The Green Volunteers

2012-01-30T13:15:00.001+08:00

Happy new year everyone!

In December, I brought 23 students from National University Of Singapore (NUS) to Chiangmai, Thailand for 3 weeks to do social work and reforestation projects. We planted more than 1,000 fruit, bamboo and teak trees and built water tanks and a shelter. We also spent 1 week at Elephant Nature Park to learn more about elephant care and conservation, and also brought more than 100 kgs of can tabs for the Prostheses Foundation. These will be converted to artificial limbs that are distributed free of charge to anyone who needs them. We had a couple of free days and went trekking, whitewater rafting, bungy jumping and paragliding. All in all, it was a fruitful trip.

We are planning another trip for NUS this year, and also there will be various other projects in the pipeline. - Grant

The butterfly garden at Siglap Secondary School is also taking shape and blossoming, especially the bat lily, lantana, milkweed, cosmos and butterfly plants. We are seeing more varieties of butterflies and the plain tigers have even laid eggs on the milkweed. Here are some pictures:

2011-10-02T00:04:00.001+08:00

Hi everyone!

We have just moved to a Green Volunteers facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Green-Volunteers/236893853025006?ref=mf&sk=wall#!/pages/The-Green-Volunteers/236893853025006, please click 'Like' on our page now!

I am away to Chiangmai and will be back to Singapore on 7th Oct. If you have any urgent matter, please sms me at 968 40950 and leave your name down.

Cheers
Grant W. Pereira
Founder
The Green Volunteers

Green Volunteers August update

2011-08-13T16:00:00.001+08:00

AUGUST GREEN UPDATE

13^thAugust 2011

1) BUTTERFLYGARDEN @ PASIR RIS PARK

Our garden at Pasir Ris Park(Carpark C) is thriving very well and has become a popular spot withphotographers on weekends. Thisbeautiful and healthy garden has made possible with help from regularvolunteers who are there most Saturdays (10am to 1 pm) to help weed andmaintain this section.

Because of its attractiveness andpopularity, this butterfly garden is going to be extended soon to 3 times it’spresent size, so more volunteers will be needed. If you can help on Saturdays, please emailme.

2) BUTTERFLIESAND BEYOND

As you know, last year we started abutterfly garden at Fort Canning Park. This theme has been extended to the plot next to the newly renovatedRegistry of Marriages.

We need volunteers to help maintainthese 2 plots once a month (one Saturday a month, 4pm to 6 pm). We are also going to extend this project bypropagating our own butterfly plants. Inconjunction and with support from NPARKS Fort Canning, we are launching project“Butterflies and beyond”. This projectwill help/teach volunteers not only how to maintain our butterfly gardens but alsostart a plant propagation project so that we have a constant supply of healthybutterfly plants to replenish at both the gardens at Fort Canning and Pasir RisPark.

We are planning our firstmeeting/demonstration on Saturday 3^rd September, 3 pm at thevisitors centre, Fort Canning Park. Please sign up if you can commit to volunteer once a month.

3) SIGLAPSECONDARY SCHOOL @ PASIR RIS Drive 10

We have set up a mini butterflygarden and are helping to rejuvenate their eco/spice garden. Volunteers needed for Saturday afternoons andSundays.

4) ENZYMEMAKING

20^th August, Saturday, 2.30pm at Vivo City. Making enzymes fromevery day kitchen waste. It’s great asan organic cleaner or mixed with water as a plant fertiliser. This class is joint is jointly organized bythe Green Volunteers and National Geographic store (Vivo city).

You have to register at theirwebsite http://www.ngsingaporestore.com/exhibits/enzyme_making.html.

5) TRASHBAGS

Oglivy and Mater, the world’sleading advertising agency has designed a beautiful trash bag with a subtlemessage printed on each bag. These bagswere endorsed by the Body Shop so there are 2 logos on the bags – ours and theBody Shop. This was all made possibleby our staunch supporter, Juggi who works for O&M. He not only designed this bag but also gothis company to sponsor these bags – thanks Juggi, you’re a good friend to theGreen Volunteers and the causes we believe in.

A sample bag will be given toeveryone who attends any of our activities. One volunteer who received the bag said Quote “they’re too beautiful touse as trash bags” unquote.

6) POACHINGON THE INCREASE IN SINGAPORE

On the 31^st July, theStraits Times ran an article called “Poaching problem growing” (home page 10).

Birds, fishes, plants etc are beingpoached at an alarming rate. This has tostop.

The butterfly garden at Pasir RisPark, workers often lay mist nets to catch the endangered jungle fowl. I regularly walk along the edge of themangroves to check and confiscate these nets. Once when I was gathering these nets, I was approached by 2 Chinaworkers who demanded that I return their nets, I said “sure after I call thepolice and you will tell them that the nets are yours” to this they promptlydeparted.

These nets are recycled as they makeexcellent light shed for new saplings or seeds planted. You’re a Green Volunteer, if you sit back andwring your hands in despair without doing anything than there’s very littlehope for our fauna and flora. Here’s alist of agencies you can report poaching, vandalism to:

AVA 6227 0670

PUB 1800 284-6600

NPARKS 1800 471 7300

Put these numbers in your mobile – itwill only take a couple of minutes to do it. If you are outnumbered or feel threaten just take a picture of theregistration number or vehicle so you can report it – everyone today has acamera – use your mobile.

Let’s start WHISTLE BLOWING on thesesocially and criminally irresponsible people.

Well, we’re go on a whole lot ofactivities for you to get your feet wet and hands dirty so hope to see you atone of them.

Cheers

Grant W. Pereira

Founder

The Green Volunteers

www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com

www.seashepherd.org

GREEN VOLUNTEERS UPDATE

2011-06-10T21:48:00.000+08:00

FREE GUIDED NATURE WALK

Saturday 11th June, 4 pm SHARP meet Fort Canning visitor’s centre. There are some really beautiful old tree at Fort Canning Park. Come join us for this interesting and relaxing walk. Email your name, mobile number and number of people attending if you want to come.

MAKING YOUR OWN ENZYMES

Saturday 18th June 3.00 pm @ Katong Flower Shop, Changi Road. We meet 2.30 pm SHARP Tanah Merah MRT station control and take a 5 minute walk to KFS.

Come and learn how to make this useful enzyme (can be used for household cleaner and plant fertiliser) made from everyday kitchen waste. Places limited to 20 people so please book early, first come first served.

FREE GUIDED NATURE WALK

Saturday 25th June 4.00 pm @ ECO-PARK TAMPINES. This is the newest NPARKS that’s probably the most “natural” park around. They used the natural contours of the land and the existing ponds to create this beautiful park. We meet 3.30 pm SHARP @ Tampines MRT station control and take a 10 minute walk to this park. If you and your friends want to attend this walk, please email your booking.

GARDENING VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

For our butterfly garden at Pasir Ris Park every Saturday (10 am – 1 pm). Email if you can help and want to know more about gardening and meet other green volunteers.

FREE BURMA POSTERS (A3 SIZE)

These posters still available, if you need some please email me.

NORTHERN THAILAND TRIP

Planning this for Nov/Dec 2011, about 10 days to do reforestation projects, help build a school dining room at a Karen village about 6 hours from Chiangmai. Also to visit Elephant Nature Park, Prosthesis Foundation, Golden Triangle, trekking/rafting and some free time to explore beautiful Chiangmai.

Prices being worked out, only 10 places available for this trip. If you’re interested in a volunteering vacation, please email me. As the prices are being worked out, there will be no obligations on your part, if you email your interest, please be serious about this trip.

ALUMINIUM CAN TABS
Many of you are aware that for the last few years the Green Volunteers have been collecting can tabs for the Prosthesis Foundation in Chiangmai. We are now taking our project one step further and intend to use these can tabs to make into walking sticks. These walking sticks will be given away FREE to old folks home, the elderly both in Singapore & the ASEAN region and areas that need them (conflict and natural disaster areas). We are working out details and looking for a sponsor (if you have any idea of possible sponsors please let me know). You can also help by starting to collect can tabs at your office/schools but you will have to keep them for us until we need them.

Here’s your chance to do something simple to help the less fortunate.

TERRARIUM MAKING CLASSES

We have plans to conduct these classes soon (on a Saturday afternoon) price being worked out, if you are interested in this, please email.

SCHOOL/COMPANY TALKS AVAILABLE

Want to learn more about our environmental/global warming or the volunteer work or projects that the Green Volunteers do? I am available to give these talks/presentation. There will be a $50 charge to offset transport and other expenses. Email if your company or school needs this talk.

THE GREAT SINGAPORE SALE

Is now on, so let’s have a “BUY NOTHING MONTH”. For the whole of the June, let’s not buy anything that not absolutely necessary. Everything manufactured that we buy contributes to global warming so let’s cut down our consumption for the month of June.

Hope to see you on one of our many activities and a belated greetings for World Environment Day.

Cheers,
Grant W. Pereira
The Green Volunteers

Mobile: +65 968 40950

http://www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com/http://www.facebook.com/search.phpq&init=quick&tas=0.2943151085139533#!/group.phpgid=48062238603

http://www.sebanahornbills.blogspot.com/
http://www.seashepherd.org/

The considerate man changes himself to suit the world,
the inconsiderate man changes the world to suit himself.
Therefore all change comes from the inconsiderate man.

MARCUS AURELIUS

GREEN VOLUNTEERS UPDATE

2011-05-12T20:12:00.000+08:00

April was a very busy month for The Green Volunteers (see blowing our green horn).

ADEX 2011

We had a booth at ADEX 2011 (Asia Diving Expo) at Suntec 22nd April (Good Friday) to 24th April. To help Sea Shepherd’s Anti Bluefin campaign (operation Blue Rage). We launched our tuna awareness campaign called “When you see Tuna – Think Panda”. The logic behind this being the Bluefin tuna is as endangered as the Panda and since you’ll never eat a Panda why should we eat Bluefin tuna.

We disguised our booth and called it “Bamboo forest products” and offered a sampling of “Panda” meat (actually vegetarian mock meat) and invited people to taste it. We were surprised at the number of people who willingly agreed to try the “meat” of an endangered animal (both locals and ‘Ang mohs’). Many were horrified that we were offering “panda” meat and reactions ranged from rage to threats to call the police, one woman burst out crying and we had to convince her this was not Panda meat.

We did manage to get this message across that the Bluefin tuna is just as endangered as the Panda so they should avoid odering them at Japanese restaurants.

If you can help secure a high traffic public venue eg shopping mall for this awareness campaign please let me know.

FREE GUIDED NATURE WALK @ PASIR RIS PARK (May)

21st May, Saturday guided nature walk at Pasir Ris Park. About 1 ½ hours to 2 covering our butterfly garden, native trees and mangroves. Meet 9 am SHARP at Pasir Ris MRT station control. If interested, email me your name and number of people attending.

THANK YOU BODYSHOP

Bodyshop has just sponsored the new batch of Green Volunteers’ flyers in full colour and on recycled paper. Thank you Bodyshop. Bodyshop has been a pioneer in advocating fair trade, women’s rights and anti-child labour practices. For more information on the good work they do, please visit their website.

http://www.free2work.org/

Talking about slave labour and child exploitation etc, visit this interesting website. They actually grade major companies on their Corporate Social Responsibilities. Some really interesting and unexpected insights for instances Adidas gets a C minus. You could use this website as your buying guide and shun. Big name companies that are socially irresponsible and greedy.

Tell your friends about this site, it’s time we put a stop to exploitation especially of children.

GARDENING VOLUNTEERS NEEDED…

At our butterfly garden at Pasir Ris Park (near carpark C) every Saturday from 10 am onwards to 1 pm. We will supply gardening tools but please bring cotton gloves, plenty of drinking water and positive attitude.

