Schneider-Mayerson, Some Islands Will Rise: Singapore in the Anthropocene

Some Islands Will Rise Singaporee in the Anthropocene Singapor

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Here in a course on enviReading Richard McGuire’s graphic novel Here ronmental literature at Yale-NUS Yale- NUS College, my students and I couldn’t help wonder: what will the uture hold or Singapore? Here Here shows shows the view rom  rom a �xed perspective and location (Perth Amboy, Amboy, New Jersey) across eons, ranging ranging rom �,��,��,�� BCE to ��,�� AD AD.. In ��, water pours through the window o a suburban house, and �feen years later the area is entirely submerged (McGuire ��). Tese scenes in particular inspired the class to re�ect on the uture o Singapore, the sole industrialized small island nation in the world. While most narratives o climate utures ocus on the great destabilizations, violence, and suffering we can expect in the next century, with seemingly doomed island nations (such as uvalu and the Maldives) serving as symbols o an incipient era o unconscionable environmental injustice, at least one island will rise. I drowned cities are one likely uture, island ortresses are another. As a wealthy nation with a tradition o environmental engineering, a strong s trong centralized government, government, and the technological capacity to adapt, Singapore’s arti�cial technonature might provide a glimpse o the uture or those lucky enough to survive the rising tides. Tis essay considers the possibility that Singapore is a model, as many scholars (e.g., Chua B. ��) have claimed, but or very different and potentially con�icting practices: climate adaptation, sustainable urbanism, national greenwashing, and eco-authoritarianism. eco- authoritarianism. Te most appropriate appropriate place to begin such an examination is the cool, dark, metallic cavern at the base o the Cloud Forest dome in Singapore’s billion-dollar billion-dollar supergarden complex, Gardens by the Bay. Afer

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visitors wind wind their way down down the dome, a massive airair-conditio conditioned ned glass g lass structure that showcases the transplanted �ora o mountain orest ecosystems, they encounter a theater in which the short �lm +� +� plays plays on loop. With a quickening crescendo, it depicts mounting scenes o climate catastrophe catastrophe as the t he planet warms to �ve degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. In �� (+�.� degrees) a child’s voice announces that hal o all species are condemned to extinction. In �� (+�.� degrees) there is a �� percent decline in reshwater availability. By �� (+�.� degrees), a male voice concludes, the Earth is just “a dry rock dying in space.” But all is not lost. As the timeline rapidly reverses, the disembodied narrator counsels that “this is only one possible uture.” I “we act quickly,” we “can adapt our behavior and prevent all this rom happening.” Such adaptations would include “technology” (a photograph o a solar array), “arm practices” (a vertical arm), and “policies” (wind turbines). A piano plays the last notes o a hopeul coda while a �nal image appears: an architect’s rendering o a night scene at Gardens by the Bay, with amilies strolling below Singapore’s iconic “Supertrees.” Trough this illustration, the �lm offers Singapore’s technonature as a response to and salvation rom its own dystopian orecasts. As the audience exits, eighteen Supertrees loom beore them, each between �� and �� eet tall. By any technical de�nition they are hardly “trees” but unnel-shaped unnel-shaped concrete pillars with over ��,�� tropical plants sown into their exteriors and metallic purple extensions as their clipped crowns. Every evening, they perorm a light show in time with inspirational symphonic music, the center stage o a municipal perormance hall whose balcony seats are located in the surrounding skyscrapers. Bright lights illuminate the epiphytes in their trunks, and multicolored bulbs blink on and off, appr approximating oximating the stars. In their arti�ciality, their reaching verticality, and their uturistic aspiration, the “sci � botany” (Lim ��, ��) of the Supertrees is distinctly Singaporean. Singaporean.� It asserts that “nature,” once contained and engineered, is but a medium or human arti�ce and amelioration. Beyond their function func tion as scaffolding for a symphonyy o lights, the Supertrees are a kind o monumental ecological symphon edutainment. As diagrams throughout the gardens explain to visitors, they are vents or the air-conditioned air- conditioned Flower Dome and Cloud Forest, two o the largest enclosed glass structures in the world, and also con-









