Pulau Hantu
A few kilometres south-west of Sentosa Island, Pulau Hantu comprises two islets with a surrounding reef. The area has an abundance of hard and soft corals, and local marine life including clown anemone fish, anemone shrimps, giant clams and a wide variety of nudibranchs. Bamboo sharks are also spotted and divers are encouraged to report sightings to the Coastal Marine Ecology and Sustainability Laboratory (cmesl.org/sharks), where a team from Singapore’s James Cook University is studying the biology and ecology of this species.
Debby Ng started an online blog, The Hantu Bloggers (pulauhantu.sg) in 2003, to showcase the diversity of marine life. This developed into a non-profit volunteer dive organisation, raising awareness and inspiring action to protect Singapore’s biologically diverse reefs.Funds are raised through public guided dives of the reef. Group members also undertake educational talks and assist researchers and local authorities such as the Maritime Port Authority.
An important part of the Hantu Blog’s work is education. “Part of our work is to help people realise why it’s meaningful for an urban country like Singapore to understand and develop our coastal areas in a sustainable way,” says Debby.
The Hantu reef also hosts a vulnerable population of tigertail seahorses, who play a significant role in the marine ecosystem. Divers and snorkellers can report sightings through the global initiative Project Seahorse at iseahorse.org.
Hantu Blog members’ frequent visits to the reef mean they can monitor changes in the area. Divers noticed a significant amount of construction debris around the reef and reported this to the Maritime Port Authority, who sent out a surveyor team. A salvage operation was planned, and members of the dive group took the engineers out to the reef to help crane out the debris, which included paint cans, paint rollers, and boxes of nails. “Because we’re at the reef regularly, we could narrow down the time window to when the debris likely appeared,” says Debby. “This helped the Maritime Port Authority track down the responsible party.”

Sisters’ Islands
The waters around the Sisters’ Islands, south of Sentosa, were designated Singapore’s first ever marine park in 2015.
“This was a very important step for marine conservation in Singapore,” says Debby. “National Parks engaged all marine users in the process, to provide them with reef awareness. People were used to going wherever they wanted, but these new laws now govern how they interact with the reef.”
The Marine Park protects coral reefs, inhabited by rare and endangered species of seahorses, clams, fish and other marine life. It’s also home to Singapore’s first turtle hatchery, providing a favourable environment for baby turtles to incubate, hatch safely and make it out to sea. Despite the busy waterways around Singapore, the coast is home to several species of turtles, including Hawksbill and Green turtles. The hatchery aims to increase the survival rate of turtle babies through technology, research and community involvement.
Late in 2018, as part of the National Park Board’s ‘Grow a Reef Garden’ project, an artificial reef structure was sunk within the Marine Park. The project will add additional reefs to the area, to support and enhance the existing habitat.
For visitors to the Sisters’ Islands, National Parks provides regular guided coastal walks, and an underwater self-guided dive trail for divers and snorkellers. (nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/sisters-islands-marine-park).

Pulau Ubin
Ria Tan, founder of the website Wild Singapore (wildsingapore.com), and co-author of a book of the same name, has been working in conservation in Singapore for nearly 20 years. She was one of the founding members of the Restore Ubin Mangroves (R.U.M) initiative, formed by a group of people passionate about restoring the mangrove habitat on Pulau Ubin. “These mangroves provide a vital habitat for wildlife and aquatic life,” says Ria.
The project involved monitoring the mangroves of Pulau Ubin, regular site clean-ups, undertaking biodiversity surveys and mapping surveys with researchers, and holding guided mangrove walks to educate Pulau Ubin visitors about this important habitat.
Pulau Ubin hosts one of Singapore’s richest ecosystems, the Chek Jawa intertidal flat. The area also has mangroves, a seagrass lagoon, rock pools, and a sandbar, providing homes for rare plants and animals. Local conservation group the Naked Hermit Crabs (nakedhermitcrabs.blogspot.sg) conducts guided tours of the Chek Jawa area, raising awareness of the importance of the ecosystem and the hermit crabs that call it home. Chek Jawa’s seagrass beds, home to Hawksbill turtles, seahorses and other species, are the subject of ongoing monitoring by Team Seagrass (teamseagrass.blogspot.com). This volunteer group has been monitoring the seagrasses on Singapore’s shores since 2007. Changes in seagrass health can impact marine biodiversity, and often act as an early warning of impacts from coastal development, pollution and climate change. Team Seagrass submits their data to National Parks, and to Seagrass-Watch, a global seagrass monitoring project. Volunteers from Team Seagrass conduct guided tours of some of Singapore’s seagrass beds and the group is always looking for more volunteers. “It’s a great opportunity for ordinary people to experience some of our best seagrass meadows and contribute to scientific monitoring of them,” says Ria.

