Rewild!

nature + policy + design + art + ?

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More plastic than fish in the sea by 2050, says Ellen MacArthur

One refuse truck-worth of plastic is dumped into the sea every minute, and the situation is getting worse

A garbage truck of plastic things -- used once, lasting forever -- leaking into oceans every single minute. This scares me. We’ve to rethink waste into life, wealth, amelioration. 

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The future stands firm and still, my dear Franz, but we are moving in infinite space.

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

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Reflections on Smith Street

Today, I decided to take a gamble with my life. So I tagged along with my mum and her sister as they went through their weekly Smith Street wet market ritual. From past experience, I knew this involved them heaving home bagsful of vegetables and live crabs, as well as cooler boxes packed with fish (and free ice wrangled from fishmongers), sweat dripping down towel-laden backs. I was eager to enter the fray.

It was eleven in the morning – late by wet market standards – but the fish-scented aisles still teemed with jostles and lively conversation. As men and women bantered and bargained, a number of storekeepers trudged about in boots, hosing down their stalls and/or emptying platesful of blood-tainted water down holes in the floor. Amidst the penetrating torrent of my mother interrogating an unfortunate fishmonger on his allegedly exorbitant prices, I caught a splash of conversation: an American lady marvelling aloud at a bucketful of six or seven crabs -- grating hard against the raffia binding their pincers -- that a storeowner had just unabashedly emptied onto the floor. At the same time, a pair of Muslim men engaged in quiet conversation with a fishmonger, while a fruit seller went around distributing persimmons to fellow store owners (presumably so they’d have something nice to munch on while dealing with the likes of my mother and aunt).

At a vegetable stall, my mother met her match. She had spotted two different types of chestnut, asked the stall owner where each was from, and a few moments later, absent-mindedly asked where the first type was from. In response, the stall owner issued a statement in Mandarin to the effect that her mouth was dry and she was not going to waste time explaining further. To which my mother meekly retreated, then turned back and frowned at me, whispering, “Basket, this vegetable woman is so fierce.” The moral – never mess with a woman who sells people purple and orange cauliflowers on a daily basis.

Speaking of coloured cauliflowers, the business of running wet market stalls is changing, as noted in a TODAY article on the rising prevalence of wet market stalls supplying gourmet food. Competition from supermarket chains and online grocery services is a key reason for the change. A changing base of shoppers is another. But the down-to-earth feeling of shopping in a heartland wet market has not changed. Perhaps this is because shopping in a wet market is a culture rooted in need – the need for people to socialise, to cook fresh, to get more food for the dollar. I hope it never dies.

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View from my window - concrete jungle

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A spontaneous rant

Hi everyone,  In 2014 (back when I was a fiery 21-year-old), I wrote this essay on how policies should be more progressive for the Web magazine Asia Is Green. It got lost in space since Asia Is Green is now Green Future Solutions and so I thought I’d just park it here. My editor diplomatically decided to call it “A Good Mix of Planning and Spontaneity is Needed” - hmm.

A Good Mix of Planning and Spontaneity is Needed

I like spontaneity. I enjoy it when people speak out of turn in daily conversations and create awkward pauses. I am considering pursuing a career in music solely because of its ability to interlock any number of strangers in a divine jam regardless of age, language or background. In a group of friends, I am often the one advocating new activities to try out. I recall quite vividly the looks on my girlfriends’ faces when I suggested we do the G-Max Reverse Bungy ride at Clarke Quay together (we eventually compromised by standing below the ride to catch vicarious thrills), and the oppressive gloom that materialised when I dragged another to a LAN centre and promptly ruined DOTA for him by asking incessant questions. To all my friends – I apologise.  

As I was saying, I tend to view spontaneity as essential to life. Such is why lately I have struggled to accept a countervailing truth.

It is that every move I make is political.

Going for a quick meal of bak chor mee: that’s political. It used to be that Singapore teemed with street food vendors. Then around forty years ago, the government began the widespread construction of hawker centres to address problems associated with street food vendors like public health concerns and traffic congestion.  This is why there are virtually no street food vendors today save for sellers of ice-cream and assorted snacks. In a recent development, the Block 207 New Upper Changi Road, Block 117 Aljunied Avenue 2, Block 20 Ghim Moh Road and Block 503 West Coast Drive hawker centres may soon be run by social enterprises on a not-for-profit basis. This falls in line with the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s stated goals in its Draft Master Plan 2013 – to combat a growing population by “rejuvenating existing spaces” and “involving the community in placemaking”. In other words, the exact position and function of my favourite hawker centre where I decided to have my spontaneous breakfast were deliberately and cautiously planned. Environmental law governs every aspect of our daily lives. Every tree we set our eyes on sprang from a plan. Then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew is the man behind the greenery – he incepted a massive tree-planting movement for primarily economic reasons. He put it in a pithy six-worder – “[i]n wooing investors, even trees matter.” Strict laws on littering are the reason why our streets are not pockmarked with chewing gum turned rock-hard and grey in time. Any decision whatsoever concerning transport is made in the presence of formidable regulation: Singapore is the only country in the world to cap vehicle growth and price vehicle usage aggressively, and the Land Transport Master Plan 2013 aims for eight in ten homes to be situated less than ten minutes away from a train station by 2020. Singapore environment policy stretches so far as to cover animal crossings. On a taxi ride home, right when the taxi passed under the Eco-Link@BKE, my driver commented that the government manages the nation’s funds so efficiently that even animals have a bridge to get them from one territory to another.

