Does tourism add value or devalue heritage sites?

In my opinion, tourism adds value to heritage sites but devalue the heritage present in heritage sites.

When tourists visit various heritage sites, they will have pay a certain amount of money to view these attractions. This will cause an increase in income for the country and greatly contributes to the value in these heritage sites. Futhermore, it will also show that these tourists are actually interested in these heritage sites and thus make these heritage sites seem more valuable and worthy.

However, through tourism, the heritages be devalued. Due to an increasing number of tourists, various places that are not related to the cultures such as McDonald's or KFC may be also built to satisfy more customers. Therefore, the heritage sites may consist of places that are not related to the heritage, hence devaluing the cultures and heritage of that place.

Should we demolish Mr LKY's house?

During CID lesson, our class discussed on whether we should or should not demolish Mr Lee Kuan Yew's house. Each group has to choose one of the stakeholders and see things from their point of view. From this lesson, I learnt that different people have different point of views and we should respect them.

Although many classmates said that we should not demolish Mr Lee Kuan Yew's house as it would be a tourist attraction which could contribute to Singapore's economy, I strongly oppose against this idea as I think it is extremely disrespectful to late Mr Lee Kuan Yew's wish before passing away. Mr Lee Kuan Yew, as the founding father of Singapore, had done a lot for Singapore and contributed enormously to Singapore's good foundation as a country. He had selflessly helped Singapore to grow as a country and had done many good deeds for us. He was one who persevered through all the odds, taking up many challenges that he faced without having backing away. This gives us many reasons to give our utmost respect to him. As he had already clearly stated that it was his wish to demolish his house after his death, I think that we should respect his opinion and not go against his wish as he may have many private reasons for his choice. Although Mr Lee Kuan Yew's house could be upgraded into a museum and could serve as a place with great historical value, I feel that it is not right to go against his honors but to instead, respect his death wish. 

Hence, I support demolishing Mr Lee Kuan Yew's house. 

Group Blog (Country B)

Economy VS Environment

     Economy and Environment — there is an inevitable connection between these two factors. With the blind pursuit of higher economy, the efforts taken to protect our environment has undeniably gone down.

     The first reason is because of consumerism. As people are getting more and more affluent nowadays, there will be high production of goods to meet the high demands of our population. This will result in over consumption of natural resources such as oil or mineral deposits, enlarging the harm done to the environment. Secondly, it could be also because of land use. As our economy expands, there will be more factories built. However, in this process, natural habitats will be cleared to give way to these factories. For example, forests could be cleared by setting it to fire, which will, definitely cause air pollution. The pursuit of higher economy also means the use of more electricity. Electricity is generated in a various ways such as using water, coal or wind. All can affect the environment by causing pollution, or changing the natural environment by building wind turbines.

     These are all environmental impacts caused but at the same time, countries are also trying to minimise the harm. For example, New Zealand has signed the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In conclusion, in order to progress, I think that some level of harm will definitely be done to the environment. However, every country, no matter how big or how small, should play their part in reducing the harm to the environment.