Thursday 22 October 2009

HILLTRIBE ORGANIC TEA (H.O.T)


Today we constantly hear words like global warming and climate changes etc yet very little is actually done about it. A small state like Singapore can do very little to stop industrialised countries like India, China, USA etc from polluting our world.

As individuals, there are 2 steps we can take to reduce glocal warming. One is to reduce our use of carbon producing fossil fuels and the other to plant more plants and trees.

We have started a project called H.O.T (Hilltribe Organic Tea). It's a win-win project for both poor hilltribe villagers in Northern Thailand and more importantly, to slow down global warming.

Tea trees are a valuable cash crop (so nobody will cut them down) and can go on producing for up to 150 years. We intend to give each family 100 tree saplings to plant. It's a modest project (100 families, 10,000 tea saplings).



Our volunteers from the Elephant Nature Park (www.elephantnaturefoundation.org) will help plant these saplings together with the families involved. They can drink the tea and the surplus leaves can be sold to supplement their low incomes and more importantly, these trees slow down global warming.

I have already started planting saplings at the Elephant Nature Park and have visited villages that plant tea to learn more from them. My next step is to start a nursery at the park and cultivate tea, mango, lychees etc from seeds (to reduce costs). A half metre tea sapling costs about fifty Singapore cents (delivered to the park).





We are trying to raise five thousand Singapore dollars to get this project started with 10,000 saplings. If you can help please let me know, here's your chance to make a difference directly.

I shall be going to Chiangmai in late December with 12 friends/volunteers and again in May 2010 with 20 students from SMU to start this project. I estimate that with these two trips, we and other volunteers from Elephant Nature Park, can plant all the ten thousand saplings.

Here's your chance to do something that directly improves lives and slow down global warming. You can also volunteer for the May 2010 if you sponsor saplings, I get a special rate from the Park for our green volunteers.

Cheers,
Grant
Mobile : 65 96840950

“If you think you're too small to have an impact – try going to bed with a mosquita” - Dame Anita Roddick (Founder – The Body Shop)

Saturday 3 October 2009

News from the Elephant Nature Park

Hi Everyone!

Here's an update from Chiangmai after a 3 week visit in September to Elephant Nature Park (
www.elephantnaturefoundation.org). Many exciting things are happening at the park, for a start we have two new born elephants!



Fa mai, a real beautiful and gentle female and Chang Yim, an energetic, playful and cheeky 1.5 month old male who loves to chase and headbutt everyone. Their daily antics never failed to amuse both visitors and volunteers alike.

August to October is the rainy reason, the soil is soft and its a great time for planting new trees and plants as their chances of survival are excellent. The bamboo I planted around my house during my last visit has really grown and many are taller than my house!

During my last week stay, there was a sudden flash flood that washed away alot of our land. At one stage, it threatened to topple the houses we built on the bund facing the river. We had to work feverishly to put sand bags on spots that were threatened, everyone pitched in and did a great job!


For the time being, the houses are safe and once the water subsides, we intend to put more sandbags to secure the ground.


Here are some images - Enjoy!

Cheers,

Grant