Monday, December 17, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 16 Dec 2007

  • I'm leaving Singapore in a few hours on a 20 hours flight. Will not be updating for while. See you all in USA!
  • Sharon Au was just on tv saying that she wants to be an environment ambassador. how nice.
  • went to return projector at ECO just now and found that they've kept the electricity use to minimal. kudos!
  • i refused sharks fin soup at the wedding dinner. still innocent sharks have died. got others to eat so it wldnt die to be flushed down drain
  • unfortunately family coming over to my house tonight so no lights out but it'll be worthwhile. we try to minimize lights if we can. hard tho
  • have been away from computer all day yesterday and spent lights out with family at my cousin's wedding is good way to celebrate lightsout


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Sunday, December 16, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 14 Dec 2007

  • i could write a whole essay on this but taking flights r harmful for environment, especially frequent flights to nearby places on budgetair
  • Feeling less guilty for flying to California on Monday because @evehow says that long distance flights less harmful than short dist flight
  • Pop quiz - which is the best way to travel to (for e.g.) Kuala lumpur - By flight? By Train? By car? By Bus? The ans could be by motorbike!
  • A most interesting conversation with @evehow. Cld it be possible that 30 lightweight motorbike has less emissions than 1 bus carrying 30pax?
  • i've stopped using air conditioning for about 2 months now. mainly fan or natural monsoon winds to cool the monkey down. how about you?
  • spending lights out today at holland village, planning an environmental education eco-camp for the shortlisted potential BYEE candidates.
  • what are you doing to combat climate change?
  • Now my sister thinks I'm a climate change skeptic only because I'm sick of emissions talks when more real action needed to be done! RAWR!
  • "Our blinkered focus on reducing carbon emissions has led us to look in the wrong place for answers to other challenges." - Lomborg


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Friday, December 14, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 13 Dec 2007

  • Can we eliminate air travel altogether? What's worse? "flight sharing" or "single occupancy" lear jets? At what point do we draw the line?
  • I'll be contributing to carbon emissions by flying across the pacific ocean on Monday. But it's not just a holiday. I'm visiting my husband! guilty of taking a taxi to driving school 2 days in a row. sin upon sin. sigh. public transport home of course. must stop being lazy
  • moved my lounger to the balcony and spent lights out reading a book illuminated by the lights streaming in from the corridors. cooling too!
  • Will I be doing more good for the environment actually spending lights out doing my "NGO" work instead of cutting emissions? What u think?
  • Since ill, I drink a lot, pee a lot. Therefore I've been practicing selective flushing at home. Would you? Its been saving me gallons of H2O
  • First there was free rice, play online game to donate food, and now there's Feed Bag http://tinyurl.com/38rg8f buy a bag and feed a child


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Thursday, December 13, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 12 Dec 2007

  • met the guys from SunTechnic again at CNN filming. When they heard about lights out, they were happy to give tips on solar alternatives!
  • I do turn off the tap when I am brushing but instead of using a mug, i use running water to rinse. This is really bad. Must. Get. Mug.
  • Do you leave the water running when you are soaping your hair, body or when you are brushing your teeth? Turn it off and you save gallons!
  • i admit, when Richard Quest ask who leave the water running when brushing teeth, I was too embarrassed to raise my hand. I must get a mug
  • On 18 Dec, you will see the monkey ridiculed on CNN as lights out 365 is being described as me "sitting for 2 hours in the dark everyday"
  • spent lights out at the CNN Future Summit filming. Met the Skeptical Environmentalist, Bjorn Lomborg. Woot!
  • i've been excessively taking the taxi recently. this. must. stop!
  • what's the point of me doing lights-out when i then proceed to turn on the room lights from 9pm to 6am reading a book when I shld be asleep!
  • going for the CNN Future Summit tonight. The theme this round is the environment. Maybe you'll see the monkey on CNN soon


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Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 11 Dec 2007

  • Instigated by ignorant attacks on conservation in general on the wildsingaporenews blog and wrote essays in reply http://tinyurl.com/2szl8x
  • Spending lights out tonight with my cousin's wedding party, dinner outside. Hope I remember to turn off all electrical outlets before leavin
  • Quoted in a straits times article about the charging of guided tours on Chek Jawa. Article will be out tomorrow. Hope it's good
  • finally pin down on a description for my research interest - the social ecology of conservation & development dhttp://tinyurl.com/22r923
  • with the new uber taxi price hike, perhaps that will finally dissuade me from ever taking taxi again. even if it doesn't stop others from it


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Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 10 Dec 2007

  • how far should we go minimizing plastic use? just rejecting plastic bags or even rejecting products with multitudes of plastic packaging?
  • refused useless plastic bags for just buying 2 lemons at the supermarket but got paper bag when buying clothes and vacuum packed bakwa
  • lights out was spend outside the house watching movie, running errands at the mall. save energy but wasted on consumerism?
  • running out of fun and interesting but practical things for a sick monkey to do during lights out. any ideas? Lights Out is 51 days old!
  • having a flu results in excessive use of tissue paper. lucky we buy 100% recycled material-made tissue paper. still, hanky unhygienic lah!


