Intel Involved: Pulau Ubin Beach Cleanup

Story by Peggy Khoo, Singapore Intel Involved coordinator [captions by Joseph Lai]

[photo above: Tim Bailey planting a tree of hope for the environment.]

On the afternoon of 27 March, 43 Intel employees spent a very meaningful afternoon on Pulau Ubin, an island off Singapore. They represented two teams who volunteered their time to clean the beach at Chek Jawa and Sungei Jelutong, by “converting” their traditional team building activity into one that is primarily focused on community service. Not only did they learnt about how rubbish like plastic bags, straws, foams and batteries can pollute the sea, prematurely killing the sea creature and indirectly affecting the human’s well being through the food chain, they also realized that no matter how small the effort they may contribute, it does make a difference to the environment.

[photo above: a sea-change from corporate executives to rubbish collectors and caregivers of the environment!]

Tim Bailey led his PPMG team to plant a nutmeg tree at House No 1, Chek Jawa, symbolizing their love and care for the environment, then subsequently picked and collected rubbish along Chek Jawa. They finally closed their day activity by identifying the winning team for their interesting “rubbish” game. The other team was led by Lee Buan Seng and Satish Kumar. This team cleaned up Sungei Jelutong under the supervision of our N-Park ranger and they learnt that not all rubbish are actually rubbish. For example anything “organic’ should be left behind as it will naturally biodegrade into the environment. Finally, after spending their time under the rain, sprawling the beach, they proudly presented almost 8 large bags of rubbish they collected for the day. The team then spent the remaining evening having a team dinner at the Season’s seafood restaurant on Ubin, before they headed back to Singapore.

[photo above: bagging a first prize for 'talking rubbish' - telling a most interesting tall tale about how an aircon panel ended up on ubin's shore!]

Singapore Intel Involved team would to commend Tim Bailey, Lee Buan Seng and Satish Kumar for their leadership and role-modeling, in leading their teams to think and act for the community!!

More photos are found in our flicker.com album

A Special Poem by Verasha: 4 My Sky

Through her simple yet poignant words, a child speaks to the world...

Verasha (a homeschooler in Singapore):

'I wrote this poem thinking about the pollution of our environment....We should take care of this planet, because it's the only one we got!'

4 My Sky [original post]

The mood of the sky depends on you,
Whether you care and love it too,
Purple, red, blue and grey;
Are the colours of the sky.
And I just can't say
Why there's no more red,
And why there's no more blue
Who knows it might lose its colour really soon.

It now looks sad and hurt
Just because
All Sam, Dick and toothless Curt,
Have dirtied the world so clean.
So go green
And it may help
Our world to become bright and clean.

Message from Uncle Joe to Verasha and all homeschool children:

I understand your feelings, Verasha. Sometimes, I feel like that too. You know, I was at Pulau Ubin yesterday with friends from Intel corporation. There were 48 of us and we spent some quality time cleaning up the beaches at Chek Jawa and Sungei Jelutong. We were an assorted bunch of nationalities actually - from Japan, India, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, United States, New Zealand, etc. (Photo below)


[More photos at Intel Involved's flicker.com album]

Though the sky opened up for a while and the rain unleashed itself upon us with thunderous abandonment, we were wet yet undampened in spirit. We were quite glad to do our bit - no matter how small it seemed - to clean up the polluting mass of rubbish at the shores. And as if to reward our 'international' effort, the sky turned a glorious spectrum of colours on our return journey across the waters to Singapore mainland (first photo above). It was then that - on the bumboat - I suddenly recalled your poem.

I remembered the simple words you use and the plain matter-of-fact way you say it. It was very clear in my mind. I actually felt sad reading it at first, I must confess. But sitting there in the bumboat and recalling your poem and admiring the beautiful sky... I felt my heart brimming over with hope... hope that we can turn things around. We CAN resolve the issue of waste and prevent and reduce pollution at all levels. Yes, we can! It only have to start with ourselves (the ME & I!) and also with people around us - at home, in school, our community, etc. That was exactly how I felt after cleaning up the beaches with my friends, and at the sametime, reminding ourselves not to create waste in the first place.

Thank you, Verasha, for your rich poetry. Your poem, 4 My Sky, is a timely reminder for all of us to act for the environment. Most of all, I want you to have hope - lots of it - just like my friends and I have. We all must have hope... for a better tomorrow! : )

Keep writing and keep smiling! There is hope!

Uncle Joe

BBC Audio & Video : to learn more about plastic and the harm it does to the environment and to animal life too.
[Footnote: Special thanks to Robert Teo of the National Parks Board and volunteer Angie Ng for making our outing so memorable, and Peggy Khoo for galvanizing the enthusiastic response from her Intel team.]

I am a Dugong-Ambassador (Part 2)

Dear friends,

I hope you have discovered for yourself some interesting fact about dugongs by now. In this 'I am a Dugong-Ambassador - Part 2', we will take a peek into the world of seagrasses! : ) It is the principal food for dugongs!

Do you know that there is a wonderful organisation called Seagrass-Watch which is based in Cairns, Australia? It's primary concern is seagrass beds throughout the world.

Take a look at Seagrass-Watch website and see a world map of seagrass distribution.

Do you know that we have a group of seagrass-enthusiasts who regularly monitor the conditions of the seagrass beds in Singapore? It is called Team Seagrass and it is one of the international partners of Seagrass-Watch. Siti is the young lady incharge of Team Seagrass.

Do you know that Siti and her friends discovered several dugong feeding trails last year at Chek Jawa? Hurray! See the photo here.

