Recycling (contribution by Faith)

Thanks to Faith for sending in the below:

Here's some of my mini recycling projects. Not sure if useful enough :) just my small efforts in recycling.


The first one was a cover I sewed for my vacuum cleaner. I used 2 old stretchable sleeveless t-shirts. I cut off the top portions of both t-shirts, then sew the top opening of the pink one to the bottom of the white top. Finally sealed (sew) up the top of the white t-shirt.


The second was a cover for my foot massager. The material was from my broken umbrella (removed the metal skeletons/frame). I just sew up the small hole on top of the umbrella. Then hemmed around the circumference/parameter of the material and inserted elastic band. It covers my massager snuggly :)


Hee, I couldn't bear to throw away my umbrella material. Cos I threw away once and later realised I could use it for something else cos the material is waterproof. Quite happy that this pink one came in useful after keeping it for quite sometime :D

Previous related articles:

• Recycled T-shirts
• Old to New (Update)
• Old to newUsing your unwanted clothes (or those that don't fit anymore!)
• Something to do with your shoeboxes
• Buying 2nd hand goods
• Reuse and Pets

Recycle

Deadorblack (thanks!) sent me the below link with this comment "hahah. maybe you can try to show the odd ways some people try to promote green issues."

Well, see for yourself...

Don't discard, when you can recycle and give joy to underprivileged

For stuff we don't want, we can try the recycling bins, the thirft shop, freecyclesg, swaptree, forum boards, rag and bone man, etc....or as one other blog suggested, the "put your stuff on sidewalk with sign saying Free To Take" method.

Recycled T-Shirts 2

Hi! Hope you're enjoying the rest of your weekend. This is an update of the Recycled T-shirts (sorry about the blurry images). I got an old polo T-shirt that is sitting on the "retired" section of my wardrobe, and green scraps. Instead of reverse applique as tuted on the alabamachanin site, I've used direct applique. Trying to find a nice button for the bird. Not couture, but I'm happy with it :-)

Previous related articles:

• Recycled T-shirts
• Old to New (Update)
• Old to newUsing your unwanted clothes (or those that don't fit anymore!)
• Something to do with your shoeboxes
• Buying 2nd hand goods
• Reuse and Pets

Flock

Keep seeing adverts for this "eco-browser" called Flock and you know me, I just have to try it. According to its website, it is powered by the same technology as Firefox is and gives 10% back to help the environment. Have tried it and it seems quite interesting. There are so many "green" news listings that I don't hardly know where to place my eyes and where to begin. The add ons are great too, as they link up to popular online services such as flickr, blogger, facebook, with a media center to keep track of all your pictures, videos, etc. I still haven't quite got the hang of it but I'm sure I could potentially use up many hours on it (which hopefully I don't! ;p).

Reminds me of this new "eco-search" called Ecocho, which supposedly grows trees with its earnings.


Whose black version reminds me of blackle, a black version of google which supposedly saves power compared to the white one.



Happy weekend all!

Recycled T-shirts

Remember when I reconstructed my black T-shirt?

Well, if you don't have a sewing machine or are not confident with reconstructing a whole T-shirt, why not opt for appliques?

I came across this idea at http://www.alabamachanin.com/ after stumbling Alabama Frugal Moms.

The owner of this line of clothing is Natalie Chanin handmakes her couture line (yes, couture!) from recycled t-shirt fabric. What she does is take t-shirts that she finds at thrift stores and recycles or "upcycles" them into couture clothing. Take a look at the Alabama Chanin jacket on the right made with hundreds of appliqued squares from recycled t-shirts! Unbelievable!

Take a look at her free tutorial on the technique Natalie uses. Basically, anyone can do it as it's just the application of a running stitch and all you need is an old T-shirt that fits and some scrap material.

I'm sure being in a tropical nation, we have lots of T-shirts that we've grown tired of stashed in our cupboards! I have decided to give it a go tomorrow afternoon. Will have some pics by then!


