"Heal The World"

"Heal The World"

Michael Jackson (《Dangerous》1991)

There's A Place In Your Heart

And I Know That It Is Love

And This Place Could Be

Much Brighter Than Tomorrow

And If You Really Try

You'll Find There's No Need To Cry

In This Place You'll Feel

There's No Hurt Or Sorrow

There Are Ways To Get There

If You Care Enough For The Living

Make A Little Space

Make A Better Place

Heal The World

Make It A Better Place

For You And For Me

And The Entire Human Race

There Are People Dying

If You Care Enough For The Living

Make A Better Place For You And For Me

If You Want To Know Why

There's A Love That Cannot Lie

Love Is Strong

It Only Cares For Joyful Giving

If We Try We Shall See

In This Bliss We Cannot Feel

Fear Or Dread 

We Stop Existing And Start Living

Then It Feels That Always 

Love's Enough ForUs Growing

So Make A Better World

Make A Better World

Heal The World

Make It A Better Place

For You And For Me 

And The Entire Human Race

There Are People Dying

If You Care Enough For The Living

Make A Better Place For You And For Me

Michael Jackson is one of my favorite pop stars and his "Heal The World" is one of my favorite songs. This song was released in 1991, in his album "Dangerous". Michael composed and wrote this song himself and according to him, this is the song he was most proud to have created. He also created the "Heal The World Foundation", a charitable organization which was designed to improve the lives of children. Other than the core value - World Peace, delivered in the song, Michael also described a world with sustainable development in future.

When Mr. Ken told us to prepare a blog on Sustainable Development, the first thing appeared in my mind was this song.

Fortunately, we are living in a world with various advanced technologies. We are not worried about war, starvation, lack of living resources. Most of us even have no idea that in some part of the world, people have no access of electricity at all. 

At the same time, people have sacrificed a lot of things to meet our fast-growing demands, such as pollution, distinction of species, and unlimited use of natural resources. Unfortunately, our children will have to pay for what we are doing one or two generations later.

Heal the world, Michael was one of the people who have realized this situation and brave enough to stand out and voice out the message. We should seriously consider healing the world, repairing the damages, and making sustainable development plans to achieve a better tomorrow.

Sustainable Development (SD), is a pattern of resources use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come. It ties together concerns for the carrying capacity of natural systems with the social challenges facing humanity. The fields of sustainable development can be broken into three parts: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and sociopolitical sustainability. 

To achieve a sustainable development doesn't mean we'll ignore the needs of the people living under poor conditions. The key is to control and limit the use of resources, by adopting power-saving technologies, replacing conventional energies with renewable energies, and so on.

As we are living in Singapore, we should take a look at the sustainable development status in Singapore and start to think what we could contribute. Because Singapore is a small island country with very few natural resources, the government here have made many policies to ensure sustainable development. 

Sustainable Singapore 

The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development (IMCSD) was set up in January 2008 to formulate a national strategy for Singapore's sustainable development in the context of emerging domestic and global challenges. Ministers involved in IMCSD are Minister for National Development, Minister for Environment and Water Resources, Minister for Finance, Minister for Transport, and the Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry. IMCSD has published the Sustainable Development Blueprint which contains the strategies and initiatives needed for Singapore to achieve both economic growth and a good living environment over the next two decades. 

I have read the outline and highlights of the Blueprint and I feel thankful to Singapore government that they have realized the importance of Sustainable Development and detailed plans have been in place to guide the society. I hope all the governments in the world, if haven't started, could start their own Sustainable Development Blueprint as soon as possible.

This world is colorful, fast-growing, changing on daily basis, but it is also sick, and only us, who have caused the sickness, could heal the world, and make it a better world. 

Do you enjoy Michael's song? Please sing it along with me. Let's heal the world together. 

Reflection - The Cove and South Park (Whale Wars)

I was aware of the very famous movie, The Cove, long time ago. I had some rough idea of the story but I never had a chance to watch it. Recently, as an assignment of our Geography module, I finally watched it, as well as the "Whale Wars" of the South Park series.


I have to say that, I was shocked by the true story presented in the movie. The movie, which is documentary, revealed the truth in a cove in Taiji, Japan, where the Japanese fishers slaughter dolphins every year. What's more, the Japanese government obviously knew about this fact but because of the economical reasons, the government helps to cover up the truth. Fortunately there is a group of people who risk their lives to search the fact and put it into the public media. And that's  how the movie is finally made.


Although I'm not a vegetarian, I don't encourage people to eat certain animals and species. Even after watching the movie, I still don't understand the reason why the Japanese fishers have to kill so many dolphins. They had some excuses such as tradition, culture, or as a food supply, but in the movie, these excuses were disclosed as nonsense. In the world, there are about 800 wild animals are endanger to extinction. Many more have already extincted due to human activities. Although dolphins are still commonly seen in many regions, can you imagine that one day we will not be able to see any dolpin at all?

"Whale Wars", from the South Park series, describes the story in another angle. I was amazed and I have to admit that it is really a funny show, but I don't like the way it describes and it is also violent. I'm wondering would any Japanese people complaint about it?


In summary, The Cove is a great movie and deserves the awards it received. After watching the movie, I have a better understanding of dolphins and whales. I hope the Japanese government would stop what they have been doing on treating the dolphins and whales. And I sincerely admire those volunteers who revealed this cruel facts. I hope there will be no, or at least less, killings of any wild animals and other species. There is only one Earth and we will have nowhere to runaway if we destroy it.