Please visit Siti and her Team Seagrassers in their blog. They are a wonderful bunch! : )

I have found a beautiful drawing of a dugong for your viewing pleasure - from the American Museum of Natural History. See drawing here.

Isn't this exciting! Seagrass beds are extremely important habitats for dugongs. If we want to speak up for the dugongs as ambassadors, we must also speak up for the seagrass beds in and around Singapore! I did! I wrote a short essay about the plight of the seagrass bed in the estuary of Sungei Pulai (Johore, Malaysia). It is presently threatened by the expansion of a shipping port there. Read my essay here.

Cheers,

Uncle Joe : )

An Easter Surprise

Easter Sunday: 23 Mar 2008

Dear friends,

by some strange coincidence, I came to adopt a bunny for Easter. I found her abandoned in Peirce Reservoir Park on Wednesday while guiding some Raffles Girls. I could not find the heart to leave her there exposed to the merciless elements and the alien forest nearby. I thought, if the monkeys do not taunt her to death out of curiosity and rough play, the common red ants might... to an agonisingly slow death.

Happily, I found her again after my guided walk and took her home. Our cat Gila seems to take to her very quickly and they are becoming quite pally.

We enjoy looking at them... so chummy!

Gila is learning to eat grass too. Ha ha!

I don't have a name for her yet. It could be a 'him' though. I may just have to wait a little bit longer to gain enough of her confidence before turning her over to ascertain the gender. Well, at least for now, I am pleased she know how to go to the toilet to poo-poo and pee-pee! : )

Joe Lai

I am a Dugong-Ambassador (Part 1)

Dear friends,

I will be coming up with the outreach material for the kids to become Dugong-Ambassador on May Day in Chek Jawa. This is something unique the kids will be doing besides mural painting. Don't worry, I will keep the outreach protocol simple. More will be explained as we move along.

As a start, let us get familiar with Dugongs! Here is a very nice video showing how a dugong feed, swim and breathe. Let us admire a beautiful photo of a dugong in National Geographic! It provides a simple account of the natural history of the dugongs and a world map showing where they can be found. Do examine the map closely. It is actually a good opportunity to use an atlas to find such places as the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, Andaman Islands, etc.

Have fun learning with your kids!

Uncle Joe : )

Have you been to Avenue Q?

Dear friends,

Have you been to Avenue Q?

If not, maybe you might want to give it a try. And if you like what you see and hear, maybe you might have your teens tag along the next time.

They will probably meet someone nice and funny, who speaks in a cheerful sing-song way about anything ranging from racism, sex and homosexuality, self-worth, politics, unemployment, etc.... many multi-faceted things and questions Q ? that are as much a part of growing up for young adults as hormonal growth within them.

Well, have a try yourself... I am going there with my son today anyway : ) I think it will be a fun-filled way to explore these questions together... father and son. Have a nice day!

This Way to AVENUE Q

Cheers,

Joe Lai

Introducing BBC Radio Programme - Heart & Soul

Dearest friends,

May I introduce to you a fabulously enriching radio programme from

BBC World Service - Heart & Soul

I hope you will find it a great learning tool, especially for teens. I am using it for my son Lai Min.

Cheers,

Joe Lai

Synopsis (by BBC):

" My son was dead, but six Israelis now have a part of a Palestinian in them, and maybe he is still alive in them. "
The words of the Palestinian father Ismail Khatib who donated his son Ahmed's organs to Israelis after the 12 year old was accidentally shot dead by Israeli soldiers in 2005.
In an award-winning programme first broadcast last year, Heart and Soul explores what happens to a person's spirit when their organs are donated after their death ... Vera Frankl hears the remarkable story of the Khatibs, and also that of the family of Yoni Jesner. He was a young Jewish student who was murdered in the bombing of a Tel-Aviv bus, and whose kidney went to save the life of a Palestinian girl.
Yoni Jesner and Ahmed Khatib, two vicitims of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict who ended up giving life to people who are traditionally their enemies ...

Tagore: My Heart Beats her Waves at the Shore

The world speaks to me in pictures,

my soul answers in music.

Wayside grass, love the star, then your dreams

will come out in flowers.

My heart beats her waves at the shore of the world

and writes upon it her signature in tears

with the words, 'I love thee.'

Let my love, like sunlight, surround you and

yet give you illumined freedom.

He who does good comes to the temple gate,

He who loves reaches the shrine.

- Whisperings of Rabindranath Tagore -

Footnote: See corals and other marine treasures of the seagrass lagoon of Semakau at my flicker.com album

Embracing Nature Conservation: How?

Dave Santucci's ready label for critics as 'elitist' should meet with his own label 'parochial'. His view has no logic and does not deserve any rigorous debate. [See reports here]

Look to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and other universal beings like him instead for true goodness-to-nature education and stewardship - yes, minus all the 'carnival' and dark logic. Then, go and explore your local beach, and take your time to sample the wonderous arrays of marine animals found there. Make sure you enjoy the wind, the sky, the waves and the sand beneath your feet too. Then tell me, please tell me, do you need to see and ride a whale to appreciate it or nature better?

Nature appreciation is such: it is eclectic in spirit and allows you to embrace universal truths about nature conservation, our world, our home, our heart, without molestation and self-centeredness. It frees us - not entrap us.

See through the bright lights of the carnival and teach our children well.

'Do not linger to gather flowers to keep them, but walk on, for flowers will keep themselves blooming all your way.' - Whisperings of Rabindranath Tagore

RELATED:
1) Read a hilariously written rebuttal to Santucci's argument at:

Hell Hath No Fury Like Nature Scorned Blog

2) May I invite you to read what it takes to be The Stupa Man - in an unpublished cautionary landscape-essay of mine : )

Two Prolific Young Writers Rising from the Horizon!

