Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Walking with Nature at SOTA Day 3: Wacky ways to share
Day 3 of our nature guiding workshop concluded with 30 participants turning up to learn more about wacky ways to share! Thank you David, Andrew and Chay Hoon for telling us about sharing through specimens, games and clay models!
Walking with Nature at SOTA Day 1: Mangroves and Marine with Ria!
We had a wonderful session yesterday with the 42 participants who came for the first day of our nature guiding workshop! Thanks everyone for your enthusiasm, funny stories, and great ideas!
Cheers everyone! Our classic group photo.
Cheers everyone! Our classic group photo.
Trash Talking: Marine Trash and Us Recap
We had an
engaging and informative sharing session last Friday, discussing the issue of
marine trash and brainstorming for creative solutions! The turnout was great –
29 people attended, from all backgrounds and nature groups. There was a good
mix of students and working adults, veterans and newbies! A huge thanks to
November and Ria for organizing this workshop, and Kah Ming from ICCS for being
our guest speaker! [Read More]
What a
lovely spread of food prepared by Ria! Also notice the two golden pigs in the
background…
The participants who arrived early were
already engaged in some serious discussion about marine trash issues!
At 7pm,
November started off by giving a brief overview and agenda for the evening.
Everyone was encouraged to contribute to our shared Google document as
the workshop progressed. This is our first time trying out collaborative note-taking, and safe to say it
was well-utilized by all our social media-savvy participants!
Kah Ming
delivered a very simple but effective talk about the facts and negative impacts
of marine trash. What stood out for me was the video by Chris Jordan on
the albatrosses on Midway Atoll. The picture of a dead albatross chick with its
exposed stomach full of plastic objects has long been the signature image many associate
with when discussing marine trash. Although it was not the first time I saw the
video, it is still heartbreaking every time I view it.
After all
that depressing information, Kah Ming showed us how we can take action! Having
worked with ICCS for the past 6 years, she shared the data collected
from last year’s coastal cleanup. Do you know that the top trash items
collected are plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic containers and cigarette
butts? These are everyday objects we often use and throw away without a
thought. Another new thing I learnt was that even though Singapore has a 60%
recycling rate (as of 2012), most of it is construction waste and the amount of
plastics recycled is only 12%. This suggests a rather low rate of recycling for
domestic waste.
Finally, Kah
Ming highlighted ways which we can practice the 3Rs at the personal,
family/community, corporate and national levels. Many of these habits, such as
bringing your own shopping bag, using recyclable utensils, etc are already familiar
to us, but are you practicing them or influencing those around you to do the
same?
Time for a
break and a group photo!
After the
break we started off with our first activity: Match the Message! We were broken
into 5 groups and each group had to convey a mystery message to the audience
(the public) in a fun but impactful manner. Here are the presentations!
Group 1:
Have you dabao food recently?
Group 2: Where
does the plastic spoon go?
Group 3: Ah
boy, stop littering lah!
Group 4:
The four horsemen of trash – Dengue, floods, fines, death.
Group 5:
The last living individual of the white turtle species Seanus Yapus L
Everyone’s
creative juices were in overdrive that evening as the groups came up with
rather hilarious skits that were both memorable and catchy. Kudos to the
participants for being such great sports and gamely displayed their acting
chops!
The final
activity was a discussion/sharing session on possible policy/knowledge gaps in
the realm of waste management. The main problem agreed upon by most of us was
how to reach out to people who ‘simply don’t care’. Is it still effective to
continue to preach to these people about the dangers/problems of marine trash,
or is it time to change our approach, or as what Jennifer said, ‘to make
marketing sexier’? There were many creative ideas once again, such as a No Cleaner’s
Day and the meme-inducing cartoon of Mr. Lonely Plastic Bag.
Alas, the
air-con got cut off, reminding us of the end to this workshop. It was
heartwarming to see so many participants mingling and exchanging contacts after
the workshop ended, and for that we have achieved one of our aims, to bring
like-minded people together (and ‘re-energising the old and jaded’)! Thanks to
everyone for showing such great enthusiasm and (monetary) support for our
workshops; we could not have done it without you guys! And of course see you at
the next workshop!