GEMS World Academy (Singapore)

“Our school has implemented a series of initiatives that aim to reduce its environmental footprint and encourage our students to be more aware of the environment and make a difference in our local and overseas communities, so that we have a sustainable planet to share,” says Sebastien Barnard, Head of Admissions and Marketing.

How green is your school?
We are an environmentally responsible campus. A great significance has also been placed on the reduction of energy consumption through campus design measures – such as reducing the amount of air conditioned spaces with natural ventilation and shade and providing more natural light to cut back on artificial lighting.

What are your students doing?
Our students are really pushing the environmental and recycling projects at GEMS. They’re tracking their plastic consumption at home and at school and trying to come up with innovative solutions on reducing single-use plastic and using water wisely. Our students also organise monthly environmental events, such as beach clean-ups.

How do you recycle?
Recycling bins have been placed throughout the campus and GEMS educators always look for new innovative ideas to reduce our negative impact on the environment. They recycle, re-purpose and sometimes even create art and design pieces from waste. We’ve turned carton boxes into stage backdrops, pop tabs into bags, wooden cable holders into tables, and old magazines into art. Our new Design Centre has been equipped with smart recycling facilities to raise awareness of plastic pollution, resource management and our responsibility to recycle and protect our environment.

What yearly environmental programs do you have?
Each year at GEMS students are invited to participate in a ‘Week-Without-Walls’ experience, designed to offer opportunities outside of the classroom. Last year, our students travelled to South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. They worked alongside the local community in a range of sustainability activities and had the opportunity to participate in other local service projects and cultural activities. We also teach valuable lessons about pollution in the ocean by using our Olympic-size swimming pool as a plastic dump before a big swim-a-thon. This provocation activity helps our students to think about how we share finite resources with other people and living things.

What other student-led initiatives do you have?
Recently our students organised an art installation, Way to the Water, to raise awareness and funds for those in need of clean water. All the funds have been donated to organisations such as UNICEF and Water for South Sudan.

Australian International School (AIS)

“Green is a very popular colour at the Australian International School,” says Jennifer Burgess – Senior Communications Manager. “Not only does it feature on the logo and uniform, but increasingly it is being referenced in the classrooms, playgrounds and boardrooms, as the school focuses on how it can become greener or environmentally focused.”

tudent-led straw ban
Zoey, a Year 5 AIS Student, was inspired by her teacher’s messages about the harmful impact of plastic on the environment. Her goal was to convince the school canteen to stop providing plastic straws with drink purchases. After researching the detrimental impact of straws online, she shared this information with her friends, who joined the quest. Together they spoke at school assemblies and collaborated with the canteen providers for AIS – Chartwells – to eliminate straws. The initiative was successfully introduced and implemented at the school. Zoey and her friends, Abbey and Jasmine are now continuing their campaign by focusing on alternatives to boxed drinks with attached straws.

Solar stars
In 2018, AIS installed 330 rooftop solar panels at its campus in Lorong Chuan, with an additional 1385 panels to be installed later this year. When complete, the panels will generate about 704 MWh of solar electricity yearly, which will be fully available on the open energy market. The project is estimated to offset about 303 metric tons of carbon.
AIS also intend to develop a new program to educate students about green energy. As part of this program, the school hopes to display a live-feed dashboard that tracks the energy produced by the solar panels, which will support its continued commitment to raising awareness about clean energy. “We are extremely happy to be making these efforts towards developing a green and sustainable campus, while empowering students to play an active role in tackling real-world environmental issues”, says Mr Andre Casson, Head of School.
Green building initiatives were used at The Early Learning Village, including a rainwater harvesting system which is used for irrigation. Water conservation was a focus when selecting water taps and toilets and there are motion light sensors in all the rooms, so lights turn off when the rooms aren’t in use. The building management system also automatically manages the temperature within the rooms, based on usage.
Combined with the green walls on the exterior of the building, which cool the building down naturally, the Early Learning Village is a masterclass in green design which is why it also holds a Greenmark certification.

Canadian International School (CIS)

“We are a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Silver Flag Eco School and have prioritised sustainability in our newest strategic plan,” says Michael Broadhead, CIS teacher and Lakeside campus sustainability lead. “We now have a carbon neutral electricity supplier and we’re working on encouraging more zero waste, plant-based, carbon positive initiatives. These living habits are key to a sustainable future.”

What recycling do you have?
We have paper recycling in every classroom, and plastics and metal collection points in different areas of the school. Our design department is constantly finding ways to reuse materials for student projects.

What green spaces do you have?
Our Outdoor Discovery Garden is a beautiful green space for our primary students to interact with nature. We also have a rooftop garden for secondary students to develop their green thumbs.

How do you educate students?
The environment and sustainability is incorporated and taught in many parts of our curriculum. In the IB Diploma Programme (DP) we offer Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS) as a course.

