Discovering the Human-Nature Connection in Singapore

A year ago, I was sitting in my living room in Arlington, Virginia, reading with dread as the Malaysian government approved logging concessions on 150,000 hectares of indigenous land in Borneo. I wrote about it here:

What is our relationship with nature?

A month later, I was reading a book that posed this vital question — how can some look out on the forest and see a home for humans and all living beings that form part of its ecosystem, while others see a forest’s value only in its timber and deforested land? This is not natural nor normal.

The fundamental disconnect between human and nature allows us to see nature merely as an exploitable resource and with the current state of our Earth, we can no longer afford such viewpoints. Since then, I started looking at the different ways that can foster the human-nature connection. For me, experiences that open up our senses to the environment always help me to connect deeper with nature whether it’s meditating in nature or Shinrin-Yoku (forest bathing), a therapy developed in Japan in the 1980s to take in the forest atmosphere through our senses.

Trying Shinrin-Yoku for the first time in the rain— noticing the sky turning all shades of blue and pink before the grey clouds rolled in, the pause between the rain drops, the water droplets hanging off the grass blades, the movements and transitions asking for a pause as the city traffic blurred into the background and the fireflies came out to play, the darkness of the forest inviting.

Besides that, experiences that allow me to work with my hands, giving my brain a break, also helped me to connect deeper with nature. In D.C., I volunteered with the Tregaron Conservancy pulling ivy from trees, planting native plants to prevent erosion, and learning about ninja weeds that spewed seeds everywhere as soon as you touched them. I learned just how much work it takes to keep invasives out and maintain gardens and paths that you would otherwise easily walk past.

Tregaron Conservancy where I spent many happy days pulling out weeds

During this time, I really felt the draw to return home (or at least to the region). Thankfully, I am able to relocate to Singapore with my current job. The more I read about Singapore, the more fascinated I became. I recently reconnected with a friend who wrote her Master thesis on Biophilic Urbanism, the process of integrating nature and natural systems in urban environments at a city scale. She highlighted Singapore as a strong example. I read about Singapore’s biological corridors that facilitate wildlife movements, and I came across various grassroots initiatives that I’m super excited to check out:

• Project Black Gold: A community composting project
• Forest School Singapore: A program that brings children to nature to learn and play
• A Little Wild: A group transitioning 138 acre of palm oil plantation in Johor into a food forest

Given the urban environment that we live in, it is important to have third spaces where the community can come together, learn where our food comes from and have the opportunity to play with earth no matter how old we are. And over time this third space can evolve to become a mini forest!

I love this quote from A Little Wild’s founder:

“Every land’s dream is to become a forest again.”

Do you know of any organizations/projects in Singapore and Malaysia that I can connect with?