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Monday, December 10, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 9 Dec 2007

  • it's really not easy trying to enforcing an ethical lifestyle. while not practical, lights out 365 is really an exercise of self-regime
  • i cheated. today's lights out was spent playing computer games. *sigh*


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Sunday, December 09, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 8 Dec 2007

  • spent lights out sleeping away my flu. sadly it's still with me
  • yesterday at the ramen restaurant, i forgot to bring my new portable chopsticks so i asked for fork instead of using their disposable ones
  • learnt a lot during the coral workshop. I think I can finally identify some of these corals! Very happy albeit being utterly sick with flu
  • right now at the coral workshop at raffles museum, conducted by the blue tempeh who is visiting in town. learning a lot
  • first thing i saw out the window this morning was a new set of recycling bins right outside my apartment! very excited!


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Saturday, December 08, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 7 Dec 2007



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Friday, December 07, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 6 Dec 2007


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Thursday, December 06, 2007

Monkey's Yuletide Greetings



Dear Friends and Readers,

For Christmas this year, in support of Buy Nothing Christmas, I've designed a series of cards to send to each of my friends and of course, all of you.

Buy Nothing Xmas is really about remembering the true meaning of giving, sharing and spending time with friends family and loved ones. Instead of buying and lavishing meaningless gifts at the prompting of advertisements and retailers, how about just spending some quality time with your friends?

I will be out of the country from 17 Dec - 6 Jan so here's wishing all of you a very blessed yuletide season in advance. Happy Yuletide!

Much love,
November aka Monkey

Feel free to download and use the christmas cards for your own friends. There are 4 other designs for you to choose from.


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Daily Green Actions: 5 Dec 2007

  • lights out today (5 dec) was spent at the driving school, attending theory classes. luckily i was able to take public transport mainly today
  • lights out yesterday (4 Dec) was spent at my sisters home, having dinner then strolling outdoors with the kids in the cool night
  • Just saw myself appearing on the wildlife stampede HSBC advertorial on arts central waving NHC flag! TV Coverage for Naked Hermit Crabs!


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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 4 Dec 2007

  • please don't misunderstand that im not trying to replace power plants by regressing to human powered dynamos but it could be fun!
  • @evehow suggest the hand powered generator probably couldn't power my laptop but i could use it for other things like charging batteries?
  • Emailed Potenco to ask them if I could purchase the hand-powered generator. It will be good for lights out and field work!
  • Walked around the campus with my guest from HongKong and now sweaty & stink but refused to turn on the airconditioning. Foolish or hardcore?
  • Here's a hand-powered generator for my laptop so I can use it during lights out and get a workout! http://tinyurl.com/2uwu9e
  • meeting a PhD student from HKU who is researching on SEA civil society groups and urban environment sustainability to give him the sg story
  • i've been forgetting to turn off the electricity at the source because i'm always late and in hurry to go out. this really takes discipline!


Read full article here

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 3 Dec 2007

  • sadly i had to take taxi to class today because i couldn't tear myself away from the pc and was late for class. laziness is my #1 nemesis
  • lights out today was spent at my basic driving theory lessons, bus ride home and reading in the cool breeze at the park bench downstairs
  • Sunday lights out was spent sleeping. Was utterly exhausted after spending 2 days on ubin doing nature guiding and kayaking, etc.


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Monday, December 03, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 2 Dec 2007

  • spent lights out yesterday on pulau ubin, a land with no streetlights. what a wonder. sadly light pollution kept the horizon bright
  • despite being exhausted and my buses arriving, i walked home. this resolution of mine to not be a lazy urbanite takes lots of determination


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Daily Green Actions: Offline Edition

No updates on twitter for 1 December 2007 as I spent the whole day offline, away from technology, in "rural" Singapore. I spent the day (and night) on Pulau Ubin. Enjoying lights out in the moonlight. Alright, there was more light pollution than moonlight but relaxing nonetheless.


Sunrise on Pulau Ubin, 2 Dec 2007. Didn't even have time to take photos during lights out on 1 Dec!


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Sunday, December 02, 2007

Daily Green Actions: 30 Nov 2007

  • we walked from serene centre to 6th avenue along bukit timah road instead of taking the bus. it was very enjoyable. resisted taking cab too
  • spending lights out with @evievie drinking wheat tea and playing scrabble
  • after almost 2 weeks of lights out, i realize that im getting a hang of taking it easy, away from technology, relaxing, energy-use free!
  • the wind is so strong these days that theres no need for even a fan to ventilate the room! awesome :)


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