Green ideas awake
By Phi Tuan in HCMC
Half a century ago, when Noam Chomsky, a great American linguistic and political critic, wrote “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously,” he must have thought the whole sentence was meaningless, as green - a concrete adjective - could not modify idea - an abstract noun.
Today, the green is waking in thoughts and actions, both concrete and abstract, of the world. People live green, think green, sleep green and dream green as a hope in a world seriously polluted and undergoing climate change.
Green is in the news, politics, fashion, on the Internet, in technology, up in the air, under the feet and in the water and one can hardly escape it.
In a world of fewer natural resources, governments are trying to think green ideas and green initiatives to make new strategies for sustainable consumption and production, and calling for a fundamental shift in the way businesses operate to cut waste, reduce consumption and limit the damage inflicted on the environment.
Speaking at a meeting of businesses from the ASEAN and Japan in HCMC in November, 2009, Dang Thanh Tam, chairman of Saigon Investment Group, emphasized the need for balance between development and the environment.
“In a world of crisis and pollution, eco-friendly development is a must in the future,” he said.
Tam’s opinion echoed what experts and authorities in HCMC often mentioned when they said a green city was what HCMC should move towards. The city has been encouraging businesses to achieve greater energy efficiency, especially for buildings, which is seen as the quickest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the results are limited.
The city government rejects projects that harm the environment. “We welcome the green technology projects and say no to those harmful to the environment,” said Nguyen Thanh Tai, vice chairman of the HCMC government.
Phan Minh Tan, director of the city’s Department of Science and Technology, said the green codes of practice on waste and environment protection focused on reducing waste, reusing materials at every opportunity, recycling, encouraging staffs to be responsible and using energy and water sparingly.
Tan told the Daily that Vietnamese companies should use energy efficiently as a green way of reducing the cost of production to enhance the competitiveness of the products.
“The world is in a race towards creating a low-carbon economy and Vietnam must not get left behind,” he said.
Che Dinh Ly, deputy director of the HCMC Institute for Environment and Resources, told the Daily that the Government needed help from corporations to come up with more efficient uses of resources, though it was necessary for the Government to use regulations to persuade companies to change their ways.
Ly told the Daily that Singapore had improved resource efficiency to grow with fewer resources and achieve more with less by reducing costs and freeing up precious resources to grow the economy long term.
Ly said the city and the community should act now. Individuals should use less electricity and water, waste less and choose cleaner ways to travel. Companies could save money by using less energy and water and reducing unnecessary packaging. For the Government, they should walk the talk by making public services more efficient and promoting environmental awareness.
“A regulation may raise awareness, but it doesn’t alter attitudes. It is time to walk the talk of green policy because in today’s world, no company, big or small, operating locally or globally, in manufacturing or services, can afford to ignore environmental issues,” Ly told the Daily.
Researchers have shown that in climate change, Vietnam is not a big contributor but a big victim. For a long time, many experts have warned that the country should not sacrifice the environment for the sake of development. “Green is what we lived in the past, but what we hope in the future,” one said.
The experts suggest the city and the community bare in mind the economic, social and environmental consequences of development. Enterprises and communities are called to use resources efficiently and harmoniously with the concepts of zero emission and 3Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle.
According to researchers, Vietnamese businesses in Vietnam are using 1.5 times more energy than businesses in Thailand and twice as much as businesses in Japan, which weakens their competitive ability.
One group of researchers, after years of studying Linh Trung EPZ and Tan Binh IP, said HCMC should build eco-towns to protect the environment and respond to climate change, which is serious. An eco-town, as they figure, minimizes inflictions to the natural environment and maximizes the diversity of the land and people.
The Saigon Times Daily