What can I do? (Guest Post for SCS blog)

This was originally written as a guest post for the Science Centre Singapore blog, found here. 

When I tell people that I am part of a group whose mission is to raise awareness of the Butterfly Trail @Orchard in Singapore, I almost always get blank looks in reply, followed by comments about how it’s a waste of my time. Even more so, when I inform them that we target our education at children, because ‘children are unable to understand or make any difference towards the situation’.

Looking at the ‘Playing on Wings’ workshop we held on 16 June at Singapore Science Centre, I cannot see how people underestimate children so much.

We entertained them with some origami before the workshop began.

With a group of about 30 children and their parents, the programme was a meant to be a brief lesson about the importance of butterflies and urban nature in Singapore, and the dangers they face. Naturally, the activities, such as making origami butterflies and finding camouflaged butterflies in their natural environment, were uncomplicated and unable to touch on many of the very real problems butterflies and urban nature face in Singapore, such as lack of awareness and action. Somehow though, the kids got the message.

"If it's good for us, why don't we care more?"

“If it’s good for us, why don’t we care more?” A child, maybe eight or nine, asked us.

The overly simplistic mind of a child is a unique insight you will not find anywhere else. No matter how much research we do regarding the matter, how many reports and essays we write about the multiple complicated causes behind the issues urban nature face in Singapore, it will never quite cover the crux of the problem quite as elegantly as the unassuming words of a child.

“If it’s good for us, why don’t we care more?” Good question. The environment is important towards us, both as creatures who live off the Earth and her resources, and as practical humans who require natural resources for our own purposes. So why don’t we worry more about how it’s doing, about what we can do in return for it?

It was a tough question to answer. We eventually came up with something about how adults have a lot of issues to deal with, and maybe sometimes forget about nature, which is why we want to remind them about it.

The answer came quickly, without deliberation. “So you just have to make them remember, that’s all?”

The girl was eerily accurate. After all, the main aim of our project is to increase awareness of urban nature in Singapore. “And what purpose does that serve?” you might ask. “What can we do? We’re not policymakers. We’re not people with money to spend. How can we change anything?”

Who says it’s merely the big, grand actions that make a difference? Appreciate the nature around you. Take a walk along Orchard Road and notice the seamlessly placed butterfly gardens. Perhaps take a stroll inside and find yourself overwhelmed by the sheer vibrancy of the flora and fauna around you, things you miss with your eyes glued to a screen. Plant a plant, take a picture, and if you like it, if you think it belongs in Singapore, if you think it’s important that your children is able to see it with their own eyes, spread the message. Let everyone know. Everything and everyone can make a difference.

When we started this project, we were but a few teenagers with a goal and nothing else. Now, we’re working with Nature Society Singapore (who founded the Butterfly Trail @Orchard), we’ve hosted a workshop with Singapore Science Centre, we’re in collaboration with schools from other countries and, to me, this is proof that all it takes is passion and sincerity to make a difference.

Our goal may be merely to get people to know about the Butterfly Trail @Orchard and appreciate it, but awareness is a step towards the bigger question of, “What are we doing to protect urban nature in Singapore? What are we doing to make sure that our country’s rich biodiversity does not die out? What are we doing to ensure a balance between our cityscape and our flora and fauna?”

That day, twenty kids (and their parents) left the workshop having learnt about nature and butterflies in Singapore. That may be it, but I believe it made a difference. Maybe one day, one of those children may be the ones standing up and asking these questions and starting actual change. Or maybe not. I don’t know. But I’m not going to give up.

Going through the slides

Mom and child showing off their origami

Her other kid :D

Another family!

And another...

Butterfly camouflage!

All wanting to answer our questions :>

Getting a sweet for her correct answer

Skit!

Watching attentively

More watching peoples :D

Preparing the cups of soil for planting!

Shayna demonstrating how to put in seeds

Kate's turn!

Explaining the different seeds

I see Wang You :)

Happy family!

Adorable kids haha

Posing for a picture!

Awww showing off their artwork

Displaying their drawings!

Adorable pictures!

Wang You's butterfly and caterpillar tutorials 

Some of their feedback that we pasted onto a tree-shaped board

Family who wanted a picture with us!

The Butterfly Trail @Orchard is a project started by Nature Society Singapore, involving 15 butterfly gardens along Orchard Road. Do check out the NSS website for more details, here.

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Playing on Wings at the Singapore Science Centre

Some time ago we approached a contact within the Science Centre with the proposition of organising a short, fun, and educational children's programme. And so it was that proposals were drawn up and flyers designed and scripts drafted, all culminating in a two-or-so hour programme held on the 16th of June and attended by a group of about fifteen children and their parents.

Poster on display.

The programme, titled Playing on Wings, is part of the 'Public Outreach' bit of our CmPS project.  The whole point of the programme was to educate young audiences about (1) butterflies in general and (2) the threat urban development poses to butterfly populations in Singapore.

Lesson time!

We started with a short talk introducing butterflies and general information about them, which was followed by a 'Spot The Butterfly!' camouflage game, a skit, and hands-on activities, in that order.

Enthusiastic responses from participants during the Spot The Butterfly! camouflage game

Creating butterfly origami

At the end of the day, the children left the place each with their own cups of seeds Aristolochia tagala, Stachytarpheta mutabilis(Pink snakeweed), or Crotalaria retusa (Rattlebox). Hopefully, this will not just stop there and they might actually start their own mini butterfly gardens at home!