Dearest young writers,

I like to inspire all of you with the recent discoveries and writings of our mutual friends - Blue T. Rex and Vere Nathan.

Blue T. Rex's Blog is Nautilus. << Click here.
He has recently visited Pulau Ubin and also a coral reef in Sentosa! Wow!

Vere Nathan's Blog is Naturalsea. << Click here.
He has had some exciting experiences to share from the seas off Kuantan!

Thanks, Blue T. Rex and Vere.

Keep writing and keep smiling!

Uncle Joe : )

Didactic Short Films of Lasting Values

Dear friends,

lately I have become a fan of Petronas's 'Meaningful Ads' series (Iklan Raya Petronas, Malaysia). My son and I enjoy watching them together. They are not commercial advertisements but didactic short films that teach values such as compassion, filial piety, courage etc. I highly recommend them for children.

Delightfully, many of the main actors are children themselves. The stories revolve around the family and the community against the rich tapestry of our shared asian heritage.

Difficult themes like racial harmony, childhood, identity crisis, aging, are so well explored by some. By contrast, our Singapore TV channels look terribly poor and 'vulgar'. And the few short films by our local schools that came through are overtly 'patriotic', I find. Yaks!

I have linked a few below for your sampling. Just click on them to view. Happy Viewing with your children!

Filial Piety: We will be old too one day

Identity: Be proud of who you are

Racial Harmony: We can live as one

Love: Life lesson from Granny

Filial Piety: The reality of loneliness

A Sea of Compassion: Raising the universal soul

Home Capsule: Are we in a hurry to leave it?

Filial Piety: True reward for our aged parents

Filial Piety: A father's love revisited

Joy of having children: Beef... not the whole cow!

Love is Forever: Our shared journey

Filial Piety: Love is priceless

Common Humanity: Children, angels, our light of hope!

Family Bondage: True Legacy and Endearment

Charity: A lesson on humility

Deepavali: The Light of Goodness

Virtue of Hard Work: Reap what you sow

Filial Piety: A Mother's Love is Forever

Children: Our one true United Nation!

Courage: Don't let setbacks stop you moving forward

Family: Lessons from an orphan

Hope: For our angels... our sleeping beauties

Please share these beautiful short films with your loved ones.

Joe Lai : )

Photos: Massive Reclamation off Labrador

Dear friends,

I was exploring Siloso last Friday morning (1 Feb 2008) when I spied a few large barges in the distance off Labrador. The huge granite rocks they were carrying glared white-hot against the greying sea. Several tugboats were in attendance and keeping the barges in position. In fact, the whole sea lane off Pasir Panjang Wharf and Labrador was abuzz with boat activities. Small harbour (personnel) crafts were criss-crossing about between the stationary vessels and the bouy and mooring system. I also caught sight of a long floatline flagging an 'all red' notice of retricted waters around what seemed like a dredger-cum-piling platform. It was like a gigantic floating factory of sort.

The scene before my eyes took on an ominous sign as the backdrop of the western sky darkened with approaching rain. It must be the staging of a huge reclamation operation readying itself to bury the sea below, I told myself. As I watched from atop the sheer Siloso cliff, I issued a silent prayer hoping no marine animals, no dugongs or otters, would be within the zone when they start dumping the rocks. It was then that the sky parted and started to drizzle as if in reply. I gave the scene a last look, and stowing away my trusty camera, I headed back to mainland.

Below are some of my photos for the history books. Ria Tan has posted details on the impending reclamation around Singapore at her Wildfilms Blog:

Young Writers: Notes to Angels

Dear friends,

I like to call children angels. I am sure you will agree. They have wings... wings of bright-eyed wonder, quite naturally. And with a healthy dose of encouragement, they can indeed soar to the highest heights with them! I like one particular advice that goes... 'Give your child two most important gifts: roots of love and wings of imagination.' Yes, even Albert Einstein pitched in, saying, 'Imagination is better than knowledge.' Imagine that!!

In writing, we find both... readily shared! : ) May I introduce to you three more young writers below. Do share some encouraging words with them, will you? : )

cheers,
Joe Lai

Comments to Ethan:
Hi Ethan, I am so glad to see you at the blogging workshop. I hope you found it interesting. Did you like it? I think you did. I saw you smiling all the time during the workshop. In fact, all the kids were - grinning from ear to ear! Ha Ha! Me too! And who's not? Everyone looked so happy that night. I think we can call it the 'Smiling Workshop' instead! Ha Ha! It is so wonderful to share happiness, don't you agree, Ethan? : ) It is like seeing a rainbow suddenly and pointing it out to others to see too. Writing can be like that too, Ethan. When we write about the rainbow or the seas or the tall majestic mountains or the wonderous night sky of twinkle twinkle little stars, we are like pointing them out to others. It is like saying to them, 'Look.. look how beautiful and special they are!' Wow! I feel so happy already, just by writing this note to you! Thanks Ethan, for being the special 'you' and giving me the chance to write to you and feel this happiness. Do keep writing and do keep smiling and help spread this special joy to everyone. Yes! We can! YAY! : )
February 3, 2008 11:38 AM