teresting anomalies or a glimpse of our Anthropocene (or Capitalocene) future. From From this prop prophetic hetic perspective, this small island nation is a window into a future in which the line between the built and the natural environment becomes blurred beyond recognition. (In many ways this has long been our reality, as environmental historians have argued, but in Singapore it structures daily lived experience and permeates popular consciousness as in few other nations.) Indeed, versions of the Supertrees may soon dot your own landscape. As “negative emissions” are acknowledged to be required to limit expected temperature increase to � degrees Celsius (Lewis ��), “arti�cial trees with otherworldly abilities are a great gre at hope,” hope,” and institutions i nstitutions such as a s Arizona State University’s University’s CenCen ter for Negative Carbon Emissions are developing machines that sequester carbon carb on dioxide a thousand t housand times ti mes more effi e fficiently than t han actual actu al trees (McFarland ��). Tough existing prototypes resemble �yswatters more than they do redwoods, aesthetic adjustments are sure to come, and such small-scale smallscale geoengineering projects are likely to be implemented before riskier interventions, such as solar radiation management.

Some Islands Will Rise I the Supertrees are not anomalies but pioneer species, there is much to learn rom them. Te existence o the Supertree Grove is a lesson in the human capacity to resist the literal and metaphorical rising seas. All �� acres o Gardens by the Bay is built on what is euphemistically reerred to as “reclaimed land.” Tough the practice o land reclamation is hardly novel to anyone amiliar with lower Manhattan or China’s recent manuacture o islands in the South China Sea, the scale o Singapore’s extension is unparalleled. Since the ��s, the country has expanded its territory by almost �� percent, rom ��.� km � in the ��s to ��.� km� today, and plans to abricate another �� km � by ��. Tis expansion has been accomplished through the purchase o sand and aggregate rom its neighbors, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines (Comaroff ��). On reclaimed land, Singapore Singapore has built not only towering “nature” parks but also public housing complexes and petrochemical re�neries. erraorming has constituted a central eature o its national history. �









one meter by �� and �feen meters by �� (DeConto and Pollard ��). Tirty percent o Singapore lies less than �ve meters above sea level, and ten o its seventeen reservoirs are adjacent to the coast, which puts them at risk o contamination by seawater. In November �� a report by Climate Central attracted a great deal o attention on Singaporean social media, suggesting that a temperature rise o our degrees Celsius by �� could “orce ��,�� Singaporeans underwater,” with an accompanying visualization painting much o the central business district a deep blue (Navaratnarajah ��). Tis ate may beall some coastal cities beore the end o this century century,, but Singapore is unlikely to be among their number. While certain North American nations have denied and debated the reality o anthropogenic climate change, Singapore has been quietly preparing or sea level rise or over two decades. Since the early ��s, new reclamation and construction projects have been required to double the expected sea level rise (based on the IPCC’ IPC C’ss latest estimates), and vulnerable highways are being elevated (C. an ��). Already, �� to �� percent o Singapore’s coast is lined with hard walls or gradated stone embankments. Tis is not cheap, but Singapore has the means. O the orty-our orty-our states in the Association o Small Island States (AOSIS), Singapore, with a per capita GDP o US$��,��, is almost three times wealthier than the second most productive nation nation and six times wealthier than the AOSIS average (World Bank ��). Tough the Singaporean government is secretive about its long-term long- term adaptation strategies, it consults with international �rms to create contingency plans, which include constructing dykes and seawalls as well as underground housing and �oating buildings. As an editor at the national newspaper Te Straits imes argued, imes argued, “It is our will to power that will help us cope with one o the big driving orces o the uture: climate change, and the threat that it brings, o extreme weather patterns and rising sea levels” (Chua M. ��). Tis Nietszschean assertion might be dismissed as nationalist bravado, but many others echo her view. A oreign hydrologist who works with the Singaporean government told me with surprising assurance, “Singapore will never go underwater.” �

