Happy Earth Day 2012!

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Lake Titicaca

A little animaniac video to give you an idea where I am. Thanks to Ivan for the link!

I would like to blog more but internet connection is sketchy in my hotel room at Lake Titicaca so I have to sit at my room door which is superbly embarrassing. That's actually where I am right now, writing this. To add to it, I suffered from pretty bad altitude sickness yesterday and missed the first day of introductions. Lake titicaca is at 3,800m above sea level and this monkey is still a tropical equatorial lowland monkey after all. It wasn't so bad at the Himalayas but I got a jab from the medics to stop the nausea after I puked. Having sinusitis blocked nose doesn't help since I have difficulty drawing in the already thin air into my lungs. Nonetheless, this morning the possibly jetlagged monkey woke up at 5am, caught the sunrise and feel a lot better. Birds singing, fishes swarming the surface of the lake and lil boats on the lake with fishermen waiting for catch really made my day! I was so inspired I even wrote the speech that Singapore delegates supposed to give on Sunday. Can't wait for the day to really start.


View of sunrise over lake titicaca from my hotel room.


View of lake titicaca from my room in the day time

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En route Peru

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

The holiday is over and work is starting. I will try to blog daily about the APEC Youth Camp in Lake Titicaca, Puno, Peru. Representing Singapore is Deliang and myself. Deliang is from the NUS Campus Sustainability Committee. First met him while working on the Green Carnival. He was with the NUSSU SAVE and now he's a staff working full time on environmental education and other climate change projects on campus. What a great job! :)

Singapore will be hosting APEC in 2009 and this is indeed a good time to be representing Singapore. I'm honored to be part of this process. Until then... Hasta la vista en Peru!

Update @ 9:06am +8GMT 30 Sep
I am currently at New York JFK Airport waiting for my flight to Peru.

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Going to Peru 1-6 Oct

Reed boats Harboured at Floating Island, Lake Titicaca, Peru by Pet_r

Last friday I got a phone call out of the blue from the National Youth Council. They would like to nominate me to go to Peru to attend an APEC Youth Camp from 1 to 6 October and asked if I was interested. Despite the logistical nightmare of managing going to Japan and then Peru, I decided to agree because as so many has said, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The camp is on sustainable development and water issues, attended by youths from various APEC economies. What more, next year, Singapore is hosting APEC and I will get a chance to organize an equivalent event i Singapore which r0x0r mah b0x0rs!

In order to attend, I had to write a 1500 words essay on water issues and so I wrote about where Singapore can take its next step in water management and building a "water culture". If you're interested, you can read my essay here.

So on 29 September, I will be flying direct from Narita Airport to Lima, Peru. Less connections, less fuel consumed or so I console myself. The camp venue is at lake titicaca in Peru which borders Bolivia. It is supposed to be an example of well managed water resource in the country. Pictures of it reminds me of a surreal version of a "coastal" indo-china up in the mountains 4000m above sea level. If I have internet connection in Puno, Lima, I will update the blogs with happenings at the camp.

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New target for the next Earth Hour?

I finally visited the KLCC-Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur for the first time yesterday. The brightly lit building lights up the entire skyline of KL. Then it suddenly hit me that the twins will probably be the best target for the next Earth Hour. Wonder if anybody in Malaysia would try to achieve that?

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Greetings from Cameron Highlands

2 weeks into my research in Cameron Highlands on food production amidst rising fuel prices and concern about food shortage. This is really a very critical time when fertilizer cost are rising and food production costs are rising. At the same time, there are also lots of reports in the Malaysian media about illegal clearing of forests for farms and landslides resulting from leaking pipes that farmers use to source for water from the forests to their farms, kilometers away. The leaking pipes led to the weakening of slopes, resulting in landslides and the further polluting of drinking water sources for whole towns.




Meanwhile, I'm learning more than ever in the field on how our food is produced, farmers' concerns and the reality of our consumption. But how real is consumer sovereignty and how do we see our ecological footprint in actual spaces? Why is there such a dearth of information on the consumer side of the equation? I continue my search for answers here for the next 32 days.

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Volunteer Opportunities

Monkey says: "Dear Readers, This is a call for volunteers for my ongoing Masters research project. Cheers, November"



Volunteers are needed to help out in an ongoing academic research project on the impact of Singapore’s food consumption on the environment in Malaysia. This is done through understanding why and how farmers decide whether or not to adopt sustainable agricultural practices – whether through government legislation, consumer demand or other environmental factors.

