… to study plants in 2007, the colour green (my favourite) was not a key factor. That I would come crashing out of the forest all dishevelled, muddy and unglam, and not walk out of the waves dripping seawater from my body oh-so-sexy like a marine biologist, were. The further disruptions to my sense of self-esteem when I imagine the sneers and derision of zoologists at my study subjects were also important considerations. I had some ground to believe that plants form the physical structure of habitats and make 99% of the food for 99% of ecosystems, without which all those cuddly bambis, that people with very superficial understanding of biodiversity think all the world of, would have no homes to hide in and will die of hunger. So it is with trying to get more undergraduate minions into our plant lab. If the balance is tilted in the future, it would make it harder for anyone considering a career in botany.

Sorry, couldn’t stop making another.

… to be a conservation biologist in 2010, pay was (certainly) not a key factor. The mindsets of government funding that research must bring tangible economic benefits, the restrictions that such funding must be for Singapore projects only, and pressure on us not to reveal any inconvenient findings, were. The disruptions to your study sites, when the government claims to want you to study the biodiversity of certain places but they are already beginning to bulldoze them before you have even begun, were also important considerations. I had some ground to believe that the complete lack of meaningful biodiversity conservation laws would drastically change one day even as we point out the hypocrisy of Singapore’s actions in pretending to be a “green” city. So it is with more recent wayang shows. If the balance is tilted in the future, it would make it harder for anyone considering a career in ecology in Singapore.

-Anonymous

The wisest way
to deal with unpleasant situations
is to react
with Stillness.

(I need to constantly keep this advice in mind.)

Life is like a game of Mahjong.

Some people
even if they get pretty good tiles,
they still bitch and rant
about how bad their hand is.
Always
waiting
for the next hand to be an excellent one.

Some however,
struggle to make the best
of whatever hand they get.
Diligently choosing
the ones to keep
and the ones to throw,
turning a bad hand into a good one.

It’s not about who’s the best player.

Whoever plays sincerely
will have had the most fun.

Is Singapore’s national flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim, becoming extinct?

…

We should grow the national flower in all schools. This will enable our children to know and appreciate our national flower.

Rather amused, I took 20 minutes to pen a piece off to ST Forum. Surprisingly, they took it, and not just online but also put it into the print edition. Most of it survived intact, but without the letter side-by-side, readers might miss my tongue-in-cheek and think that I’m a xenophobic tree-hugger. Here’s my original letter in full:

Dear Editor,

Mr Lim asks a very interesting question: is the national flower becoming “extinct” (“In search of Vanda Miss Joaquim”, 26 Sep 2011)?

Singapore’s national flower is a sterile hybrid of two orchid species, both of which do not naturally occur in Singapore. The hybrid was discovered by the pioneer botanist (and eligible bachelor) Henry Ridley in the garden of an Armenian widow Agnes Joaquim. I am not sure if “extinction” seems to be an ecologically relevant concept to apply to it, but as this is our official national flower, and Mr Lim’s concerns are understandable.

However, as conservation scientists we often ask: how many of Singapore’s native plant species have become extinct? How many are in danger of becoming extinct?

The latest edition of Singapore’s Red Data Book lists some 30% of more than 2000 plant species native to Singapore as nationally extinct. Many have been rediscovered in the following years, but many remain rare and exist as only a few known individuals from a limited number of locations.

One particular native species of interest is the Singapore Kopsia. It is only found in the freshwater swamps of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and its flowers bear the Singapore colours: red and white.

Another species of interest is a climber only known to be found in Singapore and nowhere else, with the scientific name Spatholobus ridleyi. If this climber becomes extinct in Singapore, it also means that is will have disappeared permanently from the face of the earth.

Unlike hybrid orchids that require artificial propagation, our native plant species are fully capable of reproducing and surviving on their own ― if not for habitat destruction and disturbance by us humans. Perhaps we should grow more native plants in all schools. This will enable our children to know and appreciate our gradually disappearing natural heritage.

Let the rich become richer, get the very rich to come here, and entice them to spend  their money.
The money goes into the economy and generates demand and jobs.
Ordinary people get their jobs and are given higher pay.
So everyone is happier.

What really happens:
We build crazily luxurious housing and hold ostentatious events, making this country the playground of the rich.
The rich, of course, spend, and the ordinary people see the spending.
The ordinary people then aspire to live, eat and play in the same kind of luxury.
Envy, dissatisfaction, resentment then festers.

Society only seems “better off” if you measured “better off” in dollars-sense.

But in doing have we lost our common-sense?

On the spiritual path
If the Student massages the Ego of the Master
The Master will do well.
(Not so sure about the Student.)

The Body
fights gravity to stand,
fights inertia to walk,
fights friction to speed up,
fights the pressure to breathe air,
fights the elements to stay alive.

It is also the nature of the Mind to have to fight.

The  Mind
fights sleepiness to awaken,
fights depression to stay glad,
fights anger to be kind,
fights cruelty to be compassionate.

But there is something else inside us that need not fight.

If it fights, one suffers just as the Body and Mind fight.
Yes, even as one fights for the right things, the wholesome things.

But if that one thing is at peace,
and it learns not to fight,
even as the Mind and Body
fight to help all beings and ourselves,

No struggle,
No strain,
No conflict.

Standing is Happiness, Walking is Happiness, Breathing is Happiness.
Holding the umbrella up against rain and shine, we are Happy.

Fighting hard to save all beings, we are Happy.

The way the city works
is to move fast.

The onus is not on the City to slow down,
but Ourselves.

That
is something
the over-skeptical
fail to appreciate.

Anyway,
rationality
is over-rated.

(Copyright for that last line is not mine.)