CAN TABS FOR ARTIFICIAL LIMBS

The Singapore Buddhist Federation and Kong Meng san Phor Kark monastery have started collecting can tabs for the PROSTHESES FOUNDATION at Chiangmai. These are melted down and made into parts for artificial limbs and given free of charge for those who need them. They are custom made for the needy irrespective of nationality, race or religion (this kind of organization I will always help) and they have so far supplied lower limbs to amputees in Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Laos and even Malaysia.

The Green Volunteers started collecting can tabs for the Prostheses Foundation more than 6 years ago but had to depend on our service learning groups going to Northern Thailand to bring them up for us. Now there is a more reliable way of sending them up through the Singapore Buddhist Federation. We all drink canned drinks so it’s easy to collect the tabs, start collection at your office or school.

For more information go to http://youth.kmspks.org/. A real win/win situation recycling and helping a really worthy cause.

BLOWING OUR GREEN HORN

IKEA – 2nd, 3rd, 16th and 17th April at IKEA Tampines and Alexandra gave talk/demo on how to make organic enzymes and insect repellent. Very good turn out.

FORT CANNING PARK WALK

Gave our free walk, about 30 people attended. (Next, 11th June, Saturday 4 pm meet at Fort canning visitors centre)

MACPHERSON PRIMARY SCHOOL

19th April (Tuesday) gave general assembly to entire school of about 1,200 students. Very challenging.

ADEX SHOW SUNTEC

22nd (Good Friday) to 24th April, Suntec. We launched our “When you see Tuna – Think Panda” campaign to support Sea Shepherd’s anti-bluefin campaign “Blue Rage”. An article and pictures will soon be posted on the Green Volunteers Blog.

We hope to see you at one of our walks or at our butterfly garden. If you have an interesting green project or need help/advice on one you are doing, we would be happy to help in any way we can.

I’M AWAY

From 8th to 18th May, I am bringing a group of student leaders from NUS to recce Northern Thailand for a group to go in December to do reforestation and work in the hilltribes. Probably no access to internet, if urgent you can try sms as sometimes we get signal.

Cheers
Grant W. Pereira
Founder
http://www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com/

Mobile 968 40 950

Flying fairies at Pasir Ris Park

2011-04-05T00:30:00.001+08:00

THE GREEN VOLUNTEERS UPDATE (February)

2011-02-20T17:28:00.000+08:00

GARDENING VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

At our Pasir Ris garden (carpark C, 5 mins walk from Pasir Ris MRT). Every Saturday 10 am onwards, come learn more about gardening, medicinal plant, butterflies etc. Tools provided just bring cotton gloves, drinking water and a cheerful attitude. SMS Donald (96494043) if you and your friends want to help.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Volunteers needed at a volunteer fair at Orchard road, on 26th and 27th March (Sat/Sun) 11 am to 8 pm. If you want to help man our booth, please email me (also which day you can help).

BE A WHISTLEBLOWER

Today, protecting our fragile environment has become even more important and pressing. We can no longer sit back and watch bad things happening and hope that “the other” person will report this offence/abuse to the authorities.

We have to take a more proactive approach and in some case confront the offenders/abusers or polluters head-on.

We started the “Whistleblower project” some years back but for the benefit of our many new Green volunteers here are some useful numbers to report pollution/littering/cruelty and endangered animals (put these numbers in your mobile).

When you call, make sure you get the name of the person/offender you’re are talking to and say you need someone to call you back with feedback on what action has been taken.

National Environment Agency (NEA) – 1800 2255 632

PUB (Water) – 1800 284 6600

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) – 6287 5355

Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) – 9783 7782

Police - 999

BLUEFIN TUNA CAMPAIGN

We have just started a 3 postcard campaign to highlight the endangered Bluefin Tuna. The tagline for this campaign is called “when you see TUNA – think Panda” to show that Bluefin Tuna could be even more endangered than the Panda. To see these really cool postcards, go to our blog http://www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com/. Thanks Juggi for your brilliant work and support.

ECO/and FISHING MAGAZINES

I have a lot of fishing/eco magazines containing articles that I’ve written. If you are interested please sms me so I can meet you at Pasir Ris MRT to hand them to you.

SOMEONE IS POLLUTING SG. API API

Sungei Api Api is usually teeming with aquatic life. I live near drive 3 and stop there regularly to observe the activities. There are huge numbers of Tilapias and grey mullets and at the edges you’ll observe plenty of mud skippers and a variety of crabs.

A few months ago, all this aquatic activity disappeared completely. The water turned grey and smelt putrid and was totally devoid of life I contacted the authorities who said they would investigate. They said that the putrid smell was that the river bank baking in the strong sunlight (after all these years of conservation work, one would at least credit me the intelligence of knowing the difference between a natural smell and pollution).

The strange part was that a couple of weeks after my report, the river slowly started returning to life. Last week, the same thing happened again and all the aquatic life disappeared.

I reported this again to PUB and NEA and got the usual reply that they would investigate. I think it’s time the Green Volunteers, took matters into our hands investigate the source of this pollution ourselves.

I need some volunteers who can spend time back tracking drains to trace the source of this pollution. We will work out a grid so that we can methodically cover this area. I have a rough idea who is polluting Sg. Api Api but we need to catch them red-handed, take photos and call our friends in the press.

I am also looking for a company that can sponsor us in doing chemical analysis of water samples that we take – please let me know if you have friends who can help. If you want to help, please email me (with subject Sg. Api Api).

ONLINE INTERVIEWS

I recently did 2 online interviews, one with NVPC Salt online magazine and the other with The online citizen. They are both on our blog http://www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com/.

FREE GUIDED NATURE WALK PASIR RIS PARK

A free guided nature walk at Pasir Ris park Saturday, 12th March 2011. We meet 9.30 am SHARP Pasir Ris MRT, walk covers herb/vegetable garden, mangroves, native trees. If you want to attend please email your name, mobile and number of people attending (subject Pasir Ris walk). If you have binoculars please bring them as there are some interesting birds to see.

CALLING ALL BIRDBRAINERS…..

A section of Pasir Ris Park (near carpark C) is now a “hotspot” for bird watchers and photographers. I recently followed some keen photographers and we spotted a spotted wood owl and a fledging. There were green pigeons galore feeding on the fruit of Java plum. I saw a Barbet and to me the most interesting pair of Oriental pied hornbills. Someone said they were released pets but I would like to believe that they came across from Pulau Ubin. One person said he even saw a rare Hawk-cuckoo.

SUNGEI TAMPINES CLEAN-UP

On Saturday 22nd Jan, 18 staff members of Watami Japanese restaurant took part in cleaning up the mouth of Sg. Tampines. In 2 hours, they collected 18 large trash bags of plastics, one raft and one fridge? Thank you everyone for helping to clean Sg. Tampines. For pictures, please go to our blog http://www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com/.

BUTTERFLY WALK SATURDAY 5TH MARCH

We are doing a butterfly walk on Saturday 5th March at Pasir Ris Park. S.K. Khew a butterfly expert (see book review below) has kindly consented to lead this walk. If you want to attend this interesting walk and learn more about these “flying flowers” please email me (subject: Butterfly walk) walk confined 12 participants.

BOOK REVIEW

S.K. Khew has just written a great butterfly book called “A field guide to the butterflies of Singapore”. It is really informative book both for the beginner and advance hobbyist. It retails at $40 a copy but S.K. is offering members of the Green Volunteers a special rate of $35 per copy. If you want to buy this useful reference book, please email be (subject Butterfly book). Priority will be given to those attending the butterfly walk on 5th Mar.

LIME PLANTS....

During the CNY season many people buy lime and mandarin orange plants. But many are abandoned or discarded after the Chinese New Year season.

These are host plants to a number of lime butterflies... so if you have any or see them abandoned can give them for our Pasir Ris garden.

If they are heavy just remove the soil and just bring the plant.. I can collect them at Pasir Ris MRT station''

If they are heavy just remove the soil and just bring the plant.. I can collect them at Pasir Ris MRT station''

I’M AWAY

I’ll be away 14th Feb to 1st March going to Northern Thailand with a Thai school to help do a vegetable and mushroom garden at a hilltribe school in the North.

Wishing everyone a Happy Prosperous and safe Chinese New Year holiday.

Cheers,

Grant W. Pereira

The Green Volunteers

Mobile: +65 968 40950

www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/search.phpq&init=quick&tas=0.2943151085139533#!/group.phpgid=48062238603

www.sebanahornbills.blogspot.com

www.seashepherd.org

Green activist

2011-01-08T22:46:00.000+08:00

By ELEANOR YAP
January 5, 2011
SALT: NVPC

Grant Pereira involved in the Orang Asli Project.

He has made it his life’s work to care about the environment and, we think, he will probably leave kicking and screaming.

He is a “25-year-old man trapped in a 61-year-old’s body” according to his wife, and he is passionate about green causes. Some would call that a lethal mix but for Grant W Pereira, he is just doing what comes naturally and caring for a place called Earth which we all live upon and call home. His 36-year-old daughter Deidre follows his footsteps, being an environmentalist and having a love for animals.

SALT Online chats with Pereira about his journey fighting for the environment and conservation and what keeps him doing the work he does:

I understand you were a writer and joined Greenpeace in Europe more than 24 years ago, a decision which got you involved in the green cause. What incident spurred you on initially? How was the first experience?

I was always aware of social issues but while in Europe, I was influenced by a girlfriend who was heavily involved in both social and animal right issues. Greenpeace was initially called “Make a Wave Foundation” and our first protests were against the French Government’s nuclear testing at Murorau Atoll in the Pacific Islands. They lied to the islanders saying that their above-ground testing was harmless and kept them in zinc huts while the tests were being carried out. We argued that if it was harmless then the French should carry out their experiments in France itself.

I understand you run The Green Volunteers and you are on the board of advisors of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society based in the US. What are you doing for these organisations? Are there any other organisations that you are involved with?

The Green Volunteers are an independent green group and are probably the most active “hands-on” green group around. You can check our blog at www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com. We do conservation projects such as a hornbill breeding project in south Johor, we give school talks and camps, and we do service learning trips (taking students overseas to do social and environmental projects) to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. We have adopted a number of schools where we help with stationery, medicines, games, etc.

We have a project in Jakarta where we help a trash picker community by recycling trash into useful items like bags, pencil cases, computer bags, etc. These are sold in Singapore and the proceeds are sent back to Jakarta to run a soup kitchen for the underprivileged children and women. The long-term plan is to build a school for all the children.

My main project for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is handling educational and awareness on the rapidly diminishing shark population and other endangered animals like the orangutans in Indonesia and elephants in Thailand and Indonesia.

Sharing his thoughts about the environment to the masses.

I understand you run The Green Volunteers and you are on the board of advisors of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society based in the US. What are you doing for these organisations? Are there any other organisations that you are involved with?

The Green Volunteers are an independent green group and are probably the most active “hands-on” green group around. You can check our blog at www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com. We do conservation projects such as a hornbill breeding project in south Johor, we give school talks and camps, and we do service learning trips (taking students overseas to do social and environmental projects) to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. We have adopted a number of schools where we help with stationery, medicines, games, etc.

We have a project in Jakarta where we help a trash picker community by recycling trash into useful items like bags, pencil cases, computer bags, etc. These are sold in Singapore and the proceeds are sent back to Jakarta to run a soup kitchen for the underprivileged children and women. The long-term plan is to build a school for all the children.

My main project for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is handling educational and awareness on the rapidly diminishing shark population and other endangered animals like the orangutans in Indonesia and elephants in Thailand and Indonesia.

What are some of your biggest pet peeves about the environment and conservation fields?