On the whole, it appears that Singapore has all her bases covered regarding the environment. Most of Singapore’s pressing environmental issues seem to concern practical limitations rather than broken policies – for instance, limited natural fresh water resources, limited land availability presenting waste disposal problems and the haze from Indonesian forest fires. Our government’s structured, long-term  and integrative policy plan appears to be holding the fort well. But policy can only get us so far.  To put things in perspective, we have, over the past few decades, grown a global culture of mass consumption and disposal and created a vortex of plastic and trash in the North Pacific Ocean that spans approximately “twice the size of the continental United States”. If not to prevent the Earth from spiralling into a mass of natural disasters of apocalyptic proportions, then at least to keep Singapore a decent place to live in, there must be spontaneity from the ground up. We have to become political beings ourselves: to speak up and act for societal change. We have to recognise that there are legitimate, creative and groundbreaking solutions lying latent among us, just waiting to be tapped on. In addition, any radical changes to the existing state of law may only materialise if pushed for by the public and advocacy groups. In Singapore, carbon dioxide emissions are low compared to other strong economies – we rank 123rd out of 137 countries.[1] However, there is much to learn. The EU recently closed its A world you like. With a climate you like campaign in which people, companies and organisations in region competed to come up with the best climate solutions. The campaign succeeded largely because of a massive marketing orchestra featuring an interactive website, social media, electronic media, and press and campaign events in several EU member states. The themes for the competition – travel and transport, building and living, producing and innovating, shopping and eating, and re-use and recycling – are relevant to and pique the interest of the modern suburbanite’s mind. In contrast, Singapore’s government has reported in the National Climate Change Strategy 2012 the implementation of a buffet of laws and schemes governing areas such as energy management practices and urban management. There has admittedly been some effort to engage the public such as the 3P Partnership Fund that helps organisations give environmental education and the President’s Award for the Environment and NEA’s EcoFriend awards that help recognise green efforts. However, my personal take is that many large companies here do not actively push for environmental change outside their need to fulfill their triple bottom line. (It would, of course, be difficult to match up to companies like Google which has thoroughly advocated an environmentally aware corporate culture through initiatives such as powering its facilities with renewable energy sources and bringing in goats to trim the grass. One can only try.) In addition, environmental clubs in schools and tertiary institutions are in general small and achieve limited engagement. A fierce, widespread campaign that mobilises stakeholders from all areas of the public like the EU’s is very much needed; and for this to happen, each of us has to be passionate individuals, too.

Overseas, there is an exciting wild law movement brewing. The term “wild law” was coined in 2002 by Cormac Cullinan, a practising environmental attorney and author based in Cape Town, South Africa. It means human laws that balance the rights and responsibilities of humans against those of other entities in the natural environment, eg oceans, plants and animals. It is a radical idea to grasp – it involves recognising natural communities and ecosystems as legal persons with legal rights, on par with humans and companies. If, as a result of citizens sharing its views, Singapore’s conservative policies could open up in line with the wild law movement, change may then be effected more rapidly.

In fact, citizen activism has already elicited a turnaround change with respect to cycling as a mode of transport in Singapore. In 2008, at the Budget Debates in Parliament[2], then Minister of State for Transport Mrs Lim Hwee Hua stated, “…we have to recognise that given our land constraints, it is not feasible to provide a comprehensive set of dedicated cycling tracks or cycle lanes island-wide.” Yet, five years on, the Land Transport Master Plan 2013 has plans to build a cycling path network of about 190 kilometres in HDB towns by 2020. To quote Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Transport Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, the government now plans to “improve cycling connectivity between park connectors and nearby MRT stations. The Land Transport Authority has identified three such MRT stations – Bishan, Buangkok and Yew Tee. These short links will be built by early next year.“ This rapid change could only have been effected by prolonged feedback from the public. Perhaps the end result will then be safe and extensive and bicycle lanes, such as in Amsterdam, where cycling is as natural as walking. This would count for a great contribution from Singapore to the environment, as well as greatly benefit Singaporeans in terms of convenience, health and leisure.

We have already seen from Singapore’s rags to riches story that policy has the powerful potential to effect great change.

Be spontaneous: what change would you like to see?

[1] National Climate Change Strategy 2012.

[2] Hansard (Singapore). Parliament No: 11, Session No: 1, Volume No: 84, Sitting No: 12, Sitting Date: 2008-03-06, Section Name: BUDGET.