Resources
Resources
- Kah Ming's slides: http://www.slideshare.net/
atomic_beans/trash-talking- marine-trash-and-us - Collaborative note taking: Read the notes taken by participants here
- ICCS: http://coastalcleanup.nus.edu.sg/
- Midway film: http://www.midwayfilm.com/
- Continue the discussion at our FB event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/761733917170864/
Wiping out the Trade in Wildlife Recapped
Date: 9 April 2010 (Friday)
Venue: Civil Service College
Participants: Nature guides and prospective nature guides
Facilitators: Ria Tan, November Tan and Chen Jinwen
Guest Speaker: Louis Ng
Last Friday at the Leafmonkey workshop, we put aside our lighter, cheerier topics on the amazing biodiversity in Singapore and shifted our attention to a more somber one: wildlife trade in Singapore.
Do we extend our hand?
Yes, in Singapore. For many of us, this was a surprising realization. How could Singapore, with its tight border controls, miss the countless animals – endangered and/or caught in the wild – which were smuggled into its borders?
Louis from ACRES, together with Anbu and Zan, came down to share with us the sobering reality of wildlife trade in Singapore.
Louis Ng of ACRES
In his comprehensive presentation, we were riveted as we learnt about the ease of buying tiger and bear parts from nondescript Chinese medicine shops. To think that just downstairs, amongst your neighbourhood shops, could be one which is doing its part to exacerbate the poaching of tigers in another country – such is the extent of the problem we have on our hands. Singapore’s efficiency and importance in trade works just as well for illegal wildlife as for legal commodities.
Bears in horrid conditions - the cruel trade in bear products
And this is not an easy problem to solve, as we found out during the activity after Louis’ talk. We held a mock debate session between numerous stakeholders – the government (AVA), public, pet traders and the NGOs. The issue at hand was the (illegal) wild pet trade in Singapore, which is prolific and often involves the extreme suffering of the animals which are smuggled in cramped conditions. However, whether it was due to the bureaucracy of our government or the immense popularity and rational – if completely mad – reasoning of our pet traders, our pet traders gained the upper hand. Kudos to Lesley, the epitome of the rationally mad pet trader, who managed to present with a straight face while the rest of the pet traders were trying their hardest not to break out in laughter.
Despite the negative slant of the debate, an important learning point was to take responsibility in whatever we believe in. Evident from our debate was finger-pointing: from within stakeholder to between on the problem of wild pet trade. Nothing happens unless we take the first step. I am glad to hear about ACRES initiatives like the rescue centre and undercover investigations, as it means someone has taken the lead. Is it our turn now?
November Says:
To show our appreciation for Louis and ACRES staff for taking time out to do this workshop with us, and also to support their cause of helping animals in the wildlife trade, a total of 195 peanuts contributed to the golden pig by workshop participants were donated to ACRES.
Venue: Civil Service College
Participants: Nature guides and prospective nature guides
Facilitators: Ria Tan, November Tan and Chen Jinwen
Guest Speaker: Louis Ng
Last Friday at the Leafmonkey workshop, we put aside our lighter, cheerier topics on the amazing biodiversity in Singapore and shifted our attention to a more somber one: wildlife trade in Singapore.
Do we extend our hand?
Yes, in Singapore. For many of us, this was a surprising realization. How could Singapore, with its tight border controls, miss the countless animals – endangered and/or caught in the wild – which were smuggled into its borders?
Louis from ACRES, together with Anbu and Zan, came down to share with us the sobering reality of wildlife trade in Singapore.
Louis Ng of ACRES
In his comprehensive presentation, we were riveted as we learnt about the ease of buying tiger and bear parts from nondescript Chinese medicine shops. To think that just downstairs, amongst your neighbourhood shops, could be one which is doing its part to exacerbate the poaching of tigers in another country – such is the extent of the problem we have on our hands. Singapore’s efficiency and importance in trade works just as well for illegal wildlife as for legal commodities.
Bears in horrid conditions - the cruel trade in bear products
And this is not an easy problem to solve, as we found out during the activity after Louis’ talk. We held a mock debate session between numerous stakeholders – the government (AVA), public, pet traders and the NGOs. The issue at hand was the (illegal) wild pet trade in Singapore, which is prolific and often involves the extreme suffering of the animals which are smuggled in cramped conditions. However, whether it was due to the bureaucracy of our government or the immense popularity and rational – if completely mad – reasoning of our pet traders, our pet traders gained the upper hand. Kudos to Lesley, the epitome of the rationally mad pet trader, who managed to present with a straight face while the rest of the pet traders were trying their hardest not to break out in laughter.
