One World One Moment

The MSc librarian and PhD biologist music duo is back with a new album! The band known as StarfishStories has a new album for the new year titled One World One Moment.

The entire album is free for download, licensed under the creative commons license! Nothing less to be expected from the social media friendly rambling librarian. After their first album that was inspired by our wonderful marine life, the duo is back with a second album. This time, they have developed more complex musicality with many more guitar solos, displaying their skills. Definitely enjoyed listening to this album very much! Great soothing songs, free for download at the StarfishStories band blog (starfishstories.wordpress.com). The blog also offers behind the scenes insights, great for other musicians to exchange experiences as well.

The band also has a facebook group - join now to show your support for our local talent.

Read full article here

Help needed for Horseshoe Crab Population & Distribution Survey

The Nature Society (Singapore) Horseshoe Crab Rescue team is looking for help for a Population & Distribution Survey on 8 March 2009 from 2 pm to 6.30 pm. If interested, please contact Dr Hsu Chia Chi.

This island-wide survey aims to establish an estimate of the population and distribution of the two species of Horseshoe Crabs (HSCs) found in Singapore, namely the Mangrove Horseshoe Crab (Carcinscorpius rotundicauda) and Coastal Horseshoe Crab (Tachypleus gigas).

Sectors & Teams
Singapore will be divided into four sectors namely: 1. North-West, 2. North-East, 3. South-East and 4. South-West. Each sector will have a Sector Leader. Survey areas within each sector have been identified and each will have an Area Leader. Depending on the size of the survey area, one or more teams might be assigned. Each survey team comprises four to six volunteers led by a Qualified HSC R&Rer (Team Leader), with an assigned recorder while participants become searchers-cum-measurers.

Survey Areas
The areas we will like to conduct HSC P&D Survey are:

1. Mandai mudflats
2. Lim Chu Kang Jetty- mudflat east of jetty.
3. Sarimbun- beach/mudflat near MOE Jln. Bahtera Adventure Centre.
4. Sembawang Park
5. Lower Seletar Reservoir Dam- mudflat eastern side of estuary.
6. Pasir Ris Park- mudflat east of S. Tampines.
7. Changi Point Ferry terminal- estuary.
8. S. Pandan- estuary beyond dam.

Please state your preference, if any, in your response.

Survey Methods & Search Techniques
Two methods will be employed 1) Transect search to depletion in areas where HSC density is expected to be high and/or 2) Exploratory search in all possible HSC habitats. Search technique is based on HSC sighting and the gentle probing (NOT ploughing) of substrate with gardening forks as well as the careful digging up of buried HSC. Area/Team Leaders will conduct on-site briefing on details such as the exact protocol, instructions and data recording.

Survey of Fishermen
In addition, there will be a survey-cum-conservation education of fishermen by younger members/primary school students. Using a survey-cum-conservation education questionnaire as well as photos of both HSC species, free and entrapped, they will approach local and recreational fishermen at boat mooring sites and popular fishing areas around Singapore.

Attire & Equipment
Recommended: Comfortable outdoor clothes (short or long sleeved tops; shorts or trousers), hat, sun block, old sports shoes/boots/booties that can get wet (NO exposed footwear such as sandals, crocs or slippers), drinking water, plastic bag (for collecting litter from survey sites), small gardening fork/rake (to probe for buried HSC) and 12-inch ruler.

Optional: Insect repellent, gloves or plastic bread wrappers to protect your hands, poncho (survey will be adjourned if there is bad weather), a change of clothes and extra foot wear (washing facilities may not be available at all sites), gardening cutters (to rescue Horseshoe Crabs entrapped in nets), binoculars, camera, note book and pen.

Directions
Meet at 2 pm at your assigned meeting point. You may have to walk some distance to your actual survey area. The search proper will be from 4 pm to 6 pm, with the lowest tide at 5 pm.