A “Garden City” in a Garden World









and has thereore prepared prepared it or survival in the Anthropocene. Tough the island has been a trading hub since at least the ourteenth century, Singapore’s history generally begins in ��, when the British East India Company arrived to purchase the island and develop what was principally a �shing village into a British trading post. Originally viewing the island as a site o entrepôt trade, the British began to transorm and commodiy the island’s proli�c vegetative capability. By ��, afer only hal a century o cultivation, �� percent o the old- growth orest had been converted to plantations or gambier and pepper. When the soil became depleted, production moved to the Malay Peninsula, and much o Singapore was covered by lalang grass. grass. Soon S oon thereafer, thereafer, rubber and agricultural plantations had their turn (Barnard and Heng ��). Afer achieving independence rom the British in �� and then breaking with the Federation o Malaya in ��, the pace o transormation accelerated as the independent Singaporean government embarked on a radical restructuring o the island’s topography, landscape, and built environment. Te ambitious government programs o its early years are amous or the construction o high-density, high- density, high-rise high-rise public housing where kampongs kampongs (villages) (villages) once stood, but Singapore’s efforts to green its postcolonial landscape are just as impressive. As ounding ather and longtime prime minister (��–��) (��–��) Lee Kuan Yew consolidated power and molded the nation around his desires, his vision o a “Garden City” became official policy. p olicy. Styling himsel h imsel the “Chie “Chi e Gardener Gardene r,” Lee Le e initiated a tree-planting tree-planting campaign in ��, with ten thousand trees introduced every year. In ��, November � became ree Planting Day, with thirty thousand trees installed on that day alone. Between �� and ��, over � million trees and shrubs were planted. planted. Tough there are a growing number o vocal advocates or the conservation o wilderness, sustainability, sustainability, and environmental values in Singapore, the primary motivation or the manuacture o a Garden City came rom the top down, as did its execution. As with most other elements o the emerging developmental state, the original purpose o the greening program was “practical.” Afer independence the People’s Action Party (PAP), which has held power or the nation’s entire history, ocused its attention on priming economic growth. Te city had long served as one o the world’s busiest ports, and its attractive ree









role that greenery could play as a signi�er o stability, prosperity, and control (Barnard and Heng 2��, 2��–��). 2��– ��). Indeed, Lee acknowledged the economic unction o the tree-planting tree- planting program in speeches, inter views, and his h is memoir memoir,, conten contending ding in 2�� that “no other project has brought richer rewards rewards to the region region”” (Lee K. 2��, ��). � �). From lush jungle to short-lived short-lived plantations o pepper, gambier, and rubber to a uturistic Garden City, the island’s modern environmental history is one o constant reinvention and deliberate engineering. With much o its human and natural history now bulldozed and buried under malls, public housing, and skyscrapers, skys crapers, Singapore Singapore is a site o “perpetual territorial transormation” (De Koninck, Drolet, and Girard 2��), symbolized by its ubiquitous construction sites promising bigger and better admixtures o concrete, glass, and steel. oday, Singapore is an ecomodernist paradise: a dense metropolis with manicured green trim. Visitors comment on the injection o greenery into every nook and cranny, rom the billowing rain trees lining roadways to the bougainvillea draping highway overpasses. Te sheer volume o plant lie is impressive; according to a 2�� study, �� percent o the city is now covered in vegetation. Approximately hal o that is careully managed as lawns, gardens, parks, and seventeen gol courses. Tough the other half is considered “spontaneous vegetation,” it too has been engineered through the purposeul policies and botanical intervention o the state (Barnard and Heng 2��, 2��). Te responsibility or the planning and maintenance o “nature” is shared among a patchwork o government agencies; but a single agency, National Parks, actively monitors and maintains � million trees and many more bushes and �owers. Whether it grows on public or private property, every patch o grass is scrutinized or adherence to the appropriate shade o green. In Singapore, then, “nature” generally exists as the �nal product in a deliberate (but rarely deliberative) process: �rst as an economic strategy → a national priority → a set o policies → architectural plans → installation via heavy machinery → and �nally as an entry in a database or maintenance, tended by migrant laborers on temporary work visas. As an Wee Kiat, the ormer CEO o National Parks, put it, “the green veneer o the Garden City has been applied with the deliberateness o a crafsman applying a coat o lacquer upon a beautiully crafed vessel”