Despite the negative slant of the debate, an important learning point was to take responsibility in whatever we believe in. Evident from our debate was finger-pointing: from within stakeholder to between on the problem of wild pet trade. Nothing happens unless we take the first step. I am glad to hear about ACRES initiatives like the rescue centre and undercover investigations, as it means someone has taken the lead. Is it our turn now?
November Says:
To show our appreciation for Louis and ACRES staff for taking time out to do this workshop with us, and also to support their cause of helping animals in the wildlife trade, a total of 195 peanuts contributed to the golden pig by workshop participants were donated to ACRES.
Butt Watcher's Workshop - A New Perspective Recapped
Date: 5 March 2010 (Friday)
Venue: Civil Service College
Participants: Nature guides and prospective nature guides
Facilitators: Ria Tan, November Tan and Chen Jinwen
Guest Speaker: Khew Sin Khoon
It was a fully-clothed group which turned up for a practical session on butt-watching on Friday. Leading the pack was Khew Sin Khoon, and expert and well-practiced watcher (and photographer) in this area. Needless to say, we all improved our knowledge in one way or another.
Butt Watchers paying attention
After November kicked butt with her usual introduction, we jumped straight into the pool of butts. Pictures, of course. Khew had an amazing collection of snapshots, and throughout his presentation, we were ‘oohing’ and ‘ahing’ away at the beautiful shots.
We soon realized how limited our knowledge of butts was when we were given a surprise pop quiz. Out of the twelve pictures, we wrongly identified many of the butterflies as moths, or vice versa. And we weren’t even looking for them in the wild, where identification had to be done in a mere matter of seconds!
Luckily we received much help from Khew. How to tell butterflies from moths? Clue: look at the antenna. Other than that, we gleaned many cool facts about butterflies in general. They have strange feeding preferences (pee and sweat are one of their favourite juices); they are importance as environmental indicators; they have many talents for survival in the wild.
The wealth of information covered!
My greatest takeaway however, was the knowledge that what humans deem as weeds may be the only food source (or host plant) for the caterpillar. The dreaded mile-a-minute which I had helped removed during a weeding session was actually the host plant for one butterfly species! This really woke me up to the fragile interdependence between species in nature and how our ignorance can impact it.
On the not-so-serious end, we had Butterflies Charades after Khew’s inspiring talk. As many groups found out, acting out butterfly names or butterfly behaviour was not quite as easy as it seemed. My group had the unfortunate task of acting out the Common Mormon Butterfly. We scrapped by with random hand gestures and frantic pointing, and a wild guess from a participant (who read our acting as something else altogether).
Applause though goes to the group which marvelously performed the act of mimicry.
"Me, me, cry!"
Finally, we had to ‘sell’ our beloved butts to visitors which were well, not our favourite kinds. Though this mission sounded daunting, we all managed to pull it off with plenty of brainstorming as groups. There were jokes of flying palms, human-sized butterflies and rather creative methods used to convey our message of butterflies, the ‘ugly’ caterpillars and their importance to the larger realm of life.
Venue: Civil Service College
Participants: Nature guides and prospective nature guides
Facilitators: Ria Tan, November Tan and Chen Jinwen
Guest Speaker: Khew Sin Khoon
It was a fully-clothed group which turned up for a practical session on butt-watching on Friday. Leading the pack was Khew Sin Khoon, and expert and well-practiced watcher (and photographer) in this area. Needless to say, we all improved our knowledge in one way or another.
Butt Watchers paying attention
After November kicked butt with her usual introduction, we jumped straight into the pool of butts. Pictures, of course. Khew had an amazing collection of snapshots, and throughout his presentation, we were ‘oohing’ and ‘ahing’ away at the beautiful shots.
We soon realized how limited our knowledge of butts was when we were given a surprise pop quiz. Out of the twelve pictures, we wrongly identified many of the butterflies as moths, or vice versa. And we weren’t even looking for them in the wild, where identification had to be done in a mere matter of seconds!
