Email sent by Grant to Nature Society

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

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

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”

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

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

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)

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)