The Beauty of Buses

I've recently rediscovered the joys of riding the bus. There is something to be said for not having to keep your attention on the traffic like a driver must, instead letting your gaze wander where it pleases, enjoying the passing scenery outside. As the bus wends it's way through the city streets, one can observe not only the unique mix of buildings and architecture that define each neighborhood, the serene parks and gardens with their profusion of trees and greenery, but also the life of it's inhabitants. Be it a quiet residential estate with maids pushing their little charges in prams and retirees sitting in the void decks enjoying a game of chess, flat dwellers hanging out laundry on poles outside their windows, or a bustling historic ethnic enclave with colorful street markets and their stalls displaying a multitude of wares, the occasional tourist in shorts and sandals snapping away with their cameras. The entire smorgasbord of city life is played out to the observant bus commuter peering out from its windows. This is especially so on double-decker buses, which provide the added perspective from a heightened vantage point. From the top deck, one has an extended visual range that opens a whole new world to view, past the ground level fences, gates and hedges into the compounds of both private housing and public institutions like schools and even swimming pools! You don't have to have voyeuristic leanings but merely possess some curiosity to enjoy looking at say, a football game or parade of students at school, or the landscaping of a beautiful park, that would be entirely hidden from view at street level. I also enjoy the gentle swaying sensation as the bus rounds a corner or pulls out of a stop, almost like being on a boat buoyed by the sea, and sitting at a height well above other vehicles feels a little like low level flying even! And one can easily get lulled into sleep by the soporific rocking motion.

In today's hectic world where most of us value the time saving efficiency of quicker modes of transportation, only tourists, retirees and students choose to take buses on a regular basis. Most commuters rely on the subway instead. Yes, trains are more predictable as they are not subject to the vagaries of vehicular traffic, whisking you in a direct line, more or less, to your destination at the same constant pace, no matter the weather or time of day, in air conditioned comfort without having to brave the elements at a bus stop. But how boring it is! With our trains being almost at capacity most times these days, finding a comfortable seat for the duration of your ride is well-nigh impossible. One has to stand the entire way, jam packed like sardines or cattle, like so many anonymous goods on a conveyor belt. While the ambient environment in a subway carriage could be comfortable, there is nothing to see on the journey through dark underground tunnels, which goes to explain why most people are glued to the glowing screens of their phones or computers. Lastly, even though trains carry you faster from point A to B, unless your point of origin or destination is right on top of a train station, chances are you face a long walk getting to and away from them to wherever you're going. In cavernous multi-level underground stations this can mean time spent going up or down escalators while jostling with others all the way and long lines due to bottlenecks, all adding additional time to your journey. Time spent getting stressed and frustrated and waiting, instead of enjoying the city sights above ground.

Cattle Car

What about driving I hear you say. Surely having your own set of wheels is the ultimate luxury and preferred choice if you can afford it, right? No more being at the mercy of unreliable public transportation, prone to delays and breakdowns, not to mention having to put up with sweaty commuters, and having to actually walk to and from the bus and train stations. True that relying on yourself to get from one place to another offers the utmost freedom, after all the car is like an extension of your own legs, taking you precisely where you want to go at whichever time you please. It symbolizes freedom, independence and control, is highly personal because it is private, and so accords privilege and status to those who have one, and envy from those who don't. But is it really an efficient and even joyful choice of transportation in a crowded and densely packed city like ours? With the rising population of urban dwellers that necessitates allocating more land for housing, commercial and other infrastructural uses, space to expand the road network is more limited than ever before. This means more competition for road space, making traffic jams now a constant, negating the advantages of having your own personal vehicle. While one does not have to wait for others or walk any great distance to get into the car, once in it, the actual journey could take just as long if not longer, say during peak hours. Unless you enjoy stewing in your car with a leg cramp thanks to start stop traffic, I think the alternative of being a passenger on a bus and not suffering from road rage is enticing indeed. Finally, the cost of car ownership is vastly higher than taking the bus or train obviously, from vehicle maintenance, to petrol, insurance, taxes and parking, the last of which can be a real hassle at your destination, the endless circling in parking lots or on the streets looking for a spot adding not insignificantly to your total transit time, as well as stress and unhappiness to your journey.

