Happy Cows?

Sued by PETA. If you watched Meatrix II: Revolting (in previous post), you'd get the idea why.

Is Singapore Greenwashing?

A couple of weeks ago Sweeteepye emailed me about greenwashing and she also posted something on it on this blog. I think it's also associated with politics (so called green political groups) and any sort of branding really.


Do you think Singapore greenwashes? I don't deny that we have good air quality and we are clean, but apart from that I do think we have a long way to go in terms of conserving nature. We keep marketing ourselves as a Garden City or a City within a Garden, but isn't a garden just a landscaped bit of land ie. not natural? The landscaped trees are not local...... We don't have much natural land to boast about either. If I remember correctly it's only about 4%. And before any of you say we are a small city state so we can't afford to keep it, there are other city states that do a lot more in terms of conserving nature than Singapore....

Flooding

My usual route to work was flooded this morning due to rain. Actually, I should rephrase that. The flooding was because the developers cut down the trees so that they can build something else. Take a look. We couldn't believe it. Everything was just flooded! The water was ankle high.

Made in ???

You would have to have been living in a cave to not know about the recent milk scare. Most of us are now diligently reading the labels, some to see whether there is any milk in the Chinese products, while others are doing it to weed out the Chinese products all together.



I have a few friends turning to local sources of products that need milk e.g. biscuits and cakes, which I think is great in terms of the environment too. But you may recall my previous post on eating locally. It's really difficult.

My colleague told me today that even if it says "Made in xxx", it doesn't mean that all the ingredients come from xxx. According to the World Trade Organisation, certain criteria are used to determine whether a product originates from country xxx and thus can be labelled "Made in xxx". This is called the "Rules of Origin". Each country will have to follow these rules. I took a look at the Singapore Customs website and it looks soooooo complex. But basically, the criteria varies with respect to the Free Trade Agreements that SIngapore has signed. In general:

a) To qualify as a Singapore product it can be either wholly grown/produced in Singapore w/o imported materials; or manufactured in Singapore from materials & parts wholly or partly imported according to the appropriate rules of origin. I think there is a percentage for this, but I couldn't find it.

b) For products manufactured for export, the rule of origin is by both or either of the following:
i) Under the process criterion, the imported materials must have undergone substantial transformation.
ii) For the value-added or percentage criterion, the origin is determined by the percentage of either the imported materials or the local materials plus the direct processing cost in relation to the ex-factory cost or ex-factory price of the product.

It looks complicated, but the point I am trying to make is that even if the product says "Made in xxx", not all of its ingredients would have been sourced from xxx.

Soon to be lost IS lost!

They moved in fast! Remember how it was before?

The unofficial karanguni man

I see the man in the pic every morning on my way to work. He religiously goes through and sorts a pile of rubbish by the road. He collects cans, old umbrellas, cardboard boxes and even an old fan. He then stacks all the recycleables on the cart and pushes it off to sell. It's funny because no one recycles in my block. Correction, I don't see the recycling bags on my neighbours' doorsteps, and here is this man making recycling part of his daily routine.

His wife helps him scout the area where I live for anything that can be recycled. I wanted to take a close-up pic of him but was a bit worried when he gave me a stare as soon as he saw my camera. Decided to snap a shot after I crossed the road ....

Heartbreaking

(pic courtesy of Guardian)

I read this article in the Guardian this morning. It is very sad. Can you imagine infanticide happening to humans when there is almost nothing to eat? I do hope the situation gets better.

Wisdom of the Ages 2

Hi all....

I had posted something about our elders knowing more about caring for our environment than us. I gave the example of the message of God in the Holy Bible. It's not something new, it's just we forgot about it and got carried away with our obsession with money.

The Qu'ran also mentions caring for our environment, including animal welfare (thanks to Shahrum who pointed me in the right direction). It's very beautifully written. Basically (I hope I have interpreted it correctly), it's saying that since God or Allah created the Earth with such beauty, we should duly respect it. Damage in all forms or kinds is forbidden under Islamic law.

Here are a few verses:

“There is not an animal on the earth, nor any being that wings its flight, but is a people like unto you...” (Quran 6:38)

“…a mercy to all beings.” (Quran 21:107)

“And when he turns away, he hastens through the land to cause corruption therein and to destroy the crops and cattle: And God loves not corruption.” (Quran 2:205)

What happens to your old clothes?