There are two different components of the research that requires volunteers:

1) Consumer Survey in Singapore
Update @ 8 May: Still urgently in need of volunteers!
A maximum of 50 volunteers are needed to conduct surveys with consumers in Singapore at supermarkets and wet markets. Each volunteer needs to survey a minimum of 20 respondents at their own time and schedule. The survey can be conducted anytime between May to October 2008. Briefing and training will be conducted for all volunteers. Volunteers are most welcomed in assisting with the compiling of these data. Please indicate when signing up!

2) Field assistants in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
No more vacancies. Thank you for all your interests.
Farm observations and interviews with farmers in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia will be conducted from June to August 2008. Volunteers get the opportunity to be involved with a university-level research project and get first hand experience doing fieldwork as well as getting to know more about how farms operate. Get to know where your food comes from. Volunteers are required to conduct farm observations and conduct rapid environmental assessment of the farms. Training will be provided. Volunteers do not have to stay for the full duration of the fieldwork. Preferably, you are able to stay for a minimum of 1 to 2 weeks at any time. Schedules are negotiable. Accommodation will be provided.

If you are interested or would like more details, please feel free to email

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Reflections of California 2005

3 years ago in 2005, I embarked on a learning journey to Santa Barbara, California for a 6 months stint of student exchange program at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

It changed my life.



Learning about biogeography on the santa barbara mission hills

Yes yes, all exchange students say that but my time at one of the birthplace of environmentalism really spurred me towards environmental action. It taught me a lot about grassroots action, environmental politics of one of the hothouse of global decision making and most of all, the amazing and foreign ecosystem and biodiversity of California. This tropical monkey was involved with comparatively radical groups whom I would gladly call activist. (I would be hard-pressed to be able to truly call anybody in Singapore an activist.) There, I learnt from peers of Garrett Hardin, amazing anthropologists, environmental planners, retirees, ground practitioners and more. I worked with people passionate about transport, learned about chaparral habitats at nature reserves, camped at national parks, swam in a natural lake at freezing conditions and climbed a tree for the first time in my life. I saw my first deer, my first bear, my first cougar, my first whale, my first raccoon, my first possum, my first turkey vulture, my first oreo cookie cow and more! I hugged my first redwood giant. I felt like John Muir when he wrote about the sequoias.



"...Sequoias, kings of their race, growing close together like grass in a meadow, poised their brave domes and spires in the sky, three hundred feet above the ferns and lilies that enameled the ground; towering serene through the long centuries, preaching God's forestry fresh from heaven." - John Muir




Images of Sedgwick

I learnt about sustainable agriculture, organic foods and met Dr Lai Chiu Nan who told me I would be of no help to the cause since I am no farmer. I met Vandana Shiva who scoffed at the fact that I am from Singapore, land of importers and with little care of farmers with none of our own to bring the message closer to home. These and many other reasons led to my current Masters research on the factors influencing environmental behaviour of farmers.



Images from zaca lake retreat

When I first returned from UCSB, I wrote a piece for my NUS Department's website on my reflection of SEP experience. Today, as I was going through my defunct photoblog, I came across the images of these wonderful memories. Inspired, I decide to bring these photos to light again. Perhaps as a reminder to myself of my energy and inspiration I got. I was so driven when I returned, idealistic. Perhaps jaded now and some recharging is needed. This is why people to go retreat! I have thought of doing a similar retreat in Singapore as I had in US but somehow I find the community here not too keen on getting in touch with the airy fairy side of conservation. We had world class speakers and on topics so wide-ranging it was out of this world. Vegan food throughout the whole weekend and camping under the starlight and late winter cold. What wonder. We sang we danced and had fun. I haven't felt so much creative energy in years. Perhaps that's what others would called airy fairy hippie like behaviour but that's what I called recharging!

Alas tis the wonders of blogging. Helps to record down images and memories that may have been otherwise forgotten.

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The Monkey's Land Dilemma

View of Los Angeles from the plane landing at LAX

It's been 26 days since the monkey checked in with her daily green action. Despite having been back in Singapore since Sunday, almost a week ago, I've been struggling to keep up with school, work and friends. Blame it on jet lag or just culture-lag but I'm trying to adjust back to regular programming again.

Can't say I have been particularly green while in Suburbia San Diego. It was particularly difficult and frustrating. Just about the only positive thing I noticed is that the toilet paper used is particularly environmental while back home, thick luscious toilet paper makes me cringe at the thought of virgin pulp. And honestly if I have to resort to comparing toilet paper, you know there hasn't been much else to focus on. Environmentally, of course.

