Interview with Straits Times

Few days ago, an email came by the mountain express to the monkey in the highlands. A reporter from straits times wanted to do a feature on "Green Champions" to appear possibly this Saturday.

Here is our email interview after the break. Warning: Pardon my long windedness at times!

(1) What do you to to conserve the environment?

I started volunteering actively for the NUS Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research volunteers (Toddycats!). Then I started as a Pedal Ubin (http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/activities/pedalubin/) guide and because of that I got in touch with my personal family heritage and history on Pulau Ubin and started a blog Pulau Ubin Stories (http://pulauubinstories.blogspot.com) that documents that stories and history of the island. I also was the project manager for the Hopea Sangal Education Program (http://changi.rafflesmuseum.net/). I was awarded the Bayer Youth Environmental Envoy 2004 for these works. Then in 2005 I got selected to represent Singapore in the Bayer Eco-Minds Awards. I am also a member of the NEA Young Environmental Envoy and I started working on exhibitions and public outreach with Toddycats. I started an initiative called Toddycats Engage which tried to generate constructive feedback and comments to various agencies and organizations about various environmental issues. In 2006 I was doing my thesis on Chek Jawa and I got to know many of the other key members of the conservation community and started working very closely with them. I volunteered as a Ubin Npark volunteer and joined the Naked Hermit Crabs in 2007. I became a shore guide on top of an Ubin guide. In 2008 I started The Leafmonkey Workshop (http://leafmonkeyworkshop.blogspot.com) to conduct training sessions for nature guides as well as to introduce various technology for more effective environmental awareness. I am also an active blogger and try to do environmental outreach through my blog and was highlighted by Blogger.com as being a Blog of Note last year. (http://leafmonkey.blogspot.com/) You can read more about this on my blog.

I focus mainly on outreach and awareness projects as well as "capacity building". I also give talks to share my personal experience in volunteering and greening personal lifestyles. I work very closely with most of the environmental groups in Singapore. I also work with the student environmental groups in NUS as well as the campus sustainability committee. I believe in networking resources for more effective conservation efforts.

(2) Why are you doing this (motivation)?

"A passion for the environment". When I was in my first year of university, I saw a poster that asked "Do you have a passion for the environment?" and I thought, yeah I did! And that's how I ended up joining the Toddycats.

(3) When did you start doing this, and how did it all start?

Prior to the Toddycats, I already started being very interested in JC (1998-1999) during a talk by the vice president of Nature Society (Singapore), Shawn Lum. Back then I was inspired to try to initiate mangrove restoration projects and I also joined NSS as a volunteer but nothing really took root until 2003 when I entered NUS. How? When I saw the poster.

But the love for nature began as a child as my parents brought us for hikes in the forest and romp at botanic gardens on weekends. My love for plants and animals had long manifested since I was young.

(4) How long have you been doing this, and have you won any awards thus far?

I would say that I have been doing this since December 2003 and never stopped. awards mentioned above.

After the Bayer Eco Mind, I got the HSBC NYAA Award and several NUS Student Achivement Awards

(5) What would you say are your key achievements in this area of environmental work (anything you're particularly proud of)?

it's a work in progress. I'm a perfectionist, I constantly feel that I haven't done enough. But key achievements are generally highlighted above. I do a lot of miscellaneous stuff that I haven't mentioned. I am quite proud of the fact I got highlighted by blogger.com as a sort of pseudo international recognition. It helped spread the word more and that made me very encouraged to continue my work.

(6) Do you find this cause fulfilling? Why?

Absolutely. Every time I hear somebody come up to me saying that they felt inspired to do something for the environment, even if it's as simple as to stop using straws, I feel a sense of fulfillment.

(7) Are there any difficulties which you've faced along the road (eg sacrifices, juggling pursuit of work/education and env cause, ridicule from others)?

http://leafmonkey.blogspot.com/2008/03/its-not-easy-being-green.html

(8) How did you surmount these difficulties?

http://leafmonkey.blogspot.com/2008/03/its-not-easy-being-green.html
Not giving up. Talking to others, exchanging notes, encouraging each other, knowing that we made a different, hearing little encouragements from people we guide or people who felt inspired by us always always helps gives me enough burst of energy to last quite a while. Discouraging comments dampens the spirit but small lil encouragements go a long long way. This is why we try to advocate giving constructive feedback and positive comments whenever possible. Too little good news out there that people forget that there are actually a lot of positive things out there. And people doing good work need a lil pat on the back to affirm their work and to give them motivations to continue on with their work. A deserving compliment goes a long way. People tend to only complain about negative things and forget to give praise to the things they like about the things around them. Only when it's gone then they complain. To preempt that, we need to remind people of the positive things there to show that they are very much appreciated.