I have many pet peeves – the number one being plastic bags given out free of charge at shopping centres here in Singapore. If countries like Taiwan, Bangladesh, Australia or even Somalia can ban or charge for plastic bags, I don’t see why there is such a lack of political will in Singapore. Is it that Singapore is a main refining centre and we are pandering to the whims of these oil giants?

We should charge for plastic bags and the money collected can go to our Garden City Fund to plant new saplings and plants to make Singapore not only cleaner and greener but also help slow down global warming/climate change in the world. Singaporeans also have to play their part in reducing the use of plastic bags.

With a population of six million, if we use one plastic bag a month we reduce plastic bag usage by 72,000,000 a year. If we reduce by one bag a week that is 288,000,000 a year ... that’s a lot of bags. The Government should seriously address this pressing problem, bite the bullet and first charge for plastic bags than later ban them all together.

Littering is still a major problem even though the Clean and Green Campaign was launched in 1968, some 42 years ago. If you go to our parks on a Monday morning, you’ll be appalled at the amount of trash lying around even though trash bins are nearby. Even today we clear about 140,000 tonnes of rubbish from our drains each year. Has our Clean and Green messages fallen on deaf ears all these 42 years?

I am a strong believer of harsher penalties and higher fines, especially for repeat offenders. I do the anti-sharks fin campaign through Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. More and more companies and hotels are taking sharks fin off their menus. It is a start but it might be too late as between 75 to 100 million sharks are killed a year just for their fins ... this cannot go on!

In dealing with environmental and conservation issues, what is the best educational approach?

I strongly believe in education and the young are our last hope. I believe that you cannot teach old dogs new tricks. Parents teach their children many things but when it comes to conservation and environmental issues, I believe children will teach their elders.

I believe that environmental education should be a compulsory subject in school and held as the last subject on a Friday so that children can practice what they learnt over the weekend. This could even develop into a school project and made into a book.

What do you hope to achieve through your work in say the next five years?

The conservation fight is a long and uphill battle. It will be won by small battles. You only lose when you give up … so stay on the wheel. I don’t know what I will be doing for the next five years but God willing I’ll be doing this till I cannot do it anymore.

Could you share an unforgettable moment in your work?

There have been a number of memorable events in my life but one was snorkelling with whale sharks in Donsol, Philippines and the other was a reforestation project I did in northern Thailand. It was a great feeling seeing a barren piece of land totally transformed into a lush new forest.

But the most unforgettable experience for me was seeing a baby elephant being born. Elephants usually give birth in the very early hours of the morning when nobody’s around. If you are lucky you get to see this wonderful sight. As soon as the baby is born it is surrounded by its “aunties” who show such great affection. It is a very touching and moving sight. There’s so much love and care that is shown to the newborn. It’s very different from us humans, who sometimes abandon our young.

His love for elephants.

"I strongly believe in education and the young are our last hope. I believe that you cannot teach old dogs new tricks."

There are some very verbose people in the environment and conservation scene. Ric O’Barry of Save Japan Dolphins comes to mind when thinking about how far he goes to get the issues addressed. How do you compare yourself in terms of approaches?

I come from an old school that believes “that a cat may look at a king”. There are no scared cows. Everyone is fully responsible for his or her actions and there is no passing the buck.

I am a direct person (many would say blunt). If I am not happy about something I will speak out; I don’t worry about speaking truth to power so I don’t get invited to politically-correct Government functions but that’s ok. I say what needs to be said.

What does a regular day for you involve?

I now work for a travel company organising eco/edu trips for schools and companies. My boss is very supportive of my other work and gives me much leeway. My days are long, usually 15 hour work days. It’s tiring but I enjoy doing it and will continue doing it for as long as I can.

Why is doing this work so important to you?

The earth is our home and we need to take care of it. I do this work because I want to, not because I have to. It came to me naturally and I will continue with this till I physically or mentally cannot do it any more.

Anything you would like to add?

I would like to see more young people get involved in the green movement and not just for points for a project or trying to create a “green” portfolio for their resume. Do it as a sacred cause; walk the walk not just talk the talk.

MORE INFORMATION:

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society - http://www.seashepherd.org/

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED PASIR RIS PARK GARDEN

2010-12-21T19:54:00.005+08:00

Locust or grasshopper?

Gardening volunteers needed on Saturday mornings, 10am to 12 noon at the herb/butterfly garden (near carpark ‘C’). Besides helping with weeding etc you will also learn basic gardening and more about medicinal and butterfly plants.

If you are interested, email to grant@singapore.com with your name and mobile no.

OUR NEW TWINS

2010-12-14T20:16:00.001+08:00

Just came back from Chiangmai, one week earlier as I fractured my left wrist. One of our elephants recently had twins at our Macham Sanctuary about 6 hours by van in the North. They are a beautiful pair of females.

In Karen Mahout culture, baby elephants are not named till they are about 6 months old (when they are more or less expected to survive). They are then given unattractive and bland nicknames. The Karen believe that nice and beautiful names could attract the attention of evil spirits and they might take the elephant souls.

Many young elephants who die expectedly are deemed by the Mahouts to have their souls taken by a wondering spirit.

When the elephant reaches the age of one then he or she will be given a proper name which will go into it’s birth registration card. Here’s a picture of the adorable twins.

FREE BURMA CAMPAIGN

2010-12-10T21:33:00.000+08:00

Reply from East Coast Town Council

2010-08-30T20:19:00.000+08:00

From: Vijay Seenivasan

To: grant@singapore.com

Cc: Chee Heng Chng ; tbc4@hdb.gov.sg

Subject: Fw: HDB MAILBOX - 2 RAIN TREES AT CHANGI VILLAGE ARE CONSTANTLY OVER TRIMMED

Date: Mon, Aug 30, 2010 2:14 pm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr Grant W. Pereira

Thank you for your feedback on 24/8/2010 to HDB on the above matter.

Please be informed that for future maintenance, we will work with our horticultural specialist to avoid over trimming of the trees at Changi Village.

You can contact our Senior Horticultural Officer, Mr Chng Chee Heng at Tel 64449549 Ext 142 or me for matters relating to landscape maintenance.

Regards
S.Seenivasan Vijay
Property Manager
EAST COAST TOWN COUNCIL
Tel : 1800 444 9549 Ext 115

Disclaimer : This communication and its attachments may contain confidential information for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient(s), please notify the sender immediately and delete this message and its attachments. Thank you.

Visit our website at : http://www.ectc.org.sg

FALLING TREES

2010-08-30T14:22:00.000+08:00

The recent wet season has seen a number of trees toppling over and some with tragic results. I believe that one reason contributing to this mishap is over pruning. More estate work is given out to contractors (many of whom employ unqualified or unskilled staff).

They over trim trees very badly (sometime leaving almost no leaves at all). I suspect laziness is the reason they do this so that they don't have to come back at regular intervals (perhaps HDB and NPARKS would like to relook into this contractual condition about pruning maintenace).

When a large tree has no leaves, it is not possible to carry out photosynthesis and this deprives the tree of nourishment and hence weakens it. The weaken trees with strong winds and heavy rain is a disaster waiting to happen. At good example of one rain tree (Samanea saman) at Changi Village.

I have written to both the HDB and NPARKS about this.

If you see any tree that over trimmed or in danger of falling please email the following:

National Parks Board: NPARKS_MAILBOX@NPARKS.GOV.SG, helpline number 1800-471 7300
Housing Development Board: hdbmailbox@hdb.gov.sg

Green Volunteers - July Update

2010-07-06T20:08:00.001+08:00

July update

Hi

We have got some exciting trips and even a “hands-on” gardening session for those who want to learn more about gardening.

1) National Day: BINTAN TRIP (INDONESIA)
7th (Sat) to 9th August (Mon)

To take advantage of the National Day holiday we are planning a 3D/2N trip to Bintan Island. We leave Saturday 7th August in the morning and come back on the 9th evening.

Proposed activities:

Trekking Gunung Bintang (weather permitting) or elephant show and ecology study Mangrove tour by boat Traditional Kampong craft such as Pandan weaving and knife making School visit bring supplies and some shopping for traditional food like tempeh, keropok, Indonesian coffee/tea.

ACCOMMODATION:

Bintan Lodge, 2 to an aircon room, walking distance to Pasar Oleh Oleh town centre

PRICE:
$310 per person (twin sharing)

PRICE INCLUDES:

Ferry tickets to/from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal
All transport at Bintan
The above stated activities/tour
All meals 2B/3L/2 Dinners*
*Dinner at Bintan idol restaurant all other meals at makan centre (Pujasera)
Mineral water
Basic insurance
Local guides (and me) and
All tips and drivers/guides

EXCLUDED:
Visa fee (if required)
Alcohol and other beverages

PAYMENT:
$100 deposit when booking, balance $210 10 days before trip

NOTE
Ferry tickets and accommodation (in view of National Day holiday) expected to be sold out soon, so please book early. Limited places, first come first served basis

2) S.P.R.O.U.T.S./BASIC GARDENING

To further our S.P.R.O.U.T.S. programme, we are going to organise a “hands-on” gardening class for beginners. If you are interested and want to learn more about basic gardening please email me your name and mobile number. We also need weekend volunteers at our spice/herb garden at Pasir Ris park (Carpark “C”, near Pasir Ris MRT).

3) SINGAPORE GARDEN FESTIVAL 15th – 22nd July
Suntec City Convention Hall, Level 4

We have a booth (A04) come by and see us. SGF is held once every 2 years and if you like gardening, plants etc this is “must see” event.

4) JOGYAKARTA: INDONESIA 5D/4 Night

Planned for early September (School holidays) prices being worked out. Planned visits to:

• Borobudur Temple (Buddist) World heritage site
• Prambanan Temple (Hindu)
• Gunung Merapi
• Farm stay
• Bird market (Pasar Ngasem)
• Rafting
• Ramayana ballet
• Leather craft/or Indonesian cooking
• One “gudeg” meal (Traditional Javanese meal)
• Some shopping – batik, handicrafts etc

Jogjakarta is the artistic, spiritual and cultural heart of Java, it’s home to many Universities including Gadja Mahda University

5) KAMPUNG KUNING PRIMARY SCHOOL, BINTAN (KKPS)

The Green Volunteers have “adopted” KKPS and need the following supplies:

• Medicated soap
• Medicated shampoo
• Eye drops
• Vitamin C tablets

6) GREEN ACE INTERNATIONAL TRADING

Green Ace, a good supporter of The Green Volunteers (they sponsored our Birdbrains flyer) are purchasing used printer cartridges. Jerry pays top price for these cartridges so please give him a call to compare prices (his mobile 9060 8827).

7) FORT CANNING WALK 10th July

Free guided walk 10th July (Saturday) at 4 pm. Interested, please email your name, mobile and number of people attending.

8) CHIANGMAI DECEMBER TRIP

I am planning a super trip this late December to Chiangmai (cool season). We’ll visit elephants, hilltribes, go trekking, rafting and anything else we fancy! We will go to hilltribes that no tourists have ever visited and we go during the New Year’s season we can go to an authentic LAHU village to celebrate with them.

I intend to take a maximum of 10 people, prices are being worked out so if you’re interested let me know.

9) BLOWING OUR GREEN HORN

On 23rd June, I was the keynote speaker at The United World College’s “Round square conference”. There were about 200 students (13 to 17 years) from Singapore, Australia, Korea, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh who attended this conference.

The theme was “OPEN EYES, OPEN MINDS and OPEN HEARTS”. My talk was to encourage students to be more proactive in protecting our fragile environment. I also encouraged the sponsors to also “open” their wallets to sponsor student projects.

Hope to see you at one of our trips or at the Singapore Garden Festival.