switched its primary energy source rom petroleum to natural gas in the early ��s, although this was prompted by the regional availability o natural gas as much as emissions considerations. Due to the absence o reshwater, it became a leader in water management; the complete water cycle is managed by the Public Utili Utilities ties Board, Bo ard, with recycled wastewater (euphemized as NEWater) now making up �� percent o its water supply and desalinated water another �� percent. Te country is home to scores o innovative green buildings, and all new and retro�tted structures are now required to attain Green Mark certi�cation. Residents enjoy a cheap and effi cient public transportation t ransportation system, s ystem, and motor vehicle ownership is discouraged through high registration and maintenance ees. Tough the PAP has generally been indifferent to the preservation o the ew remaining wilderness areas (Goh ��), which contain a tremendous amount o biodiversity, the omnipresent greenery does have a number o ecological bene�ts, such as diminishing the urban heat island effect and reducing the need or air-conditioning. air- conditioning.

A Blueprint for Eco-Authoritarianism? Eco-Authoritarianism? Tese achievements have led some authors to champion Singapore as a model or eco-authoritarianism, eco- authoritarianism, a mode o governing in which ecologically necessary but potentially unpopular policies are instituted through autocratic or aristocratic �at. Eco- authoritarianism has been undertheorized, in part because it tends to make liberal or lefist en vironmental vironmen tal scholars deeply uncomo uncomortable, rtable, but it lurks as a distinct possibility in the Anthro Anthropocene pocene and thereor t hereoree deserves deser ves more attention. attention. In their well-known well-known uture-history uture-history document, “Te Collapse o Western Civilization: A View rom the Future,” Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway posit a Darwinian logic in which it is in act inevitable. Te









and survival (Shearman and Smith ��, ��). It is perhaps no accident that in the �lm +� +�,, viewers are told that “sea levels rise” signi�cantly by ��, “devastating small islands, low-lying low-lying coastal areas, and regional world cities”; but the accompanying video shows a �ooded American metropolis, not Orchard Road (Singapore’s upscale shopping district). Tese assertions assert ions deserve considera consideration. tion. Singapore is a represen representative tative republic with a government that maintains popular accountability, but it is also a technocratic and managerial state with hal a century o experience in suppressing dissent. Citizens and oreigners who publicly cross the “OB” (out-o(out-o-bounds) bounds) markers or public discourse and action are regularly sued or libel and deamation deamation (sometimes to bankruptcy), which produces a “chilling effect” (Chan ��) that has led to the emigration o dissidents and nonconormists and ensured a certain level o ideological uniormity. � Te PAP has argued that the nation’s unique conditions conditio ns (in terms o size, lack o resources, and ethnic diversity) create a persistent threat of crisis and dissolution, making necessary necessar y a number o potentially unpopular measures (sometimes presented as “Asian values”), values ”), including harsh penalties or minor criminal offenses offenses and signi�cant limits on reedom o speech, reedom o the t he press, and reedom of assembly. Catherine Waldby has observed that “‘crisis’ is the métier of the Singaporean state” (Waldby ��, ��), and climate change is easily slotted into this logic as another threat to the existence and stability o a young nation. In this way, Singapore’s history might be interpreted as presenting an opportunity or a radical and unprecedented transition to a post-carbon post-carbon uture. As Steven Velegrinis and Richard Weller note, transorming Singapore “into a green city could be a matter o survival,” which is “an anxiety that Singaporeans are amiliar with and one which in its various orms propels the culture’s vitality” (Velegrinis and Weller ��,, ��). While American �� A merican environmentalists environmental ists are forced to resurrect resur rect for-