While I haven't been exactly shopping my days away, drowning myself in materialist consumerism, it was particularly frustrating to drive from strip mall to box mall. Living in a suburban sprawl, visiting the sites where the San Diego fire has taken its toll, looking at burnt slopes made it very difficult for my sense and sensibilities.

Suddenly, visiting downtown Los Angeles felt like a reprieve and haven despite the fact that I've always hated it. I realize it's not the city itself that was unsustainable but the urban sprawl in the greater LA county and its commuting culture in said suburban sprawl that was critiqued.


The Lost Angels and its sprawl can be seen very clearly in this photo taken from Griffith Observatory near the Hollywood sign. Photo taken on the 2007 Winter Solstice.

Within the city itself, it was really much better in terms of walking, public transport and even mixed use housing! Unfortunately, my friend who is a LA county planner informed me that it's very much gentrified within the downtown area now. Read: expensive housing for rich executives. Pretty much the same as Singapore's downtown area I suppose.

Perhaps it is due to Singapore's space constraint that we have planned our land much better. However, this nagging thought will always lingers at the back of mind if Singapore had the land, would we also be crying out for single-family residence with a backyard for the kids and dog? In Singapore, owning a landed property is very much a status symbol. If more houses and land were available, surely we will all be scrambling for one. Sadly, who would want to live in high rise buildings then?

Perhaps after 2 generations of living in highrise apartment buildings, we have lost the call of the land. While it has disconnected us from nature, at the same time I doubt the suburban dwellers in san diego are very much more connected to nature. It's all a dilemma for me.

I tried to argue that nature should be kept apart from cities. Despite my love for nature, I rather live in the city. Not because I love living in cities. In fact, I abhor cities. However, if it means keeping myself from encroaching on wilderness, nature reserves and other rural or "wild" spaces, I would gladly suffer it.

How many people would be willing to do that? Not many I would think. If given the choice we all want the peaceful, tranquil, close to wild open spaces for our kids to run freely. I wouldn't want to raise a kid in New York City for example. It's really a headache thinking about these questions.

Yet watching the news in San Diego about cougars (mountain lions) running into the suburban towns in California made me toughen my resolve. There is a difference between living in the suburban area and living in a suburban SPRAWL. I think the motivations of planners and developers, population wanting to serve their own desires and crazy monkeys like me who cares more about the environment than my own desires are wildly different.

In Singapore, we don't have much say about suburban sprawl. In fact, we have sprawled beyond control. Jurong West extension, Punggol 21, were they not all "wilderness" before? The government says we need land for housing and goodbye mangroves and forests. Private developers (and the government that allocates land to them) continue to encroach on the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve with condominiums at the edge of the forest. Likewise, the selling point of these developments is to be "close to nature". Yet how many of these Bukit Timah residents complain about snakes coming into their homes? I know a few. Another case in point of the cougars.

So are we much different from the sprawl in US or any other countries? My only consolation perhaps is that our planning applied the key features of the new urbanism concept which is to have things within walking distance and to reduce car use and building a sense of community. Well, it's debatable. Besides there have been critiques who thought that Singapore may do a better job at conservation if we never build satellite towns scattered around the island but focused on growing the city in one concentrated space.

Do we ever think about what we are doing to satisfy our selfish desire to be "close to nature"? While we love nature, do we want to destroy nature just for us to have a piece of it? Or should we "sacrifice" our selfish desire and suffer the urban populace so that we can still have a piece of nature to go enjoy on the weekends?

And that is my monkey land dilemma and honestly I still do not know what the "right answer" is. Nor so I have an answer for myself. What do you think?

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Surprise!

Amidst intermittant internet connection while here on holiday in China, I find myself pleasantly surprised by a long awaited preview sampler from Wildfilms! After several years of filming on our shores, finally, a sneak preview aptly named "Singapore Surprise" was released on youtube!



Nothing cheered me up more by the familiar sights of the flora, fauna and even people of our shores! The music coordination was excellent and complimented the video better than a Charlie Chaplin movie soundtrack enhances the dramatic flair of the mime. Add some naration and it'll be the David Attenborough of Singapore!

It's definitely rated PG for sex and violence. Catch rare sights of coral spawning and dodgy liquid secretion during mating season and don't blink or you might miss scenes more exciting than the lion using the lynx in the African savannah!

