National Youth Environment Forum 2006
All right, I am seriously close to being zombiefied. So far, I managed to fit into a ‘sleep properly once in 3 days’ routine. Sleep is truly a luxury.
Oh yea, I was attending the National Youth Environment Forum today at SMU all day. I’ve been attending on average 3 such events weekly, which is getting very very tiring. If I get 1 CCA points per event, it’ll be great but unfortunately there’s no such thing.
It’s essentially presentations on some environmental issues, then split into separate caucus groups and then back together for joint Q&A before concluding with a speech (what else?). I was in the Energy and Climate Change caucus group, which was interesting because an official from the Ministry of Environment was there. She was there to use us as a think tank to formulate ideas for new environmental policies. Of course, you bet we gave our best to throw ideas at them.
One interesting observation is my fellow caucus members are very keen on spending more on energy to make available alternative sources of energy. Noble intentions aside, I wonder what their parents would have to say about that. Another interesting thing is some Singaporeans are actually in favour of using nuclear energy, but there is significant giggle factor attached to it). Granted, it’s a possible solution, but with the drawbacks being namely a huge price tag, all the devils of nuclear fission and Malaysia freaking out, I think it’s a difficult path. According to the MoE official, carbon sequestration is not feasible, plus my personal estimate that wind, solar and hydro energy is not going to be adequate means that Singaporeans may have to end up with a nuclear reactor or beam energy from satellites down from space. Some choice indeed. Further discussions will be needed to see if that is really the case, but I’ll be waiting to see if the Singapore Institute of International Affairs will form a youth discussion group. I’ve always wanted to see how a think tank works anyway. In the meantime, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Anyhow, something happened during the event that really scared me. We were going through the findings of the other caucus groups in the conference hall and I was checking my organiser for next weekend’s schedule when suddenly I heard some noise that sounded like it came right out of Ju-On, but it was gradually increasing in frequency. I looked up from my pda and down towards the source of the sound. To my surprise and horror, the NUS Professor who was there to present on Energy and Climate Change was having a seizure just two seats away! The first thought was ‘Spoon’, but I was in a grip of paralysis (seriously, one moment he was all right, the next he was convulsing!) at that time and I just sat there stunned until somebody else mentioned that aloud. Then, I just left with most of the participants because crowding around would not accomplish anything, and I’m not trained in first aid. Somebody got a pack of tissue and jammed it between his teeth. Someone else actually took out a handphone with a Si case to volunteer it, but IMHO it would have probably filled his mouth with bits and pieces of electronic components which would make things worse. He was whisked off to hospital minutes later and we continued the session, but my concentration was totally lost for the better part of the hour. Hopefully he’s all right now, and it wasn’t stress getting to him.
Just in case you happen to be in my shoes in the future, I checked and I discovered that sticking a spoon in the mouth wouldn’t do much good (it’s something like an urban myth). Best to keep the person away from harmful objects and keep his passageways open. Try to get the person to relax (if person is aware of surroundings) and avoid people crowding around the person. 
Other than that there are perks like free food, shirt, drinks and great discussions. Yes, people do ask simple questions, but you have to really give them credit that they dared to ask it publicly in the first place. Great place to check your facts, and see if there are any alternative POVs.
I’m not a Singaporean, but it’s a good time as any to contribute to our host country. Besides, environmental issues are a global problem, so anyplace is a good place to start with. Here, I decided it’s probably wiser to let people think that I’m Singaporean (it’s a piece of cake to blend in anyway). So except for my ESP-USP coursemates that were there, the rest were clueless. The ideas aren’t exactly laypeople friendly, plus there were so many ideas that it’ll fill a few pages if I’m going to post them here.
