2nd May 2021 – moved all my meetings online and suspended/postponed all face to face events

Update (3rd May 2021) – Singapore reverts to Phase 2 from 8th to 30th May 2021.

Singapore is entering a near-lockdown to arrest the impact of COVID-19 infections, of which we have seen cases in the community increase recently. 

Singapore is experiencing its worst spate of Covid-19 community infections in close to a year, in a painful reminder of how the virus situation can flare up without warning.

But if contact tracing, testing and quarantine protocols are as effective as before, and people do not let their guard down, the current situation could come under control within the next week or so, experts said.

NUS issued a circular last night which has us on 100% WFH this week and 50% thereafter until 23rd May 2021. 

I shifted all my meetings online, declined others which are still face to face and suspended all field trip events (guided walks, mangrove cleanups and habitat enhancement) until 23rd May 2021, which is the period of heightened mitigation as per NUS guidelines.

This affects all NUS Toddycats field events, and the Biodiversity Challenge events with the Biodiversity Friends Forum. Such a pity as this is the best time for undergraduates to experience our guided field trips and I was to begin training of Team Leaders.

Oh well, pandemic reared its head. We will see how things are at end-May.

This pretty much sums up our current situation  – Prof Dale Fisher, chair of the MOH’s National Infection Prevention and Control Committee had “…urged people not to go out unnecessarily for the next few weeks and to minimise mingling with people outside their households.” [link]

We want to avoid another Circuit Breaker – PM Lee at May Day Rally [link]:

“Mr Lee hoped Singaporeans would work together with the Government against the virus, and not let down their guard. He noted that with new strains of the virus emerging, Singapore’s Covid-19 situation can deteriorate rapidly.”

“We are watching our own situation, and it can easily, quickly, turn bad again,” he said.

“If we have to do another lockdown like last year’s circuit breaker, it would be a major setback for our people and for our economic recovery. Let’s not make it happen.” 

He added: “It is not time to relax yet. This is a marathon. Let’s keep jogging. Let’s keep ourselves safe.”

Alright, all hands on deck, and we will beat this!

The Minister of National Development responds in parliament about the fate of Green Spaces in Singapore

About every decade, the constant pressure of development requires a renewal of the understanding of the fate of green spaces in Singapore. Not just by the public, and nature community, but also all of the purposeful agencies of government. The exercise has become an increasingly vociferous, facilitated by the internet and now social media, and this time too, probably by the introspection COVID-19 forced upon us.

So much so, this has been a hotly discussed topic about nature and the environment in our recent history. Stimulated no less by the humble ex-kampung sites of Ulu Pandan and Clementi. The evolving mechanisms of engagement by government have embraced new voices, and we can expect more dialogue about decisions.

Minister Desmond Lee’s speech in parliament today, in response to questions posed by MPs, is certainly required reading. The issues are no longer the substance of private sessions or university classes but being aired in parliament.

I am glad to see this. Participation can be difficult, as can be engagement. But it is also critical to our way ahead.

MND: “Oral Answer by Ministry of National Development on Development Plans for Green Spaces, Feb 1, 2021” [link; pdf]

A peek at Pulau Ubin – sensitising novice visitors with video stories about life there

Pulau Ubin is a truly special place in Singapore with layers of biodiversity, culture, heritage and adventure stories. Since 2014, its role to the Singapore community was enhanced through engagement with various sectors of the community in the Friends of Ubin Network; see the FUN microsite. And since 2015, there is a lovely map!

Since 1998, NUS Toddycats (and its precursor The Habitat Group) introduced members of public to the island through the Pedal Ubin programme. In 2009, all those years of preparation to explain, guide, ensure safety and explore the island was imported into an undergraduate module, LSM2251 Ecology and the Environment.

So twice a year, NUS undergraduates have visited Pulau Ubin to scrutinise the terrestrial habitats on the island and observe birds through bird counts of species and abundance. The class size has varied from 200 at the start to 80+ in recent years. And next Saturday, the 23rd batch visits the island. And typically, for two thirds of them, it will be the first or second time!