Luckily we received much help from Khew. How to tell butterflies from moths? Clue: look at the antenna. Other than that, we gleaned many cool facts about butterflies in general. They have strange feeding preferences (pee and sweat are one of their favourite juices); they are importance as environmental indicators; they have many talents for survival in the wild.
The wealth of information covered!
My greatest takeaway however, was the knowledge that what humans deem as weeds may be the only food source (or host plant) for the caterpillar. The dreaded mile-a-minute which I had helped removed during a weeding session was actually the host plant for one butterfly species! This really woke me up to the fragile interdependence between species in nature and how our ignorance can impact it.
On the not-so-serious end, we had Butterflies Charades after Khew’s inspiring talk. As many groups found out, acting out butterfly names or butterfly behaviour was not quite as easy as it seemed. My group had the unfortunate task of acting out the Common Mormon Butterfly. We scrapped by with random hand gestures and frantic pointing, and a wild guess from a participant (who read our acting as something else altogether).
Applause though goes to the group which marvelously performed the act of mimicry.
"Me, me, cry!"
Finally, we had to ‘sell’ our beloved butts to visitors which were well, not our favourite kinds. Though this mission sounded daunting, we all managed to pull it off with plenty of brainstorming as groups. There were jokes of flying palms, human-sized butterflies and rather creative methods used to convey our message of butterflies, the ‘ugly’ caterpillars and their importance to the larger realm of life.
He's not surrendering; he's a butterfly
Wildlife Trade & Poaching Workshop Postponed!
Dear Workshop Friends & Fans,
As you may know, we were scheduled to have a Wildlife Trade and Poaching Workshop on 5 February 2010 with Louis Ng from ACRES. However, Louis had to travel urgently to Laos to help some bears during the scheduled workshop date. Of course the animals should come first. Thus, the Wildlife Trade workshop has been postponed to 9 April 2010. (Mark your calendars!)
Instead, we will be having the 2nd run of the Life between the Tides Workshop with Ria Tan of WildSingapore on 5 February. More details about the workshop.
Many apologies for this late notice and we hope you will support the February workshop especially if you missed it last year! Tell your friends and volunteers! Register Now!
Thank you!
Cheers,
November
Coordinator
The Leafmonkey Workshop
As you may know, we were scheduled to have a Wildlife Trade and Poaching Workshop on 5 February 2010 with Louis Ng from ACRES. However, Louis had to travel urgently to Laos to help some bears during the scheduled workshop date. Of course the animals should come first. Thus, the Wildlife Trade workshop has been postponed to 9 April 2010. (Mark your calendars!)
Instead, we will be having the 2nd run of the Life between the Tides Workshop with Ria Tan of WildSingapore on 5 February. More details about the workshop.
Many apologies for this late notice and we hope you will support the February workshop especially if you missed it last year! Tell your friends and volunteers! Register Now!
Thank you!
Cheers,
November
Coordinator
The Leafmonkey Workshop
The Naked Truth & Other Sluggish Affairs Recapped
Date: 2 October 2009 (Friday)Venue: Civil Service College
Participants: Nature guides and prospective nature guides
Facilitators: Ria Tan, November Tan and Chen Jinwen
Guest Speaker: Toh Chay Hoon
With a title like “The Naked Truth and Other Sluggish Affairs”, you know you can expect a workshop filled with either laughter or ennui.
Not surprisingly, it was the former that featured prominently throughout. Jokes (only a few R-rated) abounded and the antics of sporting participants acting like slugs provided much cause for joy.
Before the workshop began, we were intrigued by a variety of clay sea slugs modeled by the guest speaker, Chay Hoon. To the non-initiated, many of these slugs looked like other-worldly creatures, or “something my cat threw up”. But they were just a few examples of the fascinating marine life found in Singapore and the rest of the world.
Is it just me, or do they really look better than the sushi?
Paying rapt attention
A slug with 2 human cerata
Scary slugs terrorizing their innocent counterpartsFinally, we concluded the workshop with groups ‘guiding’ some feared kinds of visitors. Amidst the annoying shrieks of pesky kids, and strange questions from aunties and uncles intent on getting their time’s worth, we managed to convey the message of conservation and appreciation of Singapore’s biodiversity.
