Plastic-free resort planned

We’d like to see one in Singapore. The state government is considering turning the hill resort here into a plastic-free area to protect its fragile environment. Polystyrene boxes are another item on the possible ban list, said Pahang exco member Datuk Shafik Fauzan Sharif. The move, he said, was in line with the recent decision [...]

AFP: Giant green algae slick heads towards China

A massive floating expanse of green algae is heading towards China’s east coast, potentially threatening wildlife and the region’s tourist industry, state media reported on Tuesday. The algae bloom covered 200 square kilometres (80 square miles) and was about 13 kilometres (eight miles) offshore and floating towards the coastal city of Jiaonan in Shandong province, [...]

Butterfly Trail launched on Orchard Road

The Butterfly Trail at Orchard, a project by NParks, STB, Orchard Road Business Association and Nature Society Singapore (NSS), was launched yesterday afternoon by Prof. Tommy Koh. Worth taking a look to remind ourselves that Orchard Road’s not just about shopping. Now you can augment your GSS with some nature! Most visitors to Singapore are [...]

Officials scramble to save endangered Javan rhinos

The discovery of three dead Javan rhinos has intensified efforts to save one of the world’s most endangered mammals from extinction, with an electric fence being built Monday around a new sanctuary and breeding ground. With only about 50 of the species left in the wild — all but a handful living in one national [...]

‘The Cove’ to screen in Japan despite protests

Initial screenings of the film at three other theaters were canceled after protests by nationalist groups. Those theaters still have no plans to show “The Cove,” which shows bloody scenes of a dolphin slaughter filmed by hidden cameras and portrays local fishermen as rough goons. The cancellations prompted a group of Japanese journalists, academics and [...]

77 million poisoned by arsenic in Bangladesh

By some estimates, between 35 and 77 million people in Bangladesh have been chronically exposed to arsenic-contaminated water as a result of a catastrophically misguided campaign in the 1970s. Millions of tube wells were drilled in the aim of providing villagers with clean, germ-free water. Many wells were inadvertently dug into shallow layers of soil [...]

Bangladesh jute gets boost from plastic bag backlash

Jute, a vegetable fibre that is spun into coarse threads, was once known as the “golden fibre” of the British Empire when the Indian sub-continent was ruled from London. The material’s long decline was hastened in the 1980s with the advent of synthetic fabrics, but the trend is being reversed due to growing opposition to [...]