Going Beyond Green

"A journey through the growth and change in nature and environmental conservation groups in Singapore from the eyes of an aspiring "environmentalist"."



Last month, Xinyi, a college friend of mine who now works for SEC called me up asking if I would like to write an article for Elements, the Singapore Environment Council's newsletter. The article is to be about green groups in Singapore as well as this latest rise in nature bloggers. Since I had just conducted the blogging for nature workshop the day before, I couldn't be more excited. Besides, it's also very related to my honors thesis on nature conservation groups in Singapore.

However, they were looking for something not so academic and thus I decided to write it from a personal point of view. It does help that I'm actively deep in the mud. But of course only figuratively because for those who know me, this monkey prefer to stay away from the mud after sinking to my waist at Beting Bronok, in the middle of the sea! Another story for another day.

After harassing both Ria and Otterman to help me vet the article numerous times, I finally submitted it a few weeks ago. Shortly after, I gave a tutorial class on nature conservation in Singapore and the list of groups I cooked up for the article came in handy in the class!



Today, I got an email from Xinyi informing me that the 2007 issue 3 of Elements is now pulished! You can read my article here [pdf] or pick up a copy of Elements. Of course to avoid creating a demand for dead trees, you can download the issue from their website. But since they are in the process of updating their website, you can download the issue here [pdf].

On page 8 and 9, you can also find an interview with GVN's Grant Periera and Naked Hermit Crab's Ron Yeo about guided walks at the Chek Jawa Boardwalk which opened on 07-07-2007!

Factoids
Why "Going beyond green"? If you haven't gathered the answer from the article already, it's because groups are not longer just green! There are blue, brown, gray, and all other shades of the rainbow. There is a big move in diversification in groups and now the internet has given us a greater reach and a louder voice for the environment in general.