Edible Garden City Project

I've been toying with this idea for the longest time, I want to make a change in the food security issues that our small island is facing. There needs to be a movement, a movement in Singapore to address our food sustainability problem. A daunting task, a mission to change the hearts and minds of the people to change the policies of our narrow minded government. Just a week ago our dear environment minister reckons that to tackle Singapore's food sustainability issue " We just have to be very rich" and to "give GMO food a chance" a very naive statement for someone that is paid millions of dollars a year, and a very discouraging statement.   with this kind of leadership our small island is most likely headed towards starvation.

Singapore a metropolis of 5 million on a 699 sq km island is a bastardisation of modern civilisation. We import 98% of our food, we have to rely on our neighbours for water sent through huge pipes over the causeway from Malaysia. We are huge supporters of global oil conglomerates, as we have become a hub for oil refining. This has given the government great confidence in it's ability to address any peak oil scenarios (again a short sighted naive view). We are a city state with no resources, well we have lots of virtual money. But can you eat money? Our virtual money will disappear one day along with the global financial system which has proven itself to be an unsustainable monster that is showing sign of collapse.

We need a movement in Singapore, one that addresses the root of the problem, one that changes the mindset of our people. Re looking at how we could turn landscaped areas that are currently only earmarked for aesthetic purposes to one that is of some edible quality. We need to start developing a urban food production system a movement supported by great time tested concepts like community supported agriculture and local food movement. So today I share with you my dream, and my vision for a more sustainable Singapore, a Singapore with rooftop farms and small vegetable patches dotted all along our neighbourhood a elaborate distribution systems that will bring good wholesome, organic vegetables to the public. My Vision for: EDIBLE GARDEN CITY PROJECT

  

City or Country Living?

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A friend asked me if I ever miss the city while living in the country. The answer was no. Lately, being in Singapore for the last 2 months has reinforced that. Life is BORING here. Going to the shopping centre and walking around the same old shops, looking at the 'nice things' to buy. Eating at restaurants. Blah blah blah. So BLAH.

The other day, I watched on a BBC channel, a reality tv about a man and his wife taking on a garden project. It was a very ambitious project and the man was quite eccentric and optimistic about achieving his goal of creating a big beautiful garden with pond, mediterranean section, and a few other different parts to it. And all the work was going to be undertaken by just him and his wife. Both looked like their were in their 60s by the way. The tv show followed them throughout the year, showing how they worked and worked and worked so hard and though it was such hard work, it brought them so much pleasure to work with plants and flowers and in the outdoors. They looked alive! The wife painted as a hobby and sold some of her paintings to raise money for their project. And at the end, they werent finished. Actually they will never be finished as a garden is an ongoing project. But they were beaming with pride. And they are so happy knowing that this garden will continue to bring them so much pleasure in the future as well.

I actually cried when I watched that. As I know exactly what they were on about as we've experienced this ourselves living with so many country side dwellers with their own small piece of land they are in charge of. A small surface of this planet earth we all share to feel connected to. This couple will be able to watch their garden change with every week that goes by. They will be able to delight at the turn of colours, at all the life they live right next to. That infinite, deep, relationship created with our earth. So simple, yet so complex. That looks different when the sun shines, when the clouds roll over. In the full moon, in the new moon. Different in spring, summer, autumn, winter. Ever changing.

How could this be compared to a shopping mall? No comparison if you ask me.

So, No. I don't miss the city when I am in the countryside because there's just so so so much more to 'get into'. When I visit the city, yes I enjoy the fashion, the restaurants and the city vibe. Its fun. But I crave to go back to nature asap. And now, being in Singapore city for the last 8 weeks or so, is killing my spirit. 6600 people per square km in this country/city. Get me OUT!