Previous related articles

• Old to New (Update)
• Old to newUsing your unwanted clothes (or those that don't fit anymore!)
• Something to do with your shoeboxes
• Buying 2nd hand goods
• Reuse and Pets

Rising Cotton Prices

So far we are reeling from a shortage of food and thus higher food prices. Food crops are making way for biofuel crops, like soya and sugar cane. The other impact that will affect our pockets is the increase in cotton prices. As farmers are shifting to lucrative biofuel crops, there is a gap in the agricultural industry and so some cotton farmers are either being encouraged to grow food crops or are also jumping on the biofuel bandwagon. The result is a decreasing cotton crop, and with the increasing demand from booming economies like China and India, the price of cotton has jumped from 74 US cents/pound in 2007 to 80 US cents/pound (source: BBC). So, expect to pay more for your clothes next year. That's of course if you're not going to buy new clothes and reconstruct /recycle your old ones! But that will be another post :-) . Btw, if you are speculating in commodities, please stop. It just drives up the prices and aggravates the whole situation. It's an irresponsible way of investing and it ruins people's lives.

Baby bottles containing BPA off Toys R Us shelves

Quite late on this one but think I was looking at the wrong place and at the wrong title. This one actually says "No ban as plastic baby bottles safe: AVA" If not reading the article I would have thought it was a forum reply.

Toys R Us have also replied my email to inform that they "have voluntarily pulled them of the shelves". But the article and the reply doesn't state which bottles - as in ALL or only those containing BPA? That one will require me to go down to one I suppose.

Previous articles:
Ready for more BPA news?
BPA again
dangers of PVC and limiting BPA and Phthalates
BPA and the whole baby bottle issue

ah...forums

This is a funny little forum article written by an Australian (now ex) expat on her take of Singapore's green efforts (or lack thereof). Anyway, as deadorblack who sent me this link points out, read the comments (ya I keep saying so but comments are really sometimes better than the actual article! :)).

Some were in reply to this particular part:
"We have been shopping for clothing for our new granddaughter, as well as buying various items for ourselves, and of course buying delicious food. In one week, we had accumulated 52 plastic bags! Where are the bins that should be in every supermarket where clean bags can be recycled? Even a small item purchased in a department store is placed in a special and often fancy paper bag for the sole purpose of being transported home where it is thrown in the bin, never to be used again. "

...and asking she didn't just refuse the plastic bags. And one wondered why she just didn't switch off the air con or look for recycling locations.

But I would agree with the writer's experience of the enormous numbers of bags we can receive. I read somewhere the other day in another article someone practically exclaiming how in the UK they could receive 290 bags a year and that was something. Well, here, if you just take a minute to notice, you might realise you've taken one bag for a purchase at the pharmacy, one bag for that takeaway, one bag for your juice, one bag for those clothes/shoes you just bought, one bag for the newspaper (!!) etc. etc....I think we could do 290 bags in, erm, one month.

Earth Day Activities: Trees planted at Pasir Ris Park

One of the local earth day activities - 145 trees planted at Pasir Ris Park on Earth Day. Seems like there wasn't much publicity on it and where are the pictures??! Instead of some eating place (what does that have to do with the article?) I'd like to see some of the rubbish bins that were made, the children planting the trees or something...guess no photographer went down...

Previous articles

What is "going green"...squeezing in another two.....
It's Earth Day Today (22 April)!
Earth Day

What is "going green"...squeezing in another two...:)

It means making a conscious effort not to waste anything.
It does not mean using something that is biodegradable when it is unnecessary to use it in the first place. Ie printing emails. The email may not need to be printed in the first place, but I chose to print it on recycled paper as part of my go green efforts.
- Su Yin

Going green means putting used paper, unwanted mailers, plastic/glass bottles, paper packaging and stuff that can't be reused into the green recycling bag, wearing cloth pads instead of disposables, thinking what I can reuse instead of buying a new item, learning ways to green my life and sharing them with my family and friends.
- Coboypb

Food Crisis

Have you read the latest article in yesterday's My Paper ? It was titled "The World is Singapore's Pasar". That pretty much sums up how we get our food. It's amazing that we actually get some of our food from places as far as Namibia and even Chile. I'm sure the argument for getting our food from such far flung places is because we have to diversify our food sources just in case there is a shortage or prices from certain sources are high. This is happening in the case of rice.

The dilemma governments are now having is either to source for other places of food, go for GM foods (and face the wrath of its citizens e.g. in the West) or face political destabilisation. Singapore is not facing the latter but according to the World Bank, 33 countries are now facing both political destabilisation and internal conflict due to increasing food prices (e.g. Phillipines, Egypt). This is what the World Bank recently had to say about the food crisis:

Bio-energy The report says biofuels compete for land and water with food crops and are inefficient. They can cause deforestation and damage soils and water.