Read full article here

Job Vacancy for Director, NUS Office of Environmental Sustainability

Reporting to the Deputy President (Administration), the Director will lead the Office of Environmental Sustainability (OES) to relating to campus sustainability strategies and initiatives, with a view to broadening its role to include environmental performance auditing. The incumbent will be responsible in the following:

- Strategize the integration of sustainability in all aspects possible,
establish NUS sustainability goals and develop a campus sustainability
roadmap.
- Identification and facilitate adoption of applicable best practices in
campus development and operations.
- Establish communications strategies with campus stakeholders to
promote awareness of initiatives as well as to educate them.
- Lead, guide and monitor sustainability initiatives and performance to
achieve sustainability targets.
- Build partnerships and collaborate with other organizations and leading
universities with matters related to campus sustainability.
- Build partnerships and collaborate with other organizations and leading
universities with matters related to campus sustainability.
- Management reporting

Requirements:
* Bachelor’s Degree in architecture, urban or environmental planning, environmental science, environmental engineering or equivalent in an appropriate field, with an advanced degree preferred
* Minimum of 5 years experience in leadership position, implementing sustainability programs, or programs in a related field such as planning, environmental or environmental technology or resource management, facilities, or architecture.
* Good understanding of sustainability theories as well as local, national and global sustainability initiatives and best practices. Ability to apply theories and initiatives in practical setting.
* Good EQ, excellent oral and written communications skills

Download Application Form (.doc).
For application or enquiries NUScareers_executive@nus.edu.sg

More information here

Read full article here

Facebook and Beyond

On Day 3 of the National Sustainability Conference, I will be involved in the youth declaration as well as giving a short 10 minute presentation on environmental "cyber-advocacy" in Singapore. I've included the synopsis and slides here for those of you who will not be there on the day. Enjoy! Comments are most welcome. I do not profess to be entirely comprehensive. It's more a sharing of my own experience. I'm hardly an expert on the subject and there are definitely better ways to do this. Feel free to share your own experiences!

Facebook And Beyond: Environmental Cyber-Advocacy in Singapore

View more presentations from November Tan. (tags: nscsingapore facebook)

ABSTRACT
The popularization of the Internet has changed the face and form of environmental outreach and activism in Singapore. The compression of time and space has led to fast dissemination of information and the rapid rallying of grassroot support became increasingly effortless. In the last 5 years, with the rise of popular social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr, etc., it has further changed the dimension of environmental activism. Social media tools such as blogs and wikis allow for user-generated content which allow greater dissemination of information, reaching out to people who may otherwise not have the opportunity to do so. The current challenge is now to come up with more creative ways of using the social media platform, to maximize its network and potential. Just as traditional media practitioners have tried to come up with the latest attention grabbing ad campaign, social media practitioners are constantly thinking of ways to creatively and effectively reach out to a greater network, to gather support, fund raise, encourage action or simply to spread the word. This presentation hopes to highlight some of the environmental social media projects that have been done in Singapore and some of the lessons learnt through the process.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
November Tan is a research scholar in the NUS Department of Geography as well as an active nature volunteer with various volunteer groups. She is the author of the Midnight Monkey Monitor blog (http://leafmonkey.blogspot.com) which was listed as Blogger’s Blog of Note in 2007. A self-confessed social media addict, she spends her off days testing new social media platforms and cooking up new projects. She currently coordinates workshops for nature volunteers under the initiative known as The Leafmonkey Workshop.

Read full article here

Day 2 of National Sustainability Conference

The day started off with the Ambassador Chew Tai Soo informing the audience of Singapore's official international position on climate change. A reuters reporter present was rather efficient and an article on the morning's speech is already published and picked up by Straits Times by 2pm!

If you were following my twitter updates, you'd have gotten a frenzy of live reporting (140 char at a time!). Hurray for social media *grin* But I must acknowledged my admiration for the traditional media efficiency too! But they were using online medium (posting on ST Online) for the purpose too. Interestingly, I was tipped off by @sgnews on twitter who picks up RSS feed from major news agencies in Singapore.

Below is a compilation of day 2 happenings as updated on twitter.

