Jan 2019 sampling events for NUS–NParks Marine Debris Monitoring Programme – Last sampling sessions!
News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore
Read more!
Best of our wild blogs: 4 Jan 19
Read more!
Feeling less productive? Blame it on the air: NUS study
WONG PEI TING Today Online 3 Jan 19;
SINGAPORE — Exposure to air pollution over several weeks is not just unhealthy, it can also affect worker productivity, according to a study by the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Employee productivity dips by 1 per cent when the PM2.5 — a fine particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in size — in the air increases by 10 micrograms per cubic metre and stays at that level for 25 days, the study found.
The NUS team spent more than a year gathering information from factories in China and scrutinising the output levels of two textile mills at Henan and Jiangsu. The findings from the study were published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics on Thursday (Jan 3).
Read more!
Indonesia: Jakarta Residents Agree on Limiting Disposable Plastic Bag
Ricky Mohammad Nugraha Tempo 3 Jan 19;
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Environmental Agency announced that 80 percent of the city’s residents welcomed the idea of limiting the use of disposable plastic bags.
The Agency's head of waste management Rahmawati, said that the Agency acquired the data based on a door-to-door survey conducted on respondents that mostly consist of housewives.
"Almost 80 percent [of respondents] agreed to a limit on the use of disposable plastic bags and willing to bring their own [reusable] bags," said Rahmawati to Tempo on Thursday, January 3, 2019.
Read more!
Vietnam: Wildlife trafficking still at serious levels
VietNamNet Bridge 3 Jan 19;
As a hotspot for wildlife trafficking and consumption since the late 80s, Vietnam is facing a risk of depletion of biodiversity.
Vietnam made a commitment to fight against wildlife trafficking at the 2018 London Conference. In reply, PanNature, a Vietnamese not-for-profit organization dedicated to conserving biodiversity, recently issued a policy bulletin on the status of wildlife in the country.
The country in the past mostly exported wildlife and served as a site for wildlife transshipment, but now it has also become a consumer of wildlife.
The wildlife demand from Vietnamese is increasingly high, depleting domestic biodiversity resources, and having a negative impact on natural resources in other countries, from the sub-Mekong Region to Africa.
Despite the ban on trading and consuming wildlife, many Vietnamese still eat wild animal meat, while restaurants still sell dishes made of wild birds and animals.
Read more!
Best of our wild blogs: 3 Jan 19
Happy New Year from the Marine Park
Sisters' Islands Marine Park
Happy New Year with R.U.M.!
Restore Ubin Mangroves (R.U.M.) Initiative
2019 Schedule for our FREE Guided Walks
Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs
Read more!
Indonesia: 90 percent of tsunami survivors in Lampung want to be resettled
Antara 1 Jan 19;
S Lampung, (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo ((Jokowi) said that nearly 90 percent of residents of Sebesi island in Lampung province, who survived the Dec 22, 2018 tsunami in Sunda Strait, want to be resettled to other areas.
"I just asked the Sebesi residents. In essence, they want to be resettled to higher ground. They all are no longer brave enough to live in coastal areas," he stated, after holding a dialog with survivors of the tsunami, on Wednesday.
The tsunami survivors of Sebesi Island are currently taking refuge in the Kalianda indoor tennis court in South Lampung district.
The president noted that they will be resettled on the same island.
"But they will live on higher ground on the island," he added.
Read more!
Indonesia: Floods, landslides to dominate 2019 amid continuing environmental damage
Karina M. Tehusijarana The Jakarta Post 2 Jan 19;
Flooding and landslides will remain the predominant type of disasters in Indonesia in 2019, a repeat of what happened in 2018 when thousands of natural disasters happened, a government disaster office has projected.
The last day of 2018 saw a fatal landslide in Sukabumi, West Java, which killed at least 15 as of the first day of 2019.
"We predict that in 2019, over 2,500 natural disaster will occur across Indonesia," National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told reporters on Monday. "Hydrometeorological disasters such as floods, landslides and puting beliung [small tornadoes] will continue to dominate and make up about 95 percent of total disasters."
Read more!
Why we are pushing for divestment from fossil fuel in fight against climate change
BRANDON CHEE, JERALD LIM, AND BERTRAND SEAH Today Online 1 Jan 19;
Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing recently spoke about how just as Singapore’s past 50 years have been defined by its successful water story, the next 50 will be defined by its ability to manage its energy challenges amidst the threat of climate change.
The special report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) contained stark warnings to drastically reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, it called for governments to fully decarbonise their economies as soon as possible, which necessitates transitioning from fossil fuels to cleaner forms of energy.
This is why we, a group of National University of Singapore students, have been campaigning for divestment from fossil fuels.
Our efforts have been targeted towards getting NUS, who invests a small percentage of its S$3.7 billion endowment in fossil fuels, to commit to full divestment by 2024.
Read more!
No more plastic straws with Yakult drinks
CYNTHIA CHOO Today Online 30 Dec 18;
SINGAPORE — Yakult Singapore will stop providing straws from the end of the year, the company said in a Facebook post on Thursday (Dec 27).
The announcement comes as a growing number of food and beverage manufacturers, restaurants and cafes around the world have joined the movement to cut down on the use of plastics.
Even entire cities have jumped on the bandwagon. Most recently, the authorities in Bali have enacted a ban on single-use plastics, including shopping bags, styrofoam food packets and straws.
In its post, Yakult Singapore said that it will be removing straws from two of its products — Yakult and Yakult Ace Light — “from end December 2018 onwards”, as part of efforts “in contributing to environment protection and sustainability”.
Read more!
Best of our wild blogs: 1 Jan 19
Celebrating Singapore's Shores on the road: September - December
Celebrating Singapore Shores!
Love MacRitchie’s 2018 in Review
Love our MacRitchie Forest
Giant Clam Girl’s 2018 Highlights!
Mei Lin NEO
Read more!
Best of our wild blogs: 31 Dec 18
Night Walk At Windsor Nature Park (28 Dec 2018)
Beetles@SG BLOG
2018 - Looking Back
Butterflies of Singapore
Read more!
Community gardening scheme plants a million native species in a decade
Michelle Ng Straits Times 30 Dec 18;
SINGAPORE - Retiree May Lee initially took up gardening after her doctor advised her to spend more time in the sun to boost her Vitamin D levels following a severe bout of meningitis in 2012.
What started as a means of recuperation blossomed into a hobby for Mdm Lee.
Today, the healthy 62-year-old leads a team of more than 20 gardeners and tends to three flourishing community gardens, which occupy 20,000 sq ft next to Block 106, Bukit Batok Central.
Cosy Garden, the largest of the three, has a koi pond, turtle pond and unique crops such as asparagus and Brazilian grape trees mainly for educational purposes, as children from nearby childcare centres visit it regularly.
The other two gardens are home to edible plants such as vegetables, herbs and more than 30 types of fruit trees including cempedak and mangosteen. When harvested, these crops are distributed among the residents and the underprivileged.
Read more!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
visitors since Nov 07