Biotechnology The use of GM crops, where the technology is not contained, is contentious, the UN says. Data on some crops indicate highly variable yield gains in some places and declines in others.

Climate change While modest temperature rises may increase food yields in some areas, a general warming risks damaging all regions of the globe. There will be serious potential for conflict over habitable land.

Trade and markets Subsidies distort the use of resources and benefit industrialised nations at the expense of developing countries.

Previous articles:
The evils of global capitalism
IMF Statement on rising food prices
Eating Locally 2
Can we eat locally?
seafood

Composting/Wormery

An example I found on flickr of a wormery...didn't know if you wanted to see the worms but there are plenty of other pictures with them in!

Well, I've been seeing this idea of a wormery being introduced in a few articles of late. A recent Green options posting complained that another article titlted, "Top 10 Craziest Environmental Ideas" was undermining good eco ideas. I started by reading the then lone comment and went on to the article which had this as one of their ten - Keep Worms in the Kitchen. Ok, at first this doesn't sound like such a bright idea, but you know how I like the idea of composting and searching wiki, this wormery idea is called Vermicomposting, good for people who don't have space for a composting bin (according to this week's ethicalliving Tread Lightly posting)!

The Ethical Living post says:

If you don't have outside space for a compost bin, a wormery is a good alternative. This is an enclosed bin into which you introduce tiger worms. The worms munch their way through your waste and produce compost, plus a liquid that can be diluted with water and used as plant food.

According to the wiki, we can throw in a number of things from the kitchen:

Kitchen waste suitable for worms includes coffee grounds and filters, tea bags and plate scrapings, as well as rotting fruit (including citrus fruit but NOT citrus peel), vegetable peels, leftovers, moldy bread, etc. These materials can be raw or cooked. They do not have to be ground up, as the micro-organisms in the bin will gradually soften them. However, if a large quantity of dry food (e.g., moldy bread) is added and covered with bedding, pour a little purified water over the bedding to moisten the mixture.

If too much kitchen waste is added, the bin mixture putrifies before the worms can process it and becomes harmful to the worms. High-protein foods like beans are particularly susceptible. Check the bin at least once a week, give the materials a stir to oxygenate, and add bedding if the bin appears too moist.

Soft garden wastes such as carrot tops and tomato leaves are suitable foods. An occasional sprinkling of garden soil in the bin gives the worms the grit they need to digest food. It's not harmful to throw in an entire plant, but the worms will not process the woody parts or large roots and these will have to be hand-removed later from the finished vermicompost.

Compostable plates, cups, etc. are also suitable, but in small bins they should be torn first into smaller pieces so as not to block oxygen flow.

Anyone? Anyone???

It's Earth Day Today (22 April)!

For Earth Day I decided to ask a few of my friends what "going green" means to them, and what it doesn't mean too.
Share yours too in the comments!

Here goes:

Going green - Actually doing something useful like taking short cold showers, using fewer squares of toilet paper, switching off lights etc when not in use...
Not - Using "Going Green" as a commercialising tool
- Chris
(ya, cut down on that toilet paper!)

To not be wasteful.
Does not mean having extravagant gigs occuring simultaneously as an excuse to create awareness of the 'green cause'.
- deadorblack
(we all know what you mean...)

Going green means actively doing something, be it saving paper or energy or fuel, even it's for just one day. It does not mean wearing green or Save The Earth T-shirts.
- Suhaili
(oh shucks)

Going green to save the planet? no, it's more to save "us" human beings. the planet will survive, not us in the long run...
- Alvin
(mr cynical)

Going green means you spare a thought for the earth and it does not mean eating vegetables only!
- Phantasmagoria
(needs to watch meatrix...)

''Going green" for me basically means R & R - reduce unnecessary wastage and recycle all recyclables where possible. Like limiting the usage of air-con at night and reusing plastic packaging (from mail or chips,etc) to put up my doggie's poo poo. ;p Going green requires conscientious and continuous effort ,not a one-off thing like Earth Hour where pple switched off lights for 1 hr yet causing more wastage and harm to the environment for the rest of the year.
- Sherilyn
(green your pet why not!)

Ready for more BPA news?

Health Highlights: April 19, 2008
Washington Post - United States
Canadian health officials announced plans Friday to limit the use of the controversial chemical bisphenol A, a move that could lead to a ban on baby bottles ...

Canada leads way with ban on baby bottles containing bisphenol A

Vancouver Sun - British Columbia, Canada
OTTAWA - The government announced Friday that Canada will be the first country to ban plastic baby bottles with bisphenol A after concluding the chemical is ...

