I mean I want to see

Pretty fish @ Tanah Merah. Image © Ria Tan at wildshores

 

Where all of us were deployed: Our group got Tanah Merah 3-5…Image © The NUS Team

 

Beach cleanup today
Rubbish here there everywhere
Pick up styrofoam

FIRST off, here are some lovely photos of wildlife at our designated clean-up site…Part of what I love about coming back to Singapore are the greenery and lovely parks all around the island! I’ve written about kingfishers at Pasir Ris, and you can see all sorts of colourful fish in the coastal areas. Pink dolphins, turtles (Betsy!), dugongs, otters and so on have been spotted even in busy shipping areas.

Nine of us turned up today, and we spent 2 hours picking up stuff like car fenders, side-mirrors, combs, pantyhose and numerous bits of styrofoam for the International Coastal Cleanup — the event is wholly grassroots run. Local conservationists at NUS take charge and outsource the work to various volunteer organisations (you can see the schools turned up in full force).

The first time I headed to ECP for a cleanup was when I was a secondary school student with RGS more than 10 years ago…

OK enough of chatter and on to the pictures.

Pretty scenic. Image © me

 

The ECP’s a lovely stretch of beach, you can even see the CBD in the background. Image © me

 

Picking up trash at 9am on a Saturday morning…Image © me

 

Image © me

 

Our site partners: NVPC. Image © me

 

Sharing our site with the weekend fishermen. Image © me

 

Styrofoam hell. Image © me

 

The aftermath. Image © me

 

Kitchen tongs make the job easier. We’ll reuse the tongs next year :-) Image © me

 

Other people used their hands…a more eco-friendly option would have been to use cloth gloves. Image © me

 

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Some background:

ICCS has been coordinated by volunteers from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the National University of Singapore for over a decade and through this all, they have been assisted by various officers on the ground in the National Parks Board and the National Environment Agency. A great example of private-public partnership! :-)

Some local politician:

“When we begin to care for different aspects in society, we will begin to grow as a people. What distinguishes us as humans is our capacity to love, care and respect. Which is why such avenues, be it with animals, our environment, and indeed with fellow humans…caring for the less privileged in society, respecting elders and being there for them in their twilight years…the spirit of volunteerism and to be involved… are critical in the building of our nation, and the forging of our heart and soul.”

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The collection of photos from all sites…

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城市的面孔
【自由席】
沈泽玮 (2011-09-16)

一座城市的面孔是多面的，一处是历史遗留的风韵，一处是现代化的印记。

　　大连，这座中国东北城市在历史上是一座殖民城市，日本和俄国都曾留下足迹。一个月前匆匆初次造访，事先准备工作做得并不足，但走在大街上即可深深感受俄罗斯和日本殖民历史的味道。

　　由出租车师傅载着绕市中心走，看了俄罗斯风情一条街、日本人遗留的房子和有轨电车，也看到了市区里大兴土木的景象。

　　师傅还特地绕到人民广场去，因为在那之前的一天，上万个大连市民聚集在那儿抗议大连PX化工厂。广场的封锁线还没拆，路人有的窃窃私语，有的完全不当一回事。人民广场很大，总面积达12万平方米，在1993年以前，它还有个殖民色彩浓厚的名字——斯大林广场。

　　异国传统和现代发展的风味同时涂抹，可为城市增添多重个性和历史厚度。走在中山路的一个地下通道，就看到一个有趣的指示牌，它同时挂着五种语言：中文、英文、日文、俄文、韩文。

　　出租车师傅说，因为与日本和韩国相邻，大连长期吸引不少韩国企业和日本科技公司进驻，连带日本人和韩国人也到大连来工作，俄罗斯人则是喜欢来大连旅游和洗浴。难怪，所住酒店附近一栋欧式大建筑的外观就写着俄语，经询问才知那叫“浪淘沙”， 是一家高档的洗浴中心。

