Singapore Music News: Amazed! Dazed Neighbours Still Fazed About Haze (2024)

This posting was written in 2015 and reposted in 2016 and 2019. Just a reminder to readers to be wary and wear a mask if the haze comes on again! We hope it won't! Today 12 September 2019 the haze has come home again. Haphazard, hazardous and horrible. Will it ever end? THE HAZE IN SINGAPORE: CAUSE AND GLOBAL CONSEQUENCE Is It Clear? Fourteen million plus hits on Google when you type, "Haze in Singapore." Call it what you may, haze or smoke which has been polluting this re

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Jun 8, 2023 - 03:15

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Amazed! Dazed Neighbours Still Fazed About Haze

This posting was written in 2015 and reposted in 2016 and 2019.

Just a reminder to readers to be wary and wear a mask

if the haze comes on again! We hope it won't!

Today 12 September 2019 the haze has come home again.

Haphazard, hazardous and horrible.

Will it ever end?

THE HAZE IN SINGAPORE: CAUSE AND GLOBAL CONSEQUENCE Is It Clear?

Fourteen million plus hits on Google when you type, "Haze in Singapore." Call it what you may, haze or smoke which has been polluting this region for weeks now is not created by Mother Nature but by Man himself. One thing is clear; our air is so foul and "poisonin' my oxygen" that it is frustrating everyone in the area. Worse, it is making every creature, great and small, sick.
Every day fires are destroying the beautiful forests of Indonesia's South Sumatra, Riau and Kalimantan and simultaneously endangering the health of its own people and surrounding neighbours and little red dot, Singapore [written in 2015].

I'm a hungry planet

I had the bluest seas

Oh the people kept Choppin' down

All my finest trees (1).

The lyrics above were written by The Byrds way back in 1970 and described a situation that is still persisting today. Hungry Planet is one of many songs that deals with an on-going ecological disaster and the problem will never be resolved unless a certain country follows its own laws which forbid the use of fire to clear land.

Or Still Unclear? Another thing is clear; we can't do anything because Singapore is like a David standing in front of a cigarette smoking Goliath. We have to inhale what Goliath exhales, and the *problem has persisted from as far back as 1972, more than 40 years since. The country in question has promised it will enforce its laws but nothing's been done so far [written in 2015]. A pop group from 1970, The Moody Blues, reminds us of the foulness in the air in a composition called, How Is It: How is it we are here on this path we walk In this world of pointless fear filled with empty talk Descend from the ape as scientist-priest all think Will they save us in the end, we're trembling on the brink (2).

Responsible Lyricists: Like The Byrds and The Moody Blues, many famous pop composers and lyricists get serious and write about how Man has savaged and ravaged Mother Earth. So while some readers think that the West are only writing frivolous rock and roll music these same pop stars are doing the world a favour by warning how our selfish attitude towards the environment is destroying and killing it: Now the sun has come to earth Shrouded in a mushroom cloud of death Death comes in a blinding flash Of hellish heat and leaves a smear of ash And the sun has come to earth (3). Only last night (5th October 2015), I saw our local news headlines on television feature young children in hospitals with asthma and with some seniors suffering from a skin ailment agitated by the haze. The Byrds lamented in the same song that this condition is:

Diggin' into my skin

Taking more out of my good earth

Than they'll ever put back in

I"m a hungry planet... (4)

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, the established folk rock super group from the 70's stated that Clear Blue Skies were not much to ask for. They were here before creatures roamed the earth. Question is, "Will they be here when we're gone?" (5)
Optimism: According to an **article, two-thirds of the fires in Indonesia occur on peat wetlands. It is not widely known that Indonesia has the largest tropical peat wetlands in the world but these places are definitely rich in biological diversity. Imagine the devastation going on at the moment with the fires in full force and its outcome afterwards. Oil wasted on the ocean and upon our seas Fish full of mercury Ah oh mercy, mercy me Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no Radiation under ground and in the sky Animals and birds who live nearby are dying Oh mercy, mercy me. (6) How long more do we have to take the haze and the continuing saga of earth's destruction? I remain optimistic so let's leave the last words to Tommy James and the Shondells: Maybe tomorrow
When he looks down

On every green field, ooh ooh

And every town

All of his children

And every nation

They'll be peace and good brotherhood (7).

FOOTNOTES Other Earth Songs:

Mother Nature's Son - The Beatles
After The Gold Rush - Neil Young Where Do The Children Play - Cat Stevens Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell Don't Go Near the Water - The Beach Boys Hole In The Sky - Black Sabbath

The Trees - Rush
Calypso John Denver Nobody's Fault - Aerosmith Earth Anthem - The Turtles Every Day Every Day Celebrate - John Denver Sweet Baby James -James Taylor Traffic Jam - James Taylor

Goodbye To A River - Don Henley

The Eagle and The Hawk - John Denver Down By The River - Albert Hammond

Quoted Songs Are: (1) Hungry Planet - The Byrds

(2) How Is It? - Moody Blues

(3) The Sun Is Burning - Simon and Garfunkel

(4) Hungry Planet - The Byrds

(5) Clear Blue Skies - Crosby Stills Nash and Young

(6) Oh Mercy, Mercy Me - Marvin Gaye

(7) Crystal Blue Persuasion- Tommy James and The Shondells

*Straits Times Press report and image: 13/10/1972. **Straits Times Press: S. Jayakumar and Tommy Koh; The haze, international law and global cooperation - 6/10/2015 - Pg A20 Opinion. **Straits Times Press: Bustar Maitar; Instead of pointing fingers, start restoring peatlands - 7/10/2015 - PgA21 Opinion.

You Tube Video: Crystal Blue Persuasion- Tommy James and The Shondells

Images, Chart and gif: Google. http://weather.asiaone.com.sg/weather-airdetails.php?d=&m=pre&area=

SAVE THE EARTH CAMPAIGN

SLIP NOTE: 11th October, 2015.

Exhilarating news piece that Indonesia is finally getting help from some countries to help douse out the fire and according to The President Mr Jokowi, it must be effective two weeks from today. Hopefully, we get fresh air again and also save "all creatures great and small", which include the orang utans too.

TODAY 26TH AUGUST, 2016. HAZE STILL HERE.

Disclaimer:
There is absolutely no intention to criticise or point a finger at any country regarding the haze situation. This article has been written in 2015 and in the daily newspapers these days, reports of another haze occurrence is possible [3.6.2023].