FACTBOX: Key facts on baby bottle chemical bisphenol A
Reuters - USA
(Reuters) - Here are the main facts about the chemical bisphenol A, used in polycarbonate baby bottles that Canada said on Friday it planned to ban. ...

Feds move to ban baby bottles with bisphenol A
National Post - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
Chris Wattie/ReutersBaby bottles free of the chemical bisphenol A are seen during a news conference with Canada's Health Minister Tony Clement in Ottawa ...

Grocery Manufacturers Association: Canadian Risk Assessment ...
FOXBusiness - USA
"We welcome today's Health Canada/Environment Canada BPA risk assessment, as most of its findings are in line with the overwhelming body of scientific ...

Better safe than sorry, Ottawa says of plastic ban
Globe and Mail - Canada
In one of the most significant regulatory moves in decades, Canada is set to become the first country in the world to list bisphenol A as a toxic substance ...

Consumer demand bottled up
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
Environment Minister John Baird, left, and Health Minister Tony Clement hand out baby bottles that are free of bisphenol A to 5-month-old Georgia Symonds ...

Something to know about your Nalgene and baby bottles
Houston Chronicle - United States
Parents are wondering whether they, too, should worry about bisphenol A. Those who err on the side of caution face the task of deciphering which products ...

Reviews and views

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Our email is greenissuessg@gmail.com

BPA again

Canada takes lead in declaring bisphenol A toxic, Globeandmail, 18 April 2008: Health Minister Tony Clement announced yesterday the intention for Canada to list BPA as a toxic substance and ban the use of PC plastic baby bottles. Additionally there is warning for pregnant women to about drinking from heated PC bottles.

Back from the pet shop...

One of the 2-3 recycle choices. But at $19 a (6kg) pop...

Pets for the Environment?

Now the popular Cosmetics Database is not just about people's (aka human) beauty products and such, they also have information on keeping your pet safe (from chemicals, etc.). There's even a blog...seems like this is EWG's pet project (oops, excuse the pun). The only think I don't quite so like about this site is that you've to sign up to send an ecard, and probably to do other things (which I didn't try). I dislike having to give up personal info online all the time. Perhaps I should expect it for free services but I think there are also enough free services that don't expect that of us. Ok, sidetracked.

Of the tips, I think these are the most relevant:

• Choose pet food without the chemical preservatives BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin, vary cats’ diets to limit their exposure to mercury in seafood, and choose organic or free-range ingredients rather than “by-products.”
• Replace older foam pet bedding, and replace or reupholster furniture with exposed or crumbling foam where flame retardants are found.
• Avoid nonstick pans. An overheated nonstick pan can kill pet birds, and it gives off chemicals that may be bad for other pets and people too. Try cast iron instead.
• Use kitty litter made of plant sources like wheat or recycled newspaper. Clay-based kitty litter is strip-mined, causing extreme environmental damage during extraction.
• Get biodegradable, compostable doo-bags for when you go on walks with your pooch—or just reuse bags like plastic newspaper wrappers.
• Not only are flea collars generally ineffective, they’re also a source of constant toxic exposure for your pet and family. Instead, vacuum often and thoroughly, bathe your pet regularly, and ask your vet or local pet store about safer flea treatments and repellents.
• Try a mild baby shampoo intended for human use instead of a pet product. Just like human products, pet grooming product manufacturers aren’t required to test their grooming products for safety—but unlike human products, they’re not even required to list ingredients on labels. Use EWG’s Skin Deep at cosmeticsdatabase.com to find one that’s right for your pet.

But ok, the one about using wheat as litter may present an irony to me, since we are saying that lack (Fresh records for price of wheat, Feb 08, BBC) thereof has been causing rising food prices.

Please refer: The cost of food: facts and figures, BBC



Ok, now I sound like such a wet blanket.
Did a quick search and most "green" kitty litters are made of corn, wheat, pine or recycled newspapers. I would think not all are available. I shall update after I drop by the pet shop.

• Cat Country Organic: Made from wheatgrass fiber.
• Feline Pine: Made from recycled pine wood.
• Good Mews: Made from recycled newspapers.
• Nature's Miracle: Made from corn cobs.
• One Earth Cat Litter: Made from corn cobs and yucca and pine woods.
• PaPurr Scoop: Made from recycled paper.
• Swheat Scoop: Made from non-food grade wheat.
• World's Best Cat Litter: Made from whole-kernel corn.
• Yesterday's News: Made from recycled newspapers.