Cheers
Grant
Mobile: +65 968 40 950

“The dogs bark while the true soldiers march on”

Operation Blue Rage

2010-06-29T19:37:00.013+08:00

Sea Shepherds Free 800 Bluefin from Floating Cages
Below Libya’s Infamous Line of Death

Steve Irwin Rammed by Bluefin fishery vessel
Sea Shepherd Crew Repel Violent Assault by Fishermen
Libyan Navy in Pursuit of the Steve Irwin

Thursday, June 17th, 2010.
Day Ten of the Mediterranean Patrol
(Off the Coast of Libya)

Report by Captain Paul Watson
On the M/V Steve Irwin

Sea Shepherd’s helicopter reconnaissance flight this morning found two fishing vessels, one was engaged in transferring Bluefin tuna into one of the two nets being towed by the other vessel.

The Bluefin fishery vessels were inside waters claimed by Libya and about 42 miles off the coast of North Africa..

At 1300 Hours the Steve Irwin came upon the Italian vessel Cesare Rustico towing two cages, one contained about 800 fish and the other was empty.

The Captain of the Cesare Rustico said when we questioned him, that the tuna were caught on the morning of the 14th by the Libyan vessel Tagreft. When we replied that the number of tuna in the cage exceeded the quota for the Tagreft the captain said the cage also included tuna from seven other Libyan seiners. All the catches were caught on the 14th , the last legal day, he said. The other seven seiners named were the Khandheel 2, Hanibal, Ozul 2 Almadina, Morina, and Khaleej Eltahadi and one other that he had no name for. The problem for us with this explanation was that we had observed the Khandheel 2 on the 13th and 14th of June and it was not fishing and weather conditions for those two days made fishing virtually impossible. The extremely difficult conditions coupled with the position of the cages only 40 miles off the Libyan coast, when they should have been moving 25 miles a day, suggested to us that the fish were freshly caught within the last three days at the most.

Their statement that all the catches were caught on the 14th sounded much too convenient, so we asked to examine the fish for juveniles and they refused. I then put the bow of the Steve Irwin onto the cage so we could look into the cage from the bow to examine it further.

Suddenly the Maltese vessel Rosaria Tuna rammed the Steve Irwin on the aft port side and slid alongside the port rail as a fishermen tried to violently gaff Sea Shepherd crewmembers with a long sharp hook on a pole.

The Steve Irwin crew retaliated with 8 litres of rotten butter forcing the fishing vessel to retreat and to stand off.

At 1530 Hours the two fishing vessels circled their cages defensively and the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin stood off to notify ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna) of possible violations. They did not respond.

The Jean Charcot, the ICCAT inspection vessel will not venture south of 33 Degrees 40 Minutes North.

With two fishing vessels containing angry Italian crews there were risks involved with getting into the water to assess the Bluefin catch. But if the catch is illegal Sea Shepherd divers knew they must cut the nets and free the Bluefin tuna.

Sometimes it is necessary to do what needs to be done despite the risks. The risk of losing the Bluefin tuna as a species is far more important than the risks to our own lives and freedom.

And so we decided to free the tuna.

At 1600 Hours a five person dive crew entered one of two cages being towed by the Italian fishing vessel Cesare Rustico.

As the Steve Irwin held off the Cesare Rustico and the support ship Rosaria Tuna, the Sea Shepherd dive crew dove into the net to identify the size, age and quantity of the Bluefin tuna within; once it was clearly established that the cage was over stocked and that a high percentage were juveniles, Sea Shepherd divers freed the 700-800 tuna.

It is our position that the Bluefin tuna we freed from that cage held a large number of juveniles and that the fish were caught after the official closure of the season. It is also our position that the fish that we freed exceeded the quota.

A large percentage of the tuna were juveniles and from the position of the cages and the fact that the entire Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna closed at midnight on June 14th, Sea Shepherd is convinced that this catch was caught after June 14 and therefore Sea Shepherd holds the position that this operation by these two vessels was illegal.*

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is not a protest organization. The Society is an anti-poaching organization and these two seiners are poachers.

A Sea Shepherd cameraman filmed the release of the fish from the centre of the cage and the swimmers confirmed that all 700 to 800 tuna inside the enclosure were freed.

“They shot out of that net like race horses,” said Canadian cameraman Simon Ager 40

After freeing the Bluefin tuna, the Steve Irwin headed north and out of the waters claimed by Libya. The Maltese media reported that Libya had dispatched warships to pursue the Steve Irwin.

There are claims in the Maltese press that a Bluefin Tuna fisherman was injured by our actions. No one on the Steve Irwin, in the helicopter or in the Delta saw any incident where a fisherman was injured, we saw one man dive into the water from the side of the cage. We saw him get up and give us the rude Italian arm signal. We had another fisherman slash at the crew with a hook on the end of a long pole and we had one of the vessels ram us in the port stern area.

* Notes

Given the very bad weather conditions in the Zone north of Tripoli until the closure of the legal fishing season on the 14th of june, it is impossible this catch was taken during the legal season. The Tuna were caught post-closure, during the period of very calm weather that has predominated over the area since the 15th.

Legal Season:

Wind speed 12th june: 20-35 knots / Seas 1-2 meters
Wind speed 13th june: 20-25 knots / Seas 1-2 meters
Wind speed 14th june: 10-20 knots / Seas 1-2 meters

Post closure:

Wind speed 15th june: 10-15 knots / Seas 1 meter
Wind speed 16th june: 15 knots / Seas <1 meter
Wind speed 17th june: 10 knots / Seas <1 meter

The Steve Irwin passed the Khandeel 2 (one of the vessels on the BCD document read over the VHF radio) on the 13th at 1230 at 33*36 / 13*55 less than 20 miles from where we encountered the cages towed by cesare rustico and rosario tuna on the 17th, and it was not fishing. The weather was rough.

Given the location of the capture, and the location of the tow vessel, it is impossible the catch was made 3 days ago. Heading towards Malta with an average 25 miles per day, the vessel and cage would have been much further North. (the vessel was in very calm weather sitting still waiting a second vessel)

Singaporeans Proudly Replanting Our Unique Trees and Shrubs

2010-06-24T21:16:00.001+08:00

ELEFRIEND

2010-06-15T21:39:00.003+08:00

Green Volunteers update

2010-06-15T20:12:00.005+08:00

1) DOGS NEED HELP…..

There are 2 ladies who look after stray dogs around Pasir Ris. They urgently need volunteers to help them with the dogs. If you can help, please contact Adrian Tan directly (mobile 92368614).

2) TRANSPORT CONTRACTOR NEEDED

As you all know I am in Ramesh Travel Service and intend to increase my trips to Malaysia (by road). I am looking for a reliable transport contractor for 12, 25 and 40 seater vans and buses.

All vehicles have to be Malaysian registered and insured. What I am looking for is a competitive and reliable contractor. No need for free weekly lunches, Christmas hampers or kick-backs, just honest, reliable and efficient service – contact me for future discussions.

3) NEXT FORT CANNING WALK

10th July (Saturday) at 4.00 pm. Email to book place/s.

4) KAMPUNG KUNING PRIMARY SCHOOL, BINTAN (KKPS)

The Green Volunteers have “adopted” KKPS and need the following supplies:

• Children’s t-shirts, shorts

• School supplies, simple English books

• Board games, soft toys

• Socks, shoes, slippers etc and

• Vitamin tablets, eyedrops, soap and shampoo

I am hoping that some schools will choose KKPS as their “sister” school so that regular visits can be arranged. We have many teachers amongst our volunteers so hope someone will take up this suggestion. I can help with the arrangements and planning of these visits.

5) SCHOOL/COMPANY TALKS

We have decided to resume our school and company environmental talks. There will be a nominal charge of $50 for schools and $100 for companies to defray expenses. Call or email me if you need more information.

6) UPCOMING TRIP

a) 3D/2N Endau Rompin National Park, Johor, Malaysia. Selai campsite 25th June (Friday) to 27th (Sunday). Accommodation: Wooden chalet 2 to a room, bring our own sleeping bag. Price: $295 per person, minimum 8 to go (visa if needed not included) with insurance.

b) JOGJAKARTA (Indonesia) 5D/4N during September school holidays, minimum 8 to go, price being worked out. Twin sharing. Highlights: Visit the 8th century Buddhist BOROBUDUR TEMPLE (World Heritage site), PRAMBANAN TEMPLE probably the World’s most beautiful and tallest Hindu temple. OTHER HIGHLIGHTS: Visit active volcano Gunung Merapi, trekking, rafting, farmstay, cook local food, leather industry and some shopping for handicrafts (probably during last day).

c) CHIANGMAI DECEMBER TRIP

I am planning a super trip this late December to Chiangmai (cool season). We’ll visit elephants, hilltribes, go trekking, rafting and anything else we fancy! We will go to hilltribes that no tourists have ever visited and we go during the New Year’s season we can go to an authentic LAHU village to celebrate with them.

I intend to take a maximum of 10 people, prices are being worked out so if you’re interested let me know.

10) OUR BLOG…..

We will be slowly phasing out our email updates. Please refer to the Green Volunteers blog (www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com) for the LATEST updates on our talks/walks/trips and activities.

BLOWING OUR GREEN HORN

TALK @ FORT CANNING PARK

On Saturday, 12th June, our volunteer Mr Ali Ibrahim gave a talk cum presentation called "Singapore Flora" at the Fort Canning. Ali a plant/tree expert and a card carrying "tree hugger" gave a really inspiring talk and gave us insights that we never thought of and provoked us into taking a completely different view of these green giants.

Thank you Ali for such a lively and unusual talk. We are looking into the possibility of arranging guests for a monthly series of talks. Thank you Ali so much for sharing your time and knowledge with us.

Hope to see you soon on one of our walks or trips.

Cheers
Grant
Mobile 968 40 950

“The dogs bark while the true soldiers march on”

BINTAN ISLAND VESAK DAY TRIP

2010-06-02T20:53:00.000+08:00

We took advantage of the long weekend (Vesak day, 28th May Friday) and went to Bintan Island, Indonesia. There were 7 of us and we had a great time.

On the mangrove boat tour, we spotted several cat snakes and a reticulated python resting on the overhead branches. We visited Sei Kuning Primary School and gave the students badminton rackets, footballs and basketballs, stationery and bags.

We even managed to visit a toufoo making “factory” that produced most of the toufoo that went to wet markets, neighbourhood shops and event to the resorts. My favourite time was when we visited the seven elephants at Nirwana Resort. I have made friend with a beautiful and gentle elephant called “Emma” we bought bananas for her and posed for photos with her. She’s a beautiful, friendly and gentle elephant and I look forward to visiting her again.

In June, we are planning another trip 19th to 21st (Monday).

Nature and recycling was the focus of this trip and we saw a traditional village blacksmith transform a piece of steel from a car’s suspension to a useful strong parang (Machete) and pandan leaves woven into beautiful handbags and tissue holders. The company was fun and we had a good time.

May update

2010-05-21T20:03:00.000+08:00

UPDATE

21ST May 2010

Hi Everyone
April/May has been a busy month for the Green Volunteers with talks, walks, and trips.

I did a recce trip to Bintan and enjoyed a great mangrove tour by boat and spotted a number of Cat snakes and pythons nesting on the overhead branches.

The highlight of this 2 night trip was a good trek up Gunung Bintan. We are planning another trip (19th June to 21st June). If you want to learn more about our beautiful local trees I suggest that you attend Ali Ibrahim’s talk on Saturday, 12th June at 2 pm at Fort Canning visitors centre or come for our free nature walk at 4.00 pm.
Hope to see you at one of our many activities.