Remember you're not stuck in traffic, you ARE traffic.

This is why I now find myself taking the bus more frequently again, reliving bygone days as a student using public buses for the daily commute to and from school. The fares may now be a whole lot higher, the buses all fully air conditioned therefore sealing one from the refreshing air outside and cool cleansing breezes, but well, I suppose that's the price of progress, eh?

Took this bus twice a day for more than three years back in the day, fond memories!

What's that smell?! Oh, it's the stench of sweaty kids that just came in from under the hot sun outside.

Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update by Donella H. Meadows
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A classic in environmental literature, the tremendous debate and controversy generated when it was first published back in 1972 makes this one of the most famous publications the world has ever seen. For the first time it set a time, albeit a broad range in which our global civilization could collapse as we overshoot the Earth's limits. Basically these can be classified as source limits and sink limits, the former being the natural resources at hand from fossil fuels to raw materials and land, while the latter refers to the planet's ability to absorb the pollution from human activities, be it air, water or land pollution, or greenhouse gases. We will likely run into either the first or second kind, sooner or later, if we continue pursuing perpetual economic growth.

Despite the debates that ensued since the first edition, the world has unfortunately not acted on its dire warnings since then, and this latest edition shows that we are now past the time when action could have easily made a difference to the future. 30 years of dithering and business-as-usual have made the situation more urgent than ever, making our choices and their effects much more limited than if the world had changed its path 20-30 years ago.

The analysis is very systematic and clear, the conclusions convincing. This should definitely be made mandatory reading for every student today, and maybe all politicians as well! The more than ten scenarios run by the model at the heart of this book shows that only if we combine policy, technological advances (such as in efficiency and negating effects of pollution) and the active WILL to curb our desire for more will we even have a small chance of averting disaster. It is therefore difficult and perhaps even idealistic to be optimistic about our future, but there is no other way than pushing on with even the faintest glimmer of hope I suppose.

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Book review of "Nature Contained, Environmental Histories of Singapore" by Tim Barnard

Nature Contained by Tim Barnard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a collection of essays on the history of various subjects relating to the natural environment of Singapore. Some of the topics are interesting, like how the island came to become a hotspot for man-eating tigers in its earliest days since British colonization, or how farming was so widespread that it surprisingly did not have to import much food from elsewhere up till as recently as the 1980s! Other drier topics include the history of the Botanical Gardens, Alfred Russell Wallace's years spent using the country as a base for his wanderings in the surrounding archipelago, the brief but failed attempt by the colonial government at controlling trade in wildlife, and the episode of how Singapore was coerced into signing CITES by the United States after flatly rejecting pleas from local environmental activists.

The overwhelming impression is that of how the natural environment as manifested in the original primary rainforests and its wildlife had always taken a backseat to more pressing economic concerns. Indeed, from the sad chronicle of how the collection in the natural history museum was shunted from one basement storage shed to another, the aforementioned passive stance of the authorities with regard to wildlife trade, to the rapid closure of very productive market gardens and pig farms in favor of more economic industrial and housing developments, makes the use of the word 'contained' in the book's title rather lenient. I would've chosen 'Nature Subjugated', 'displaced' or 'eradicated' as a more apt description of the country's history as far as wild nature is concerned. In the final chapter about the state's drive to green the island by planting non-native trees, the lead author falls short of being really critical of the direction the government has taken in making nature a man-made product and equating planted trees with 'nature'. The culmination of it all he rightly points out, is the monstrosity that is Gardens by the Bay, basking in the glory of its artifice and proud to be a showcase of how nature can be built from scratch.

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