I've emailed Straits Times to ask if they use Soy or petroleum based inks. If soy based, guess it is a good option for that kitty litter.

Reviews: Soaps and such....organic? fairtrade? biodegradable?

Thought a list of the common popular organic/natural products found locally could be helpful but do need your help to complete and populate the list. Please send in your comments and I'll continually update this entry to reflect the added information.

Remember you can check up most of the products by these brands (if they are popular US ones) at the Cosmetics Database.

1. Dr Bronner's Soaps produces organic, fairtrade and biodegradable bar and liquid soaps for children and adults.


2. Badger Balm: As name suggests, well known for its many different organic natural balms of essential oils, formulated to be used for various purposes.



3. California Baby: Popular for its organic shampoo

4. Burt's Bees: A company that's been in the news lately for having been sold to Chlorox.

The evils of global capitalism

These are my thoughts to follow-up on the Eating Locally posts.

The economic boom of China is evidence that capitalism rules. It's not just capitalism but global capitalism. Countries from around the globe are flocking to China to invest and make it part of their global commodity chain. For example, Norway is shipping its salmon or mackeral for processing in China before shipping it elsewhere for packing. It's basically about increasing profit margins - lust and greed :-)

Globalisation, I believe, has speeded up the destruction of the environment. Before global capitalism, people would eat locally. I remember when our family was in the UK in the 70s, our only fruit were seasonal apples, strawberries, pears and other berries. We hardly had bananas or melons. Now with the initiatives of the World Trade Organisation and free trade agreements, countries are pulling down trade barriers, which basically means everyone and anyone can come and invest in the country. With the increased affluence we get increased consumption. Using China as an example it definitely doesn;t look sustainable:

a) it now eats 50% of the world's pork, cement
b) consumes one third of the world's steel
c) consumes a quarter of its aluminium
d) spends 35 times more on imports of soya beans and crude oil compared with 1999
e) has swalloed over 4/5 of the increase in the world's copper supply since 2000
f) its steelmaking industry uses 16% of China's power (vs. 10% for all of China's households combined)
g) pollution amounts to 10% of its GDP

Okay, so if capitalism is bad for the environment, should we turn to socialism? In theory, it should be better for the environment, but by looking at what was the former USSR and the former eastern bloc of Europe, the environment wasn't better off either.

There is one success story though: Cuba. Cuba is still communist and under trade sanctions from their arch-enemy, USA. With the collapse of USSR, Cuba literally had no friends left and no economic support. What to do? They ended up turning to organic agriculture and urban agriculture. They have been successful. According to the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) The Living Planet Report 2006, Cuba is the only country in the world that enjoys sustainable development (commitment to improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems). Castro must be laughing at the USA!. They had a GDP of ~12% in 2006, the highest in the Latin American region.

At the 48th anniversary of Cuba's revolution, Castro said: "Humanity is going through difficult times, marked by wars and dangers that arise everywhere, plus a non-stop consumption process — typical of the globalized imperialist system — which is exhausting important natural resources and polluting the environment. That alone justifies our heroic struggle."

With Castro handing over his leadership to another, I wonder whether the USA will lift the trade embargo. Lifting the embargo will probably be the beginning of the end of this success story. I can imagine the Starbucks and McDs etc invading the Cuban market as the "liberators", and the ideals of capitalism....

IMF Statement on rising food prices

Been hearing on the news how rising food prices will cause starvation and even lead to war.

Impact of High Food and Fuel Prices on Developing Countries—Frequently Asked Questions - insightful clear point by point explanation of some major points in this issue.
Food Price Rises Threaten Efforts to Cut Poverty - IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn's statement on this issue at the recent 10th April press conference.

Recycling

Just read a headline that said NEA says we're on track to 60% cycling by 2012. I can't find more information but will post if I do. Tell us if you come across.

Earth Day

Earth Day is around the corner (22 Apr), and it's supposed to be a celebration of the environment and a time to assess the work still needed to protect the natural gifts of our planet. Earth Day has actually been around since 1969 when it was first started in the US. However, there isn't a main organiser that sponsors the event unlike World Environment Day which is funded by the United Nations Environment Programme. This year's theme is "A Call for Climate".

