Tuesday, January 02, 1990

Monkey's (Green) Projects

Over the last 5 years, I've been involved in numerous projects and for fear of forgetting any one of them, I thought it would be wise to chronicle them on one page. I wouldn't call this my resume per se because I am constantly coming up with new ideas for projects which dissipate as doubts arise. So this would be the place to look out for upcoming projects as well.

In the Cranium Mills

1) W@W
Can't say too much about this now. Super hush hush and under wraps. Stay tuned for more.

Upcoming in 2008

1) The Leafmonkey Workshop
Previously known as the workshop arm of Naked Hermit Crabs, the Leafmonkey Workshop is now an independent entity. To be launched in January 2008.

2) BYEE Eco Camp
Finally the Singapore BYEE alumni is going to work on a project together! In other countries, BYEE are selected after an Eco Camp which introduce them to local issues and what not. This year, we are going to try to have our first and hopefully not our last. Not to be confused with the TICE camp though. I have some big ideas for this. Hopefully it will work! We even started a facebook group for this.


Current and Ongoing

1) Lights Out 365
This is a personal project tied in with the Daily Green Actions. I thought just lights out for 1 night for 1 or 2 hours doesn't make any impact at all. Even if it is the November Green Thing to Do. So I thought it would be more significant if I did this for 365 days. That would amount to 365 people in a normal Lights Out event. Find out how many days I've been at it below:



2) Daily Green Actions
Started this project on 9 November 2007 to chronicle my daily attempts at rethinking my daily actions and working towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Partly to also show that "environmentalists" are not saints nor perfect and that it's always a struggle but we can all do it. This monkey is no different from any other Homo sapiens. It can be done. Little things count. This went hand in hand with a new Leafmonkey twitter account. Follow my twitter updates.

3) Pedal Ubin & Pulau Ubin Stories
Have been doing this since 2003, almost exactly 4 years ago. The Pulau Ubin Stories blog started about 6 months after I joined Pedal Ubin and still afloat after all this time! This reminds me, I better go blog on PUS! To date we have been through several major events on the island, including the reopening of Kekek Quarry, the passing of the centurion headman and the opening of chek jawa boardwalk as well as many new infrastructure and facilities on the island.

4) IYOR 2008 Singapore
I am in the organizing committee or working group for the International Year of the Reefs 2008 Singapore. We are currently working on the website which is my main responsibility for now I would say. But honestly I think Ria does all the hard coding work. I designed the flat-faced nemo-butterfly fish.

5) Masters in Geography
Let's not forget my day job. I'm doing my Masters dissertation research on the impact of Singapore's vegetable consumption on the environments of neighboring producing countries. This is still the focus of my time from 2008-2009.

6) Social Media and Environmental Education
Started a group blog on the above topic on 28 Feb 2008. Hopefully this would be an opportunity to record, share and reflect on social media use in widening environmental awareness.

Past Projects (but still alive in our minds)

1) Monkey Animal Friends Fund
For my birthday in 2007, I appealed to my friends to not give me any presents but instead donate any sum of money to the ACRES Wildlife Rescue Centre (AWRC). While I was hoping to raise $6000 for the monkey enclosure, I only raised $1500 for a reptiles enclosure. We also went down to help paint the monkey enclosure. Hopefully next year the Monkey will come up with other more meaningful birthday celebration unrelated to parting with actual dollars.


2) NHC Workshops
Coordinator for the workshop arm of the Naked Hermit Crabs, we organize workshops for guides and any interested public. So far, we have conducted:
- Sharing Nature with Ordinary People with SBWR
- Blogging for Nature series with NIE Green Club
The inaugural workshop was held in September 2007 and more will be coming up in 2008! I believe we already have workshops planned throughout the year.


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Monday, January 01, 1990

About Me

A Presbytis lopsitachina on any other day, photographer at times, artist in between creative spurts, computer geek on odd weeks, treehugger on weekends and analogy goddess at every off moment. Formerly a research scholar with the National University of Singapore doing a Masters in Geography specializing in environmental geography, this monkey has been known to be a freelance writer and passionate rambler for heritage, nature and all things Singapore. Currently a gainfully employed simian of our society.

