discussion on green chemistry

The topic of our discussion is whether Singapore should promote development of green chemistry. Both the proponents side and the opponents side believe that green chemistry is a good measure to facilitate sustainable development. The proponents argue that it is very beneficial to development green chemistry in Singapore, by giving some evidence to prove that Singapore has enough manpower, advanced technology and economic basis to develop green chemistry. On the other hand, the opponents claim that the harms of developing green chemistry overweigh its benefits.

The proponents think manpower in Singapore is sufficient to develop green chemistry. Every year, Junior colleges cultivate thousands of outstanding students; NUS, NTU, and SMU recruit lots of students; MOE introduces abundant professors from various famous universities and research agencies. However, the opponents argue that Singapore lacks manpower since a large amount of Singaporeans go abroad for further education after graduation from junior colleges, most of which will not pursue their careers in Singapore afterwards.

Moreover, in the proponents' opinion, Singapore has an advanced technology in green chemistry. The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) plays a leading role in this area. One of the major topics in A*Star is green chemistry and the development is encouraging. Nevertheless, the opponents advocate that since green chemistry is a complex technology, Singapore cannot finish this task independently.

Last but not least, green chemistry is economically applicable in Singapore, as far as the proponents are concerned. The GDP of Singapore in 2008 is 257,418.5 million, ranking at the top 50 in the world. Singapore’s strong economic power lays the foundation of the development of green chemistry. Whereas, the opponents believe that it is not an appropriate time to promote green chemistry. They reiterate that applying green chemistry technology, which is too costly, may paralyze the whole economic system in Singapore at this stage when the whole world is in financial crisis.

All in all, both sides show sufficient evidence to support their arguments. The main concern is still if Singapore possesses mature prerequisites to develop green chemistry, not only its manpower and technology, but also its economic power.