Ambassador chew tai soo who is the chief negotiator on climate change at copehagen this year is speaking now on singapore's position about 12 hours ago

The chief negotiator states that singapore has negligible impact on climate change, and alt energy disadvantged, can't move away from fossil about 11 hours ago

He considers singapore a small island DEVELOPING state. An alternative energy disadvantaged country. Sigh about 11 hours ago

'we will contribute what we can' means you can't force them to do what they refuse to acknowledge, much less do about 11 hours ago

One of the ways to offset our emission is apparently to have singapore 'covered in greenery' but gardening is not the same as forests! about 11 hours ago

When asked why we present ourselves as a developing country, he says coz we are member of G77 developing states. 'matter of history' about 11 hours ago

When do we move from 'history' to the present or the future? Where is the progress we speak of in our national pledge? about 11 hours ago

The ambassador seems to hint at the audience in the room that they can't speak of reductions when they sit comf in brightly kit aircon room about 11 hours ago

The gist of singapore's stand it seems is that the world needs to reduce emissions but it's other people's responsibility about 11 hours ago

The director of climate change, mewr highlights clean energy as one of the strategy but what about the potential coal plant in sg? about 10 hours ago

Energy efficiency seems like the key or only strategy in addressing climate change. How disappointing about 10 hours ago

The deputy director of strategic policy appears to be merely reading off the standard pr propaganda. I feel like i'm at an info centre about 10 hours ago

Are the mewr ppl not allowed to present anything apart from official content that i can just read from the website? about 10 hours ago



Wildsingapore poster of semakau is used to highlight the success of the landfill in conserving biodiversity about 10 hours ago

Dr michael quah is really a good speaker, talking about electronic versus liquid diet. More dimension to alternative energies about 9 hours ago

Dr quah talks about including food in the equation along with water and energy! I can't agree more! about 9 hours ago

'through internal discussion, they probably tink 6.5 million population is probably sustainable' orly? about 9 hours ago

Upon monkey asking about news of coal power plant in singapore, mewr informed that the plan is off due to financial crisis about 9 hours ago

But coal is still acceptable as a form of 'clean energy' in singapore! *grimace* about 9 hours ago
**note: they totally missed the point about carbon emission of coal and only focused on it being made non-pollutive

Reuters is really efficient. Just 4 hours after the ambassador's speech this morn, they alr put up an article & straits times picked it up! about 7 hours ago

Prof wong poh poh is talking about sea level rise in singapore. about 6 hours ago

IPCC predicts a 59cm sea level rise but they didn't consider data after 2005. Since then, theres dramatic increase about 6 hours ago

Singapores coastal areas were reclaimed and raised by 1.25m above the highest recorded tide of 3.9m. Sea level rise must consider tides too! about 6 hours ago
**note: if sea level rise is 2m which is a possibility, the 1.25m elevation will not suffice.

How long term is our planning? IPCC is planning for 300 years. about 6 hours ago

Prof natasha hamilton nicely sum up that sg cc strategy is aimed at making sg look good in the 'fiction of being a developing country' about 6 hours ago

Sg reports that they emit 41522 kilo tonnes of co2 in 2006 but the usa dept of energy reports it as 141,100kilo tonnes about 6 hours ago

48% of singapore's emissions is from electricity generation. Air transport is one of the controversial footprint that's not addressed. about 6 hours ago

Read full article here

Live from Day 1 of National Sustainability Conference

Will be reporting from the National Sustainability Conference held at the NUSS Guild House from 20 to 22 Feb. I will be putting up my observations via twitter. Unfortunately I will not be able to provide indepth reports via the blog but will be reposting my twitter updates on this blog.