Honestly, perhaps it is when one is away from home when one appreciates the beauty of what we have more so than ever. It's not that we have more or less but when this monkey met the live seafood trade along the shores of Northeast China, I fervently pray for the preserverance of our shorelife despite threats of reclamation and IRs. At the same time, I really wish Singaporeans would stop and rethink our ostentatious and mostly unsustainable seafood consumption level.


Naked and in a tub in China. Photo by Monkey

When I was in Lueshun, near Dalian city in Liaoning Province of Northeast China, a coastal town that cultivates kelp and pearl, I encountered a market that sells live seafood fresh off the fishing boats. You can find any and everything here. From sea urchin to crabs to fish to snails and all kinds of things I usually prefer seeing live and swimming in the sea. It is also here that I first encountered the first real naked hermit crab I've ever seen in my life. I honestly prefer to see my hermit crabs, not naked, and alive on the shore in Singapore. Sadly, here it is, naked and about to end up on somebody's dinner table.


Hermit Crabs about to end up on somebody's dinner table in China. Photo by Monkey

I really don't want my first time to be so traumatic but maybe that's when it really pushes the point home. I want my first time to be with a real hermit crab, with a home on its back and alive and happy on the shores of Singapore. So please, save the homes of our hermit crabs or so they'll all end up naked and maybe not on somebody's dinner table but just dead and lifeless, buried under a casino.

So join our aptly named guides, the naked hermit crabs, on a trip to discover, uncover and explore the homes of our hermit crabs and see them clothed and happy on our shores! I hope that you, like me, get a chance to see our wildlife alive and happy while you have a chance. I think that seeing them as I have on our shores is definitely a more treasured experience than when reality hits home and you see them as nothing more than a crustacean meant for your dinner table.

Quick details of the walk
Dates: 5 Jun 07, Tue (Family Trail) and 6 Jun 07, Wed (Adventure Trail)
Time: Starts 7.30am for both dates
Duration of walk: Family Trail=1.5 hours, Adventure Trail=2.5 hours.
Cost: $5 per person (does not include Sentosa entrance fees and charges)
Exact details on meeting point will be provided to those who register for the walks

How to sign up?
Just email nakedhermitcrabs@gmail.com with "Sentosa Walk" in the subject line and these details
(a) Name and contact of lead person
(b) Number of adults
(c) Number and age of children
(d) Date of walk you wish to join
Please sign up by 25 May 07 (Fri) so that we can finalise details.

For more information, see Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

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Taking waste to a higher level

Ironically or not, in my most recent travels to Germany, I find myself noticing more environmentally sustainable practices in the everyday households than I did when I was on an official tour of waste management facilities as part of my Bayer sponsored trip. Whatever their reasons, the point is they are doing it.

What more, these are not individual initiatives, limited to the confines of one household but widespread neighborhood-, community-, city-, state- and nation-wide initiatives, some even mandated by law!

For example, the above photo was taken in the courtyard of my apartment block in Berlin, near the Savignyplatz area near downtown Berlin. Here, we see the usual recycling bins for the residents of the apartments but lo and behold, there is even a bin for "Bio Gut" which is essentially for all things organic. In other words, this is a separate bin for all organic products or "wet waste" as we call it. Not quite a community compost yet but it's a start!

The waste sorting here is so meticulous that it would not allow you to even mix your organic waste with your other papers or packaging waste. Of course the others beside it includes plastic, glass, paper and sometimes packaging waste is even distinguished from your usual plastics. In fact, in all waste bins at the airports and train stations in Germany, rubbish bins don't just come in one but they come in a connected threesome everywhere you go. There is especially one for packaging waste.

In another example in our rented apartment in Dresden, the capital of Saxony and former East Germany, the rubbish bin in the apartment, when you open the cover, you will find it is divided in 3 color-coded compartments! One for paper, one for plastic and the rest for miscellanea.

Perhaps this is why a rubbish chute in each home is not such a good idea after all. When you have to take all of your rubbish out to a central deposition area which comes with carefully indicated bins, it makes waste sorting so much easier.

This is really not about recycling. Nope, waste sorting and waste minimization goes far beyond mere recycling. It's about reducing the need for landfills which even incineration, to a point, cannot help reduce.

That's why in Germany, there is also a Container Deposit Legislation which "require that a deposit on carbonated, water or alcoholic beverage containers be collected when the beverage is sold. When the container is returned to an authorized redemption center, or the original seller in some states, the deposit is partially or completely refunded to the consumer."


This is called the Reverse Vending Machine. After digging around on the web for a really long time I finally found it because I was so enamored by it I didn't take any photos. This is taken from a UK website so it is widespread in Europe. The one in Germany is not quite the same but the feeder and receipt spitting out part as pictured is the same.

