TMJC 2021 J1 Year-End Examination GP Bulletin

1 General Paper Bulletin 2021 (JC 1) Dear TMJC students, welcome to the year-end issue of TMJC’s GP Bulletin for 2021! We bring you yet another selection of the essays written by your schoolmates during the recent Year-End Examination. We thank the students who have contributed their essays. While these essays are not perfect or model essays, there is a lot of merit in them, and they are clear evidence that good quality writing is possible under exam conditions! While reading these essays, you may find some of the content useful for application to other questions; do be judicious in using such information in a manner that is relevant to the question you are answering. Lastly, you should not attempt to copy and hand them in as your own! Editorial Team Ms Charis Lee Mr Max Cheong Contents Q2 Is too much attention given to environmental conservation today? ……………………………………..………………..... 2 Q2: Is too much attention given to environmental conservation today?..........................................................… 3 Q3: ‘Consumers should choose local products over foreign ones.’ Do you agree? ………………………………………….. 5 Q6: A celebrity’s life is not to be envied. Comment. ……………..…………………....................................................…. 6 Q6: A celebrity’s life is not to be envied. Comment. ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 8 Q8: Is an education in the arts valuable today?................................................................…………………………........ 9

2 Q2. Is too much attention given to environmental conservation today? (TMJC J1 Year-End Examination 2021) With almost daily news reports of the countless warnings given by climate experts on how our planet is unable to sustain our current lifestyle, some may argue that there is too much attention given to the issue of climate change and efforts to stop or minimise it. This is especially so under current circumstances when the world is facing global crises, such as the ever-present humanitarian crises and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, some may reason that our attention should be on these problems rather than environmental conservation. However, I would argue that not enough effort is made to protect the environment given the current state of the environment and the insufficient measures taken to tackle climate change. Some may feel that too much attention is pai d to environmental conservation under the current circumstances when the world is facing a multitude of crises that are considered more pressing. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic still rages on and death tolls are still rising despite the availability o f vaccines, affecting many areas of life. Other matters of concern include economic worries, such as worries over the widespread impact of the collapse of Evergrande, the giant Chinese property developer. Humanitarian crises are also of concern, such as th e mass deportation of Haitians from America that sparked mass outrage. Despite all these pressing concerns, environmental protection still generates conversations and reports in many news outlets and captures the attention of many, as witnessed in various campaigns and protests such as the Extinction Rebellion. In light of these events, some may argue that too much attention is given to environmental conservation. However, many purveyors of this belief fail to comprehend that many of these global crises are intertwined with the state of our environment, and climate change is already starting to create problems for many countries. The retreating glaciers and melting ice caps caused by global warming have been found to contain new viruses trapped within, that could be released once melted, potentially sparking new epidemics. Additionally, the changing climate is starting to displace people from their homes, potentially causing a new migrant crisis. The estimated number of climate refugees stands at about 50 million, and this figure continues to rise. The rise in climate refugees could present new global economic and political issues. Given the ability of climate change to create grave problems in the future, I argue that there is currently not too much attention given to environmental conservation today as efforts to protect the environment are needed to prevent all these potential disasters from arising and worsening. Furthermore, given the state of our environment and the lack of measures to tackle climate cha nge, there might be not enough attention given to protecting the planet. As the Earth hits its record highest temperature almost every year and rising sea levels threaten to drown low -lying coastal regions, the impact of climate change is undeniable. Yet, this is not being countered with sufficient measures to prevent further degradation of the planet. Despite global measures such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) and the Paris Agreement, there are no real consequences for countries that do not reach their emission targets and climate experts have reported that these measures are not sufficient to address the rate at which the climate is changing. Closer to home, Singapore’s efforts and plans to tackle environmental degradation have recently been criticised as ‘critically insufficient’ along with other nations such as the United States by research institutions. When severe environmental degradation is coupled with inadequate efforts to address it, it seems that there is not enough pr essure on governments to seriously consider contributing more resources to environmental conservation. There is therefore insufficient attention given to environmental conservation given the inaction of governments around the world with regard to climate change. Some detractors may refute this by pointing to the many efforts to be sustainable by private companies and retailers. This can be observed in various campaigns and initiatives such as KFC’s decision to no longer provide plastic straws in their outlets, H&Ms’s collection of old clothes to be recycled and supermarkets charging extra for plastic bags. With constant reminders to be sustainable on social media and retailers catering to environmentalists, it might be easy to assert that too much attention is given to environmental conservation. However, it is important to note that private retailers are likely to be profit -motivated, caring less about sustainability but instead aiming to raise their own profits. This could lead to misguided efforts that are insufficient or even unethical practices. For instance, the movement to stop the use of plastic straws gained so much mom entum as it was an easy feel -good solution to a major global issue when straws account for a minuscule percentage of pollution compared to other industries. The irony in KFC’s non -provision of straws would be that poultry farming is one of the most massive contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. They stopped the provision of straws while selling fried chicken while branding themselves to be environmentally conscious. This is referred to as ‘greenwashing’, where companies brand themselves as sustainable while actually making a negligible impact on environmental conservation. This can come in the form of insufficient effort as seen in KFC but on the end of the spectrum, some companies even resort to unethical practices to appear sustainable. For instance, in fast fashion, which is one of the major polluters given the rising affluence and growing consumerism, H&M

3 attempts to position itself as an environmentally conscious company by collecting used clothing and introducing their organic cotton line of clothing. However, they have been found to pass the used clothing to I:Collect, which recycles only about 30% of the clothing and H&M itself has been reported to keep sticks of