• Interesting attendance at the national sustainability conference. Lily kong is giving the opening speech now about 3 hours ago
• It's quite bizarre that there is a tea break after 30minute of welcome about 2 hours ago
• Andrew Tan, the Ceo of nea is speaking now about the interconnectedness of the different global crises. They are 1 crises, not separate about 2 hours ago
• The british high commissioner paul madden is speaking about climate change now. Shobie the dir of climate change is of cos here about 2 hours ago
• Spoke with amy of wwf about earth hour singapore. This year a major singapore icon will be switching off during prime time! Awesome about 1 hour ago
• How do we encourage businesses to be carbon neutral if our consumers are not interested or concerned if they are? about 1 hour ago
• Prof jeff obbard is talking about the anthropocene and the 'other' (climate) credit crunch. about 1 hour ago
• IPCC predicts 7.4% reduction in glacial cover but in reality it's 23% eek about 1 hour ago
• The other credit crunch he's talking about turns out to be the global ecological footprint exceeding planet capacity and carbon budget about 1 hour ago
• Einstein and the stern review gets quoted very often at this conference. 41 minutes ago
• Jeff is talking about his research on using fast growing marine algae as a carbon neutral biofuel. Is this possible for mass production? 38 minutes ago
• Dr geh is the first to the mic again during the q&a asking andrew Tan about the centre for livable cities 35 minutes ago
• At every environmental conference, people must always ask why are we sitting in an aircon room freezing our butt off 29 minutes ago
• There's a lady from india from the office of environmental education that asked all the questions i wanted to ask. 12 minutes ago
• I'm glad Lena chan from nparks is highlighting the fact that all tis talk of sustainability is lacking mention of biod conservation 5 minutes ago
• Stern review drew attention to climate change thru dollars. But no such report for biod? But both related! Why pit against each other? 2 minutes ago

Read full article here

National Sustainability Conference

The National University of Singapore (NUS) would be organizing the National Sustainability Conference on the 20-22 February 2009 which would be held in the NUS Kent Ridge Guild House.

This conference will discuss critical global sustainability crises in the Singaporean context and our response to these challenges. This conference would also achieve to be the first net zero carbon emissions conference in Singapore. The end-product of this conference would be a Singapore Youth Declaration on Sustainable Development.

In addition to chairing one of the subcommittees in the Youth Declaration, this leafmonkey will also be speaking on 22 Feb, the 3rd day of the conference. The topic will be on "Facebook and Beyond: Environmental Cyber-Advocacy in Singapore".

Around 250 renowned experts, academicians, administrations, business, civil society and youths are expected to participate in this 3-day conference.

Some of the highlights of our conference would be:

Copenhagen Global Deal on Climate Change, What it Means for Singapore
Ambassador Chew Tai Soo, Chief Negotiator on Climate Change for Singapore

The Promise of Technological Solutions to the Climate Crisis
Mr Lee Tzu Yang, Chairman, Shell Companies in Singapore

Singapore's Coastal Vulnerability to Climate Change Impacts
Associate Professor Wong Poh Poh, Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, NUS, and Coordinating Lead Author in IPCC Fourth Assessment Report

National Identity, Sustainability and Nature
Dr Geh Min, Past President, Nature Society, and winner of prestigious inaugural President's Award for Environment 2006

To register, please visit: http://www.nscsingapore.com/registration.html. Currently there are limited seats left, so please register soon to reserve your tickets.

Read full article here

Virgin adventures at the great reef

Terembu Raya means the Great Reef in bahasa melayu and great it was! Not so much in land area but the coral diversity and life there is quite amazing. It's no seagrass wonderland like cyrene reef but around the perimeter where Eric and I were exploring, the corals, fish and other animals were just keeping us excited with every step we take! I admit I don't go out as often as many others but I've never seen so many different type of corals in one place before so it's an exciting time for me!



One of my favourite moments was definitely stalking this squid (amongst the many encountered). It tried its different strategy at me, from pretending to be invisible to becoming angry and wagging its "horns" at me! Its use of tentacles fascinates me. When it wants to speed away, it puts them together to form a torpedo like bodyshape but when it wants to intimidate, it keeps the tentacles together like horns and sometimes it forms a sucker like shape. It's so fascinating!


I've also seen things I've only seen before on photos like this sponge. Could this be the famous neptune's cup? I have no idea! Could somebody enlighten this ignorant monkey?


Giant corals like this are also rather common! In fact this one is about 1.5m across!


Tis also the first time I spotted a nudi all on my own! Eric says this is a T-bar nudibranch which is a hard nudibranch. Not sure what that means. Have to read up!