(9) Is there any person/people who has/have been a constant source of support, or perhaps someone who has inspired you?

Ria Tan.
www.wildsingapore.com
www.wildsingapore.com/riablog/people/ria.htm

N. Sivasothi
habitatnews.nus.edu.sg
www.wildsingapore.com/riablog/people/siva.htm

They are my mentor and friend. Definitely inspired me countless time. I work closely with both of them.

(10) Do you have any message you'd like to send to readers/the general public?

Everyone makes a difference. Every little action counts. Each thing you do goes a long way. Remember to appreciate the good thing around you. Explore - get to know your backyard, get to know Singapore and all the wildplaces you never thought exist in Singapore. Express - be a voice for nature, share with others what you saw. Act - volunteer, go one step further and put words to action.

Read full article here

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.

Read full article here

Interview with Geosphere 2008

Monkey at the southern islands, 2007. Photo by Duck.

Last month, a junior from the NUS Geographical Society approached me to do an interview for the society's publication, Geosphere. Below after the break is the superbly long, unedited, original reply I sent to him for the email interview.

Amongst the questions include one about my motivations for starting this blog. That may interest some of you readers out there. There is also an interesting request for 3 suggestions for "Daily Green Actions" for the Geosphere readers. It was an exceedingly difficult question to answer but I tried my best. I did. If you have any suggestions on how I could improve my answers, please do drop me a note. Comments much appreciated.

The editors also requested a few photos of monkey at work so I threw in some here as well.

Read the full interview in the full article.


Monkey guiding NHC participants at Sentosa, 2007. Photo by Ron Yeo.

November Tan is a graduate student in the Department of Geography. She is also a volunteer nature guide and author of various nature-related blogs. Her current research is on the regional environmental impacts of Singapore’s vegetable import.

1. Congratulations on your blog http://leafmonkey.blogspot.com/ being nominated Blog of Note on 20 November 2007 by Blogger! What is your motivation behind setting up this blog?

The blog was started as early as 2003 when I first joined NUS and started volunteering for the NUS Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research where I was introduced to the local blogosphere and its nature bloggers. Back then my blog was known as the Midnight Blog Patrol, which documented my reviews and reflections on topics as I come across news and others’ writings.


Monkey with Club Rainbow at Pedal Ubin, 2005

As the natural progression of blog evolution takes over, I went from being the comment monkey to being the rambling leafmonkey where I started writing about all things environment and heritage in Singapore. This time it was on a new and improved blog known as the Midnight Monkey Monitor (MMM). The move was actually inspired by my stay in Santa Barbara, California while I was on the NUS Student Exchange Program (SEP).

The name leafmonkey was inspired by the endangered and possibly endemic subspecies of monkey in Singapore known as the banded leaf monkey. Like the leaf monkey, I am similarly local and the blog was all about highlighting natural and cultural heritage in Singapore that are equally endemic and endangered!

In November 2007, I decided to start a new segment on MMM known as Daily Green Actions and Lights Out 365 that arose after a stint as tutor for the geography module Nature and Society. It occurred to me that so-called environmentalists are just as human as the next person and nowhere near perfect. I hope that by writing and reflecting upon my daily green (and non-green) actions, I would inspire others to think about their daily actions. I suppose that was when MMM got the attention of the Blogger’s Blog of Note team.


Monkey at her research field site recce with her local liaison in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, 2007. Photo by Duck.

2. Should Geographers be more environmentally-conscious than the other undergraduates?

Environmental consciousness crosses discipline boundaries. It begins with our individual experiences and motivations and has nothing to do with our academic directions. However, I am sad to say that I am the only geographer amongst the many nature volunteers that I know of although it is often agreed that Geography is such an integral and often missing link in environmental action. Geographers have much to contribute to environmental sustainability of our world!

3. But we use a lot of paper to print our Geography readings! How do we deal with this dilemma?

First and foremost, I personally avoid printing as much as possible and read the articles on the computer if available. I have even tried scanning the chapters instead of photocopying. But if printing is unavoidable, I would print 2 pages on each side of the paper and print double-sided. I also take notes on my computer and print the lecture slides only if necessary.