Cheers
Grant
Mobile 96840 950

1. WALKS AND TALKS
Our next “Trees of the fort” walk is Saturday 12th June, Fort Canning Park at 4 pm.

At 2 pm Mr Ali Ibrahim (a well known tree expert) will give a talk/show called “Singapore Flora” also at Fort Canning Park visitors centre. If you want to attend the walk or talk (or both) please email me. Space is limited so it’s on a first come first served.

Those thinking of attending our next nature guiding training, this is a good opportunity to hear a tree expert talk and go for a walk.

2. OUR NEXT BINTAN ADVENTURE.....
19th to 21st June (Monday). 3D/2N Eco/Edu trip to Bintan (Indonesia). Stay at an air-con lodge, twin sharing. Price $310 per person, this includes ferry to/from, accommodation, mineral water, all activities, food (Breakfast, lunch at Food centre and dinner at restaurant) and insurance.
Activities: a) School visit

a. Mangrove boat tour
b. Trekking Gunung Bintan
c. Traditional village craft, pandan weaving, knife making and
d. Some free time on last day

We need minimum of 8 people to do this trip – please book early

3. KAMPUNG KUNING PRIMARY SCHOOL, BINTAN (KKPS)

The Green Volunteers have “adopted” KKPS and need the following supplies:

• Children’s t-shirts, shorts
• School supplies, simple English books
• Board games, soft toys
• Socks, shoes, slippers etc and
• Vitamin tablets, eyedrops, soap and shampoo

I am hoping that some schools will choose KKPS as their “sister” school so that regular visits can be arranged. We have many teachers amongst our volunteers so hope someone will take up this suggestion. I can help with the arrangements and planning of these visits.

4. TRASH 4 CASH

We have started this project to help a trash picker community in Jakarta. Special trash is collected, washed, dried and made into practical items like passport holders, pencil cases, computer bags etc.

We sell these in Singapore to help raise funds to help send their children to school and run a soup kitchen for these children. You can help by helping us to sell these products (or buy a few for yourself!) to improve their welfare.

I am going to Jakarta this Saturday to visit them to see how we take this social self-help enterprise to a higher level of cooperation... More news in next update.

5. S.P.R.O.U.T.S. @ PASIR RIS GARDEN

If you have a green thumb or want to learn more about plants and “hands-on” gardening you can volunteer every Saturday morning to help at the Pasir Ris herb/garden at carpark “C” Pasir Ris Park (5 minutes walk from Pasir Ris MRT).
If you’re interested please contact our senior volunteer Donald “green thumbs” Andris mobile 96494043

6. CHIANGMAI DECEMBER TRIP

I am planning a super trip this December to Chiangmai (cool season). We’ll visit elephants, hilltribes, go trekking, rafting and anything else we fancy! We will go to hilltribes that no tourists has ever visited and if we go during the New Year’s season we can go to an authentic LAHU village to celebrate with them.

I intend to take a maximum of 10 people, prices are being worked out so if you’re interested let me know.

7. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED....

15th July to 22nd Singapore Garden Festival, Suntec City, please let me know date and time you can volunteer.

8. THE 24TH CARETAKERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

This conference will be held from 4th to 10th July 2010 at Lawang, East Java. This conference about Biodiversity and culture is suitable for both teachers and students.

For more information about this conference check their websites www.cei2010.org or www.caretakers4all.org or email info@cei2010.org.
You will be met at Surabaya Airport and transported to Lawang (about 1 ½ hours away)

9. BLOWING YOUR OWN GREEN HORN

In conjunction with EARTH DAY, I gave a talk/show on 16th April at Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens entitled “Volunteering for mother Earth”.

Attendance was very good and it was a full house.

Cheers
Grant
Mobile 96840950
www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com
“The dogs bark while the true soldiers march on”

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

2010-05-10T19:46:00.004+08:00

I recently wrote a comment to the Straits Time Forum about NEA’s plan to hire outside consultants to advise them on how to increase recycling.
My comments were of course not printed as it coincided with the opening of Shell’s new 4 billion dollar petro chemical plant at Pulau Bukom. Our Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong officially opened this complex. He made a burp about saving the environment but safe guarding Singapore’s economy.
Anyway here’s the article I wrote ... enjoy!

dear sirs
i referto the above article wtitten by grace chua that appeared in the straits times may 4th page B2,.

the NEA should address the first of the 3 R,s[reduce reuse and recycle],if we reduce then the reuse and recycle part is automatically cut down.
plastic bags are a good example..we have a population of 5 million people and if we just use one less plastic bag a month thats a reduction 240000000[two hundred and forty million plastic bags saved] and that,s a lot of landfill saved not to mentioned toxic gases.

what we need to do is start charging for plastic bags at supermarkets and major retail outlets..if foreign owned stores like IKEA can start charging for plastic bags i don,t see why other other supermarkets can do the same..after all Ikea like all other retailers also have a bottom line to worry about...could it be that they care more about the environment than others?

some time ago a half hearted attempt was made to get shoppers bring their own bags[bring your own bag day] this was an exercise in futility because as soon as the campaign stopped the free plastic bags started flowing freely again.

this campaign should have been an introduction to a total ban on plastic bags and not a feeble and half hearted attempt to cut down the use of plastic bags.
i always wondered why an enlightened country like cannot charge for plastic bags[the money can go to our garden city fund to plant more trees and plants at our parks and open spaces] while many countries do .

even countries like taiwan ,bangladesh,rwanda and even somalia have banned these destructive bags...could it be that singapore being a major oil refining center could be pandering to the wishes of these oil giants?

Come on NEA don,t waste tax payers money on expensive consultants..bite the bullet and just say no to plastic bags..you know thats the right thing to do

grant w. pereira
the green volunteers
96840950

On the other subject of Shell petroleum, I recently came across a poster I made for the new Chairman of Singapore Environment Council before I resigned as Head of the Green Volunteers Network.

Hotsoup postcard

2010-05-03T19:58:00.002+08:00

The Green Volunteers/Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have just produced another catchy anti-sharksfin postcard called "HOT SOUP"... Thank you Jaki Teo for designing such a thought provoking post card!

GREEN VOLUNTEERS UPDATE

2010-04-21T22:06:00.001+08:00

NOW NOT GOING....

My trip to Chiangmai has been postponed till December so I’ll be around.

BINTAN ISLAND

To take advantage of the Vesak Day holiday (28th May, Friday) I am organising a 3D/2N trip to Bintan island. I just came back and completed a challenging climb at Gunung Bintang.

As it’s a public holiday and the beginning of the school holidays, we need to book accommodation and ferry tickets ASAP. I intend to take a maximum of 20 people (already have 6 confirmed) so please book early. Price $295 per person, leave 8.00 am 28th May (Vesak Day) back 30th Sunday late afternoon. Price increased because of peak season and we have put in compulsory basic insurance for participants.

Closing date 15th May 2010. First come, first served and only confirmed when full payment received.

KAMPONG KUNING PRIMARY SCHOOL, BINTAN

This is a primary school at Bintan that caters for village children. They need exercise books, ballpoints, pencils, childrens’ tee-shirts and simple English story books.

If you can help, email me – thanks. On 28th May we will visit the school to present these to the children.

NATURE WALK, FORT CANNING

Next walk, Saturday 8th May, meet 3.45 pm Fort Canning Visitor’s Centre. If you want to attend please email me, your name, how many people coming and your mobile number.

Cheers

Grant W. Pereira

Mobile +65 96840 950

Bintan island ECO/EDU tour - 3D/2N trips

2010-04-19T14:57:00.003+08:00

ADEX DIVE SHOWEXPO 9TH TO 11TH APRIL

2010-04-13T21:54:00.002+08:00

We were given a complimentary booth under the Sea Shepherd banner but also gave out plenty of Green Volunteer materials. This year's theme was ''save the sharks'' and we gave out plenty of our anti-sharksfin postcards and created awareness on how endangered
sharks are.

Our booth was next to WWF so we managed to get close to the panda

Volunteering for mother earth

2010-04-12T18:50:00.002+08:00

April update

2010-04-08T23:36:00.005+08:00

Hi everyone

Welcome to your April update....

If you are interested in learning more about the old trees of Fort Canning, there's a walk this Saturday (10th April, 4 pm). On Friday, 16th April there's a talk (also 4 pm) at the Botanic Gardens entitled "Volunteering for mother Earth" come and bring your friends to learn more about the work we volunteers do.

There's lots of ECO trips organised for the June holidays, so, here's your chance of learning more about nature and meeting up with like minded people.

Hope to see you soon on one of our trips or volunteer activities.

Regards
Grant W. Pereira
Mobile: +65 968 40950

www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com

www.sebanahornbills.blogspot.com

www.seashepherd.org

MAY - JUNE TRIPS

BINTAN ISLAND (INDONESIA) : ECO TRIP 3D/2N

5th June, Saturday, (World Environment Day) to 7th June (Monday)

19th June (Saturday) to 21st June (Monday)

PRICE $275 per person (need minimum 20 participants) which includes ferry to/from accommodation 6 to a chalet, food and all tours and treks. First come basis and confirmed only when deposit/payment secured.

WHALESHARK SNORKELLING (DONSOL, PHILIPPINES)

1st to 6th May (6D/5N) whale shark interaction

Email for more details or come to ADEX dive show to discuss (our booth COZ), Suntec 9th to 11th April.

SANDAKAN ECO ADVENTURE

June school holidays, need minimum 10 people. 7D/6N around $1,150 per person, twin sharing

VOLUNTEERING FOR MOTHER EARTH

Earth Day is coming up soon (22nd April) and I have been invited by NPARKS to give a talk on Friday, 16th April at 4 pm at the Function Room, Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens. Entitled "VOLUNTEERING FOR MOTHER EARTH", it will be about the work of the Green Volunteers and to get them thinking about volunteering.

Email me if you want to attend this talk. The talk will probably end by 5.30 pm so we can go for a walk after the talk.

NATURE GUIDE TRAINING

We are looking to train Nature Guides for our regular nature walks at Fort Canning Park (every 2nd Saturday of the month @ 4pm). If you are interested or want to know first hand the responsibilities of a nature guide are perhaps you can join us for a walk this Saturday (10th April) at 4 pm, booking required.

UBIN... BUM BOATS & DOGS

There is a sign at Changi Village jetty that says that anyone wishing to bring their pets to Ubin must now charter the whole boat. This came about when a child was bitten by a dog enroute to Ubin.

I really don't understand why would pet owners want to bring their pet poodles to Ubin where the resident and stray dogs are flea infested, not vaccinated and carry so many disease that they can easily be transmitted to other dogs.

What do you get when breed a bulldog with a Shitzu? A BullShitzu! Of course!

GREEN CLEANERS (www.greencleaners.asia) have just arrived in Singapore and want to "give-back" (in the form of green cleaning products) to a worthy cause. I was thinking that we could use these products to clean houses of people who are too old or sick to do it themselves... What do you think? Any ideas? And of course we will need hard working volunteers to help.

GREEN VOLUNTEERS - SIGN UP FORMS

We have just printed a batch of new GV forms, thanks to the artwork of long time G.V. supporter Laykeng and the printing sponsorship of “PAUL THE PRINTER”. Thank you both of you!!

Go to our blog if you want to see our new Green Volunteers card.

TREES OF THE FORT

Our next walk this Saturday (10th April) at Fort Canning Park, 4 pm, still some places available. If you want to go for this walk, please email me.

ZO CARDS

On 23rd April I shall again be leaving Singapore for Chiangmai with 18 SMU students. This will be our 5th trip to do elephant conservation and social projects that will also include a major reforestation project. To increase awareness of the plight of the Thai elephants we have printed 70,000 ZoCards that are distributed free, island-wide, so get your ZoCard (designed by the students themselves). To see them, please go to our blog.