It was quite a hairy crab haven at Terumbu Raya as I probably saw at least a few dozen of them in just the small corner I covered. I even found this one which was dragging along a piece of seagrass back to its home to savour before I waylaid it for a moment. Luckily it didn't abandon its food for cover.


This fascinating lil snapping shrimp also held my attention for a while when I saw it actually cut off a piece of tape seagrass and proceeded to drag it back into its hole!


Eric also found this seahorse. In fact he found 2 but I didn't backtrack to find the yellow one he saw. It still amazes me that seahorses are actually fish with modified scales! Interesting that he didn't see any seahorse on semakau but here we were, stones throw from pulau semakau, divided only by a channel, facing the island, we found 2. hurray!


At the end of the day, you know its an adventure when you hesitate jumping off the lil dingy into the water despite assurance of "no problem" because you couldn't tell if your next step is land or 13m below on the reef crest! But a chair on board comes in handy. Doubles up as steps and anchor! Comes in a pretty shade of brown. While stock last!

More photos of the trip can be found on my flickr photos.

Read full article here

Job opening at the new NUS Office of Environmental Sustainability

The Office of Environmental Sustainability was recently set up to help NUS monitor and improve its environmental performance. The office is now looking for a resourceful Sustainability Executive with a passion and relevant skill sets to join the young dynamic team.

The position shall maintain close liaison with NUS stakeholders to achieve NUS sustainability goals. Reporting to the department head, the Sustainability Executive is responsible for developing physical implementation programs related to energy management and sustainable development. This includes monitoring and evaluating program effectiveness, documenting environmental performance trends, and recommending/implementing modifications to improve program effectiveness. Through interactions with the NUS community, the position shall foster and coordinate new ideas and concepts for sustainability programming themes and identify materials and resources to supplement, expand or replace existing sustainability programming. Part of the work scope requires coordinating and implementing activities including, but not limited to, seminars, workshops, and campaigns at NUS.

The manner in which these programs and activities are organized and the nature of their content should be geared towards achieving buy-in and habit transformation from student, faculty and staff community members. The Sustainability Executive shall also be responsible for representing NUS’ sustainability programs to the public; attend professional meetings as appropriate; and interface with external organizations to ensure cooperative efforts are enhanced and available resources are utilized.

Requirements

• Bachelor degree, preferably in environmental, facilities management or related discipline
• Highly motivated, adaptable, flexible and resourceful
• Cheerful disposition
• Team player
• Excellent spoken and written English
• Excellent CCA record

Monkey says, "The position is available immediately as they are looking for people to start work urgently. Interested applicants can contact Mr Loo Deliang at oesld at nus dot edu dot sg, Tel: 6516 1983"

Read full article here

Food for All 2008 Report

The local food activist group, Food for All, has released with 2008 Report on "Critical Food Issues in Singapore" [pdf].The pdf version is now available for download and distribution.

The report covers issues on local hunger, local agriculture, food security, food safety, nutrition, overseas food program and other food related environmental issues. They even cover issues like eating disorders. Quite a myraid of topics. Do check it out.

Read full article here

Welcoming 2009 at Sisters Island

There is no better way to welcome in the new year than to spend it with friends, in the middle of the dark, with water up to your knees, enjoying the sea breeze, playing "finding nemo" and listening to pulsating beats from the nearby resort island. And this you can only get by spending new years eve on sisters island with a group of dedicated beachfleas. Personally it was from missing the opportunity to spend the last few new years eve in Singapore that I was really looking forward to performing the traditional new years eve toast on the shores with friends! This year, we also made a new friend who joined us for the first time at Sisters.

I also saw many animal friends that I have not seen in the flesh before!
My favourite has got to be this land hermit crab. This is the first time I saw them for myself. The last time I tried to find them was at the NHC sentosa recce in November 08 but unfortunately I left too early and didn't see the one hairen found amongst the rubbish on the backshore. This time at sisters, when we ended our trip as the tide came in, we encountered an army of them on land, climbing on coconut trees and checking out the benches that litter the island. They were quite cute and I even found one that refused to come out.