Comments to Luke aka Gold Shark:
Hello there, Gold Shark! Wow! It looks like sharks are quite popular with boys, isn't it? Besides you, there's 'Kidshark' in our blogging workshop too. I wonder why... hmm? It is because they are fearsome and powerful predators of the seas? Am I correct? : ) They are indeed magnificent creatures. Part of their beauty lies in their awesome strength. As for me, I am fascinated by their great diversity. 'Diversity' means many and different. Yes, there are as many as 400 species of sharks as there are in rays (i.e. stingrays) in the world. Every species is special not only in the way they look, but also, the way they behave - i.e. the way they find food, the way they reproduce, the way they do their everyday things in the seas and the different places they hang out on their own or with a great many others of their own kind in the oceans. This is what we would call the natural history of sharks. It is the study of everything that they do as sharks. I find them very special... oh, yes, as special as you, Gold Shark! In fact, all you young writers are special to me. I am looking forward to hear from you and read what you write in your newfound blogs. So keep on writing and keep smiling! Ok? : )
February 3, 2008 10:57 AM

Comments to Mark:
Hi Mark, you are right. : ) The seashore is truly an amazing place to visit. Exploring it is similar to going on an adventure. You will encounter things which will be new and exciting to you. The seashore never fails to excite me too. I have found sea creatures looking so strange that sometimes I wondered if they had actually fallen down to earth from outerspace like some alien creatures from the other side of the universe. Ha Ha! : ) They are so weird... so bewildering... so... monster-like... especially if you see them up close with a magnifying glass. Oh yes, it is such a fantastic tool to have - the magnifying glass. Can you imagine yourself staring down the wide open mouth of a worm and seeing the rows of teeth moving about as if they are snapping at you! Wow! Believe me, if you want real excitement, don't forget to bring along a magnifying glass to the seashore the next time you visit it with your family. In the meantime, do keep writing and keep smiling! : )
February 3, 2008 12:52 AM

Inspiring Words by Young Writers & Responding with Encouragement

30 Jan 2008
Dear young writers,

some of you are quite creative in using monikers. I especially like this Jediforce70! So cool!Wonder if Jediforce70 owns a light saber like all the Star War heroes. : )

Thank you for sharing with us your experiences at Changi Beach in your respective blog. I look forward to seeing you more at future shore walks and yes... more writings on your blogs too!

See below: another six young writers I have provided comments for.

Uncle Joe : )

Comments for Jabez:
Dear Jabez, you must be one of the youngest bloggers in town! Wow! I am glad you enjoyed blogging and 'typing' away at the computer. Writing is fun but let me tell you a secret of mine - something that helps me in my writing. I think it will help you alot too. You see, my 'secret weapon' is my trusty notebook. In fact, I have so many; each special in its own way. Whenever I read or see or hear or thought about something interesting, I write it down in my little notebook. I also draw or sketch inside. If you ask me how my notebooks have helped me in my writing, I must confess to you that I am quite forgetful. By recording interesting facts and words in my notebook, I know I will be able to find them again if I need them. You see, I often use facts and words that I have recorded long ago... even several years ago. So, do keep a notebook. That's the way to write. When you have finished writing, for example, a story about a snail you have seen, you can ask your mum or dad to allow you to type it into the blog on your computer. Now that I have shared my 'secret weapon' with you, keep writing and keep smiling! : )
January 29, 2008 10:50 AM

Comments for Jared:
Wow! What a beautiful hymn! Even without the music, I could hear the rhythm of the beautiful lines in my head. Thanks for sharing it with us. Jared, I must say I am very impressed by your English Language proficiency. I can tell, not only by the natural way you write, but by the way you speak. If you keep at writing, I believe you will be even better. So, keep on writing and keep on smiling. I like saying this to children because I truly believe a happy writer always writes well. Try writing a poem, will you? I believe you can. : )
January 30, 2008 2:26 AM

Comments for Jediforce70:
Ha ha! You are so chirpy and so honest! I feel happy reading your blog. : ) Well done! I am also pleasantly surprised by your snake blog. What an expert you are with snakes! If you like to learn more about snakes, or have a snake you like to identify, please ask your mum or dad to visit a very interesting blog with you. It is called SLOG. The link is: http://singaporesnakes.blogspot.comYou will definitely find SLOG incredibly informative. It has lots of interesting photos of snakes in Singapore. In the meantime, keep writing and keep smiling, ok? : ) Uncle Joe
January 29, 2008 9:16 AM

Comments for Natasha:
Hi Natasha! This is Uncle Joe. : )You are most polite to thank me, aunty Ria, ko ko July and jie jie November. We would also like to thank you and your family for coming along with us to Changi Beach. Do you know why? It is because it makes us very happy just by showing children the marine creatures that are living in the shallow seas around our home country Singapore. You see, all these creatures are alive and have been living here long long ago. If you ask me how long, I would say 'millions of years ago!' The place where they live is called their Habitat. Have you come across this word? Animals - whether in the seas or on land or in the air - share the same habitat as us human beings. So, in taking care of the animals and their habitat, we are also taking care of ourselves. We share the same habitat call Earth. Isn't it wonderful to be surrounded by so many interesting animals! I look forward to another shore walk with you and your family. In the meantime, keep writing and keep smiling! : )
January 29, 2008 8:56 AM

Comments for Tze Kay:
Hello, Mousey! hee hee! : ) That is a cute moniker that you have chosen for your blog. A moniker is not a monkey, ok. It is a nickname, a 'fun' name, that you and I call ourselves. But sometimes, other people give affectionate monikers to us instead, esp. to children. My aunties and uncles used to call me 'egg' because I was crazy over eggs when I was very young. Hee hee! I eat lots of them - steamed eggs, boiled or half-boiled eggs, tea-eggs, and even century eggs and salted eggs. Every time I eat eggs, I must eat two at once. So greedy, me! Well, enough about me. I think your little sister is so cute and so inquisitive too. Please do explore more beaches with your mum and dad, but do take care of your little sister, ok. Sometimes, sea snails can give a nasty sting. So, never ever pick one with your bare hands, ok? I like your writing, so keep writing and keep smiling! : )
29 January 2008 08:26