I'M AWAY

23rd April to 15th May with SMU students to Chiangmai do elephant conservation, social work and a major reforestation project. If you need to contact me, please do so before I leave.

BLOWING OUR GREEN HORN

FORT CANNING WALKS

The first one was on 13th March and inspite of a drizzle, 32 people attended, next one this Saturday, 4 pm

UNITED WORLD COLLEGE

12th March (Friday) I was keynote speaker at their Green Club's sustainable dinner. Vegetarian dinner and we ate with the oldest eating utensils in the world.. Our hands!

SPROUTS

Obtained a sponsorship from RICOH for Macpheson Primary School to start our SPROUTS programme. Sometime in June - volunteers needed to set up our native tree/plant garden.

PASIR RIS GARDEN/SMU

27th March (Saturday) SMU students attended (those going to Chiangmai on 23rd April) a gardening session at the spice garden at Pasir Ris Park (carpark C). This was to teach them the proper digging techniques for our major reforestation project at Chiangmai in April.

TALK AT NATIONAL YOUTH COUNCIL

5th April (Monday) together with the SMU team that went to Hangzhou in December we gave a presentation to about 30 trainee teachers from Institute of Education, Hong Kong. We discussed the possibility of a joint project in either Hong Kong or China.

The dogs bark…The Green Volunteers march on!!

Cheers

Grant

Mobile 968 40950

VOLUNTEERING FOR MOTHER EARTH

2010-03-29T21:20:00.000+08:00

EARTH DAY is coming up (22nd April) and I have been invited by NPARKS to give a talk on Friday, 16th April, 4 pm at Function Hall, Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens.

My talk is entitled “VOLUNTEERING FOR MOTHER EARTH” if you want to attend, please email me grant@singapore.com and let me know how many people coming. As the talk should finish by 5.30 pm I intend to go for a walk at Botanic Gardens and you’re more than welcome to join me.

ELEPHANT NATURE PARK

2010-03-29T21:15:00.002+08:00

On the 23rd April, I shall again be leaving for Chiangmai with 18 students from S.M.U., this will be our 5th trip. To increase the awareness of the plight of the Asian elephant we have printed 60,000 ZoCard (postcards) that will be distributed free.

Here are the images for this postcards. It was designed by the students themselves and looks pretty catchy! So get yours at ZoCard outlets.

NEW GREEN VOLUNTEER POSTCARD!

2010-03-25T21:59:00.007+08:00

Laykeng, an old guard of the Green Volunteers has helped redesign our Green Volunteers application card. Thank you Laykeng for your effort, time and commitment to the Green Volunteers.

We would also like to thank “PAUL, THE PRINTER” who again sponsored the printing of these postcards and never asked for any publicity whatsoever (a mark of a true believer in our green cause).

A BIG THANK YOU TO BOTH OF YOU – Your generosity is much appreciated!

THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES

2010-03-25T21:06:00.025+08:00

The Official launch

This morning I attended an invite from NPARKS to “The man who planted trees” programme. It was held at the Botanical Gardens to pre-launch the upcoming “Singapore Garden Festival” (Suntec, 15th July to 22nd July 2010).

The man who planted trees

It’s a fable about a French farmer in the south of France who reforested a badly degraded piece of land. It took him 40 years, but today the valley is green and alive with fauna and flora.

School children taking their turn at planting

The effigy is about 5 metres tall

So you see, one person can make a difference! A large effigy of this green hero was erected from chicken coop type thick mesh and filled with damp sponge, and those attending (guests, green groups and schools) “planted” colourful cuttings on the “green man”. This same green man will be the centre piece at the SGF come July.

Children planting their cuttings

So come July make a date of meet “The man that planted trees” at Suntec city.

Here are some photos I took of this even. Green Volunteers will have a booth at SGF and volunteers are needed, email grant@singapore.com if you can help.

GREEN VOLUNTEERS UPDATE

2010-03-14T02:49:00.004+08:00

GREEN VOLUNTEERS UPDATE

Hi Everyone! 13th March 2010

We are now using a server to send out updates. In future you will be getting updates from this server (quota limited) or from the server of Ramesh Travel Services who have donated this service to The Green volunteers. We shall be also posting events and updates on our blog (www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com) so please check regularly to keep updated on our events and activities.

A trip is being planned to Sandakan (end March - early April) to check out the Orang Utans and other interesting primates, flora and fauna along the kinabatangan river and if we’re really lucky to spot herd of pigmy elephants. (see “The Sandakan Adventure”)

We are also planning to do some weekend home stays in Johor and a whale shark snorkeling expedition to Donsol, Philippines so let me know if you are interested.
Go to our blog to see our Sandakan posting and learn more about this exciting trip.

Cheers,
Grant
Mobile : 65 96840950

www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com
www.sebanahornbills.blogspot.com

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

1) ADEX Dive Show – April 9th (Friday) to 11th (Sunday) Suntec
2) Singapore Garden Festival – 15th July (Thurs) to 22nd (Thurs) Suntec

Email if you can help

TREES OF THE FORT

We have teamed up with NPARKS Fort Canning and have put together an exciting tree appreciation walk at Fort Canning Park where old and interesting trees are highlighted. These guided nature walks are free and will be held every 2nd Saturday of the month beginning 13th March.

We meet 3.45pm at Fort Canning Centre, prior registration is required, please email if you want to attend. We would need you name, mobile and number of people attending. Please book early – Thanks!

April 10th
May 18th
June 12th
July 10th
Aug 14th
Sept 11th
Oct 9th
Nov 13th
Dec 11th

S.P.R.O.U.T.S (Singaporean Proudly Replanting Our Unique Trees and Shrubs)

Our S.P.R.O.U.T.S programme has finally been launched with again another generous sponsor from RICOH. Green volunteers have partnered with MacPherson primary school in this project. It will incorporate the pilot project P.A.L (Programme for Active Leaning) which is endorsed by the Ministry of Education. So far 12 cluster schools have signed on to this pioneer project where all their students have to spend a fixed period of time doing modules on the environment, sustainable development, awareness and other related green programmes, many of them “hands-on”.

Our S.P.R.O.U.T.S programme is being extended to include basic gardening and garden planning courses, talks by well known gardening experts and even seed exchange programme – stay tuned for more exciting news!

WISH LIST

For our Orang asli and Thailand hill tribe project (next visit to Thailand on 21st April to 14th May 2010), we are looking at the following :

1) NTUC supermarket gift vouchers
2) Medicated soap and shampoo
3) Eye drops
4) Canned food (please check expiry date)
5) Milk powder (3 to 12 yrs old)
6) Children / grown up clothes (no skirts or dresses)
7) Warm winter clothing
8) Vitamin tablets, vitamins “c”, multivitamins (again, please check expiry date)
9) Reading glasses
10) Jackets (Nov to Feb very cold!)
11) Cotton / leather gloves, socks
12) Face cream e.g. aloe vera etc to sooth children’s skin
13) Children’s games

Nanyang Optical has donated reading glasses and jackets – Thank you Nanyang!
Email me if you can help – Cheer.

www.mrtsleepers.blogspot.com

All of us have seen these slobs! A mixture of young men and women who occupy MRT seats reserved for senior citizens, the handicapped or pregnant women. these self centered thoughtless plonk themselves on these reserved seats.
Many of them pretend to fall "asleep" the moment they take these seats but can instantly wake up just when their stop comes up. There are number of these morons in uniform and army boys are ptetty prominent culprits.

It makes one wonder how can they be expected to defend Singapore when they don't even have the simple courtesy of giving up their seats to elders!!

I am in correspondence with MINDEF about this small number of misfits who give our uniform a bad name. It really iriks me to see strapping young men either pretending to be asleep or sitting unconcerned on a reserved seat playing their computer games while old frail people have to stand the whole journey.

The MRT operators are aware of these problems but are doing very little (besides some ineffective Phua Chu Kang posters/stickers asking people to give up their seats). We need to embarrass them not only to give up the reserved seats but realise that these seats are NOT MEANT FOR THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE.....

The MRT have too many staff on the platforms, why not have some in the train to ensure that these seats are given to those who really need them. I live at Pasir Ris and being the first station I a the choice of seats, I usually sit on the "reserved" seats (so these slobs don't get them) and give it up when I see someone who needs it. This is one way of "reserving" these seats for them, you should try this effective method.

I have started a blog a (www.mrtsleepers.blogspot.com) to highlight this irresponsible behavior and post their pictures on the blog. If they are in uniform I will also send these photos to their respective organisation for comment.

So come join me in highlighting these uncouth slobs. Take pictures of them (your mobile or camera make sure your flash is turned off) and I will post them on my blog. You can email these pictures to me at mrtsleepers@gmail.com. I often wonder what foreign visitors or tourists must think when they see a young person sitting on a reserved seat while an old person stands!

What happen to all our campaigns asking Singaporeans to be caring and gracious people? When you email your photo/s to me please mention the date, time, nearest station and where train was heading.

Looking forward to your photos of these unthoughtful fools.

THE SANDAKAN ADVENTURE...

29th March (Monday) to 4th April (Sunday)

To take advantage of the good friday holiday(2nd April) I am arranging a 6N/7 day trip to Sandakan to check out the primates(Orang Utan, probosis, leaf monkey), hornbills, mangrove snakes etc.

We need a minimum of eight people going.
Costs about $1150 per person, including the following:

1) Return air ticket S'pore/Sandakan/S'pore via K.L. on Air Asia

2) All transport/accommodation, tours, most meals. At Sandakan, only breakfast supplied

3) Twin sharing basis Sandakan airconditioned 3 star hotel but at Bilit and Sepilok lodge fan room

4) 3 boat tours on Kinabatangkan River. Hope we meet up with the elusive herd of pygmy elephants

5) Entry fee into Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre

6) Visit to Gomstong Cave and

7) One night walk (weather permitting)

NOT INCLUDED

1) Insurance: but can arrange for you
2) Visa(if required) can also be arranged by us.

Please confirm early and Email/SMS/call me should you require more information.

BLOWING OUR GREEN HORN

A) BUTTERFLY GARDEN AT FORT CANNING PARK

In Nov 2009, The Green Volunteers in conjunction with NPARKS and a sponsorship from RICOH launched a butterfly garden at Fort Canning Park. RICOH took advantage of this occasion to also hold their Family Day at the garden.

The planting was done by RICOH staff and their families, NPARKS’s staff and of course our Green Volunteers. This was followed by a scrumptious lunch that everyone enjoyed after the hard work of planting. There are plans to add one more butterfly garden soon. We intend to include this garden when we do our “Trees of the Fort walk”, check this update for more details.

B) SEBANA HORNBILLS

With support from Sebana Cove, The Green Volunteers have embarked on a hornbill conservation project at Sebana Cove at the southern tip of Johor. There are 10 species of hornbills in Peninsula Malaysia and we have already identified 2 species so far, the oriental pied hornbill and a pair of black hornbills. We have also erected breeding boxes at likely breeding spots.

For more information on this exciting and interesting project, visit our blog (www.sebanahornbills.blogspot.com). Soon we will be organizing weekend trips to Sebana for nature walks (day and night) and bird watching.
We will also visit an organic medicinal plant/herb garden, a fruit farm and an ostrich farm. You can buy ostrich meat (some say they taste better than quality beef) and really fresh prawns and fish before we return to Singapore after lunch Sungei Renggit.

More details real soon!

C) UNITED WORLD COLLEGE

On Friday 12th March, I gave a talk at their fund raising dinner. We also watched a movie made by an ex-student Patrick Rouxel called "Green".

It is factual and emotional story of an Indonesian Orang Utan displaced by the logging and palm oil industry. The best part of this movie is that the end Patrick names (and shames I hope!) all the major companies that contribute directly to the destruction of the Indonesian rainforest. I am trying to get a copy from Patrick and will show it - anyone can suggest a venue that can take about 50 people and is rent - free?

