done so far is actually talk about how oil became part of our life, and, therefore the three areas of consequences when the world


becomes too dependent on it which is economic


so do you have anything more to add before I counter your points , okay ya


oh it's interesting because that exactly is economics theory at work so what I hear you say three things actually you are talking about renewable energy as the fastest growing sector in replacement and given supply, type disruption supply chains sorry supply chain disruption


second you gave the example of price being negative okay and thirdly you talk about, OPEC, so uh individual country actually chose to increase production, and therefore causing prices to drive down , instead of restricting production okay so if I may just quickly like highlight this thing about price less than zero it is true it's like people were like !hey! what happened since when it's negative but you're on look only looking at


and you're correct to say that there was a lot of inventory being bought up too many until there's not enough place to sell uh sorry to store so they say I sell cheap okay I pay you to store for me


but why was there the increase in supply why it's actually politics again so countries realise that oil okay was actually a important bargaining chip so they didn't want to let any country dominates oil production, in particular in recent year US actually discovered that they do not need the usual crude oil the black color


gold, they actually found this thing called the shale oil SHALE and by doing this think called fracking right they could actually uh extract the, oil at the lower cost equivalent that means in terms of duration etcetera although there was a more like high investment but it was politics at work because they did not not wanted to let other countries dominate it so they decide to push for it okay so ah back to this part what does it mean


since when a particle commodity play such a critical factor in influencing, how the world works again it's oil, because oil is common to all countries therefore is like, a common, common language and therefore they can actually used it as a bargaining chip that's why


the dependency, okay not dependency as in usage but what does it mean for, the world , now uh I'm also going to counteract your uh counter your renewable energy point, yes indeed it's a fastest growing okay the question is does it apply well to every country


let's identify the different examples of renewable energy first solar, okay maybe like countries like singapore do well since we're in the tropics whereby, energy sorry our solar energy is quite stable, but have you, seen solar energy install in every household yet


no ya, yes no I don't know okay second, if you're talking about hydro, I don't think our marina barrage serve as the purpose, okay I'm using singapore as an example because uh its the country that we are most familiar with


it is causing extreme flooding


so these are the, problems when you actually have renewable energy source, okay, while renewable energy seems like a fastest growing, but, but not all countries can shift to that you will still need to depend on oil, reason being it may not be feasible for all countries countries without


solar, that missed the sun they can't use solar it's not stable countries without rivers without enough land can't switch to hydro, countries who don't want to do nuclear okay political they will not switch there, second thing is the cost


if you are talking about the cost of building a dam, DAM is definitely much much much more higher then using, oil, and I'm not just talking about the cost of building the dam but if affected in terms like okay getting people to shift the house


environmental costs all these, are the, cost benefit analysis which one is actually better so not all countries are shifting down the route yet,


okay I'll take the one minute to organise first, oh ya, yup same as mine part three debate topic three


okay I'm ready to go can


okay so we're at this topic called, the solution to all environmental problems is more regulation not education, in short should we use the stick more instead of, feeding them a carrot okay, carrot is like other things but I'll just use the words feeding a carrot so let's go back to exactly what we're talking about first environmental problems I'm going to set some examples


first is definitely related to the water things like water pollution and also scarcity of drinking water it's not just about dirty water is we don't have enough and it's actually depletion uh depleting what can be drunk , second is the air that we breathe in air pollution


okay, third, will be actually waste and land pollution so we talk about water and now is the, land so things like disposing of the toxic waste, okay causing land pollution just think of land fills


the examples the image will come to mind, , last is climate change we all have experienced this, higher temperature, lower temperature that fluctuates from day to night, okay rain they just comes and go


even like who have seen, graphics of those like extreme weather fluctuations and also like , natural disasters all these are actually climate change in outcome so these are the environment, problems and therefore why, why regulation why not education I'm going to cite some examples on the regulation when people think of regulation right immediately they think of oh let's go for ban


and, zero I zero consumption so some of the bans that have been used in the world are, ban on single use plastic that means all your individual plastic that are used and thrown, countries like taiwan okay countries like rwanda even if, developing countries like rwanda are saying


that's do it, so according to UN report right hundred and twenty seven countries, are or have move towards plastic bans, if single use plastic is not your cup of, tea, I hope you're using a disposed uh reusable one


first talk about car free okay so some countries actually have car free days they do not allow for automobiles, in the country on special days okay third example of a no ban, for example polar okay actually said no fishing zone so that they can preserve the fish allowing the fish to grow so that you won't deplete the natural resources