to decarbonize, decarboni ze, many environmentalists environmental ists would �nd a swif and efficient top-down topdown energy transition more than acceptable. Indeed, the primary environmental achievements o the Obama administration took the orm o executive orders and international agreements that deliberately sidestepped congressional approval. Tese were applauded by most en vironmentalists. vironmen talists. As Julie Sze writes, we “ear China and its pollution; pollution; at the same time, we are de�ned by our envy o the power p ower o authoritarian authoritarian government to make positive environmental changes” (Sze ��, �).

Fuzzy Math However, seeing Singapore as an approximation o potential ecoauthoritarianism autho ritarianism elides an incon inconvenient venient act. Despite its Supertrees and anthropogenic greenery, Singapore is, according to many metrics, one o the least sustainable places in the world. Te World Wildlie Foundation’s Living Planet Report assigned Singapore the world’s seventhhighest per capita ecological ootprint (World Wildlie Foundation ��), just ahead o the United States, while another study ound that it exceeds its biocapacity by ��,�� percent (Global Footprint Network ��).� Beyond the lovely “green veneer,” these rankings would not surprise many residents, as Singapore (like most other wealthy nations) has developed economically by embracing neoliberal capitalism and ueling its economic growth with a materialist consumer culture in which status can be measured by the “�ve Cs”: cash, car, credit card, condominium, and country club membership (Ho ��). Malls are inescapable, serving as temples o conspicuo conspicuous us consumption, supplemental public spaces, and reuges o cool air in a tropical island. Indeed, Cherian George amously reerred to Singapore as the “air conditioned nation” or its reliance on arti�cial cooling, calling it “a society with a









tion o goods or export—as export— as well as major importers, such as the t he United United States and Singapore, which are effectively outsourcing their emissions. As the government noted note d in its official rebuttal rebutt al to the Living Planet Re port , Singapore’s large ootprint is partially due to its status as a small island that contains ew natural resources and is thereore dependent on importation o most goods (MediaCorp Press ��). Tis may be a problem that all small island nations ace—though ace— though those that consume less have a much smaller ootprint—but ootprint— but the evaluation o Singapore’s unsustainability is complicated by a unique actor. Singapore is home to the second-busiest second-busiest port in the world, and i marine bunker uel (the heaviest and dirtiest o oils) were included in the evaluation o per capita emissions, Singapore’s would be approximately �ve times higher than the United States’ (Ng ��, ��). According to standard calculations these emissions are not counted, though port business remains the bedrock o the nation nation’’s economy ec onomy (Hamilton-Hart (Hamilton- Hart ��). While government gover nment officials assert as sert that Singapore is a humble humbl e island with ew resources and thereore t hereore “cannot “cannot do much,” much,” recent criticism criti cism and actions taken by Singapore as well as other nations have undermined cli mate negotiations, the country countr y has held on to this claim.� In official climate its status as a developing nation, which diminishes its expectations or emissions cuts and contributions contributions to the Green Climate Fund. While this might have been an accurate characterization in the early ��s, Singapore now has the ourth-highest ourth-highest per capita GDP in the world. In February �� Singapore announced the introduction o a modest carbon tax that will apply to thirty to orty o the nation’s largest emitters (such as power p ower plants, re�neries, and semiconducto s emiconductorr manuacturers) starting in �� (Lam ��).� While this will be a positive step orward, there is much that might be done beyond emissions reductions, such as incentivizing reduced consumption, welcoming environmental reugees,