Cheers

HANGING OUT WITH ORANG UTANS

2010-03-08T21:39:00.017+08:00

Sandakan in East Malaysia is one of my favourite places to visit. The people are laid back, friendly and everyone is helpful.

I visit Sandakan often as its also home to my 2 favourite places, the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and the mighty Kinabatangan river. Kinabatangan is really rich in biodiversity and really very easy to get to. Its teaming with birdlife and hornbills are a common sight. A slow cruise along the river is a must and you’ll be greeted with a wonderful sight of several species of monkeys (macaques, leaf and proboscis).

From the tree tops, they watch you as intently as you watch them, so I sometimes wonder who is watching whom?

The local wet market is a great place to visit for local food and traditional local produce like Keropok, salted fish etc. The food centre is extremely clean and well maintained. As an added bonus, the last time I visited, it was the fasting month and every evening many roadside food stalls would appear. The delicious and colourful food was both mouth-watering and reasonably priced –the BBQed seafood and spicy chicken is a “must try”.

The star attraction of the Kinabatangan cruise are the elusive pygmy elephants. I only saw them at my 5th visit but my travelling vet friend Vishant saw them on his first tr ip – some people have all the luck!!

I am organising another trip in late April/ early May with Ramesh Travel services. The actual timing and prices are being worked out, email me if you’re interested in joining us.

Text and photos by Grant
Mobile: +65 96840950

Oriental pied hornbill

A typical chalet at Bilit

Traditional fish trap

Great egret in full flight

The fruits of the Nauclea officanalis (Entcing but poisonous)

Fruiting season

The best way to explore the mighty Kinabatangang is by boat

Comorant on the lookout for fish

Comorant sunning

Geat egret (Casmerodius albus) patiently waiting for food to swim by

Fish for dinner

Probosis monkey in flight

Banded leaf monkey

A probosis monkey sitting pretty

Hanging out with friends

Project Green paradise (part 2)

2010-01-22T00:08:00.012+08:00

PROJECT GREEN PARADISE

2010-01-16T16:36:00.007+08:00

(Singapore Management University / Green Volunteers)

On the 6th of December 2008, I accompanied 18 students from Singapore Management University (SMU) for a 17 day educational trip to Hangzhou, China. This project was called “Project Green Paradise) and the purpose was to visit schools to relate the Singapore experience and spread the 3R's (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) message.

Hangzhou is a beautiful city with a 2,500 year old histroy and was for a time the capitol of China. The city is situated at the famous west lake, mant poems have been written about this lake, including the classic “Madam White Snake”. Hangzhou is a clean and refined city with a long history of famous artists, poets and architects. It is also reputed to have some of the most beautiful women in China, although at the time of our visit, they must have been on winter break. The weather in December is bitterly cold and some students resorted to wearing 3 tee shirts in addition to a jacket, on some nights the temperature sometimes was zero!

The daily school visits were a real delight and eye opener for us, although many schools had inadequate equipment (when compared to Singapore schools), they more than made up for this by a great spirit and enquiring mind and were always happy and cheerful. Maybe our Ministry of Education should send some of our teachers to Hangzhou to learn how inspite of the bitter cold and lack of study equipment, these children stay so positive.

It was not all work and we found time to visit a number of interesting museums like the Great Canal Museum that reveals in detail the long history of the canal system in China. Canals were not only for commerce but for military transport in time of war and civil strive. We also visited museums for swords and knives (for which Hangzhou is famous for) and one highlighting the history and styles of umbrellas throughout China. The newly built science museum was an exciting experience especially for those interested in science.

We also managed an overnight trip to a country town called QIANDAOHU, a 2.5 hour bus ride from Hangzhou where we visited the famous 1000 island lake which is 98 times bigger and hold 3000 more water volume than west lake.

Our host in Hangzhou was Zhejiang University, one of China's 3 top universities and often referred to as the “Oriental Cambridge” of China. Their green club members were very helpful and not only arranged our school visits but also for me to give 2 talks at the University about the activities of The Green Volunteers. At these 2 talks, there were more than 200 green club members from about 45 schools in Hangzhou. We also did an interesting programme with students at the Xixi wetlands park, an interesting natural/man made wetland habitat and a favourite bird watching spot in Hangzhou.

Most of our meals were taken at one of Zhejiang's 6 cafeterias and there was a great variety and the food both nourishing and delicious and best of all, we paid student prices! With a student population of 31,000, providing meals is a major taking at the university.

Hangzhou is an extremely clean city and there are street cleaners everywhere. I found out that the authorities spend around RMB18 (about Sing$ 3.6) to clean one square metre within the city area per month. The people around Hangzhou are an enterprising and hardworking people, everywhere you will see small businesses on pushcarts and every piece of available land is used for vegetable cultivation. There are many small neighbourhood parks for residents to relax, meet or do the time honoured practice of Tai-chi. Bargaining is a must and one has to be thick skinned about this, although most vendors are honest, there are a few that are crooked!

In Qiandaohu, I went to a shop selling vegetables/flower seeds and chose seeds that would have amounted to S$30 at most (I have bought seeds in China before) but since I did not speak mandarin and was a foreigner, he asked for S$185!! which led me to promptly walk out of the shop.

As we are doing a hilltribe organic tea planting tea in Northern Thailand, the highlight for me was a visit to the famous Dragon Well (Long-Jing) tea growing area anout a 45 minute drive from Hangzhou. Dragon well green tea is the most famous green tea in all of China. About 700 years ago, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty visited this area and tasted the tea. He praised it for its colour, scent, taste and leaf shape. He ordered 30 tea trees to be planted near a famous tea house. Today, 18 of these 700 year old tea trees still survive (12 were destroyed during the cultural revolution). Qianlong also ordered wells to be built to irrigate the hills for more planting of trees. The honourfic title for the Emperor is Dragon (Long) and since he ordered the digging of wells (Jing) that's how Long Jing green tea got it's name! The quality of the tea also depends on the weather (like grapes).

In 2005, a special batch of first grade dragon-well tea sold for RMB150,000 (about S$30,000) per kilo (1000 grams). Not having the spare cash, I bought a kilo of 2nd grade tea for RMB600 (S$120 per kilo).

It was raining and bitterly cold when we visited so we didn't have the chance to reach the top of the tea plantation. We stopped at a tea house and was told that a glass of 1st grade tea cost about S$12, many of us chose a drink from the vending machine instead!

Another interesting trip to a historical sight was a visit to Lingyin temple. It's a 45 minute drive from Hangzhou. This temple is more than a 1,000 years old and built during the Song dynasty. It's a buddhist temple with touches of taoism. There are beautiful images of the Lord Buddah carved into the hills with some of them more than 1,000 years old. Even Emperor Qianlong (the dragon well tea guy) was involved in the building of a monastry). With swaying bamboos and babbling brooks and streams, Lingyin is a peachful place and an ideal place for meditation and contemplation, unfortunately it's a very popular tourist destination and this brings distrations.

As this was our first trip, I would consider it a success but there are many activities and areas that can be improved and new activities included.

Photos coming up soon!

Cheers,
Grant

Email sent by Grant to Nature Society

2009-12-08T00:27:00.001+08:00

I have been back in Singapore for more than 2 mths and even my email to you on 4th Nov went unanswered. I leave today for a 6 week project in China and this will be the last email you will be getting from me as we are withdrawing entirely from this project.

It would appear that all the verbal (and written) assurances that The Green Volunteers would continue to run and administer the Ubin Green House were all politically correct sound bytes. I have always been upfront and straight with you and wish that you could have treated me the same way. Even when I knew I was not going to join NSS part time, I continued to support the green house project.

Even my part time employment was a sham. You said the reason NSS could not afford to hire me was that they were concerned about the finances of NSS but yet promptly employed a full time executive officer and are now looking for a full time education officer - a good example of being upfront and straight even when you and I knew Dr. Geh Min got a sizable donation for NSS.

Once again, the word of NSS and it's leadership is like chaff scattered in a cross wind. I come from an old school where a man's word is his bond, we say what we mean and mean what we say. Obviously, we both went to different schools! With immediate effect. I am severing all ties with NSS.

FYI, this email will be posted on our facebook, blog and sent out to all members of The Green Volunteers so they can judge for themselves what calibre of organisation they are dealing with.

Grant W Pereira
Founder

Crocodile seen @ Sungei Buloh

2009-11-25T19:09:00.015+08:00

Sungei Buloh is one of my favourite wetland parks. I live in Pasir Ris so I don't visit as often as I like to. My good friend Andrew Tay rekindled my interest when he told me he saw 2 crocodiles basking in the sun on one of his recent visits.

A couple of week ago, we visited Sungei Buloh with my photographer friend Arik Chan. We arrived and saw many birds, insects and water monitor lizards but no sign of the elusive croc.

After 2 hours of wondering around, we decided to take a walk at the mangrove board walk before departing. Halfway down the board, I got the powerful stench of rotting meat. I looked around and at the water's edge I saw what looked like a piece of driftwood and realised it was a croc when the “driftwood” opened it's mouth to much on what looked like a huge rodent!

We started taking pictures but the lighting was not good as there was a canopy of leaves blocking out the light.

Here are a couple of photos taken by Andrew (on his first visit) and Arik's of the croc enjoying his meal. Andrew's croc looks almost albino but it was sunning itself covered with mud to keep cool and insect free.

A friend of mine who visits Sg. Buloh frequently told me he saw a nest with more than 20 eggs and a mother croc vigilantly guarding her eggs. Probably 2 or 3 babies will survivie so hopefully it would be easier to spot crocs in their natural habitat in future.

Andrew is one of the most knowledgeble nature guides I know and if you want to arrange a nature walk, he can be contacted at andrew.tay@pacific.net.sg and if you want to see more of Arik's great photos, contact him at mailto:ark@li.sg

Cheers,

Grant

CROSS BREED DOGS

2009-11-18T23:33:00.003+08:00

I read in the S.T. (16th Nov, home B1) an article entitled “Designer pooches are top dogs”. It's about how breeders are cross breeding certain dogs to produce “cute and cuddly” mutts.

Here's one I heard from my good friend, Juggi “What do you get when you cross breed a bulldog and a Shihtzu?” GIVE UP?

A BULLSHITZU! Of course

Cheers!

“SAY NO TO GOLF COURSES”

2009-11-18T23:31:00.001+08:00

I recently saw on CNN that President Chavez of Venezuela intends to close down all the golf courses in his country. He called the sport “elitist” and “bourgeoisie” and I fully agree with him.

There are 32 golf courses in Venezuela (of which he has already closed 9) and there are about 25 golf courses in Singapore. Venezuela has a land area of 916445 sq km and Singapore 710 sq km.

Singapore is 1290 times smaller than Venezuela and yet has golf land that could build another 3 Nee Soon New Towns so the constant talk about land scarcity is pretty hollow.

We need more land for parks, playgrounds, sports and swimming pools and not golf courses reserved for a select few!

I have an on-going “Say no to golf courses” postcard campaign, if you need these postcards, please email me (grant@singapore.com)

“VIVA CHAVEZ”

Volunteers needed for planting

2009-11-13T00:13:00.004+08:00

The Green Volunteers, with support from Ricoh and NParks Fort Canning, are launching a butterfly garden at Fort Canning Park.

We need volunteers to help plant about 2,000 saplings on Saturday 28th Nov 2009 at around 8am in the morning. Staff from Ricoh and NParks will also help with the planting. We meet 7.45am sharp at City Hall MRT station control and take a ten minute walk to the park. Here's your chance to do something for nature and help our colourful friends to return to our parks.

