By: Dr. Thomas Maddox

While Spiderman and others were raising awareness of the need to reduce the global environmental footprint in Singapore for this year's Earth Hour in March, no less significant was the event that took place simultaneously on the eastern side of the island, at Ba' Kelalan Village in the heart of the Heart of Borneo.

Globally, humans are consuming natural resources about 1.5 times faster than our planet can produce. Singapore represents a snapshot of many places around the world that are driving this trend; achieving a high standard of living but sacrificing more natural resources than it can produce. Ba'Kelalan, on the other hand, is one place where the opposite is true. But unlike many places that consume less resources than they produce, Ba'Kelalan exists at a low level of consumption while maintaining a good standard of living. Like most places in the highlands, in the villages of the Dayak people of Borneo, the people of Ba'Kelalan rely on renewable energy sources for power, grow crops with minimal impact on the land and maintain a strong connection to the environment that supports their lives. They also have excellent schools, beautiful homes and living environments.

Singaporeans, like many global citizens, desperately need to reduce consumption, increase efficiency and protect the ecosystems that produce the goods and services that sustain them. Not so for the people of Ba'Kelalan. They actually have the right to consume more. In Singapore the city was plunged into darkness for Earth Hour while people reflected on how to move towards a greener economy. If only they had cast their eyes east of the Heart of Borneo they might have been inspired, as the Ba'Kelalan turned off the power generators used to power the multipurpose building, and children from the local school read out their thoughts on the planet they would one day inherit by candlelight.