What yearly environmental programs do you have?
Each year our secondary school students participate in Excursion Week, taking part in environmental projects around Asia. We’ve helped with mangrove planting, building safe water gardens, coral planting and more. Our Biology and ESS diploma program students also do a week of on-site learning in Malaysia, collecting scientific data for their coursework. In our primary school, we have Open Minds, hands on outdoor learning experiences in settings such as Fort Canning, Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve and the Eco Garden at the Science Centre.

How does the school deal with food waste?
Our canteen and plate food waste is collected for a co-digestion energy project with the NEA. Volunteer students have set up composting bins in certain areas of the school to collect waste from snacks.

How do you reduce plastic and waste?
Our food has always been served on reusables. Straws and sandwich boxes were phased out in January and we’ll be phasing out disposable cups by April. Our goal as a school is to be zero waste in the future.

Note: Questions relate to CIS Lakeside campus only

Local schools are also making strides in green initiatives, check out the
School Green Awards run by the Singapore Environment Council for more info. sec.org.sg/sga/

What is EarthFest?
EarthFest (earthfestsingapore.com) was first held in 2015. It was started by a passionate Canadian teacher called Michael Broadhead to celebrate and promote all forms of sustainability in Singapore. It’s now a yearly festival. The festival spans food, waste, energy and other aspects of sustainability, and brings together a diverse group of small businesses, documentary filmmakers, international schools, environmental groups, large companies, Singapore government agencies, public educators, musicians, and others. The festival has grown dramatically over the years, with the 2019 instalment in January drawing thousands of visitors to Marina Barrage.

What makes the event so special?
EarthFest is entirely waste-free. Food and drink stalls encourage visitors to bring their own reusable cutlery or they are given biodegradable cutlery which can be composted after use. All food served is entirely plant-based, including ice-cream, cakes, pasta, burgers, satay and a lot more – though you wouldn’t know they were plant-based if simply presented with a plateful.

How important is plant-based food?
Plant-based food is a core underpinning of environmental strategies the world over now, with respected institutions highlighting the dramatic impact that the livestock industry has on the environment. Recent research shows plant-based diets could reduce emissions by 73% and that we would require 76% less farmland – land that could be used for other purposes or to reverse wild habitat loss. A piece published in the Financial Times states: “about a quarter of greenhouse gases attributable to human activity come from intensive farming” – which is even more than industry and transportation! This was all a surprise to me. I felt it would be irresponsible for me to not do my bit. It was then easy for me to support an event like EarthFest and other initiatives, helping to contribute to a change in our environmental impact in every way from our food choices, energy use and waste.

What is your current role with EarthFest?
After volunteering with EarthFest for a couple of years I agreed to join the board of the organisation, Centre for a Responsible Future (CRF), which oversees the festival and many other programs. The CRF professional staff and volunteers are truly dedicated to the cause of long-term sustainability and are well-informed and fact-based in their work. They’ve created real impact in a relatively short few years and relying on a tiny budget. For my part, CRF asked me to consider joining their governing board because they recognised the need to further professionalise and systematise their operations, which is something that I may be able to help with given my involvement with several corporate boards and fast-growing companies.

Why is working in an environmental area important to you personally?
Our stewardship of the environment is our legacy to future generations; anything we do now will reflect squarely on us in future history books.

What is your day job and other passions?
I’m also passionate about cycling and I run Tin Men Capital (tinmen.asia) a South-East Asian venture capital firm I co-founded with two partners.

What other programmes does CRF run?
Another programme is called the Alliance for a Responsible Future, (arf.org.sg) which engages businesses and policy-makers towards a plant-based future. The ARF is the organiser of the Disruption in Food & Sustainability Summit which brings together government policymakers, large businesses, researchers, hotels, start-ups, hospitals and many other industry participants to raise awareness and foster growth in the plant-based, clean meat and sustainable space.

What events do have planned?
EarthFest is expanding to run several smaller events throughout the year, in addition to the big annual festival. We now have staff working full-time on this. In addition, CRF organises several other events, ranging from small talks at schools to beach clean-ups and many more. Keep an eye on our website!

How can people get involved?
We always welcome more volunteers and donors. Details on how people and companies can contact CRF are available at crf.org.sg/donate

How can people strive for Zero Waste in Singapore?
It is almost a cliché now but the best advice I have to offer is “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. Most people who hear this only internalise the recycle bit of that advice, whereas reduction of one’s consumption habits and reusing things we already have can have much higher benefits towards waste reduction.

Murli’s Easy Green Tips
– Consume less animal products. Even as little as a day or two every week makes a difference. You’ll see health benefits too!
– Cut down aircon usage or turn up the thermostat by a couple of degrees. I’ve found that using a ceiling fan instead of the aircon in my bedroom has helped me wake up much more easily in the morning and I almost never have a stuffy nose.
– Use dimmers for your light bulbs and lower the brightness of your TV, laptop and cell phone screens at night. This also wonderfully improves sleep quality.