21st November 2009 – Free Guided Nature Walk Pasir Ris Park

2009-11-11T01:27:00.006+08:00

When : Saturday 21st November 2009
Meet : 9am sharp, station control Pasir Ris MRT Station
If you want to attend this walk, please email me.

Duration : About 2 hours, flatland, through mangroves and vegetable/spice garden
Booking : Email grant@singapore.com with your name, mobile number and total number of people attending. First come first serve basis!

HILLTRIBE ORGANIC TEA (H.O.T)

2009-10-22T01:14:00.005+08:00

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)

News from the Elephant Nature Park

2009-10-03T22:42:00.013+08:00

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

The Importance of mangroves

2009-03-26T08:02:00.000+08:00

To many people mangroves are a hot, humid and dangerous place teeming with insects and dangerous creatures. They are often referred to as swamps. Actually mangroves are one of the most intriguing and interesting habitats one can visit. Where can you see a fish “walk” on land, come on one of our free guided walks and you’ll see the mudskipper doing just that! It’s the only place where the nationally endangered mud lobster (thalassina anomala) chooses to build its home.

In 1819 it is estimated that about 13% of Singapore was covered in mangroves, today we only have about half percent. Luckily today the true value of mangroves is being discovered both by scientist and nature lovers.

Mangroves are the first line indicators on the well being of our coastlines, a thriving community of mangroves usually indicated good water quality. They slow down soil erosion and some species of mangroves actually help in reclaiming land with their complex root systems. Their prop roots offer protection to many species of insects and fish especially two species of commercially important fish, the Sea Bass and Mangrove Jack Its also home to unusual fish like the Archer fish that captures its prey by “spitting” water at it.

Even the vegetation is different, as plants and trees that grow there can tolerate a very high level of salt water. Many get rid of the high salt content by shedding their leaves

Here you’ll also find a versatile palm called nipah (nypa Fruticans) That’s used to make many things including the “ Attar Chee” fruit that goes into cold desserts

The matured leaves are made into roofing material hence the term “ Attap House”, they young salt leaves are dried and used by kampong folks as cigarette wrappers. The sap from the inflorescence stalk can be used boiled down to make brown rock sugar (Gula Melaka) it is already considered a “rare” species in Singapore.

The rich insect and bug life in the mangroves attract a great number of aquatic and other birds to hunt and nest there. On one of out monthly free walks you’ll see kingfishers, herons, egrets and other birds pouched and looking out for a meal

Experts also now say that if the mangroves had not been cut down (to make way for sea front bungalows) there would have been many less causalities during the last tsunami. This would be a good opportunity for lending organisations to make mangrove planting a requirement before rebuilding loans can be approved The Green Volunteers organize free monthly guided nature walks and mangrove clean-up at Pasir Ris park

If you want to go for a nature walk or help give mangroves a hand by clearing up trash (mostly plastic) go to our blog (www.thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com) to sign up.

Trash for Cash

2009-03-19T06:58:00.001+08:00

A really cool project that recycles ordinary plastic wastes into practical products like shower curtains, bags, pencil cases, computer haversacks and even umbrellas.
A brain child of an Indonesian friend of mine, Aswin, whose aim was two fold when he started this project. “One was to help people less fortunate than me and the other to make a decent living so that I can support my family”, he said.

It looks that he is beginning to succeed in both areas. Ordinary trash plastic is sold for about six Singapore cents a kilo by Aswin pay sixty Singapore cents for the type of plastic he is looking for e.g. detergent packs etc.

This ten fold increase in price benefits the trash picker and his family immediately, especially nutrition wise during this economic downturn 36 year old Aswin is a qualified air-craft technician who did part of his training with Singapore airlines in Singapore

His training reflects his demand for strict quality control of the recycled products, for instance, thread need to stitch the plastic together is of high quality, water proof synthetic thread, the same type used to sew aircraft seats. Zippers used are branded names.

Aswin presently employs 9 full time staff ie 5 sewers, 2 cutters and 2 washers. They are all paid above average wages with incentive bonuses for output and targets met; they also have a profit sharing scheme for end year profits. 3 free meals are provided for all staff.

Business is expending rapidly, he started by buying around 80 to 100 kilos of plastic trash and is now buying around 500 to 600 kilos each week

Plastic is a major pollution problem in Indonesia, they block drains and canals and are a major contributor to terrible floods in the city. Its people like Aswin who helps by recycling some of this trash that would otherwise be buried in dumpsite ( Where they take anywhere between500 to 700 years to disintegrate) or worst incinerated releasing deadly toxins in the air which is not only a serious health hazards but contributes directly to global warming

We are helping Aswin to sell these products in Singapore to help raise funds (and awareness of this plastic menace especially to the young) and more importantly to eventually start a “trash for cash” Educational foundation where we can send the children of the trash pickers to school. We both believe that education is the key to get there children away from their vicious ring of poverty. These stylish recycled products will soon be sold at Ubin Green House.

Whistleblower

2009-02-09T07:58:00.002+08:00

Whistleblower is an ongoing direct action project where we take the initiative to identify and report polluters, illegal environmental, cruelty and other socially unacceptable practices to the relevant authorities. I have stopped shows using live fish as part of their act. I have reported supermarkets that overcrowd their tanks and leave fish gasping for air and HDB painting contractors that wash their paint brushes into drains that eventually pollute our rivers. More recently a friend of mine was at Sungei Road and saw someone selling tiger claw nails. He called ACRES who reported to the police and the claws were confiscated for proper identification by AVA. If they are indeed tiger claws, then vendor will be persecuted.

We, on our part, have to be socially responsible, how many times have we seen leaky taps, HDB lights on during the day, all that was needed was one phone call but how many of us let it slide hoping someone else would make that call?

Here are some useful numbers, key them into your mobile now :

1) SPCA: +65 62875355;ext 9

2) ACRES: +65 9783 7782

3) NEA : +65 1800-2255632

4) PUB : +65 1800-2846600

5) Police : +65 1800-2250000

6) MPA : +65 1800-2725880

Grant : +65 96840950

A camera is a valuable piece of equipment to have as a picture paints a thousand words. When you call the authorities, make a note of the date and time and more importantly the name of the officer you spoke to. Follow up by calling back to speak to the same officer to check on progress. If there's a court case, ask for date, time and court number and try to attend.

The HDB paint contractors was fined S$5000 (his second offense), I doubt he'll be doing this again real soon.

Let's not sit back and hope someone else will do something - Let's bring the fight to them!

Cheers,

Grant

CANTABS- Recycling making a difference

2009-02-09T07:49:00.002+08:00

The Prostheses Foundation of H.R.H The princess mother was founded in 1992 when it was discovered that Dr Therdchai Jivacate a prosthesis specialist sould build artificial limps which were lighter, more comfortable and in some cases 10 times less expensive than imported model. This drastic price difference was made possible by using recycled plastic and aluminium.

The aluminium comes form aluminium can tabs that are melted down to make limp parts (1000 grammes will boil down to about 800 grammes of pure aluminium). We had been collecting these with the help of green clubs, schools and friends. They are sent to Chiangmai with students going to there to do conservation projects with Elephant Nature Park.

These artificial limps are given out Free of Charge to poor people who need them irrespective of nationality, race or religion. Limps have been supplied to accident or landmine victims in Thailand, Burma, Vietnam Cambodia and Laos.

Every 3 months. They organise a mobile clinic that visits differnt remote areas of Thailand, usually near a border so that other nationalities can be attended too. They stay for about 5 to 7 days and when they leave everyone is fitted with artificial limps.

They also train technicians from neighbouring Asean countries including Indonesian during the tsunami disaster in Indonesia (especially Acheh). Its a win-win situation as there is recycling involved and the end product is something that improves the lives of less fortunate people.

Start a can tabs collection in your school, office or among your friends. We have sample of parts made from these can tabs at our Ubin Greenhouse which is usually open on Sundays (1200 noon to 5:30pm). They have a website (www.prosthesesfoundation.or.th) although information is limited.

Cheers,
Grant W Pereira
Founder
The Green Volunteers
Mobile 65 96840950

ELEFRIENDS

2009-02-09T07:27:00.008+08:00

I have been involved in asian elephant conservation for more than 20 years. In Thailand the drastic decrease in the population is shocking, in the 1900's there were more than 100,000 elephants in Thailand, today there are less than 5000 ( about 3500 capture and 1500 wild) Just imagine in one hundred years a decline of 95% !!!

In Africa today there are more than 500,000 elephants that is some African States culling is periodically carried out. I suspect that this is planned mismanagement so that the lucrative ivory trade can continue.

In the whole of Asia there are at most 50,000 elephants apread over the follow countries: India, Srilangka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, Laos Cambodia, China and Thailand. I formed ELEFRIENDS about 6 years ago to help the Asian elephants and the northern hilltribes and to do reforestation projects to help slow down global warming.

We work with a conservation group called Elephant Nature Foundation, (www.elephantnaturefoundation.org) that runs an elephant santuary about 70km north of Chiangmai. Right now we have 35 elephants with various disabilities, including old age and some with mental problems due to ill-treatment.

I arrange regular trips with schools and green groups to visit to do conservation, reforestation and social projects with the hilltribes. The lastest school to attend were SMU, UWCSEA, Temasek Polytechnic and Chong Boon Secondary School and trip varried from a week to 3 weeks.

About 4 years ago, we helped raise about $6000 for medicines etc to help 2 bady elephants (Mo-Too,2 ½ years and Mo-Jay, 6 years) who stepped on landmines in Burma.

Our next project would be to buy and rescue a street begging young elephant at Phuket. You can help by fund raising with your friends, School or office colleges. Find out more on this on my next update.

My next trip to Chiangmai will be around 10th April 2009 to not only visit the Elephant Nature Park but to take part in the annual, really fun water festival; Songkram, where everybody get splahed. If you can, come join me.

Cheers,

Grant W Pereira
Founder
The Green Volunteers
Mobile 65 96840950

The Green Volunteers

2009-01-29T04:34:00.000+08:00

Today we are constantly bombarded with words such as climate change, ecological footprint, carbon sinks and offset etc that they are beginning to sound like weasels words. Some of these so called “experts” using these clichés have probably never planted a tree or entered a tropical rainforest in their lives! In our world of politically correct stances and sound bytes, these words sound pretty cutting edge and enlightened but they are meaningless empty sounds if they are not followed up by positive actions. These feel good words do absolutely nothing to improve our environment or help slow down global warming.

In reality, a small city state like Singapore is powerless to slow down global warming, we cannot even prevent the haze that’s coming from our neighbours. What we can do as individuals or as a group is to clean-up our mangroves, do reforestation projects, reintroduce native trees and shrubs back into our schools, parks and open spaces so that our native fauna can slowly return.

We can do reforestation and social projects in our region to help badly degraded landscapes and native hill tribes improve their standard of living. We can take part in a direct action ongoing programme called “WHISTLEBLOWER” where we identify and report polluters, illegal environmental activities and other socially unacceptable behavior to the relevant authorities.

Let’s not just sit back and take it, let’s bring the fight to these selfish irresponsible behaviors.
As individuals, we can make a difference and we don’t need anyone’s permission to do this. If you believe that you can make a difference and are prepared to get your feet wet and hands dirty – then join us in our regular activities.

To be kept updated of our regular activities, please email me (grant@singapore.com) your name and DOB.

INDIVIDUALS CAN and DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Cheers,
Grant W Pereira
Founder
The Green Volunteers
Mobile 65 96840950

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has” – Margaret Mead

Campaigns

2009-01-29T00:35:00.000+08:00

ECO-Trips

2009-01-29T00:34:00.001+08:00

Hill Tribes

2009-01-29T00:33:00.002+08:00

Activities

2009-01-29T00:32:00.001+08:00