Green drinks and dog whisperer

Soon a month back was my first 'anniversary' of living in Singapore. Nothing special about the day (not that I recall), but it kinda made me think about the past year anyway. I haven't at any point felt like I was going through the culture shock waves (first you love it, then you hate it, then it all settles), but I did go through the normal 'settling into a new place' routine: getting to know the city, doing touristic things, being really interested in everything.. then finding things to do regularly and making friends, getting involved in local activities.. and then starting work and trying to hold on to hobbies (=being busy). So things pretty much evolve around everyday activities, and I have not tried anything new or been to a new place in Singapore for a long time. Really should. But cannot, so busy lah!

Well, last week I managed to do something new. Twice!

I went for green drinks on Thursday night (the drinks weren't really green, but the talk around the drinks was). Green drinks is actually a global concept that brings together people who are interested in environmental issues for casual talk and networking. Green drinks has been in Singapore since 2007, and I have known about them all this time I've lived here - there just somehow was always something in the way of attending.. This particular time I felt I had to go, because one of the speakers (there's always one or two speakers on an environmental topic) was a consultant who's topic was Energy future of Singapore. Working (quite passionately, I must say) for a sustainable energy company, I simply had to attend. Of course, the fact that a newly made friend, a colleague's wife Erica who shares many same interests (they have two dogs!), joined me at the event, helped a lot.

At the end, more than the consultant's talk on oil dependency and possible alternatives, I liked the talk on locavorism, i.e. eating locally. It is something I have thought (and felt anxiety over) several times in this blog too, especially because over 90% of the food available and eaten in Singapore is imported, and I my shopping is made thousand times more difficult by my conscience, which tells me to shop products that are produced in an environmentally friendly way (e.g. organic), are cruelty free or animal friendly (vegan, free range etc.) and are produced locally. .. Well, let's just say it was a lot easier back home. Until last Thursday, when I heard about how eating locally can be accomplished in Singapore too!

Here the 'circle' of eating locally is 300km instead of 100km so that the highlands of Malaysia can be included. There are quite a few farms - organic too - in Singapore. What there isn't, is free range, due to the government's strict regulations. (Due to the same regulations all meat from the neighbouring countries has to be brought into Singapore for slaughter.) But, a product that totally made my day a while ago (just when I was thinking of going vegan due to the dilemma of eggs produced in a cruel way vs. organic eggs shipped in from NZ) is the Freedom Range Eggs that are produced by barn lay hens, who have nearly twice as much room as what the law requires. The business was started by a nice young Singaporean man who after studies in the UK and a job in shipping wanted to do something that would make a difference. How cool is that?! So my hero of the week ;)

On Saturday I went to a workshop for the dog owners, which was not as inspiring as the Green Drinks, but still good. Part of the proceedings went to ALL, so quite naturally I bumped into a few other volunteers too :) The workshop was organised by Clubpets magazine (which is pretty good, covering some real stories and providing articles with common sense - something that is sometimes lost with local dog owners..) and sponsored by Royal Canin, and even though I will not switch Rekku from his beloved Orijen food (no, he's no locavore), the nutrionist from Royal Canin was pretty good. I learned a whole lot about the way dogs eat and how their digestion system works. Warmly recommended!

The second part of the workshop, an Australian celebrity, the Dog Whisperer John Richardson spoke about the need to treat a dog like a dog. I expected a bit more from his presentation, especially after I met a girl that works at Pet's Love, Rekku's corner store. She had come down with her dog (a stray who simply followed her home nearly a year ago) to be one of the demo dogs. But the great Dog Whisperer never got to that, instead there was a barking contest for kids. Yay.