So, what's going to happen in Singapore for Earth Day? According to the Earth Day website, Earth Day will be celebrated with a morning walk and picnic at Yishun Park. Apparently, it's organised by NSS, NEA and NW CDC., and you get a nature brochure on Yishun Park created by students of North View Primary School. It's funny, cos I can't find anything about this on the NEA website, and is this all? I mean it doesn't really go with the theme for Earth Day, right? Maybe their planning more events for World Environment Day, instead.

World Environment Day, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972, is on 6 Jun 08, and will be hosted in New Zealand with celebrities. The slogan for 2008 is "CO2, Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy." Well, the "in" environmental news around is climate change. I'm just wondering why they can't channel the resources for both events into one, rather than have 2.

Technorati Tags: earth day

Recycling being the law

When we first started this blog, someone wrote me to say how unhappy she was with neighbourhood recycling, stating a few reasons of how not finding bins and residents abusing them were causing problems and hiccups in recycling. She added she hoped we could help in education as perhaps it may be one key way of stopping people from throwing food into the paper bins and all. I'm not surprised with the situation - I even remember one time people 'stole' from the recycling bins?

I came across this rather interesting video via this ecoworldly on mandatory recycling in South Korea (it's law!). I knew from a visit a few years ago that I had to pay around 10 cents for a plastic bag but I never knew the extent of recycling (not to mention mandatory composting!) that they went to. In a recent visit to Japan, I noticed recyling bins being the norm for trash bins everywhere (separated into combustible and non combustible waste, etc.) but when I did peep into one out of curiosity, it was a mixture of things which just looked like unsorted trash to me.

The video stated a few environmental benefits seen by South Korea so far...
so, would you like recycling to be mandatory?

I guess old habits really don't die hard. In this case, they can die real easy and this also is a good case of why we need good infrastructure here too to promote recycling habits through easy access to recycling points and harder access to junking points.

Old to new (update 2)

Ta dah! It's finished! Managed to complete my reconstructed top on Sunday (with the help of my hubby watching over my son; he refused to nap). Been at it since beginning of March (see post and update) Hope you like it.

I'm now thinking of raiding my hubby's old

T-shirts and turn them into shorts for my growing son! :-)

are you interested in finding out too?

A little gadget, called the Kill A Watt (what a play on kw) will when plugged in with your electronics, tell you how much power they are guzzling. Interesting cos people are using it to monitor their power usage and figure out also what's making their electricity bill higher than expected.

Do you think this is something you'd do?

Once again, do read the comments. Interesting as always.

Related entries:
Earth Hour's coming and there's a local intiative
"Walking to the shops 'damages planet more than going by car"
Energy Day and Climate Change

Technorati Tags: power, electricity, energy
Green Issues

Grammar Blues (greens?)

Recently friends and I have been coming across a lot of grammatical errors and sometimes they really tickle us to bits. We've even joked about making a list. It reminded me of this little napkin I picked up one day. I like that there's a "green" messeage...but sigh - the grammar mistake

Eating Locally 2

A lot of our food in Singapore is imported from all corners of the globe. In fact only, just the other day I found that the mackeral that I had bought was from Norway but had actually been processed in China and packed in Singapore. The reasons for this is purely economics. Yes, it costs a lot cheaper for the Norwegians to ship their mackeral to China for processing and then have it shipped again to Singapore for packing.

Even a lot of the organic food in our supermarkets are from overseas. Is it worth buying organic food when it has contributed to pollution?

I read about the 100 mile diet which started in North America. Participants buy produce that has been grown within 100 mile radius of where they live. 100 miles for Singapore means just south of KL and Sumatra.

Some of our vegetables are grown locally and in Malaysia and Indonesia. When it comes to meats, we can only import poultry from Malaysia (not Indonesia) and from countries as faraway as Brazil. For fish, only about 5% is accounted for by local foodfish aquaculture. Rice, our main staple, is from places like Thailand and Australia. I think this 100 mile diet would be difficult for a place like Singapore.

I've sourced a couple of places where we can buy our veggies and they're all located at Lim Chu Kang:
http://www.bollywoodveggies.com/ >> organic farm with a restaurant
http://www.greencircle.com.sg/sales/index.htm >> some local and organic vegetables
http://www.haydairies.com.sg/ >> goats milk
http://aerogreentech.com.sg/ >> aerogreen vegetables grown locally

The reason green issues doesn't have that many posts...

is it this? Nah, don't think so really, but perhaps there's a link that you may not be that well if you wanna keep up to the 24/7 of the web..
you can help ensure this doesn't happen to us by submitting your comments and inputs...:)

write us at greenissuessg@gmail.com

weirdly confusing eco battles

Here's another funny situation that boggles the mind - for the eco conscious, do you do trees or do you do solar panels? And what if your trees block someone's solar panels? Unfortunately that shade doesn't stop things from getting hot in this neighbourly dispute.

