Green Porno

I meant to surf on more 'Emptied Oceans' videos after reading Papa Jeff's recent blog entry. But ended up watching porn instead.. ehem.. Sundance porn no less. Enjoy. (Reminder: this is a *ehem* family friendly blog, for more exciting videos in the Green Porno series, click here.)

"Green Porno is a series of very short films conceived, written, co-directed by and featuring Isabella Rossellini. Inspired by the amazing and often bizarre sexual practices of insects and other creatures, these 8 films are both comical and insightful studies of the curious ways a variety of earth's tiny critters 'make love'. Simple, playful and childlike by design, Green Porno provides a unique and provocative glimpse into an 'underground' world of sexual encounters." - Sundance, Green Porno

"It will never affect us."

Don't you think Singaporeans tend to have this apathetic attitude? Pretty sure majority of Singaporeans believe what the local newspapers say, including the recent report that Singapore is safe from rising sea levels. Well.. check this out then:

This is what a group of NUS students found. Singapore will look like this if the Greenland icesheets melt (and sea-level around Singapore rises by 7m). *editted* This sounds like an extreme case scenario, but look at this piece of news: I quote- 

The melting increased by about 30 percent for the western part of Greenland from 1979 to 2006, with record melt years in 1987, 1991, 1998, 2002, 2005 and 2007...Inclusion of the dynamic processes of these glaciers in models will likely demonstrate that the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment underestimated sea-level projections for the end of the 21st century"

Saw this image on a presentation by Prof Wong Poh Poh during a recent talk on climate change and sea-level rise and its implications on coastal management in the Asia Pacific region at the University of Adelaide, Singapore (thanks to BWV mailing list). The vision's pretty haunting don't you think. First thing you think of is.. hmm.. where's my house? ok. never buy a house in the east, next thing i'm thinking.. let's all live on Bukit Timah.. i'm sure it can handle 5million pple. right.

A thought-provoking point by Prof Wong that stayed with me was that maybe we shouldn't take sea-level rise as such a negative thing. Humans are used to living on land. But with more water surrounding us, maybe we should think of ways to live on the sea instead. M felt it pretty ridiculous but I think it's actually a good idea. What say u?

Read more about the issue on WildSingapore.

WWF: sustainable seafood guide

Singapore version.. akan datang.

In the mean time, take a look at the HongKong version. looks like we need to stay away from shrimp... Read more here.

But the main problem is.. we never get proper information on where our fish comes from. Till then this guide will not be of much use.

Bottomfeeder (I)

"The Sea, Changed.
A permanent feature of the world's largest ocean is now a swirling sargasso of floating debris. This gyre of detritus includes Nike basketball shoes spilled from a conatiner ship, Logo blocks, highlighter pens, yellow rubber ducks, six-pack rings, hockey gloves... The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as it is known, is now almost the size of Africa." - Bottomfeeder by Taras Grescoe

Which reminds me.. I had wanted to post this photo quite some time ago. All this trash would prolly be out floating at sea somewhere if not for our humble Singapore mangroves...

Bottomfeeder

REVIEW- "When Taras Grescoe declares he will try anything on his voyage around the world in search of ethical seafood, he means it. He eats poisonous pufferfish, morally questionable shark fin soup, and potentially dangerous oysters during months without r's. He even samples fishmeal (yuck). After 18 months of eating his way up and down the marine food chain, Grescoe exits a bottom-feeder -- committed to consuming fish lower on the marine food web, with the exception of farmed shrimp (too toxic) and wild abalone (too rare)..." Read more here.

See also the Bottomfeeder website.

I need to read more.

Food for thought

IYOR 2008 - Prof Chou Loke Ming - Keynote Address from BeachBum on Vimeo.

Coral paradise in Singapore by 2018?
What will it be like if our very own Southern Islands were a diver's haven.. *dream*
And on the other hand,
What will it be like if development takes everything away from us.
Singapore - the island with no reefs.

Which brings me to think of Wall-E (don't ask how I watched it before opening :P)
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Imagine if Earth degraded to the state in the movie... trash-filled with no signs of life, with humans wandering about in space waiting for Earth to be able to sustain life again. AND i love the humans potrayed in the movie - sitting around floating mobile chairs conversing with each other through virtual screens, even though they are like floating right next to each other. All humans in the show are like fat with stubby legs and stubby hands, and they can't even walk when they fall off their chair! - I definitely had a conversation with my brother about him ending up like that if he continues to do nothing but play computer games. See.. you never know..

"As humanity became more technologically sophisticated, the film argues, they became ever more divorced from nature, and their own nature. They developed a culture and society that was mechanistic and artificial, as opposed to organic and natural." - Full review here


So stop playing your Wii and get out and literally smell the roses! (or bougainvilleas for tt matter)

Random Wish list

If only fishermen had the means to fish for only half the fishing season...

and let stocks replenish the other half the season

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If only Dove had refill packs available in supermarkets or even better, set up refill stations.- saw refills only once at some dodgy neighbourhood store. (And notice how I couldn't even find a dove refill image to post.)

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If only styrofoams were banned in Singapore. It has already happened in 100 cities in USA.

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If only Green roofs were made compulsory in cities all over the world
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If only MOE made green education and field trips (like that organised by ecofieldtrips or nature groups) part of school curriculum. Always wondered why I never had the chance to go to Southern Islands when I was young. Didn't even know about it then. Read about Earth schools in Canada here.
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If only green media became the norm.
I would love to see a 'love nature' section in the Straits Times some day.
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If only humans could live with 'just enough'.
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"People can cry much easier than they can change"
-James Baldwin via Change Everything