��s and ��s was crucial to the young nation’s economic development (Ng ��, �–�). �–�). oday, Singapore has the third-largest third- largest complex o petrochemical re�neries in the world, including ExxonMobil and Shell acilities located on reclaimed islands. Despite its public commitment to sustainability, the country’s leadership shows no signs o considering a divorce; in a �� speech at ExxonMobil’s Jurong Island re�nery (the eighth-largest eighthlargest in the world), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Lo ong went out o his way to “assure all the energy and petrochemicals companies here that the Singapore government stands ully behind them and will continue to help them to succeed” s ucceed” (Prime Minister’ Minister’ss Office ��). �� ). Tis sussu stained commitment to petro-capi petro- capitalist talist economic growth is particularly disappointing given the t he nation’s potential p otential or a rapid and efficient trant ransition and its status as a model o successul development throughout the Global South. S outh. As public protests are illegal (outside o a single location) and opposition parties have been marginalized, there is currently little pressure on the ruling PAP to reconsider its trajectory. �

National Greenwashing Nonetheless, public relations matters. In the post–Paris post– Paris Agreement era, nations have a growing stake in being perceived as environmentally progressive. o do so, they might begin by promoting their recent achievements and manuacturing doubt about their lamentable inability to move more quickly. Favorable metrics are identi�ed and highlighted. In its �� Intended Nationally Nationally Determined Contribu C ontribution tion to the UNFCCC, or example, Singapore pledged to decrease its “emissions intensity” (carbon emissions per unit o GDP) by �� percent in �� (rom �� levels), though its total emissions would continue continue to rise or more than a decade, constituting an increase o �� percent since ��. ��











mate Change Secretariat ��, ��), dry and contestable calculations are buried in an epistemologica epistemologicall landslide. In Singapore this question is no small matter. Singapore’s reputation or environmentalism is an economic boon, but it has also become an element o the country’s national identity. As Goh Hong Yi noted, Singapore’s “greenness” has become “a powerul national symbol o identity and pride,” especially in contrast to its regional neighbors and competing Asian megacities (Goh ��, ��). As such, reputation management is necessary, and the National Climate Change Secretariat not only pens press releases rebutting criticisms rom oreign NGOs but responds in i n the comments comm ents section sec tion o online onlin e articles, articles , with offi cials’ ull names and titles.�� Given its coordination and duration, it should come as little surprise that Singapore’s national greenwashing campaign has in�uenced its citizens as well as the visitors and oreign residents who play a crucial role in raming the nation to the rest o the world. One regularly hears tourists, permanent residents, and scholars reer to Singapore as “green” (environmentally virtuous), despite data and experience to the contrary; and this claim is requently mirrored in print and other media. For example, communications scholar Chris Hudson recently asserted that “Singapore is an economic as well as environmental oasis” (Hudson ��, ��). Similarly, in the closing scene o the �nal episode o the BBC’s Planet Earth II series series (��), David Attenborough Attenborough described Singapore as the best example o a city living “in harmony









capacity or adaptation. Tese regional relationships are complicated by Singapore’s heavy reliance on migrant labor to stay “clean and green”— the vast majority o the construction and maintenance o the island’s technonature is accomplished by temporary workers rom South and Southeast Asia whose entrance, employment, low wages, habitation in migrant dormitories, and eventual exit are careully regulated and closely monitored by the government. Te elimination o boundaries between nature and and culture signi�es that all lie might be (or already is) organized and controlled though biopolitical management. Te stark contrast contra st between the uturistic city-state city- state and its neighbors, who pro provide vide migrant labor and serve as an arti�cial hinterland and source o raw materials or territorial expansion, will only grow more striking. While demands or the placement o climate reugees will prolierate in the years to come, Singapore has historically reused to accept reugees or stateless stateles s peoples. p eoples. In �� a government governme nt official reiterated this position: “As a small island country with limited land, Singapore is not in a position p osition to accept any persons seeking political asylum or reugee status, regardless o their ethnicity or place o origin” (Osada ��). Meanwhile, its population has grown by over �� percent since �� and is expected to expand by another �� percent by �� (National Population and alent Division ��). �� Unless there are unoreseen changes in the nation’s policies around consumption, population, and immigration, Singapore may return to its ormer status as an “island ortress” in