Monkey counting the hundreds of abandoned straws on our coast during International Coastal Cleanup Singapore, 2007. Photo by Acroamatic.

4. What do you think is the most pressing environmental issue right now?

Every issue is pressing! That’s why we have such a difficult time prioritizing them. Let’s worry about the world another day and focus on our backyard. The most pressing issue in Singapore for me is the rapid loss of habitat to make way for economic development.

Likewise, Singapore is in the top 5 per capita carbon-emitting countries in the world mainly thanks to our still-expanding oil refinery industry. This is again attributed to economic development.

There is little incentive or perhaps there is yet a culture of environmental awareness amongst Singaporeans. We are desensitized to environmental issues as we feel secure, assured by the country’s excellent job in securing food, water, land and managing our waste. As such there is no incentive to step up or improve our lifestyles to be more sustainable.


5. Can you give our Geosphere readers 3 Daily Green Actions to get started on saving the environment?

We won’t be able to save the environment but we can try to make a difference for the future of our children by doing these simple things:

1. Visit nature areas and speak up for the habitats that are under threat by development
2. Be a responsible consumer – think about whether you giving away your money to support or create a greater environmental issue. Perhaps money could be better-spent supporting companies with “green” practices.
3. Always choose a sustainable alternative if you can – for example, choose reusable bags over plastic bags, use reusable chopsticks instead of disposable ones, take public transport or carpool instead of driving etc.

Trying to pass time in the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia while MS tries to match supposedly extinct local primary forest tree species from historical herbarium records. Who said "saving the world" is exciting? Taken in 2007 by duck.

6. Singer Sheryl Crow called for a limit on loo paper to help the environment. Tell us your most outrageous suggestion to save Mother Earth!

Nothing is too outrageous, perhaps only impractical.

7. Name one thing you love about your current job.
Everything.

8. What is your pet phrase?

Omg

9. Which topic in geography is your favourite and why?

My favourite aspect of geography is the study of human-environment interactions. Why? Because we are humans and we live, breathe, interact and change our environment every second of our existence. No human lives in a vacuum.

10. How has geographical knowledge helped you in life?

It gets me through my daily life.

11. How can you break the stereotype that Geography majors have “limited” or “no” future in Singapore? Give the junior Geographers some encouraging words!

The entire world is in your hands, limited only by your own creativity. Opportunities are endless, we need only seize it.

12. Complete the sentence: “I adore Geography because……”

...it is a part of who I am.


Monkey on the Mekong River off Chiang Khong, Northern Thailand in 2006 Geography Field Studies module. I really shouldn't be smiling with all that river bank erosion in the background.

Read full article here

Listed by Blogger's Blogs of Note

The Midnight Monkey Monitor has been 'discovered' by the Blogger Team and listed as their "blog of note" as of 20 November 2007!

Blogs of note started as the "blog of the week" feature on blogger's main page. These are "Interesting and noteworthy Blogger-powered blogs, compiled by the Blogger Team" which you can find on the sidebar in your blogger dashboard or on the main login page of blogger.com. Naturally, you can also find it on the blogs of note blog!



I had no idea I was being listed until this morning when I was checking my email and suddenly saw a barrage of very supportive comments on my new blog posts and on my daily green action project posts. As most of my readers are usually local, I was wondering where this sudden influx of international visitors came from.

I checked mybloglog.com and saw 2000+ visits when I normally get 80! [current check: 3600+ page views and 3000 readers] Checking sitemeter saw that most of these came from http://blogsofnote.blogspot.com/

That's when I found out! Shocking! I really wonder how Blogger found me.



I really want to thank everybody who have visited, read, and left me a comment! Thank you so much for your support. This has really given me a boost of energy, inspiration and motivation to continue with my projects and writing. And of course, thank you Blogger Team! :)

Hopefully this outreach to readers will soon spread to Singaporeans who are the core of my target readers since much of this blog revolves around environmental awareness and issues in Singapore. Now that I got the attention of the world, hopefully I'll get the attention of singaporeans soon!

Thank you and Welcome, O' readers from all over the world. Do check back often! Subscribe my RSS feed or join mybloglog community!

Update:
Thanks to Kevin for submitting the news to tomorrow.sg!

Read full article here

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.

Read full article here

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



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