Mangroves Workshop Recapped
Date: 3 April 2009 (Friday)Venue: Civil Service College
Participants: Nature guides and prospective nature guides
Facilitators: Ria Tan, November Tan and Chen Jinwen
Guest Speaker: Lim Cheng Puay
Mangrove - a fascinating ecosystem straddling both land and water. And on Friday, the Mangroves workshop played host to fauna of a slightly different kind. Experienced, green, or just inquisitive, we (potential) nature guides were treated to an informative session on our flora counterparts.
Ria kindly brought some fresh samples from the mangroves. They looked so similar, and of such mind-boggling names that I found it almost impossible to distinguish. (Guess I've to do more homework.)
As always, November gave a brief summary of the participants' thoughts about guiding. Cheng Puay then gave his very creative presentation, tapping in on the wealth of information from television, youtube, books and even participants to make it truly interactive. The (now defunct, known as Okto instead) Arts Central special on mangroves in Pulau Semakau was especially enjoyed.We entered the next segment - Mangrove Charades - with much vigour. As the name suggests, each group had to 'act out' their given mangrove for the guessing pleasure of the others. If they managed to incite a correct guess, points were given to them and the group which answered.
Our final activity put our brains to the test, as we were challenged to excite a variety of dreaded visitors about one mangrove species. Was that even possible? With their perpetual inactivity, lack of furry cuteness or bright colours, these plants seem doomed to be classified under the boring category.
But, with a bit of brainstorming...
We were able to transform them into worthy plants of titllation!
Life Between the Tides Workshop Recapped
Date: 27 February 2009 (Friday)Venue: Civil Service College
Participants: Nature guides and prospective nature guides
Facilitators: November Tan and Chen Jinwen
Guest Speaker: Ria Tan
"Mummy, I'm tired.. Can we go home?" A girl whined incessantly, plopping herself down on a nearby hard coral. Another man prodded a sea star indiscrimately with his right shoe.
Annoying visitors? You bet. These were but a few of the frustrating people we encountered yesterday - at the workshop, luckily.
Yesterday's Life Between the Tides saw a enthusiastic bunch of nature lovers, all eager to share and get tips on dealing with tough visitors at our intertidal ecosystems.
We started off with usual presentation of pre-workshop questions by November. Many similar sentiments were discovered, such as the one on irritating visitors - which of course included children and 'molestors' of flora and fauna. Amongst the common enjoyments of guiding include meeting people and spreading the love. :)
Ria then took over for an introduction of our intertidal ecosystems:rocky shore, sandy shore, seagrasses, coral rubble, reefs and the tides. The vast spread of these ecosystems that dotted our Southern Islands and Eastern coasts awed many indeed with the rich biodiversity of our tiny urban island. Useful tips on 'selling' our shores were also provided, and participants learnt more on managing their own guiding trips.
Unfortunately, most of these habitats are not protected, with some being slated for development or reclamation works. This was no doubt a cause for worry, which re-surfaced when one of the participants querried on how we could protect our shores from the developmental aims of the government. To this, Joseph Lai and Ria gave wonderful personal anecdotes on how change can be inspired, and how advocacy in the shape of nature guides, bloggers or ordinary citizens like you or me can sound the call for (in)action.
Imbued with a new sense of purpose, we started our activity. In groups, we had to plan a guided walk to one of the intertidal zones from scratch - choosing suitable timings, the "zone of death" and sensitizing stations - to offer visitors the best possible experience.
Then came the long awaited presentations!
It was great fun watching and acting in the presentations! But jokes and laughter aside, it was a step for us in becoming better guides and more inspired citizens.
The Fishy Workshop... recapped
Leafmonkey says: Our new volunteer, Jinwen, joins us for the first time at the Fishy Workshop and shares with us her thoughtsDate: 6 February 2009 (Friday)
Venue: Civil Service College
Participants: Nature guides and prospective nature guides
Facilitators: Ria Tan and November Tan
Guest Speaker: Jeffrey Low
The Fishy Workshop got off on a promising note with a huge turnout on a Friday evening. Seats were in such high demand that the younger participants had to volunteer to sit on the floor. The participants were a diverse bunch - ranging from experienced guides to those who were interested - who came to learn more about Singapore's marine fishes.
