Climate change - Fear not, Singapore can afford to have 20m people on this piece of rock

As temperatures rise, Singapore races to find solutions to secure its food supply.

How can Singapore bridge the gap between climate change awareness and sustainable actions?

The above two headlines appeared in the CNA referring to the challenges of climate change, food supply and sustainable actions. The first headline gives a sense of urgency that food supply can become a problem if not addressed now.  The second headline is about raising awareness and the need to be considered in Singapore's strategy towards the future and a timely reminder that whatever Singapore does, it must be sustainable. This sounds reasonable as a little reminder to those with megalomaniac ambition like wanting to put 15m or 20m heads into this piece of rock.

When the 15m or 20m population numbers are touched, it is very clear that Singapore would face a lot of very serious problems just to feed and sustain such numbers. Food, energy, living space, water and a whole lot of social and environmental issues would only multiply and compete for attention and resources. These are self inflicted problems that Singapore can do without.

Finding solutions for food supply for 6m population against 15/20m population is a wide gap to handle. Is Singapore finding solutions for 6m heads or 15/20m heads? The scale of the problems in the two parameters cannot be underestimated. Must Singapore ask to have 15/20m problem when it could be more manageable to deal with 6m problem?

15/20m heads in this island prompts the question, is it sustainable? Some quarters are very optimistic to claim that it is sustainable, just on increasing the usage of land alone. What about food, water, energy and the social and political costs? Another camp would say, hold your horses and don't take a bite too big that you can't swallow. Once committed to a reckless population increase, it is very difficult to turn back the clock. The problems of sustainability are no joke. A small crisis could multiply several folds. Do we have the super talents, I mean real super talents, not measured in the salary they are paid, to deal with such gargantuan issues?

Why would Singapore want to go down that road, and who should be making the decision to go down that road? Should this be left to a few politicians with a 4 year tenure to make such decisions for the whole population and the future generations to come? The path to 15m or 20m population is for the good of who? Is it necessary? Is it an existential issue that not going down this road would be the end of the good life in Singapore? Going down this road is certain to be hazardous and very critical and likely to be very precarious. 

The for and against towards a 15/20m population can argue until the cow comes home, just like the issue of mRNA vaccines. The one holding the power would have the final say, right or wrong, but would not be around to answer or take responsibility when the dam collapses.

What do you think?