sic domes on the grounds o Gardens by the Bay, audience members learned about the Singapore o tomorrow, which turns out to be an extension o its present sprinkled with sleek, antiseptic utopianism: vertical agriculture, minimalist décor, and a knowledge economy achieved via holographic connections. connections. More green veneer and open space, while migrant workers and the port’s container terminals were noticeably absent. Te title was telling, though perhaps not in the way its designers intended. For many Singaporeans, this was a privileged and perhaps desirable uture. For oreigners, who make up hal o Gardens by the Bay’s visitors, the titular titular pronoun pronoun served to highlight its exclusivity exclusivity.. Te stark contrast between this vision and the converging predictions o climate scientists and eco-apocalyptic eco-apocalyptic authors led some o my students to question what lay beyond the projected city’s borders. Will lucky nations such as Singapore prosper while much o the world drowns or starves? Is such business-asbusiness-as-usual usual imagineering itsel a luxury o the wealthy, possible only when the rapidly materializing catastrophes o the Anthropocene remain distant abstractions whose responsibility can be shirked with uzzy math? Te �nal dome was astral purple, containing a dozen iPads around a circular console with blue light radiating rom its base. Visitors were asked to handwrite a ew words on what they hoped the uture might hold, with the “Environment” category proving to be the most popular (Khamid ��). White text, bright in the room’s violet light, steered re-









�� Matthew Schneider-Mayerson Schneider-Mayerson is an assistant proessor o environmental studies at Yale-NUS Yale-NUS College (in Singapor Singapore), e), where he teaches classes on environmental envir onmental literature literature and politics. He has a PhD in American studies rom the University o Minnesota, win Cities, and was a Cultures o Energy Postdoctoral Fellow at Rice University. He is the author o Peak Oil: Apocalyptic Environmentalism and Libertarian Political Culture (Chicago: Culture (Chicago: University o Chicago Press, ��) and numerous articles and book b ook chapters on environmental politics, popular culture, and literat literature. ure.

��

Many thanks to Michael Maniates, Huiying Ng, May Ee Wong, and others or their insightul comments on this essay, and to Stephanie LeMenager or her support and editorial assistance. All opinions and any errors are my own. �� . In addition to Lim, a number o other scholars have published insightul ecocritiques o Gardens by the Bay. See, or example, Leow (��) and Myers (��). �. In this sense, Singapore’s closest analogue is the Netherlands— a small, low-lying low-lying nation that has used polders and dikes to engineer water and land since the eleventh century. �. Interview with anonymous anonymous hydrologist, February ��, ��. Tis individual, like almost every other person consulted, requested to remain anonymous even though no con�dential inormation inormatio n had been disclosed.









to be between US$� and US$�� per ton o greenhouse gas, which would be among the lower rates o taxation around the world, and will “und measures by industries to reduce emissions” (Lam ��). �. Since ��, public protests have been permitted at a single location in Singapore, Speakers’ Corner, in a small (�.�� hectare) park. However, only citizens are allowed to participate, permits are required in advance, all events are monitored, and there are numerous restrictions on content. ��. Climate Action racker, an independent organization that evaluates the pledges and actions o every nation, gave Singapore its worst rating, noting that “it is not in line with any interpretations o a ‘air’ approach to hold warming below �°C: i most other countries ollowed Singapore’s approach, global warming would exceed �–�°C” �– �°C” (Climate Action racker ��). ��. See, or example, the response to Liu (��). ��. Given the long history o active intervention in the size o its population, the expected growth o Singapore’s population might be described as a goal as much as a prediction. Since independence, the PAP has utilized both policy and public relations campaigns to in�uence the rate o population growth (Sun ��).

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Schneider-Mayerson, Some Islands Will Rise: Singapore in the Anthropocene

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