This really makes it very fun for the monkey when we go to the supermarket in Hamburg, the highlight of the trip was not shopping but popping plastic bottles into a giant plastic-eating machine which shreds up your bottles and then pay you for it. However, it does not directly pay you cash for your bottles but instead it prints out a receipt for your amount of refund and you can use this refund to get a discount and rebate off your purchases at the supermarket! What I find is more interesting is that it shreds the plastic which I suppose makes it easier for transportation and also as an alternative to melting down the plastic before remoulding, nowadays they pop these bits into a giant tumbler and let the heat do the work, or something to that effect.

They also have a Green Dot system that marks sales packaging in Germany since 1990 that from my poor understanding of babelfish-translated german, is more or less a system that includes the environmental cost of taking care of the lifecycle of a product packaging. It also indicates what can or cannot be recycled. Maybe somebody who understands German can explain this to me.

Technicalities aside, point being that there are tons of technology available these days and all that is lacking is the legislation and state-community effort to implement these legislation.


Sembcorp's new recyclable chutes project

So perhaps HDB flats are of a much higher density than the apartments in Germany which would result in logistic problems if everybody have to step out of their homes to put out their waste and sort them at the same time. But is it just laziness talking? Sembcorp wants to build built-in recycling chutes in addition to our usual rubbish chute and perhaps that is an alternative and a beginning step. Another popular argument is that our tropical climate do not allow for organic waste to contribute to compost bins in homes as it would smell and vectors would develop. Honestly my sister's compost on her balcony in Hamburg, Germany see hosts of flies everyday but for some reason they never enter the house. Sure she claims it smells when she opens the box but I personally never smell it. What more, Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang has a very successful vermiculture (read: compost) project on campus! How is it that we could not?

But sometimes I feel Singaporeans don't even know how to dispose of their rubbish properly, much less talk about waste sorting or even composting. No wonder we worry about vectors.


Just look at how much of that is packaging waste alone!

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European Travels

Photo (Right): A rambling leafmonkey on a particularly bad fur day spotted in Hamburg, Germany with her indispensable accessory.

For those wondering about my absence over the last 2 weeks, I have been absconded to Europe on a family trip to Saxony, Prussia, Bohemia and other Hansa cities.

If you are interested in reading about my travels, notes and sights can be found on travegerie.blogspot.com and my European flickr collection respectively.

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Monkey on metblog

Monkey has recently made her first foray into the Singapore Metblogs. It would be interesting to be able to reach out to more people locally and globally using other channels. Exploring other media to talk about the treehugging matters and all things Singapore.

My first post is on the Bring Your Own Bag day. There are cool 1980s and 90s poster on there. It'd be interesting what one can dig out if one puts one mind to it.

Meanwhile, I'll be off to Europe tonight and will not be back for the next 2 weeks. If internet willing, I will be blogging on the travelling menagerie while there. Who knows, maybe a german 'holsum minute or two. :)

Good luck too all those having exams! See you in May!

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Survivor Maliau

Coming to your screens in 10 days.
SURVIVOR MALIAU
Sabah's Lost World

Outwit. Outplay. Outlast!

Will the rambling leafmonkey survive?
Find out on February 28 when I return!
Exclusively yours at the Traveling Menagerie.

The logo is an original creation by the rambling leaf monkey while the clipart is taken from Clipart Guide

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Haikou, Hainan, China

I will be at Haikou, Hainan Island at the Southern seas of China from 10 Dec to 16 Dec for the PEMSEA East Asian Seas Youth Forum that coincides with the congress that happens simultaneously.

Read more about my trip at the traveling menagerie.

Hopefully, I will be making frequent updates there during my trip.

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The Traveling Menagerie

In a blatant attempt to enter into the NUSSU travelblog competition, monkey started a new blog to archive her journeys.

Welcome to
The Traveling Menagerie
http://travegerie.blogspot.com/


Looking out a window in Pulau Nias, Indonesia

Currently filled with a compilation of old posts but will be adding new ones soon, complete with photos and updates. I realized I haven't blogged about my travels despite full intentions of doing so at the time. Guess the memories dull as I get swept away with a new project the minute I return.

Enjoy!

PS: Notice that I have moved to Blogger beta and it is causing me quite a bit of technical difficulties. For example, all my chinese posts have been messed up to high heavens. Pardon the transition since blogger beta is currently not supporting other languages. *sigh*

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