Also a first for me is the ghost crab, or more accurately, the horn-eyed ghost crab. (check out the horny eyes!) I always thought that ghost crabs were very small but I was pleasantly surprised to find them almost the size of my feet! Here's a photo of the ghost crab with a coconut husk and bits of trash for scale! But I must admit, my feet is not very big!



Perhaps it's the time of the year but out on the shores, very many things are seasonal. For one, it seems to be sargassum season as half the lagoon was covered with them. Many of the corals, anemones and what not were covered with these large masses of floating macro-algae. Macro-algae just means really large seaweed. Even in the dark, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the obstacles ahead.


You can see the huge boulder corals covered beneath sargassum and those corals are by no means small! Trapped amongst the cover of sargassum were also drift nets. It was bad enough to be tangled up with the sargassum but throw in drift nets and it's a deathtrap formula for many of the marine animals.



This is a real hazard to our marine life, especially since Sisters Island is one of the only areas designated as a potential marine protected area in the last Singapore Green Plan. The rest of the other areas were dropped in this second revision.

Sisters Island is really special to me as in my first visit in January 2007, I saw my first sea krait, a venomous but generally docile snake. The juvenile pictured below even swam over to Jun's leg and rested there for a while, probably thinking it was a rock. But of course we made sure to pretend to be a rock! There's no such thing as being too cautious after all :) This banded sea krait actually lives in the sea but lays its eggs on land! This means that not only must its marine home be healthy but it also requires a good terrestrial habitat to reproduce. In this visit again, I not only saw 1 but 2 banded sea kraits!



This first sighting is a juvenile but the second I saw further out, near the sea wall, was an adult. Unfortunately it was well disguised by the sargassum and I didn't get a good photo of it.

The sargassum also resulted in a little hide and seek with a pair of nemos (false clown fish) and their "anemone that was stuck to a piece of rock". But fortunately, Andy, who spotted the clown fish took a video of them! Meanwhile, Jun and I who had liken the search to an imaginary computer game we aptly named "finding nemo", had to give up our search amongst the sargassum as we could just imagine the words "game over, you failed, try again?" appearing on our imaginary computer game screen. Even Andy couldn't relocate the elusive but charismatic creatures hiding amongst the algal bloom a second time!

As my torchlight wasn't working well I had to content myself with spotting any little creature that swims past me, including this little sotong that tried to sneak pass me inconspicuously.



I am also happy that my first find of the day was a flatworm that met me when the day light was still ample.



The crabs and cnidarians were also aplenty at every step of the way. Ria also saw plenty of amazing creatures that I wasn't able to spot out on the shore.




But at the end of the day, nothing beats spending new years eve with friends on the shores we love.




Here's wishing a wonderful 2009 for our shores! May it prosper in health and love!

Read full article here

Holiday Greetings

Send Midnight Monkey Monitor Holiday E-Cards to your friends and family

Dear Monkey Readers,

Here's wishing everybody a happy yuletide season and a great 2009 ahead. What a year 2008 has been. Do read on if you're interested in my little holiday update for all of you.

Thank you for supporting the leafmonkey's inconsistent rambling over the year(s). Many apologies for not working hard at creating regular content on this blog. If you're wondering what I've been up to, I've been somewhat regularly updating my research blog. So for now, I'm contemplating my career upon graduation, publication and writing my thesis, in that (somewhat warped) order of priority. Nonetheless, I've been collecting an arsenal of things to share on this blog, just waiting for a moment of inspiration to unleash it!

Of course, as usual, to save unnecessary paper use, I've designed my own christmas ecards to share the holiday season with friends and family. Feel free to use them to send to your own friends and family. Last year's series is also available for use and is tied in with Buy Nothing Christmas.

2008 has been a very eventful year but yet time flies and already it's December and soon, 2009. I do hope that the coming year will be one that is fruitful, peaceful and with more positive action around the world and in our own backyard. In 2009, I will be finishing my last semester in my Masters at NUS. Time has slipped out of my hands before I know it, it's time to graduate! Guess it's my new year resolution to work harder in 2009 to be the change I want to see in the world. I will work harder with my research, with the leafmonkey workshop and of course in my own daily green actions.