Wang You instructing the young participants in the illustration of a simple butterfly

A participant planting her Rattlebox seeds in her cup of soil

We would like to thank the Singapore Science Centre for giving us this oppurtunity to spread awareness about butterflies in Singapore.  We look forward to returning in December with a more polished programme.

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Bird and Butterfly Race

NSS Butterfly Guide App

Last month, on the 26 May, Shayna, Zek Min and I went to participate in the Mini Bird and Butterfly Race organised by Nature Society (Singapore) (NSS) to celebrate the launch of the NSS Bird and Butterfly iPhone App during the Biodiversity Festival and to trail run these applications. These iPad/iPhone applications developed by the NSS aid users in identifying bird and butterfly species and also keeping records of sightings.

The race was held in conjunction with the Festival of Biodiversity

Shayna

One of the butterflies (Rustic Butterfly) we spotted during the race! 

We had a jolly good time, made loads of delightful new friends and grew to appreciate the stunning beauty Mother Nature has bestowed upon us.

We did not win, but it was an enjoyable experience and although we are still a little iffy on the use of binoculars, we did learn a fair bit about identifying birds and butterflies.

We would like to express our gratitude toward the Nature Society for organizing the race and giving us the oppurtunity to participate, and for creating the apps which will be a tremendous help to the public in identifying butterflies and so doing spread awareness about them.  Especial thanks goes out to the representatives of the Nature Society who facilitated the race and who managed to put up with us and who, more importantly, pulled the entire event off beautifully.

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 The next day, Zek Min and Yuexin went to help out @ the booth at Botanic Garden to promote the application (and teach them how to use it) to the public:

 Tags!

Students from River Valley High School helping out with the booth as part of their CCA activities

Yuexin

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Inter-House Games

On the 25th of May, 2012, CmPS Project WISH organized an Inter-House Game within our school.

A peak at the initial planning stage!

The Inter-House Games are essentially a series of games students can participate in to win points for their house.  Individual games are each organized separately by a select number of student groups—this year, however, we were the only CmPS group granted permission to organize an IHG. We opted for a popular favourite- an Amazing Race style IHG.

Our aim in organizing it was to spread awareness about butterflies within the school population, and to promote our butterfly garden in school.  

And so the Amazing Race became a Butterfly-Themed-Amazing-Race. Our tactical approach to this conundrum was to make the each station related to butterflies.  For those of you unfamiliar with modern-day television, an Amazing Race is basically a race in which there are a number of teams with a series of stations to complete.  Only upon each station’s completion are the teams given a clue, which once solved will direct them to the next station.

However given a number of constraints, we devised a points system so as to allow the game to suit the House system. So, a simplified explanation on the operation of our IHG:  there are five teams, each representing the five houses.  There are a number of stations, each staffed by a station manager.  Each station houses a game or task, and teams are assigned points by the station manager based on their performance.  It is only upon completion of each separate game/task by the teams to the station managers’ satisfaction that they are given a clue directing them to the next station.

And that’s the logistical side of it.

Our purpose in organising this IHG was to raise awareness about butterflies. 

Pre-IHG briefing

In the pre-IHG briefing, we gave them a presentation about the importance of urban nature in Singapore, as well as the role butterflies play. They then went on to prove their newly-earned knowledge in various games and challenges.
  

 The stations:

Kate's and Zek Min's station: the Koi Pond

Each group started from a different station. Kate's station was called 'Rapid Fire' where participants would have to answer as many questions as possible within the time limit of 10 minutes. We were glad to observe that most of them had absorbed the content of the briefing.  

Zhang Xuan's and Beverley's station was titled 'Caterpillar Games' and served to evaluate the teams on their teamwork.  The station was set up such that there were thirty individually numbered leaves placed around a given area in a random order.  The participants formed a line before being blindfolded and left in the hands of a selected team leader, whose job it was to direct the group in completing a circuit of fifteen leaves in as little time as possible.  This circuit was determined by the station mistress, who would call out a number and wait for the group to travel to the corresponding leaf before calling out the next number.  Teams were assessed based on station mistresses' observations regarding their team work as well as on the time it took for them to complete the activity.

Zhang Xuan and Beverley's station: outside the KS Chee Theatre

For Yuexin's station, the participants were given a map and tasked to identify the locations of the butterfly plants in our school within a given time frame. This activity aimed to promote awareness of the different types of butterfly plants, especially so in our school community itself. 

Yuexin's station: on the track

Shayna's station is called 'Matching'. The participants have to match the names of the butterflies to the respective pictures. 

And finally, our IHG was set apart from past years’ by a very special touch—a last combined station.  No points, no death and glory and honour for your house—just a last station where all the teams gathered together in harmony to...

Richardson house planting their own plant

Do gardening!

Ownership is tremendously important for urban nature to be fully integrated by individuals into modern society.  It’s much easier to do something when you care about it.  On a smaller scale, ownership is key for our butterfly garden to continue to thrive in our absence in about two years’ time.

Gardening under the hot sun

                                                         

The idea was to have students of the school be part of the little urban nature/butterfly awareness project we have going on here.  That they be made aware of the importance of urban nature and the importance of butterflies in urban nature, and care about it.  And so the finishing line of the race was our school butterfly garden.  Each team planted a butterfly plant in representation of their house.  Each plant stands there as something that each house has done, has helped happen, and we hope that this has instilled a sense of ownership in the students. 

                                     

 

 

The main goal of our project can be summarised in five simple words: we want people to care.  And hopefully we’ll have accomplished that with this group of seventy or so students; yes, it’s not a lot of people, but it’s still seventy more people than there was before.  Seventy more people spreading the gospel.

Wang You giving the post-IHG debrief

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