This year the students will have move in distanced groups of five, and function more independently of their TAs, in order to avoid congregating, as part of COVID-19 mitigation. We will prepare students with a lab practical to ensure they have a more fulfilling time on the island. they are introduced to the island through maps, photos of avian life and habitats, taught to use a binoculars and we discuss the methods they will use for bird counts.

There are some articles to read, but videos are excellent to sensitise them to several aspects about the island. Several short and good videos have been published about the lure of the kampung feel, nature and various people who work and live in Pulau Ubin. Here I list 15 videos of good quality, all enjoyable, and mostly (11 of 15) less than five minutes long. They were posted online between 2013-2019.

1. “Welcome to Pulau Ubin” (Hiking guide; NParks, 2016) [3:59]
2. “Cycling In Pulau Ubin – What to Look Out For” (NParks 2016) [4:09]
3. “Pulau Ubin – the last rural land left in Singapore,” feat Subaraj Rajathurai (The Telegraph 2014) [2:32]
4. “Life on Ubin,” feat Subaraj Rajathurai (Ethnographica, 2016) [23:29]
5. “Exploring Pulau Ubin’s ecology: More than just a place to escape to,” by Audrey Tan and Marl Cheong (The Straits Times, 2020*) [7:15] *updated 10 Nov 2020
6. “The Boat Operators of Pulau Ubin.” Heritage in Episodes Season 2 (NHB Root.sg, 2013) [7:46]
7. “The Boatmen of Ubin,” (Today, 2018) [3:24]
8. “Living in Pulau Ubin till the end,” feat Mr Ahmad Bin Kassim (Today, 2015) [1:02]
9. “Pulau Ubin’s ‘Ah Ma’,” (Today, 2015) [1:28]
10. “Pulau Ubin ‘is the place that saved us’ WWII survivor,” feat Ahmad Kassim (Today 2017) [2:06]
11. “The Pulau Ubin Crab Hunter,” feat Satay (Our Grandfather Story 2018) [3:18]
12. “A Day In The Life Pulau Ubin’s Postman,” feat Harom Jomahat (The New Paper 2017) [3:37]
13. “A Journey To Pulau Ubin, In Search Of A Lost Home,” feat Nor Syazwan Bin Abdul Majid (Our Grandfather Story, 2019) [3:20]
14. “Singapore Islands returning home to Pulau Ubin – The Islands That Made Us,” feat Ah Liang (CNA 2019) [10:25]
15. “Pulau Ubin Singapore” (Koh Yiwei 2013) [4:26]

I am also glad they will see and hear our iconic and beloved friend of nature, Subaraj Rajathurai, RIP.

Photo from The Telegraph (2014) 

Free exhibition at SBG: “Beneath Tide, Running Forest” – an art and science exploration of Singapore’s marine biodiversity

“Beneath tide, Running forest” is an art and science exploration of Singapore’s marine biodiversity. Curated by Dr. Ruobing Wang, this is a group exhibition by four local artists: Chen Sai Hua Kuan, Shirly Koh, Henry Lee & Wang Ruobing.

Exhibition details: 24 Nov 2018 – 14 Apr 2019: 9:00am – 6:00pm @ Singapore Botanic Gardens: CDL Green Gallery @ SBG Heritage Museum, free entry. For details, visit the NParks webpage.  

Catch artist Henry Lee live in action at the gallery from 2.00pm – 3.00pm on the 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd Dec 2018

 

Discover Pulau Ubin with the month-long Pesta Ubin 2018 with lots of free activities!

From Pesta Ubin 2018 coordinators:

Find a Pesta Ubin activity that suits your interest and schedule [link]

Here’s some FREE activities that do NOT require registration. Just come to Ubin on Sunday morning.

• 27 May (Sun): FREE Ubin Nature Walk with Strix Wildlife Consultancy, 9am-12noon [link]
• 27 May (Sun): FREE Pesta Ubin Photo Booth, 9am-11am [link
• 27 May (Sun): FREE Kampung Games at Teck Seng’s Place with U Cares Volunteers, 10am-2pm [link]
• Ubin Town will also be full of activities as villagers prepare for the Tua Pek Kong Festival which starts 28 May (Mon) [link]
• Activities on Sunday that require registration [link]

The Long-tailed Macaque Working Group is recruiting: human surveyors and monkey guards!