Comments for Masterblogger:
Hi Masterblogger! : ) You know what? You have just inspired me with a wonderful idea! Just imagine how nice it would be if I could convince our national parks authority to put up educational signages that are written by children like yourself. I think your message would be double or triple times more crystal clear and powerful in moving the adults into positive actions. Yes, I truly believe in this. Your well-taken photo also show how pollution really looks like! Yaks!That's another powerful way to tell the sad story of our polluted environment. But with you and other young writers writing, we can change the world for the better! Yes, keep writing and keep smiling! : )
January 29, 2008 8:06 AM

Heartfelt Comments for Young Writers and Bloggers

29 Jan 2008
Dearest young writers and bloggers,

I am looking through your new blogs one by one. It makes me very happy to see how well you write and how much you enjoyed our little shore walk in Changi, as well as, learning how to blog! : ) I have posted the following 6 comments - one each for Vere, Vera, Ezekiel, Juni, Flipper and Zack (aka Kidshark!).

As for the rest of you, be patient; I am definitely going to read your blogs one by one and tell you how much I enjoy your writing and give you a tip or two, ok?

Dear parents, see how well the homeschoolers are writing! Be proud! You have done a good job raising them! Go visit their blog [by click on their name below] and give them some encouraging words too! I'll be making permanent links to their blogs in my flying fish friends blog. We will fly together... to greater heights!

Joe Lai : )

Comments for Vere:
hermit crab is a good 're-cycler'. You know why? It does not build its own home, but go around looking for an empty shell to shift into once the shell it is using is too small for its body. It does not bother itself too much about having 'new things' as long as it is a comfortable home. I like a saying that goes - 'A house is not a home'. You know why? A house is just a house. What makes it a home is the people living in it and fill it will love and warmth. It is then a true home, otherwise, a house is just a hollow shell. You see, when we go into wild places - feel the wind, hear the waves, see animals roaming free in their natural home - we not only learn sciences but also about ourselves by staying in touch with our good feelings. It's really wonderful... seeing 'beyond' the hermit crab... and muse! Hee hee! Keep writing and keep smiling! : )
January 28, 2008 8:06 PM

Comments for Vera:
Wow! Thanks for teaching me about the surgeon fish. I have not seen one before. This is because I do not snorkel except once many years ago when I visited Tioman with friends. I can still remember my experience - some 20 years ago, I think! Oops... I am an old man now! How time flies in a wink of the eye. Ha ha! : ) I am glad you are enjoying outdoor adventures with your family. I hope you will write about your coming trip to the sea and share with me and other bloggers your experience. Till then... keep writing and keep smiling! I find you a very good writer indeed.
28 January 2008 07:53

Comments for Ezekiel:
Wow! Wonderful! You have just featured three different marine animals which belong to the same family. In another word, they are related - like 'relatives'! Ha ha!The one that looks like an octopus is called a brittle star. It has long slender arms and a very flat body, and can easily squeeze itself into any cracks or holes in rocks or even corals and sponges. It is hard to imagine how a sea cucumber can be related to the seastar eventhough it is not star-shaped. Why don't you find out more information about the sea cucumber (and the sand dollar too) in your neighbourhood library? Can you do that for me? Keep writing and keep smiling! : )
January 28, 2008 7:39 PM

Comments for Juni:
Wow! It is good you see an animal like the mooncrab burrowing in the sand. You definitely cannot get this kind of experience in a book. You see how fieldwork is so important? You get to find things for yourself and see the 'real stuff'! It is also fun too, especially when you explore nature with your family. For your information, seastar, sea cucumbers, marine worms, solefishes, stingrays - all these, and many more, like to burrow in the sand! ha ha! Keep writing and keep smiling!
January 28, 2008 7:26 PM

Comments for Flipper:
Oh yes, we have to be very careful putting different kinds of creatures in the same viewing container. The poor things... they may attack each other. However, I think it is a valuable experience for you so that you can avoid doing the same thing again the next time. But most important of all, you wrote and shared your experience with others. Wow! By sharing your experience with others, you are also teaching others about the correct way of handling animals. Isn't that great? : ) I am so proud of you! Keep writing and keep smiling!
January 28, 2008 8:16 AM

Comments for Zack aka Kidshark:
Hi Kidshark! : ) I am so proud of your effort. Now that you have written your first blog, can you see how easy it is for you to write a few precious words about nature and inspire people to take care of the environment, esp. our sweet sweet sea! Keep on writing and keep on smiling! I am looking forward to bring you and your family for another shore walk in Singapore soon. : )
January 28, 2008 11:53 PM

Homeschoolers Celebrated LIFE in IYOR 2008

The Leafmonkey Blogging Workshop (25 Jan 2008)

[More photos at: IYOR08Singapore & NIE Green Club & The Leafmonkey Worshop blogs.]

Dearest friends,

one word - just one word - can sweetly describe last night's blogging session, and that is: CELEBRATION!

Yes, looking on as I did at the happy faces lit up by smiles and laughters that shone through their lively mini-discussions and parent-child communions, I cannot help rejoicing at the purity of human endeavours such as this which embraces the loving heart, the learning mind and the living being. Above the mundancy of everyday life - which so engrosses us at most times - we find ourselves elevated up a plain (with friends & strangers) to find ourselves unified and soaring to the heavens. We became universal brothers and sisters all at once.

So we celebrated... we celebrated parenthood, we celebrated children, we celebrated children's potential, we celebrated writing, we celebrated Nature... our shores and marine life, we celebrated friendship, we celebrated volunteerism... all these unified in our common celebration of the International Year of the Reefs. But above all, we celebrated LIFE together!