Green in the office

I think people are confused about what they should be doing to green their life.

This is a funny little article about greening the office. Some of the more vivid points are how the different companies actually do opposing things (paper cups to glass to save on landfill, glass to paper to save on electricity used by the dishwasher) to "save" the environment. And how, despite living in the same city where you work and walking nearly everywhere, your carbon footprint could still be three times higher than elsewhere in the world. And also, how knowing that, some people may actually decide to move closer to work.

And oh, the compost idea sounds lovely, absolutely lovely....

And someone asked me what compost was...

Can popular animation encourage ecofriendliness?

This article on a recent book that claims Walt Disney movies have environmental messages is rather interesting, as I start to wonder how to select and supervise what my girl is watching and exposed to (a Herculean task). (speaking of Disney, one must read Disney Wars). For one thing, I think Bambi does touch on how humans threaten the forest environment. I remember not really enjoying that show cos it was so sad (even if Thumper was cute).

This concept actually reminds me of the animations by Studio Ghibli, such as Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Laputa: Castle in the Sky and others which deal with environmental issues as well. Those are rather more adult-ish and different in feel (probably because they emerge from a different culture).

At the same time, I'm not thinking it's an endorsement to up and go watch all such movies. I think people still need to use their discretion and though these animations can influence trends, there has to be a lot more and we also need to exercise discretion that one good thing also doesn't make the whole good sometimes.

Can we eat locally?

Some of you may remember a news article in MyPaper last week about what families all over the world buy for the groceries each week and how much it costs. Check out the comparison here : http://ambersbug.gaia.com/blog/2007/11/what_is_eaten_in_one_week

I noticed that families from the less developed countries didn't purchase or probably weren't able to purchase fancy products like breakfast cereals, fizzy drinks and processed foods. Compare America (above) and Ecuador. They also had a pic of Singapore, which unfortunately, I can't find, but it's similar to the American one.

Can you imagine all the packaging that goes into the processed food? Not only that, I bet most of the food in well developed countries like Singapore and the US are imported. Just think of all the air miles they've accumulated on the plane (or ship), and hence the pollution they've generated along the way. Why not buy local produce?

Recollecting what I bought last week at the supermarket, I realised that it's pretty difficult to get local produce for some of my purchases. On top of that, I wasn't even sure where the product came from as the label either said "Processed in xxxx country" or "Distributed by xxxx Country", which is rather misleading. Furthermore, I know that although some processed products may state that they are made in country x, in fact, some of their ingredients may be imported, which makes things difficult.

OK, so here's what I bought last week. I'm having a bit of trouble sorting out the local products, but you can see most of the products are from overseas.
Imports
Limes (Thailand), Beijing cabbage, Spinach(China), pork (Australia), UHT milk (NZ), pears (China), huai shan (China), potatoes (US), garlic (China), apples (NZ), grapefruit (Aust), grapes (Aust), raisins (US, altho it says packed in Spore).

Local (according to label)
Cauliflower, long beans, sio pek chye, brown sugar, prima deli flour (not too sure whether considered as local as we don't grow wheat!), tofu (Spore brand, but maybe the beans come from elsewhere), butter (ditto), NTUC brand wholemeal bread (baked in Malaysia tho, ingredients from???)

Hope this can get you to start thinking of the impact of your purchases in the food department!
My next post on "Can we eat locally?" will be an attempt to list down where we can get REAL local produce.

Thanks to Kirsty for giving me the idea for this post!

seafood

You like seafood? So do I. Now, should I apologise but here are some things you might want to know about seafood. Sometimes it takes the kick out of the enjoyment of eating, as isn't it great to enjoy whatever you want to eat, right? But guess there are concerns (Mercury, PCBs and ecological effects) that aren't allowing us to do so all the time...

Mercury in canned tuna - esp relevant for moms who make tuna sandwiches for their little 'uns
What Women Should know about fish - a pdf guide, esp relevant to those who are wanting a little 'un...
More seafood guides from Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch - which seafood to buy and why...