SG Climate Rally February 2020
Dear friends of SG Climate Rally,
The first month of 2020 has been a sombre one. Several catastrophic disasters have taken place, many of which have been intensified by the climate emergency.
Australia has been ravaged by bushfires which have engulfed an area twice the combined size of recent fires in California and the Amazon. The total area of land affected is more than 80 times the size of Singapore. While climate change does not directly create wildfires, it has led to rising temperatures and drier summers, making droughts and heatwaves more frequent and severe, setting the stage for fires of unprecedented intensity and scale.
At the other end of the spectrum, Jakarta had its most intense rainfall in 24 years this January, and 67 people have been reported dead due to heavy flooding. Jakarta is also one of the fastest-sinking cities in the world, with experts predicting that it could be entirely submerged by 2050. This disaster has been worsened by extreme weather due to climate change as well as slashes in the city’s flood mitigation budget.
Here at home, Singapore is experiencing a heightened risk of the coronavirus outbreak; as a result, SG Climate Rally has postponed several public-facing events, such as our Climate Ambassador Module sessions, for the month of February. We are taking this time to develop our presentation materials and facilitation capabilities. SG Climate Rally is monitoring the constantly-evolving situation, and we will be notifying you when public module sessions have resumed.
Additionally, SG Climate Rally has teamed up with Speak 4 Climate to bring you Greenwatch, a campaign aimed at garnering greater recognition of the climate crisis and deeper commitments to climate policy during the upcoming General Election (GE) in Singapore. To this end, some success has been made in holding politicians accountable, such as questioning from an SG Climate Rally representative prompting a public statement from Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing that demonstrates intent to decarbonise fully and prepare for a green transition.
In the new decade, climate action will continue to face challenges and obstacles to implementation. We cannot fight this fight alone, and SGCR thanks you for your continuous support as we strive towards a better future for all.
For a better world,
SG Climate Rally