Okay, I've finished my twirling project and I'm a little lost as to what to do next.....
Anyways, just share with you that I was with one of my colleagues window shopping at Tangs during one of our lunch dos and we commented how nice the dresses are (not to mention expensive!). This was our conversation:

KY: "Even if you buy all these clothes, what happens to the old ones?".
Me: "Well, they still sit in my wardrobe"
KY: "Exactly! A waste of money"

Would have to agree with her on that one :-) I wonder how many items of clothes we buy in a life time? Or, how many items of clothes do we really need? I'm trying to cut down on how many clothes I buy (okay, I must admit the occasional treat :-p)

I've finished twirling (finally!)

Hi all,

Remember the initial post I had about me twirling away with scrap material from an old dress?

I've finished!!! Hurrah!! I've also sewn it on an old top that I cut in the middle and made into a bolero. My hubby thinks I have gone mad with the sewing but it is one of my other stress relievers (besides making bread with my bread machine... hee, which reminds me I owe a few of you some recipes).


Anyways, here are a few pics. My son was intrigued and decided he wanted to model as well... ha ha ha

Shopping that can change the world?

Ebay has just launched an ethical market place called WorldofGood.com. It's supposed to offer us folks products that have a positive impact on people and the planet.

As you browse the products, you'll be able to see your "product print" and how your purchase will impact positively. It has 4 areas of positive impact:

a) People positive - economic empowerment, preserving tradition, self-empowerment, quality of life

b) Eco positive - eco-friendly production, environmental conservation, energy conservation

c) Animal friendly - animal welfare, species preservation

d) Supports a cause

It also gives info on who made it (ie. the person and a pic) and where it was made.

The products are not cheap, so my concern is whether eBay or a middle-man is paying the producers (especially those from the developing nations) peanuts and taking huge profits in the process. Recall the child sweatshop shame on Gap and Primark?

Is your wardrobe full of your hubby's old ties?

Before we shifted to Singapore, my hubby had to wear ties to work. Now that we're in Singapore, the working attire is not as formal ie. no ties. So, the ties are just hanging in the wardrobe pleading to be used.... actually, they've been hanging there for 8 yrs now (yes, it's been that long and we're still here :-) )


Anyways, I was just looking at Outsapop's tutorials on reconstruction and came across this! Definitely breathes new life into the ties!

Lantern Festival - it's time for mooncakes and more packaging!

It's that time of year when we buy mooncakes to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival aka Lantern Festival.

Going round the cake shops and promotion booths, I did notice that a lot of them are elaborately packaged. Hope that a lot of consumers will recycle the packaging, but best of all, I hope next year the manufacturers will design them for minimal packaging. Think we should get rid of the tin boxes and use recycled paper packaging instead.

Had a look at the mooncakes. It seems like everyone is trying to out do each other with their special, albeit excessively packaged mooncakes. Eeks! What a waste of resources.

Melting plastic bags onto T-shirts

I'm inspired! Outsapop has tried melting plastic bags onto old T-shirts. The photo on the left is made by her.

Doesn't it look lovely? If you make your own no one else will have the same design as you, so it is "Made by (your name)" brand!

I would love to make one but I'm too busy making my top with the twirled material.....nearly finished :-)

Check out Outsapop's tute at Flickr......

Chopsticks - give them the chop! Haiya!

Being a Singaporean (okay, almost ;-p) I like eating out especially to the Japanese restaurants for some good sushi. Most of you will have noticed that they like to use disposable chopsticks unlike most eateries and food courts.

(pic courtesy of Friends of the Earth, HK)


Just read an article that a joint Friends of the Earth - City University study on chopsticks found in 14 sushi and fastfood restaurants in Hong Kong showed that "although all passed hygiene tests, many contained very high amounts of preservatives but still failed to prevent mold growing, indicating wet and dark storage conditions." Eewch!

Well, Singapore's wet weather can't be much different from Hong Kong's rainy season. Plus usage of disposable chopsticks is not environmentally friendly. According to FoE, "Of 80 billion pairs of chopsticks produced annually, 45 billion pairs of them are being used in China." Wah!!

Chopsticks can fit easily into our handbags (we fit our reusable bags into them, so what's a pair of chopsticks) so why dont' we bring our own chopsticks? Hey, why don't we start a "Bring Your Own Chopsticks" Campaign? Anyone?