Ms Teresa Teo Guttensohn, president and co-founder of Cicada Tree Eco-Place, which focuses on environmental education, has seen primary school-aged children who “scream when they see a butterfly”.
Getting children to learn about flora and fauna should be “through direct interaction”, she says. “It promotes conservation of our local biodiversity, which has something to do with how we live.”
The Straits TIMES, 11 August 2019
Cicada Tree Eco-Place celebrated our nation’s 54th National Day by going outdoors with fellow Singaporeans and visitors to enjoy Singapore’s amazing nature along the Rail Corridor.
This follows in our tradition of appreciating our natural heritage on National Day! On 9 August last year, we took a walk at MacRitchie Rainforest to search for the native durian tree named after Singapore.
The free public guided nature walk started with a fun “leaf-yoga” warm-up session at Fuyong Park led by volunteer Bala and a welcome message on eco-living by volunteer Teresa.
Led by volunteer guides Andrew and Li Fang, participants and their families enjoyed a slow discovery walk along the forest’s edge at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, and encountered some of the interesting wildlife living in the area.
12 Dec 2018 · · Biophilia and Nature Education Symposium 2019 organised by Cicada Tree Eco-Place Biophilia describes our innate love for nature and all living species. As Singapore becomes more urbanised and people spend less time outdoors, we risk losing our connection with nature.
Yet, this connection is so crucial to our survival and development. Join us for this first symposium of its kind in Singapore that brings together our experts in education and conservation to discuss the importance of nature for our well being and for our children’s education.
Living in an increasingly urbanised Singapore, are we losing touch with nature? Is this connect inherently essential for our existence and the development of our future generations?
Sign up here for this one of a kind symposium that brings together experts in education and conservation to discuss these key points and find a common solution.
Cost: $30 per participant (includes choice of one nature activity. Choose from Outreach Booths, Nature walk, Forest Bathing and Nature Movement). Please note that nature activities are subject to weather conditions.
Story by Talking Tiger (Arlene Bastion)
All photos by Cyril Ng
This article was originally posted in May 2010.
This post is in loving memory of our late and dearest nature supporters and contributors who are greatly missed: naturalist Subaraj Rajathurai, actor-singer and host RJ Rosales and Dr Preston Murphy.
Cicada Tree Eco-Place’s very first fundraiser was a bold initiative to raise funds to employ a person to work with TRAFFIC (www.traffic.org) to conduct research on pangolins and oversee efforts to curb illegal trade in its scales, meat and skin. Help is definitely needed for the pangolin, a not too well known mammal – except for the hunters – and eaters. Pangolins are the most traded mammal in Southeast Asia and their numbers are dwindling due to this trade which is illegal.
A dinner was held at HortPark on 18th April 2010, and after donations, table ticket and raffle ticket sales, CTEP found it had netted a glorious sum of S$41,000 to aid pangolin conservation. All thanks to generous donors, dinner guests and supporting partners, The Vertebrate Study Group (NSS); Nature’s Niche Pte Ltd., RMBR (NUS), SOTA, ACRES, and venue sponsor, HortPark.
There were about 140 dinner guests in all, charging the hall with chatter and laughter. This special evening event included culinary innovations in vegetarian food, entertainment complete with belly dancing, poetry reading, singing, a veena recital, and a competition based on tables identifying various bird calls.
A highlight was an informative though heartbreaking talk by Chris Shepherd, from TRAFFIC, on the plight of the pangolin, revealing statistics of violation, entrapment, and kingpins laughing all the way to the bank. But now, with the stage set for a dedicated pangolin officer, things are looking brighter for pangolins.
CTEP worked hard. They must have experienced many give up moments. Only three years old, they’ve already pulled off an event which usually has event management firms in a knot.
Also read TRAFFIC’s writeup on the dinner here.
By Talking Tiger
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