　　车子驶到造船厂附近的沿海公路上时，又是另一番景色，天是灰蒙蒙的，建筑也是灰蒙蒙，四处还可见到不少工地在赶工中。

　　这一周，因达沃斯论坛再次造访大连，感觉又不同了，不只大雾散去，车子从机场开往酒店的路上，感受到了大连街道的绿化之美。

　　城市在发展过程中总是如此多变，看到不同的角落，就如同看到不同的世界，被引领到哪个角落就有不同的感受。

　　大连是在上个世纪90年代，在薄熙来先后担任这个城市的代市长、市长和市委书记职务长达8年期间大步发展, 从一个老工业基地走进“明星城市”和“花园城市”光环。薄熙来当时的构想是，要把大连打造成为一个环境优美、街道顺畅、老百姓生活方便的宜居城市，以促进城市增值并进而吸引外来投资。

　　1999年，大连被评为中国首批旅游城市，时任国家旅游局局长的何光伟给大连旅游定位为“浪漫之都”，本世纪初，再被联合国世界旅游组织和国家旅游局共同授予中国最佳旅游城市。

　　在英国《经济学人》智库近日公布的“全球最适宜居住城市”报告中，大连排名85，在中国大陆城市内，居第五位，大连似乎更接近宜居的理想了。

　　不过，私下和大连人聊，他们都说“浪漫之都”已经过去，现在的大连让人感觉是个“大工地”，有太多的填海造地，有太多的污染和工程，还有工程的意外事故。

　　一个造船厂工人感叹，“过去最快至少要三、四个月才能见到一栋楼起，现在一个多月就有了”。一个开出租车的年轻小伙子则淡淡地说：“这几年发展很快，工地多了，政府要搞GDP，空气质量现在差了，车子都不想洗，因为很快脏，他们说忍忍吧，就痛这一两年。”

　　港口、造船、海鲜、足球、航母、服装节、旅游、马拉松……说到大连，人们想起的总是这些，最近又加了个PX厂。

　　8月14日中元节，有几万人来到大连市政府前的人民广场，相约“放风筝”，但现场不见风筝，只见横幅和标语，要将对环境和生命安全构成威胁的PX化工厂赶出大连。

　　大连过去很少有大规模示威，事件引起外媒的关注，并将之与中产阶级崛起联系起来，甚至认为中国的群体抗争已从底层发展到中产阶级。

　　这个说法还有待时间证明，但肯定的是，城市的发展总有一天会遇到环境的制约。而对执政者来说，最棘手的是，当经济发展走到环境受制约的阶段时，又正好遇上人们环保和安全意识抬头的夹击。

　　在城市拼命提速发展的同时，如何平衡经济与环境的需要和发展，如何在城市建设中关注民生民意，并将其融入城市规划的考量中，将是城市发展规划者无可回避的任务。

　　毕竟，城市在发展过程中除了管好面孔，更需要的还是照顾灵魂。

Image © NUS.

 

Image © NUS.

 

THE folks at NUS are super-efficient and have put up the data from SG from yesterday.

Our group did very well. Here’s the results page.

The site: Tanah Merah Zone 3-5, near the National Service Resort & Country Club.

 

A very idyllic spot indeed. Luckily the weather was bright and sunny; we’d have called off the event if there had been a thunderstorm.

 

Team Shrinivas, Kwan Chong and Jeremy (L-R). They were the first to arrive and were the most prolific trash-pickers, filling up 14 black trash bags with 240 plastic bottles, 98 pieces of food and beverage containers, more than 300 pieces of styrofoam, cigarette lighters, lightbulbs etc.

 

Family activity: Our youngest participant was four!

 

Our site partners: Hougang Secondary’s uniformed groups. They were smart enough to bring tongs for the dirty lifting…something I’ll ask next year’s volunteers to do.

 

Team Carolyn and Melinda, a daughter-mother team who found the “mother lode of trash” at a camp-site.

 

Our youngest team with the piece of rag they had to dig up as it was buried in the sand.

 

Hard at work. I’d a first-aid kit with me but everybody was sensible and there were no injuries though there were a few glass shards and bottles lying around.

 

A fun Saturday out for the family. The Brown/DUAL team was assigned a relatively “easy” stretch. Some more experienced volunteers go deep into the mangrove swamps.

 

Statistics

Date and time: Sept 11, 2010. 9am-12pm
Number of participants: 14.
Youngest participant: Four years old.

Injuries, sunburn etc: 0 (Hurray!)