November started the event with a short introduction of the Leafmonkey Workshops and a compilation of responses from the pre-workshop survey. It was interesting to find out about others' pet peeves and wishes while guiding, some albeit a little more absurd than others. Thereafter, Jeffrey gave a presentation on marine fishes, and how to distinguish one from another by as much as a fleeting glimpse.
Participants trying to absorb as much as possible
It was fascinating to learn that fishes - unlike humans - had different features such as the shape of their tails, fins and mouths. With this presentation, the 'newbies' left better equipped to pass judgement on fishes they see around Singapore's shores.
The activity part kicked off with a hands-on session with play-doh. Groups (with their own 'fishy' sounding names) had to model a fish which would be well adept to live in its habitat - sandy shores, seagrass, coral etc.
Fish-moulding Many groups roped in their creativity and knowledge of current technologies, to equip their fishes with abilities like GPS Positioning and seagrass cutting/shoving, presumably to make them the kings of the waterworld. The sharing session with the rest of the participants was animated, with chuckles and guffaws ensuing as groups passionately described their fishy creations.
The Solefish's huge lips for bottom feeding on the sandy shores
Well-camouflaged, happy fishes of the coral reefsFor the final activity, groups were given the task of promoting a fish to tougher - and possibly annoying - visitors while on a guiding trip. My group, for example, had to interest a bunch of aunties, who were lost in their own chatter, with the ugly-looking toadfish. Jokes (the cornier the better), analogies, and useful messages were presented and everyone came away with a better idea of engaging tricky visitors with facts of seemingly boring fish.
Presenting an innovative skitSoft Cnidarian Workshop Participants' Feedback
Venue: Civil Service College
Participants: Nature guides and prospective nature guides
Facilitators: November Tan
Guest Speaker: Ria Tan
Last week saw a good turn out for the Soft Cnidarian Workshop held on 5 Dec 2008 at Civil Service College. Majority of the participants were NParks staff and volunteers, followed by NakedHermitCrabs volunteers and potential guides from National Institute of Education. There was also a good diverse range of other volunteers from BlueWaterVolunteers, Cicada Tree Eco-Place, Nature Society (Singapore) and even a teacher from St Gabriels Secondary School who is bringing his school's students for field trips at St John Island. 15.7% of the worksop participants mentioned that they appreciated meeting other nature loving and like-minded friends and guides at the workshop. Thanks to the diverse groups of volunteers attending the workshop, we were able to meet like-minded friends from a wide range of groups which we would otherwise not have the opportunity to encounter.
A total of 32 people registered for the workshop, of which, 25 participants attended this workshop. This is a 78% turn out rate which is an improvement from last month's 72% attendance of 18 people. This is a 138% increase in number of participants.
Out of the 19 people who completed the feedback forms distributed at the end of the workshop, 100% of participants indicated that they found the workshop (1) useful, (2) with ample opportunity to talk, (3) addressed all their key concerns, (4) with a group size that's just nice and (5) that the venue was good.
Ria Tan of WildSingapore, author of Chek Jawa Guidebook and WildFactsheets engaging participants in the "lecture" component of the workshop.
However, 2 participants felt that the time allocated was too short for the 30 minutes lecture in the first part of the workshop, while 1 felt that the activities (2nd part of lecture) was too long. While the other 16 participants felt timing was just nice. 2 also commented that the lecture could be slower and more detailed. While the playdoh creation was fun, some felt that more learning points could be provided.
Presenting their weird cnidarian creations in the 2nd activity of the workshop.
A large number of feedback (37%) found the analogies / jokes / messages shared as part of the 1st group activity in the workshop were highly useful. Groups were asked to select a type of soft cnidarians and a target group from a list provided. They are then asked to think of an analogy (metaphor) to present their cnidarian in a way that their chosen visitor type would best relate to. Many workshop participants found this to be a good deposit of stories to use for future guided walks.
Workshop participants also found the lecture component to be especially useful and that 31.5% commented that they have learnt something new about cnidarians. One even mentioned they have "really begin to be interested in cnidarians as I've never really put in any thought into it before". Another 15.7% mentioned that the most useful takeaway from the event was learning about the different classes of cnidarians and that they are actually very different from each other.
Many of the participants heard about the workshop through NParks and friends as well as through the organizer and even Facebook. (We have a facebook page!)
Ria, our speaker for the day, has also written an account of the workshop with lots of colorful photos on her wildshores blog.
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