Earth Day '91
By Rohaniah Saini, Chan Jen Yee and Maybelle Sim
A COMMITTED "nature watch" organisation and a teacher whose pet cause is saving paper were yesterday picked as preservers of Planet Earth.
The Malayan Nature Society won top marks for producing a conservation master plan outlining Singapore’s natural habitats which need to be conserved.
The winner in the individual category, teacher Ivy Lee, was nominated by about 50 of her former students for giving them a sense of love for the earth.
Her relentless drive to reuse paper and collect used paper for recycling has made some students liken her to the karang guni man.
The two winners, as weil as several other merit winners, won the Preserve Planet Earth Awards given out yesterday at the Mandarin Hotel.
The awards, given out for the first time this year, were given out to corporations and individuals for their contribution towards the conservation of the environment.
The winners were picked from more than 20 entries by four judges representing the sponsors — the Rotary Club, Hongkong Bank, Business Times and The New Paper.
The contributions of the Malayan Nature Society which tipped the scales in its favour were its conservation proposals to various government agencies and the conservation master plan published recently.
The master plan marks 11 "high priority" areas rich in wildlife and 16 less crucial which deserve to be conserved.
Targeted at government agencies and statutory boards, it is Intended to be a guideline for them to assess the Impact their development projects will have on natural habitats.
Receiving the award, MNS secretary Dr Ong,Bee Lian, a botany lecturer, said: "I feel that our efforts have been well-rewarded. But even without this award, we will always make It our aim to make the public more aware about the environment."
MNS’s recent achievement has been the securing of 85 hectares for a bird reserve at Sungei Buloh. This is the first such allocation of land for a nature reserve since 1959.
The winner in the individual category, Mrs Ivy Lee, Is a senior biology teacher In Fairfield Methodist Secondary School.
She is passionate about saying paper and last year gave each of 26 classrooms in her school a box for used paper later sent for recycling.
She also collects junk mail and partially-used paper for her students to do rough work during mathematics classes.
Corporate merit award winners were Esso Singapore, the Singapore Science Centre and Body Shop.
The individual merit award winners were Professor Wee Yeow Chin, Associate Professor in the NUS Department of Botany and Dr Lee Sing Kong, a principal lecturer in Biotechnology at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
Earth Day was also marked by others. ‘]~‘he National University of Singapore Students’ Union brought the message to pupils in Nanyang Primary School by presenting a play on recycling and a quiz on the environment.
New challenges for a green Singapore
SINGAPORE has achieved tremendous economic success while successfully maintaining a clean and green environment — but it is time to face new challenges, said Professor Tommy Koh yesterday.
Prof Koh, Singapore’s Ambassador-at-large, was the guest of honour at the Preserve Planet Earth Award ceremony.
His challenge for the Government and other development agencies: Carry out environmental impact studies before carrying out development projects to discover ways in which development and conservation can co-exist.
He challenged the Public Utilities Board to start a public education programme that will teach ~1ngaporeans how to save energy in three simple ways: switching to energy-saving light bulbs, turning off the lights in unoccupied rooms and turning their air-conditioners to a lower setting at night.
He said: "Why must we turn Singapore into a temperate country indoors? By adjusting the air-conditioner, we are more comfortable, save energy and emit less carbon dioxide."
He directed his last challenge for the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board, saying it should Invest In selling the natural wildlife habitats in Singapore as tourist attractions.
Prof Koh pointed out: "There is an Increasingly large group of tourists interested in eco-tourism. Why not STPB offer tourists another Incentive for staying longer in Singapore?"
Source : The Straits Times, 23rd April 1991
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