No. of trash bags filled: 24
Estimated total weight: 95kg
Distance covered: 1,000m

No. of styrofoam bits collected: 665
No. of plastic bottles collected: 395
No. of food wrappers and containers: 153

No. of dead animals: One dog
Most peculiar items collected: Decaying mattress, wooden back of chair, pallet, whistle

Most heavy source of pollution in our zone: Beach-goers who do not pick up after themselves.

Our data will be collated at the national and international level. Ocean Conservancy, for instance, puts up an annual marine debris report that uses the data we collect.

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The other folks who’re participating in this clean-up include schools and corporations such as Thomson Reuters, Power Seraya, AVA, NParks, Carlson Hotels.

TRASH in the ocean doesn’t fall from the sky — it falls from people’s hands. Since 1986, millions around the globe have joined in Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, the world’s largest volunteer effort to clean up our marine environment.

It’s not just about picking up rubbish, it’s also being about a data detective. Who’s trashing the ocean and waterways? Ocean Conservancy analyses the data we will collect on Sept 11 to determine what activities are likely to be causing the debris in the area. For instance, a potato chip bag may indicate picnickers while a 1-quart oil bottle probably came from a boat, and a strapping band likely from a cargo ship.

The information on your data card will be used to help citizens, community groups and schools, municipalities, business and industry, and government agencies develop solutions for pollution problems associated with coastal and water-borne debris. Filling out your data card as accurately as possible will lead to better debris solutions for the community!

For your safety:
- Do not go near any large barrels or drums
- Be careful with sharp objects and syringes
- Wear gloves and close-toed shoes
- Stay out of dunes and natural areas
- Watch out for wildlife
- Don’t lift anything too heavy

Clean-up tips:
- Collect data as a team, with one person recording items on the data cards, while others collect and bag trash.
- Bag all the debris you find on the beach and shoreline (above and below the waterline), but record information only on the items specifically listed on the data card.
- Use tick marks to keep count of your items and enter the total in the box to the left of each debris item.
- Use only numbers to record quantities. Do not write words such as “lots” or “many”
- Leave natural items like driftwood or seaweed on the beach. Avoid stepping on dune plants and grass.

We will limit enrolment to 18 as I’m new to organising and this is run almost like an army operation…We will “adopt” the site together with Hougang Secondary School’s uniformed groups.

You can read all the information here.

1. Part I. The impact of marine debris
2. Part II. Marine Life in Singapore (very cute, we have dugongs and dolphins)
3. Part III. Analysis & Relevance of ICC Data
4. Part IV. What can we do
5. Part V. How to organize a cleanup (for organiser to review)
6. Part VI. Conduct the ICCS briefing

Volunteers will have to bring their own gloves (cotton gloves can be bought from army supplies stores islandwide), black trash bag and poncho/umbrella (we will call off the event in case of lightning) and find their own way to Tanah Merah 3-5. We’ll meet at the NSRCC car park* at 9am on Sept 11. The event will end at 12pm, with all trash bags to be placed at the NSRCC carpark trash bins. I will print out a data card for each group of three.

I need someone who’s familiar with excel to help upload the information to the site. I suppose I *can* do it, but I dislike excel…

E-mail yvonnekoh@gmail.com to register.

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National Service Resort & Country Club,
10 Changi Coast Walk, Singapore 499739
Tel: (65) 6542 8288 Fax: (65) 6545 6508

On the way to the beach

 

This is how clean beaches should look…

 

Sunrise at Pasir Ris.

 

The crows are feasting on rubbish. Bad!

 

PEOPLE! Join me for a beach cleanup with the Brownies in September. All you need to do is read a safety briefing online, show up with your own water + poncho + gloves. More updates after I go down to recce the site…

We’ll be at Tanah Merah Sites 3-5.

I’m expecting a really friendly bunch of people and we won’t bite (unless you want us to). Leave me a message if you want to come along come September. It’s not just picking up trash; data used on the rubbish found is helpful to marine biologists and government authorities.

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The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

— Elizabeth Kubler Ross

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“If I’d learnt one thing from travelling, it was that the way to get things done was to go ahead and do them. Don’t talk about going to Borneo. Book a ticket, get a visa, pack a bag, and it just happens.”

— Alex Garland, “The Beach”