Thank you all who have taught me, shared their wisdom with me, helped me, worked with me, collaborated on projects, learned with me, laughed with me and just given me friendship and support in 2008. Here's wishing 2009 to be a great year ahead for all of us, for the environment, for the other 99% of the planet and for the world. Thank you again. What would I do without all of you? :)

Lots of love, laughter, hugs and kisses; always,
Monkey

Read full article here

Singapore Waters

Nature Society (Singapore) Marine Conservation Group recently produced a 11minute slideshow video on youtube that includes historical photos as well as current images of our shores and its marine life. Quite an enlightening overview from past to present. And as stated in the video, all photographs were shot in Singapore so if you haven't got a chance to visit our many offshore islands yet, this is a good opportunity. There are also colorful images of flora and fauna from our corals, mangroves and shores! Of course, we definitely can't travel back in time so even for monkeys like me, it was refreshing and enlightening. The video is based on the 2003 NSS publications of the same title, "Singapore Waters: Unveiling our seas". I'd say it's definitely worth the 10 minutes 39 seconds of your time.

We could definitely do with more of these videos of our local marine (and terrestrial) life! Last year, WildFilms also produced a 10 minute video sampler. We need more, more, more!

Related Reads:
"Singapore Waters now on YouTube", Wild Shores Blog, 28 Nov 08

Read full article here

Climate change events

Nothing to do with the events but I always wanted to post this photo for what I think of when I hear the words "climate change" - coast, energy and activism.

Within the short span of a day, received notifications about two events with regards to climate change. The first is a climate change essay competition and another is a lecture on climate change issues that almost sounds like a reference for the essay competition! What a coincidence *beam*

1) Climate Change Essay Competition

Theme: Climate Change: Implications for Singapore

In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that anthropogenic climate change is now unequivocal, citing evidence from rising global average sea levels, global average air and ocean temperatures and widespread melting of snow and ice. In response to the IPCC scientific consensus on climate change, Singapore released its National Climate Change Strategy in late Feb 2008 to address various aspects of climate change from vulnerability, adaptation, mitigation and competency building to international participation. At the same time, the government announced the formation of an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development to formulate a clear, national framework and strategy for Singapore’s sustainable development in the context of emerging global and domestic challenges, especially if the current international negotiations on climate change culminate in a post-2012 agreement that results in a carbon constrained world.

As a small island state, Singapore faces several domestic constraints including limited natural resources, geographical constraints which prevent the effective deployment of renewable energy, and an open economy that relies heavily on fossil fuels. Given these domestic challenges and that international negotiations on climate change are still evolving, what are the implications for Singapore’s economy, governance and society?

NUS Office of Environmental Sustainability and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy cordially invite you to take part in our climate change essay competition. We are seeking essays that:

a. Critically assess and provide insights to Singapore’s climate change policy.

b. Provide innovative solutions that address both the global climate challenge and the country’s domestic concerns.

Eligibility
All students studying at Singapore’s tertiary institutions (universities and polytechnics) are eligible to apply for the competition.

Requirements
All essays should not exceed 2000 words (excluding tables, charts and references) and should be accompanied by a 200 word abstract (included in word count). Each essay can have up to 3 authors. Essays should observe 1.5 spacing and Times New Roman font size 12. Normal academic standards regarding footnotes, references, etc. apply.

Awards
1st prize: cash prize of S$1000 and certificate
2nd prize: cash prize of S$500 and certificate
3RD prize: cash prize of $300 and certificate

The top 3 winners of the competition will present at the National Sustainability Conference 2009 on 20, 21 and 22 February, which is hosted by NUS President (Designate), Professor Tan Chorh Chuan. Essays will be judged by two professors from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Submission
The deadline for submission is 16 January 2009. Send a softcopy addressed to Mr Loo Deliang at oesld@nus.edu.sg. Please provide authors’ names, institution of study, email addresses and contact details.