May I thank everyone for making these workshop so wonderfully embracing. It is you - people - parents and children - who made our work as nature volunteers so much more meaningful and sanguine. We thank you. I have no doubt I speak for all my nature-volunteer friends that our dedication to our work lies in no other place that in the children and the future before them.

In this and everything, we share with you - as well as to inspire your children with - our joie d' vivre and raison d' etre!

Let us all look forward to more shore walks together in Singapore this IYOR 2008! YAY!!!

Joe Lai : )
26 Jan 2008

ps: thanks a million, Carissa! Thanks for the fine food you brought for us that night!! : )

Price Tagging of Nature? Outrageous!

What Prof Quah proposes is outrageous. Land plots in commerce may have price tags but woes begone to those who think that Nature has a price tag too. And his suggesting that Chek Jawa is too ‘ad hoc in guiding future decisions’ is deadpan irrationality. Anything that is first and defining in occurrence is a possible benchmark. What make Prof Quah think we should follow him to the opposite direction?

Not only is the nerve of reasoning negative, it is also nothing new at all. It is invocating the same old ways of our present economy that is destroying the fabric we call Nature – the very same life-sustaining fabric for human beings, DAH! It is precisely this same old problem we are grabbling to resolve. So, in the end, Prof Quah has really nothing to offer except to say, ‘let’s just carry on what we are doing’. And I may add to his line of thought – ‘…. and die!’

Increasingly, people across the world are beginning to realize that the source of our redemption lies in our most primitive cultures that advocate 'living with Nature'. This is particularly true in eastern philosophy. There is a lot of enlightenment to be found. Prof Quah should look here, not the West for answers (since he is on this side of the globe). However, if he is still inclined towards the West, why, he should look to the American Indians for inspiration, not half-baked new economic models.

The nature of the auction that he advocates is as questionable and controversial as the ‘representative sample of the stake-holding segment’ that he is advancing. Who is he going to ask? Well, don’t ask it in my name. The future of our children cannot be decided this way.

As to Prof Peter Ng’s reported statement, I am a wee-bit confused. But alas, should I be surprised at all by now? Isn’t he part of the team that has pitched for the conversion of the 30ha plot of Mandai forest into a spa? Well, in all eventuality, I think Prof Quah and Prof Ng should make great bedfellows indeed.

Find out what the true value of a forest is at:

Forest Science Crapped in Singapore

& read other comments in Nature Over Man Blog.

Joe Lai

IYOR 2008: Changi Walk for Homeschool Families

20 Jan 2008, 5-7pm, lowest tide 0.2m

Dearest friends,

may I share with you our joy! We had a terrific time together at the Changi Beach marvelling at the incredibly-diverse marine life found in the intertidal zone.

We found sea hares, seastars, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins' tests, cuttlefish 'bones', jellyfishes, sea snails, hermit crabs, flower crabs, elbow crabs, barnacles, fireworms, tubeworms, feather worms, free-swimming anemones, peacock anemones, horseshoe crabs, seaweeds and seagrasses, sponges, gorgeous button shells, etc.... etc.... and oh... a few funny-looking drifts too. [ha ha!]

There were as many as four White-bellied sea-eagles and one Brahminy Kite hovering high above our heads at one point!



I had my hands full in the show-and-tell session, and so, had no spare time to take pictures myself. Luckily, my fellow volunteers - Ria and July - took quite a few happy snapshots of our little outing! [Thanks Ria, July, and of course, not forgeting November! Thank you, November and everyone... for the beautiful memories!]
See other photos / write-up at: WILDFILMS and NIE GREEN CLUB blogs!
This is our first humble outing to our beautiful shores in celebration of our marine life for IYOR 2008! [IYOR 2008 - stands for International Year of the Reefs (2008)]
Cheers,
Joe Lai
[Photo credit (above): taken by July]

Wedding without wading into Sharkfin Soup

12 January 2008

Dearest friends,

I ate sharkfin soup recently at a wedding dinner. Yes, confess I did. It was a tough decision to make though. Two heavy guilts hung heavy over my head - one, I felt indicted as party to a cruel act; second, I felt it would be a damn shame wasting the food set before me.

You see, I have been brought up not wasting food. I also hate cruelty to the core of my soul. But should I state a conviction in front of my fellow guests and waste food in the process? It would be a double blow to the poor shark, I thought. It's like it died for no reason. So I ate, and I felt lousy inside.

Strangely, it never crossed my mind that not eating the sharkfin soup would amount to insulting my host. On the contrary, it was my host who came around the table and gamely poked fun at my table of 'nature conservationists and activists' by making an audit of guilty part-takers of the soup. I owned up of course. Yet, though I love my host as a wonderful friend, I felt I was fished out of the 'proverbial soup' there and then, and finned like the sharks. It felt sore... really sore. I left the dinner like a shark wriggling in pain outside... in the dark-night-sea and rumbled homeward bound on a bus in deep thought.

The saving grace of this experience is that I learned something I never really thought about. Thanks to the little discourse and debate amongst us 'nature conservationists and activists' at the table that night - and to a very large extend to my good friend Ria Tan - I knew better. Yes, I should know what to do from now on. Never will I be made to feel as I did again.

I learned some simple steps and I want to share them so that you can avoid the pitfall I fell into. It will help, I think, a great deal, i.e. if you want to stop the cruelty of shark-finning. Small steps these are, but I think they will make a big difference.