now, is it only ban not really there're other forms of regulation things like law , okay example in bhutan why can it remains so green so in, bhutan they actually say that sixty percent of the land, must be under, the forest cover thats their green growth policy they do not pursue growth at all costs they went for green growth


okay in bolivia in twenty, ten, rights of mother earth, mother earth is equivalent to an individual it should be given legal right, legal rights including clean air water, pollution free ecosystem biodiversity


essentially say that don't take away everything the the mother earth is a human himself, hers him or herself so is legally right okay, even things like river in new zealand they actually grant legal status to rivers, and if things like cars single use plastic land


doesn't resonate with you food waste, france actually implemented a law in twenty sixteen that said, you are not allowed to throw away unsold food you have to donate it, so all these are examples of regulations okay both ban, and law so that it actually helps to


reduce, the problems the, environmental problems that I've shared from start which is for four environmental problems air water land and climate change okay extreme ones, a third, particular regulation I'm going to share


is the carrot, incentives okay so sweden actually give a tax break if people, reuse their old items all these are regulations at work, okay, and there's a lot more but I'm just going to highlight these three so that with


uh, ya just for your knowledge and spoke for developing and developed


okay so uh along the similar track also like agree uh agree that it's not just about regulation standalone it should be complimentary education how I read this topic was actually saying that okay you can do all the education you want but like what you mention, at the individual, going to institution then to the nation and to the global the extent of


impact, I'm looking at per dollar value how much resources we spend on educating relative to the outcome the efficacy, it's actually not there compared to regulation it's actually much much much more weaker so even though things like intrinsic motivation self determination autonomy it sounds like !wow! it's really good because it's sustainable change okay if it's successful it scale up


but, has it not been done before why is it that impact is still not there so that mean it's like, the question is really like how much more needs to be done so that education is actually more useful and more more effective compared to regulation so turn it around why is regulation better firstly it offers clarity about what to do


you know I'm not just like taking on your intrinsic motivation I clearly said a laws say sixty percent of the forest land in bhutan, must be green cover there is no doubt to say so how my land considered green no green okay sixty percent, so they actually have a nationwide status and they can actually go to the office to actually clarify the rules from there so education doesn't education just say let's reduce let's refuse and everything but it doesn't really tell the world exactly what they have to do to have a larger impact


so second thing is ready like there's more clarity about the actual cost benefit from a economics angle, when firms are forced to pay okay things like a ban things like higher cost things like tax things that subsidies they are all responding to market forces and therefore it really drives them to change okay


third there's always a timeline, uh education is intrinsic agree question is, how long does it take effect, can the world still afford to wait given that the four, environment problems I gave, it's really in our face can we still afford to wait ten years


, climate change is indeed here, okay it can we still, wait for people their wake up call or should we just put into action immediately the timeline matters so given these three factors okay so to clarity on what to do things like there's ah market forces at work the price signalling


so it reinforces on what to do exactly how much, how regulation leads to a change in action and thirdly the immediate, , one more advantage of regulation, there is this thing called enforcement, when government regulate firms when government regulate individuals that is clear cut the idea that you are not allowed to do things or you're forced to do something so you no longer depends on this thing called self determination autonomy there's clarity about who to do what and the government can actually enforce it with other rules and regulations so therefore the desired outcome


in reducing environmental problems or reducing the root cause of the environmental, problem is there and, whoever is responsible knows what they're supposed to do


stricter domestic environmental regulation they follow the rule, okay this is my country I follow the rules here I'll just pollute less


but once they go to another country same same company same group of people, there's less stringent environmental regulations, oh they're is kind of like all, things break loose okay lah I didn't want to use the vulgarity but is like all things break


are they not educated they truly know that, what does global emission work right is like within their own country they are educated on that but it's the rules that keep them in check, , and as a response to actually a regulations


is not, is your behavior on the scale of what


one, and implicit cost without rules and regulations okay there will be no one to measure it no one to come up with the indicators no reporting all these are just, if you use education its just like oh it's good for the environment people do not know what's going on


so in light of these two examples same person who can go across the globe, and actually just pollute okay regulations the only thing that keeps them in check, plus there are other indicators to show the efficacy and efficiency of regulation is actually highlight that okay


things needs to be done more in terms of regulations


part one debate topic one


uh is that where I come in, already oh yes sure, thank you I I mean I totally agree with you that recycling is very important and I think recycling is something that even our government has been trying to