2) British High Commission : Distinguished Visitors Lecture
Date: 10 December 2008, Wednesday
Time: 4.30-6.30pm
Venue: Eden Hall, 28 Nassim Road, Singapore

RSVP by return of email (evelyn dot gui at fco dot gov dot uk) by 4 December 2008

Dr Kala Vairavamoorthy, University of Birmingham
on "Global Climate Change & Its Impact on Urban Water Management"

Dr Kalanithi Vairavamoorthy has a PhD in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering and an MSc in Environmental Engineering, both from Imperial College, University of London. His first degree is in Civil Engineering, from King's College London. He is also a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK). He is currently Chair of Water Engineering at the University of Birmingham, UK and also holds a Chair appointment at UNESCO-IHE, and at the Technical University of Delft in the Water Management Group. In addition, Professor Vairavamoorthy is the Scientific Director of SWITCH, an EU Integrated Project for Sustainable Urban Water Management, worth €25 million. SWITCH is one of the largest EU research projects in the area of water, involving a consortium of 32 international partners with 40 PhD studies, 10 study sites and 9 demonstration cities.

Dr Martin Todd, University College London
on "Predicting the Impacts of Climate Change: What are the Uncertainties?"

Dr Martin Todd has been a Lecturer in the Department of Geography at University College London (UCL) since 2000. Prior to this, he lectured at St John's College, Oxford after a 4-year stint as Post-Doctoral Research Scientist at Bristol University, where he obtained his PhD in 1993. Recent research activities include QUEST (Quantifying the Earth System) project - a collaboration between several UK institutions on climate change and its impacts, as well as the EU WERRD (Water & Ecosystem Resources in Regional Development) programme, studying impacts on several river basins of the world. Dr Todd has also participated in a UK biodiversity conservation project 'Darwin Initiative', and a climate modelling research which looked at major dust storms over Chad, Africa.

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Upcoming The Leafmonkey Workshop Events

After the success of the last workshop on echinoderms, there are now 3 more workshops planned for the coming months. What more, now you can sign up for all 3 workshops via 1 easy form. All interested are welcome to join us! Remember, pre-registration is a must :) Read Workshops FAQ.

5 Dec 2008 . 7pm - 10pm
The Easy (Not Hard) Cnidarians Workshop

9 Jan 2009 . 7pm - 10pm
The Hard (Not Soft) Cnidarians Workshop

6 Feb 2009 . 7pm - 10pm
The Fishy Workshop

REGISTER NOW!

We now also have our very own mailing list where you can sign up to receive updates and announcements via email. Originally I intended it to be for the midnight monkey monitor but there really isn't much I can share. Now, I really have things to share with every one and hopefully every one remotely interested would subscribe to the mailing list. TLW is expanding. We are not just going to be doing workshops but there is more in the works. Stay informed, subscribe to the list! To do so, you can either visit our google group or simply enter your email in the sign up box on the right sidebar of this blog.

You can still join our Facebook Page as a fan to receive updates on upcoming workshops and events!

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Toddycats at NUS Animal Welfare Exhibition

The toddycats are hard at work at the NUS central library. Not exactly the best time to grab the attention of exam-focused undergrads but the toddycats are not deterred! Soon we started getting people's attention with our famous dugong baby and pangy the pangolin, Hamsa's baby. Even the contract cleaner uncle wasn't spared! *grin*

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Upcoming Workshops by The Leafmonkey Workshop

The Leafmonkey Workshop (TLW), my latest "job" and project is essentially an effort at filling in the gap in the local nature community by providing "capacity building" for nature guides and volunteers. As such, we have organized an series of upcoming monthly workshops that hope to provide further content training as well as how to effectively share these information with ordinary people. All interested are welcome to join us! Remember, pre-registration is a must :) Read Workshops FAQ

7 Nov 2008 . 7pm - 9.30pm
The "Star-Studded" Echinoderm Workshop

5 Dec 2008 . 7pm - 9.30pm
The Easy (Not Hard) Cnidarians Workshop

Best of all, remember to join our Facebook Page as a fan to receive updates on upcoming workshops and events!

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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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