A) When you receive a wedding invitation card...
1) Call up the host and find out if sharkfin is to be served. If no... great! No problem.
2) If yes... you have to make a decision to go or not. Of course, be tactful. However, if it is a dinner you cannot avoid...
3) Decide whether you want to educate and advice your host. If you do...
4) You could suggest to your host to consider an alternative dish to replace the sharkfin soup. (But please... not turtle soup, ok!)
5) You could also suggest a mock vegetarian 'sharkfin soup'.
6) If you sense you have won over your host - Good! But if your host is not sure, or not agreeable...
7) You could suggest having a table or two which are 'sharkfin-less'. If the host agree... Great! You saved some sharks!
8) Lastly, if you go and still find sharkfin soup served to your face... well, you have arrived at the same dilemma I have just recounted! I cannot advise you... but you can think about me though!

B) When you are the host inviting friends and relatives...
1) Print in no vague statement that 'No Sharkfin Will Be Served' in the invitation card. You could be tactful though, and...
2) Educate them with an attached flyer about shark conservation, the cruelty involved, etc. But...
3) Please... in the absence of sharkfin... do not serve frog legs, turtles and rabbits at your dinner! But then... alas...

Here lies a greater dilemma that is hardest to digest: what about the beef and chicken, etc, that we eat every other day? What do we deem is more cruelly slaughtered or not, what is more painful or not? What is worth saving or not?

I have no answers at the moment. But I do lift my hat to (and salute) all my anti-cruelty-to-all-forms-of-life vegetarian friends for their power of conviction. If, by going through what I just wrote is any indication to go by, maybe I have just taken a little step towards realizing vegetarianism myself. I think this greater dilemma is one everyone should think about when they are thinking about what is happening to the sharks today. Divorced of that, I don't think we can ever teach our children wholesomely what cruelty is... or can we? Don't forget about cruelty inflicted by humans to humans too... Iraq War for instance... Did we speak up then or kept mousy-quiet for fear of being labelled as 'terrorist' sympathisers?

This is just my confession... my learning curve... my honest thoughts. I hope it helps. HOPE - yes. Indeed, we have only recourse to hope in the end.

Joseph Lai
LOVE & PEACE to all

Beautiful World, Beautiful Children, Beautiful Words

International Year of the Reefs 2008
- Celebrating Nature and Children and Writing

Dearest Friends,

Children are without doubt angels! I know because I am a father! : )

I have been a child before too. I still am... ha ha! : )

The potential in children is so great... it is vaster than the sea... it reaches yonder the horizon... up the star-laden universe... and in the deepest and purest recesses of their happy sparkling eyes too...

I know such things because I am a father.

Children are also expression persona - born to be free... to express, to sing, to draw, to speak, to laugh... to play... to shout from the mountaintop... to be children.

There is something about our beautiful world and our beautiful children... they are one. Can you not see them in the sky and hear laughter in the sea... and vice versa? I do. : )

Let us celebrate the joy of life through writing in year 2008. Let's celebrate the sea together in the International Year of the Reefs. Let's explore in the great outdoor together in Nature's best playground... Chek Jawa, Sungei Buloh, Changi, Sembawang, Southern Islands...

So, can children write? Yes, first, give them the space to be free!

I cannot say it more clearly than from the space of the heart... of a child and a father... than mine. I am sure you will see yours in mine too...

intrigue and perspectives...

planting seeds of love...

the genius, the inventive spirit...

the clown and cheekiness...

the soul of my heart...

me he... who me... he?...

growing up and living it...

Can a child write? YES!!! : )

Joe Lai

Chek Jawa, Christmas 2007

24 & 25 Dec 2007

Dearest Flying Fish Friends,

I have been visiting various shores over the past few days, including Chek Jawa where I met some angels. : )

It was wonderful chatting with them. They were on the boardwalk above, and I was on the sandflat below. I found them polite and very curious. They were asking me many questions. One of them wants to be a botanist like me! : )

I must tell you it has been a very special Christmas eve for me at Chek Jawa. I came across an abandoned cage floundering by the waterline and found a few fishes trapped inside. They were still alive though badly shaken by the pounding waves. I took out my trusty pliers to cut open the cage-wire and rescued the two butterfly fishes and three filefishes.

Poor fellows! They would have suffered a very slow and meaningless death if I had not chanced upon them in time. What a special Christmas it has been for me, don't you agree? : ) I felt so blessed.

Most of all, I celebrated Life on Christmas. I rejoiced with the myriad forms of living organisms present at Chek Jawa. It was truly an awesome feeling. Chek Jawa - our natural heritage - for you and me. I want to share with you what I saw on Christmas.

My Chek Jawa photos can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22207308@N04/

This is my new attempt at Flicker dot com's information sharing. You are invited to download any photos to teach your friends about life in Chek Jawa.

My last photographic shot of Chek Jawa on Christmas Day is shown below. It was dusk and night was falling fast. I stood for a while absorbing the scene 800m out on the seabed east of the boardwalk. Seastars... so many around me. I found myself dreaming a starry dream with them. I don't think I will ever have a 'christmas tree' experience better lit than this special moment in time on the sandflat! : ) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Inspiration for Young Writers: Rachel Carson

23 Dec 2007

Dear Flying Fish Friends,

Do you know Rachel Carson? She is a famous educator, scientist and writer. Rachel actually started writing at a tender young age. By ten, she had her first work published in a children magazine dedicated to young writers.

Here's a picture of her taken from her famous book, The Sea Around Us. It was first published in 1951. My own copy (below) is an adaptation for young readers.


























From the names of her radio program and her books (listed below), you can tell she loved the sea very much.

Radio program:
Romance Under the Waters (1936)

Books:
Under the Sea-Wind (1941)
The Sea Around Us (1951)
The Edge of the Sea (1956)
Silent Spring (1962)

Find out more about Rachel here:
Rachel Carson: A Conservation Legacy

Be inspired! Flying Fish Friends! You can write too!