The Long-tailed Macaque Working Group is recruiting! Sign up to contribute here:

• People Surveyor (28 May – 29 Jun 2018), sign up here: http://tinyurl.com/ltmsurveys2018
• Monkey Guards (Wed & Sat from Jun 2018), sign up here: http://tinyurl.com/ltmguards2018

“It’s become so crowded…” – visual comparisons of street directories with One Historical Map

When looking over the Faculty of Science from the Science Library, my former classmates from 30 years ago looked over the faculty against their mental images and remarked, “It’s become so crowded”.

Our BSc class year graduated in 1990 and One Historical Map has street maps from 2017, 2007, 1995, 1984, 1975 and 1966. The webpage allows a side by side comparison and I picked the 2017 and 1995 maps. Yes, it has become crowded indeed.

Click for a larger view.
Street map comparison of Faculty of Science in 2017 (top) and 1995 (below); screenshot from One Historical Map

In addition to building density, student numbers have increased too, especially amongst grad students. There were 4,977 students (4,594 u’grads + 383 grads) in 1994/5 and this had increased to 6,675 students by 2016/17 (5,126 u’grads + 1,549 grad students).

Oh well, during this time, the population density in Singapore increased from 4,814/sq. km to 7,796/sq. km. These are different times indeed.

theory.isthereason.com (and its archives) live on!

More than a decade ago, before Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and what not extinguished the wild wild west of personal blogging, my regular blogging kakis included Ivan Chew and Kevin Lim.

Amidst a larger group of media socialists, we three would meet every couple of years or so for some intense face to face discussions. We’d share experiences and techniques, evaluate ideas and translate some thoughts into overt action.

Some of that underscores how we do things today. So beyond reminiscing, old posts allow me to extract useful lessons from the past to catalyse new effort.

Which is why I’m glad Ivan Chew left his blogspot posts at Rambling Librarian, even after he reimagined himself at artistivanchew.tumblr.com).

I shifted to this WordPress site a decade ago (10th Jan 2008), so those posts are all here. Last year, I managed to salvage and transfer my first blog on the NUS science server to a server fronted by sivasothi.com.

Then two days ago, Kevin announced he had to abandon his expensive MediaTemple host. He’s a geek so quickly found out how to shift to a server, install a WordPress template and that retained his URLs. So theory.isthereason.com, and its archives, lives on!

A passionate Kevin at the “Youtube and beyond” workshop
at the National Library Singapore, 19 Jun 2007

Haze, but its not transboundary – a reminder that we’re polluting our own skies throughout the year

Man oh man, I could not see Bukit Timah hill yesterday morning when I peeked out at 7am to see what the early morning fuss building up on Facebook was all about.

PSI values over at the NEA site had climbed and I was fretting about whether there was going to a repeat of 2015. But the source is local, and NOT transboundary haze – NEA would say “there were no significant hotspots or smoke haze detected in the nearby region”. Yes, all made in Singapore, and accumulating when there is little wind to disperse particles.

And guess what? It’s the early/morning Sumatras storms of Apr-May which will wash it down from the sky! Thanks Sumatra, for being the island that you are, and for Indonesia significantly arresting the massive fires typical of the past years.

Time to take a good look at ourselves!

See Audrey Tan’s article in The Straits Times.

Exercise by briskwalking the Southern Ridges

Torpidity will ruin us so here we go again!

In an effort to get some baseline walking done, and in particular, to help other lethargic NUS staff members, Kenneth, Weiting and I met to discuss possibilities. We had led some walks last year, and had always meant to restart the series.

Two lunch time chats later, and after roping in Joleen and Airani, we decided we can begin with five Friday evening walks, just one a month, on the following dates:

1. Fri 24 Mar 2017: 5.30pm
2. Fri 28 Apr 2017: 5.30pm
3. Fri 19 May 2017: 5.30pm
4. Fri 30 Jun 2017: 5.30pm
5. Fri 28 Jul 2017: 5.30pm

To register, visit the Eventbrite page.