Email me at

Click to view my Personality Profile page

I am a member of:
NUS Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research's Toddycats
Naked Hermit Crabs
NEA Young Environmental Envoys (YEE)
Bayer Young Environmental Envoy (BYEE) Alumni
East Asian Seas Youths (EASy) Singapore Coordinator
Find out what projects I'm involved with right now.

Look Ma! I'm on the news!
2004
4 youths win trip to Germany to learn more about the environment, by Hasnita A. Majid (Channel News Asia)
Student gets green award for bid to preserve P. Ubin, by Radha Basu (Straits Times)
From Ubin to Germany, by Eveline Gan (Today)

2005
三爱护环境青年获选 赴菲参加环保论坛, by Joanne (Lianhe Zaobao)
S'pore's Captain Planet, by Teh Jen Lee (The New Paper)
Post-Philippines Lianhe Zaobao article by Joanne, no archive.

2006
NUS greenies win awards… and a swim with gentle giants, by Lo Tien Yin, NUS Knowledge Enterprise, July 2006, vol 6 no 1
HSBC/NYAA Youth Environment Award, Habitatnews, 22 Apr 2006

2007
HSBC National Youth Achievement Award (Environment) 2006, FASS News Vault, 7 Jan 2007
“天湖”可克石场 周末吸引不少游人, by 吴汉钧, 联合早报, 24 April 2007 - includes an interview with me regarding the reopening of Kekek Quarry on Pulau Ubin
垃圾不分类Fine?, by Feng Tian, My Paper, 26 Nov 2007 [pdf]
Chek Jawa guided tours no longer free, by Shobana Kesava, Straits Times, 12 Dec 07

2008
迎接环保时代,立法解决两“袋”之争? by Soo May, My Paper, 22 Jan 2008
Earth Day Special, Eunice Olsen's Rouge, Mediacorp Channel 5, 20 April 2008
爱保护生态环境 。劳动节到仄爪哇劳动 Lianhe Zaobao, 11 May 2008
"Green urbanites in Singapore", Straits Times, 21 Jun 08 [errata]
"Nature guides may soon need to be certified", by Shobana Kesava, Straits Times, 30 Jun 08
"Interview with Ms November Tan", Geosphere 2008
"Enjoy Tech the Eco Way" Straits Times, Digital Life, 20 Aug 2008
Interview with Science Spy Magazine, 2008
随赤裸寄居蟹 探索海洋生物 (1), Omy, 17 June 2008
Residents call it 'cemetery road', The New Paper, 11 Sep 08

2009
Kelongs vanishing fast in Singapore, Jessica Lim, Straits Times, 28 Sep 09
No whale sharks at Sentosa IR, Straits Times 16 May 09
Bike on train? No problem, The New Paper 21 Feb 09

Editor of:
Pulau Ubin Stories
The Jurong Stories
Environmental News Archive
Geographers meet Blogosphere
The Traveling Menagerie
中华小树猴
Monkey's Masterful Modulations
Geographers and their (cyber)space

Contributor of:
Toddycats Moblog
Naked Hermit Crabs
WildSingapore News

Owner of:
Micamonkey Flickr Account
Eskie Deviantart Account
Micamonkey Twitter Account
Micamonkey Slideshare Account

Sometimes I write for:

Singapore Environment Council (SEC) Newsletter
"Going Beyond Green", Elements (2007), Issue 3, p3-5
Download: article [PDF:444KB]; issue [PDF:1.9M]

Uberture
"Saving Captain Planet", Issue 3, 2006

Habitatnews
"Project NOAH discussed at an open session at the Nature Society (Singapore)", 12 Apr 2006

National Heritage Board (NHB)
Jalan Besar Heritage Trail (2006)
Balestier Heritage Trail (2006)
Civil District Trail (2006)
Bukit Timah Heritage Trail (2007)
Editor of BeMuse Magazine, vol 1, issue 1 (2007)
Titans of our Time (2008) [Researcher]

Metroblogging Singapore
A selection of articles include:
Singaporeans - Worlds Fastest Walkers?
Bring Your Own Bag Day
Is there air pollution in Singapore?
See the full list of my articles at the Singapore Metblogs


Read full article here