Nice and Slow - Elle Magazine (Singapore) May 2008

What if saving the planet is as simple as a slower pace of life? Here's the real reason we should slow things down. - By Stacey Anne Rodrigues

Stop, just for a moment, to consider the way we live. Everything we do and own is about speed — fast food, fast commute (cabs and cars not public transport), fast Internet access, fast communication, fast solutions, fast results and fast fixes. Most of the First World is in a frenzy over doing more in less time, with new technology and gadgets that claim to organize our activity-centered lives and make the chaos manageable, if that’s even possible. Life as we know it would probably continue to accelerate till we could defy gravity and take off, if it wasn’t for one rude awakening: Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth (2006), which documented the fate of the earth, no thanks to mankind.

Yes, there are the obvious misdemeanors of industrial oil dumping, using non-biodegradable products and zooming around in gas guzzlers. But take a step back from all te big plans of banning plastic bags, recycling and reducing to minimize pollution and you’ll see that it’s the little things that count. First step: The need to change the way we live, not just the “how” but the “how much”.

The earth is in peril, as Fore has illustrated; in half a century, which isn’t too far away, our climate’s temperature will skyrocket because of all our carbon dioxide emissions. It spells disaster because of melting ice caps and the resulting rise in sea levels. (Singapore has been considering a dyke system similar to the Netherlands to prepare for that eventuality.)

It seems like we have lost respect for the earth, as if it was just there for our disposal. We take what we want from it, and in return offer up our sewage to the oceans and non-biodegradable waste to pockets of uninhabited land. Perhaps it is a reflection of the kind of people we’ve become, a society of quick fixes — out of sight, out of mind. What we don’t see won’t hurt us. The idea of sweeping the dirt under the rug just makes life immediately easier but not permanently better.

So what’s wrong with that? Certainly, life is more convenient now than it has ever been. But these days, the average work day is no longer, as Dolly Parton sang, 9 to 5. Instead we rise at the crack of dawn to beat rush hour traffic. We even eat at our desks during lunch (all that Styrofoam and plastic containers can’t be good for the environment) and we’re chained to our workstations till past 7pm because leaving work for tomorrow isn’t an option. We continue with this formula — until we realize our diaries are liberally sprinkled with more doctors’ appointments than social events.

We need to take the chill pill. Really. We’ve been pulling ahead at full speed for the longest time that it as become normal. In the mean time, all those plane rides, paper and plastic usage and pollution are taking a toll as we’re reminded daily. The only real long-term solution seems to be that we need to slow down, considerably.

In 2007, after the British Council carried our research, it was discovered that Singapore was the fastest moving city in the world. It was based on the calculation of the average time it took for people to walk an 18m stretch. Apparently, we clock in just over 10 seconds — New York City and London, eat our dust. Madonna could pirouette by in a sequined leotard and we wouldn’t notice till she smacked us in the head.

Then again, slowing things down might be a lot harder than you’d think. You would think that after all these years of research and development to make our lives easier and more efficient, we would have more time to relax. But in shortening the duration of our activities — an SMS instead of a phone call, 10 minutes on the Power Plate instead of an hour’s gym session — all we have done is created more time to do … More things. Drinks with your girlfriends or retail therapy, doesn’t just happen on a whim anymore; it’s scheduled in PDAs with a reminder alarm as security against double-booking yourself. And just when we have adapted to our busy routines, we’re told that we have to change how we do things in order to save the planet.

Moving away from the Greenpaces hoopla, all this running around seems to have bred unhealthy levels of stress, related illnesses, and intolerance for anything or anyone who cannot keep up with our pace. Foreign service staff are brusquely treated when they don’t understand us. If we’re not served our food on time, we kick up a stink and demand to see the manager. We zip pass any elderly person who happens to be tottering ahead of us. Is getting our way really worth the stress?

Before we can save the planet, we need to take stock of what’s become of us. Expectations and attitudes need to change. Any maybe it should start with you.