And don't forget to explore outdoors.
Always remember this: It is very important to learn 'with' Nature and not just 'about' Nature.

If you want to find out more about the animals you have seen on the beaches or the seas around Singapore, you may want to visit these websites with your parents:

1) Animal Diversity Web
2) Enchanted Learning

In the meantime, keep writing and keep smiling! : )

Uncle Joe

A Day With Garden Angels!

7 Dec 2007: Love is the Greatest, they say.

Heaven is here, so they say too.

There are angels living amongst us too, they say.

But where?... the swans seem to know.

On this beautiful day, I know too.

Look... their smiles...

their playfulness...

their laughter...

Today, I have been touched by angels! Never mind the missing

mist in the Coolhouse... I know I am in heaven today!

Bless you all, little Flying Fishes... my garden angels.

We will meet again one day soon!

Footnote: Thanks to the generosity of some good Christians [ esp. my good friend, Joseph Chun: )] who sponsored the bus and entrance fees to the National Orchid Garden, poor-me was able to volunteer my time for these lovely angels from Covenant Family Service. I must say that it was a wonderful break for me too. It's nothing like seeing the smiles of happy children to drive away the gloom and doom of writing about rogue scientists selling out on nature for a buck... yes, in our own backyard! Ha Ha! : )

Visit to Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research

5 Dec 2007 (Photo credit to Clarence Chua, NTU)

We flooded the hall with boys and girls.



Their eyes were bright and shiny with curiosity and expectations.

We breezed through classification and the major phylla of animals with the greatest of ease.


Although they knew alot about the animals already, they were all ears and readily fired questions at me. Whew! I got through alive, didn't I? ; )
But I love every minute of it. It was fun. The children were fun be with and the session incredibly lively. Daddies and mummies were like children too. Ha Ha!
Bless you, little Flying Fishes!

Book Review by Lai Min: The Otters' Tale

I have just read a book. It's The Otters' Tale written by Gavin Maxwell in 1962. My dad asked me if I enjoyed the story. I told him it's mostly about everyday's stuff; that the author wrote about his pet otters and what they did. I felt the story wasn't really exciting.

My dad looked at me and said that one of the greatest challenge is to write things which are ordinary and seemingly insignificant. Dad took the book and leafed through the pages and pointed out to me three consecutive paragraphs to prove his point.

"In the sea, Mij found his true, breathtaking powers; until he came to Scotland he had never swum in deep waters, for the lakes and lagoons of his native marshes are shallow. Now he would swim beside me as I rowed in the little dinghy, and in the glass-clear waters of Camusfearna bay, I could watch him as he dived down, down, down through fathom after fathom to explore the gaudy sea forests at the bottom, with their flowered shell glades and mysterious, shadowed caverns. For hours he would keep pace with the boat, appearing now on this side and now on that, sometimes mischieviously seizing an oar with both arms and dragging on it, and from time to time bouncing inboard with a flurry of water.

He caught a number of fish on his daily outings, and in the burn he learned to feel under stones for eels, reaching in with one paw; and I in turn learned to turn over the largest stones for him, so that after a time he would stand in front of some boulder too heavy for him to move, and chitter at me to come and lift it for him.

He loved rough seas too. He rejoiced in the waves; he would hurl himself straight as an arrow right into the great roaring grey wall of an oncoming breaker and go clean through it as if it had neither weight nor momentum; he would swim far out to sea through wave after wave until the black dot of his head was lost among the distant white manes, and more than once I thought that some wild urge to seek new lands had seized him and that he would go on swimming west into the sea of the Hebrides and that I should not see him again. But though there were anxious times when he was away too long for my peace of mind he always came back".

Dad admired the way Gavin describes Mij's actions and the sea. He also impressed on me how the author wrote about his emotions - his anxiety and fear. Dad said Gavin captured the mood of the outing very well. It revealed the intimate relationship between the author and his pet, and the sea that they both love.

I agree with my dad's observation. As I re-read Gavin's dedication I realized why he wrote the book in the first place. It read, "To all, but more particularly children, who also seek understanding between humans and other animals".

I have a cat. Her name is Gila. One day if I were to write an account of my life with her, I will draw inspiration from Gavin's book and his style of writing.

Glossary:

boulders - large rocks

breaker - a wave breaking into foam

burn - (Scot) a small stream

Camusfearna bay - a bay in Scotland

cavern - underground chamber or cave

fathom - a unit of depth equals six feet

gaudy - brightly ornamented

glades - clear area within woods

Hebrides - Scottish islands

marshes - swamps

white manes - sea foam

Bat Memories

Remember our night hike at Fort Canning on Friday, the 9th of November?

I hope you and your kids are still enjoying folding paper bats! I still do! Here's a few of mine!

Besides looking for bats, we have had a great time playing the blindfold-game of 'bat and moth'. The dark and 'spooky' courtyard up on the hill certainly added suspense to our game!

Here's a photo of a boy who loves bats! I met him in Botanic Garden one day. He thinks bats are our friends too!

Do you still remember what a bat is? Don't worry if you have forgotten. You can still ask Uncle Joe about bats on our trip to the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research this coming Wednesday, 28 November (meeting 2pm, Canteen 4 - see map).

We are going to see and learn lots of different animals. That's what 'Biodiversity' actually is: many and different life forms! 'Bio' is a word which indicates life. In the sense of 'diversity' (which means many and different), 'bio' comes to mean 'life forms'. It's that easy! : )

See you soon. We shall play another game, ok? : )