Singapore (Week 2)

Co-Founder of Hotmail Pic( Naveen Singha) Dinner at the Newton Food Center

Shannee Green

This week has been spent talking to local citizens and getting a feel on there perspective on water. When I went to the PUB last week, I asked why I couldn’t purchases cases of bottle water and I they notified me that everyone drinks Tap. So I decided to ask local residents how they felt about there tap water and if that was their source for drinking water. My first courageous soul was a taxi driver and he was not happy with the water he said that when he puts the water in the bottle and drinks it throughout the day, It has an odor. He believes its going to kill him one day, but he complained the whole taxi drive about the water and his superstitions, I politely smiled the whole trip and shook my head politely in an understanding manner. My next taxi driver, said that he has been drinking the water for many year, since he was in the military and that he believes the water is safe. He mentioned the desalination plant and the reservoirs. He said that the birds go to the reservoirs  to drink the water that was once ocean water. His discussion was calming as he went on to tell me about elephants and how people shouldn’t mistreat them. Thus far, I personally think the water is safe. It does have a distinct odor that I hate after showering and my face is breaking out, which I hate because I never had problems with pimples before. I’m trying not to blame it on the water, but …….. I’ll keep an open mind.

I also had a very interesting run in with one of the Co-founders of Hotmail. It was so cool, he was staying in my hotel. Him and his colleagues and I went to dinner one night and we discussed the concepts of sustainability and I gave him some of my suggestions and he questioned whether I thought that sustainability could actually be achieved in a global setting. He believed that sustainability should be done on the local level and  that as the world develops localized sustainability measures must be implemented.  They were in Singapore setting up data centers.We exchanged contacts after dinner  and went our separate ways, but he was truly an insightful person and I was pleased to meet his acquaintance.