The Garden City vision was introduced by then PM Lee Kuan Yew on 11 May 1967 to transform Singapore into a city with abundant lush greenery and clean environment, in order to make life more pleasant for the people.
When I travel, I notice that apart from a pleasant environment and beautiful appearance, our country feels cooler compared with other countries with the same temperature ranges.
One Million Trees
Since April 2020 the National Parks Board had launched the One Million Trees Movement. The aim is to restore nature back to our city through the planting of 1 million trees across Singapore over 10 years. We want to transform Singapore into a City in Nature. And the community is key to the success of this movement. As of the writing of this blogpost on 12 Feb 22, 316,818 trees have been planted across Singapore.
Our Contribution
To do our bit for nature, and paying it forward for the next generation, the NaMAs (Nature and Mindful Awareness study) walking group decided to organise a tree planting event. The date picked was 12 February 22. We each donated $300 for each tree to be planted, and we achieved a figure of 30 trees, with some generous folks forking out for a few trees. All donations go to important conservation, outreach, education and research programs to help Singapore’s City in Nature vision. In fact, in November 2019, the NaMAs walking group had a similar tree planting of 30 trees in the Hort Park.
Wet Weather
It had been raining almost everyday with intermittent rain all day just the day before. The more faithful prayed for good weather. God answered our prayers, and we were all grateful for perfect and cool weather, ideal for outdoor activity. Moreover, the earlier rains had moistened the soil, making digging easier and giving the young trees a better chance of survival. We were informed by NP staff that the reason November is selected for national tree planting ceremonies is because of wet weather and a better chance of survival for young trees. All who attended the tree planting event had a negative ART.
Tree Planting
Being a typical apartment-dwelling urbanite, I was relieved to see that NP staff had been considerate, partially digging the holes, and providing adequate shovels, gardening gloves, watering cans etc close by. We were given a demonstration of how to plant a tree, and off we went! We paired up or formed small groups and cooperated with each other. The tree planting was a cinch, completed in probably 30 minutes, instead of hours of toiling and working muscles we never knew existed (thank you, NP staff!). We enjoyed the company of our friends, with the usual ribbing and pulling of legs. The trees planted since the Movement started now stood at 316 848 trees. We were hosted to a reception, Covid style. We considered that our money was well spent. An enjoyable morning, with some exercise and free Vitamin D thrown in as a bonus. We could even keep the gardening gloves we used, for our own gardening activities (recycling is good). And I don’t even need a massage post tree planting!
lingsinglin
Dr Ling Sing Lin is a medical doctor by training. She worked in MOH HQ for many years, in policy making and administrative positions, until her retirement.