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Podcasts

#1: Every Radiolab episode showcases beautiful sound that helps unravel stories about anything from Bugs Bunny to neuroscience – sometimes all in one episode. The Rhino Hunter debated whether selling licences to shoot and kill an endangered species could be the best way to save it. Also on humans’ relationships with animals – Galapagos asks whether it is inevitable that even our most sacred natural landscapes will eventually get swallowed up by humans and in For the Birds the wildness of a wild animal is explored.  It is genius. An aside: the episode that first got me started (and I’m never looking back!) was In the Dust of this Planet, on hip-hop, nihilism and patterns across humankind.

#2: Planet Money explores the economics of topical affairs, like election spending, Brexit, and auditing ISIS. #633 Money Trees – on the history and ethics of carbon offsets for travel #502 The Afterlife of a T-shirt – what happens when used clothes are donated to charity? #497 The Sisters Who Made Our T-shirt – explores supply chain and ethical fashion issues #672 Bagging the Birkin - required listening

#3: 99% Invisible is all about design, and spans architecture, sounds, cities, objects and history.

Fancy moving to a city in space? Check out Home on Lagrange. A look at the critters that inhabit our cities and poop a lot:  Unseen City.

#4: Slate’s Table to Farm talks about farming (both small-scale and industrial farming) in the context of the U.S.A. In each episode two reporters interview a bunch of people about a different type of food comes from, digest their thoughts out loud, then savour a dish at the end. Incidentally, one half of the duo is vegetarian, and the other an omnivore. It makes for pretty flavourful conversation. The latter reporter Dan Pashman, also hosts The Sporkful (“It’s not for foodies – it’s for eaters.”) Favourites – Focaccia Edition; Braised Pork Butt Edition

#5: NPR’s Fresh Air

Organised in terms of people and involves extensive discussions on just about whatever topic you can think of. Extensive is the word. I’ve barely made a dent listening to these, but check out Fish Have Feelings Too, in which Jonathan Balcombe, author of What A Fish Knows explains why he believes fish are sentient, being able to recognise human faces in certain conditions and to feel pleasure and pain.

#6: Mediate North is (perhaps over-)specifically about alternative dispute resolution and environmental issues in Finland – but I found ideas like the negotiation of conflicting interests and values held by separate cultural groups (highlighted in Herders vs. Lumberjacks) helpful in understanding other political and cultural contexts. Have I missed anything out?

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Sand

“Hardly anyone thinks about sand, where it comes from or what we do to get it. But a world of seven billion people, more and more of whom want apartments to live in and offices to work in and malls to shop in, can’t afford that luxury anymore.”

– The World’s Disappearing Sand by Vince Beiser. The New York Times, June 23, 2016

Feeling squidgy on the inside, I splash on some sunblock, pull up my socks and take my bike out into the wild. That is, to the park connector (one out of a growing number of people/bike-friendly pathways to Singapore’s parks) behind the apartment block where I live. Several minutes into it and I realise the park connector is dammed up. There are bulldozers rolling by me like elephants on a plain, tens of construction workers going about their business steadfastly – and sand, sand everywhere. “Flood prevention works. To be completed 4Q 2018,” reads a miniscule sign nestled amidst rows and rows of metal fences meant to keep the public out. Yet another construction project has appeared out of nowhere: a phenomenon that Singaporeans have grown accustomed to by now.  The construction worker standing guard doesn’t seem to mind me peeping into the construction site. The entire 3km stretch of hitherto innocuous foot/bike path has been transformed into a foreign desert caked with clay-coloured sand.

Sand is needed to build virtually any modern building, since concrete is essentially sand and gravel held together by wet cement. Sand is also needed for land reclamation, which Singapore does a lot of. My island has increased by over 20% in size in the last sixty years, all thanks to sand. We’re not the first people to have tried this. As it’s been said, “God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands.” And today, the new city Eko Atlantic that is being built near the coastal city of Lagos, Nigeria – branded “Nigeria’s answer to Dubai” – is designed to be around four meters higher than the rest of Lagos in order to make it more resistant to climate change. Today, the world faces a global sand shortage. This is namely because the number and size of cities in the world has skyrocketed.

“To build those cities, people are pulling untold amounts of sand out of the ground. Usable sand is a finite resource. Desert sand, shaped more by wind than by water, generally doesn’t work for construction. To get the sand we need, we are stripping riverbeds, floodplains and beaches,” wrote Vince Beiser for The New York Times (link above). “Reclamation” is a misnomer. We have, simply, claimed. “Reclamation” is a euphemism for “more”. India, for one, does forbid sand mining in its own backyard. The flipside is that importing sand is extremely expensive and environmentally taxing. Closer to home, the bans which Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam have placed on exporting sand from their own shores have driven sand smuggling to – if reported estimates are anything to go by – unbelievably high thresholds.

With the thought that we have destroyed far more than we have constructed, I thank the construction worker, pedal away from the noise and take a longer route to the park. More:

Such quantities of sand. The Economist, February 28th 2015.

Despite Ban, $1.5M of Cambodian Sand Turns Up in India by Alex Willemyns and Kuch Naren. The Cambodia Daily, November 8, 2013. Sand wars: Singapore’s growth comes at the environmental expense of its neighbours by Lindsay Murdoch. The Sydney Morning Herald, February 26th 2016.