Eco+Picnic+at+the+Botanic+Gardens

ECO PICNIC @ the botanical gardens In conjunction with Earth Week 2010, an Eco Picnic was organized between the Science and English department of RGS. Being part of the lucky few classes in the school, I was given the opportunity to attend this picnic and experience the effort behind organizing such an activity, understand why plants have certain structures and critique about my experience based on what I truly felt. Additionally, though away from studies for a short period of time, I experienced what, in my opinion, many ecologist are striving to inculcate in my generation - the youths.

Being blessed with a lot of technology to ease our lives, we tend to take things for granted. Air-conditioning 24/7 or laptops and the gazillion other gadgets such as the iPhone, iPad, laptops etc. They have taken over the way we live and they have becoming a necessity. Our lives are centered around these things - we rely on them for planning, we rely on them to give us updates and we even rely on them to communicate - it does make life slightly impersonal. So then, you may ask, if I am a part of this generation, why am I venting my thoughts out so differently? Agreeably, I have such tendencies too but I am not ignorant. I do place quite a fair bit of reliance on technology and am thankful. If it wasn't for it, I might not be able to study, not be able to lead a fairly normal life and would not be able to cope with the school I had longed to enter. However, I love nature - especially animals, and a recent visit to Bintan Island has made me think once again about sparing a greater thought about the Earth.

Now, let me get back to the Eco Picnic.

Frankly, the Eco Picnic required enormous amounts of effort and I was severely exhausted. The planning needed was rather intricate as food had to be made in view of the theme, decor had to be put up and everyone had to contribute. The theme was alright - being eco friendly. I naturally promoted vegetarianism as it was an avenue for the deduction of carbon emissions. They agreed. I think there is a huge misconception regarding vegetarianism. Vegetarians do not eat solely vegetables. Their meals do not consist solely of vegetable sticks. They do not munch on vegetables. They do take dairy products, though vegans do not.

When I first suggested this theme, I received numerous emails regarding have a platter of raw "salad" vegetables such as celery sticks. It's not a bad idea, but if you were to view it in perspective, how many youths would eat veggies on their day out? And, being a vegetarian, I have seen my mum conjure up Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Buddhist and Lebanese cuisine apart from Indian cuisine. Therefore, my bewilderment upon hearing about serving veggies. However, I understand that there is a general misconception and thus, explained to my group members that we could make a different kinds of food. In the end, we decided on finger food that was the most basic - sandwiches, peanut butter biscuit muffins, ribena and milo ice cream, as far as I can recollect. We decided to use tiffin boxes so as to create a nostalgic feel. However, in the end I realized that it did not quite work according to what we had thought - it put many people off as "old school". That was when I realized again, that implementing and planning are worlds apart. On a larger scale, or when undertaking something with a higher stake, it is important to try out the action plan on a dummy level (also, a teaching point from my mentor Prof Tan Eng King).

I did come across moments of frustration such as when the cooler didn't work and there wasn't a proper jug to contain the Ribena drink all the way to the Botanic Gardens. All the way there, I eyed the jug, looking out for tell tale signs of any sort of impending spillage. Thankfully, it was minimal. Our ice cream melted as well, and we ended up serving it as "smoothie". However, optimism was at its peak, and we managed to serve the rest of the food.

My personal experience that day was that, I was exhausted as usual. This exhaustion is a difficult thing to explain. No matter how much I rest it just sticks around. I have figured a way to ignore it at times by remaining optimistic. Everyone is tired, but this is something inexplainable. I can say I'm tired. You can say it too. You might be thinking that we're on the same plane of thought, but the difference is great. I can say this from experience as there was a time I was fully like everyone else - 5 CCAs, Academic commitments, Olympiad training, 5 weekly Ballet training sessions etc. Oh yes, was I exhausted but not as much as I am now.

Anyway, back to my Eco Picnic story. I was quite dazed that day and quite unresponsive, though I was interested about the event. However, I should mention that Jixin was rather encouraging. After awhile, certain things caught my interest and the atmosphere was uplifting. The "Man Who Planted Trees" project was really impressive. Mending to such a project was really interesting. The employees had to prune it regularly, prevent the saplings from drying up and ensure it was properly watered. Since the scale of the project was enormous and the weather in Singapore was rather unpredictable, they had to have a good sense of judgement and commitment.

One activity that confused me what that of the bird calls. I couldn't make out the beats, though I could make out the fluctuations in the pitch. I guess, it takes practice but some people did get the hang of it right away.

A personal mind-block I had to overcome was my fear of ants. I know about the saying that we're bigger than them, they're probably afraid of us. However, there was this once instance where an entire colony of ants climbed up my leg and bit me quite badly. Therefore, my fear.

All in all, the experience was a mixture of negative and positive though, the atmosphere was joyful and lively. The teachers had planned certain activities that truly were interesting such as the one on the adaptations of a plant. Though I didn't quite complete it, I have been looking out for adaptations in plants and animals where ever I go. Their effort is much appreciated, as they tried to do something different. The planning for the picnic, though difficult, was enjoyable as I got to "mess" the kitchen at home. Some people did put in a lot of effort, staying up till midnight to create interesting foodstuffs such as an ice cream that would not melt. I personally feel that it was fun, but fun does not come for free - it was an effort that everyone put together to create something different - a respite at the end of the day for all of us.