Fri 11 Mar 2016: 4.00pm – Dan Friess – “What’s driving mangrove deforestation in Southeast Asia?”

After a recent breakfast meeting with Dan Friess about mangroves, we chatted briefly about his recent mangrove paper as we were standing. And so much was revealed in that short conversation that I said we should mount a technical seminar at the department.

The schedule of speakers are filled well in advance but this Friday’s slot suddenly opened up a week ago and Dan was game. An Nee had the poster ready by the end of week and it was circulated to the university and seminar notice subscribers this Monday. You can join us – just sign up with name and email at Eventbrite. A number of mangrove workers are coming!

Other details at NUS Biodiversity Crew.

How green is your coastal cleanup?

Joys Tan (ICCS-IKEA Intern 2016) and I met up with a representative from a corporate group intending to initiate coastal cleanups in Singapore. Although new to the operational side of things, they were familiar with the outlook. So it was easy enough to explain the idea behind coastal cleanups.

When we discussed the green-audit of their cleanup and other events, we highlighted that every act would translate to major reductions of waste generation, given the large number of individuals they were inviting to the event.

To follow up, I will email this painting by Becky Lee (ICCS-IKEA Intern 2015). It succinctly conveys the suggestions from our Organiser’s Workshop and final email to Organiser’s. The language on the poster was kept mild but the email to Organisers is a little more persuasive.

Including a green audit in any event is critical, especially environmental ones. It is really sad if a group generates more waste (even with proper disposal) than they managed to clear from the beach! I will incorporate that question into the registration procedure for the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore this year.