Going bananas over climate change

Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 5 Dec 08;

A GORENG pisang hawker stall along Upper Thomson Road is dishing out green ideology together with its fried bananas.

The vegetarian owners of the stall, Mr Boon Fong Juan, 53, and his wife, Ms Rose Le Thi Tuyet Nhung, 29, have an Internet television station running all day on a screen on their stall counter.

Mrs Boon, who manages the open-air stall, said she does not talk about the broadcast that calls for people to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, unless a curious customer asks.

'Otherwise they might think 'why is a banana seller telling me how to live?',' she said.

Instead, the couple have positioned the screen to face the customers at The Longhouse food court in the hope of encouraging questions or comments.

Of the 150 or so of the stall's customers, Mrs Boon estimates one in five customers poses a question each day.

'Most of the time, people will lose interest when I tell them it's about climate change but if even one person wants to know more, I am satisfied,' she said.

When asked about the best way to mitigate climate change, the couple advocate becoming vegetarian.

They list facts and figures about how it can fight fires, floods and, eventually, food shortages.

In 2006, the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture came from livestock production. This constitutes 18 per cent of all emissions from human activities.

Mr Boon, who was introduced to the concept of global warming during a talk in 1995, started his popular stall the same year.

'Livestock is very polluting and diseases like bird flu are made worse by animal farming, so I thought why not eat more greens?' he said.

Suggestions that customers avoid the use of plastic bags have sometimes led to dirty looks, when the couple are thought of as stingy instead of being environmentally friendly.

'We already provide grease-proof paper bags. I wish we could be like Ikea and charge for plastic,' said Mr Boon.