Past Green Drinks Sessions

We would like to thank each and every speaker for taking time out to share their expertise in the environmental space, making Green Drinks Singapore possible.

26 April 2012: In this Meet Your NMP Session, Nominated Members of Parliament Faizah Jamal and Nicholas Fang shared their platforms, and the environment issues they plan to raise in parliament. Also, attendees shared their concerns and fielded questions to the NMPs. It was a highly insightful and engaging session, and we are likely to do this again in the near future. Co-founder and Organiser Olivia Choong looks preoccupied but is live-tweeting the event for those who were not able to attend.

24 April 2012: Michelle Desilets, Executive Director of Orangutan Land Trust and Founder of Borneo Orangutan Survival UK led a talk titled A Sustainable Future for Orangutans and Forests, where she presented the current challenges faced by orangutan and forest conservationists working in Borneo and Sumatra, and the efforts to address these issues with sustainable and long-term solutions.

11 April 2012: Nexus-Carbon for Development Partnership Director Raphaele Deau and Alliance Director Suzanne Chew gave a talk on carbon finance for poverty alleviation and sustainable development, and Bhavani Prakash of EcoWalktheTalk and Green Collar Asia moderated the discussion segment and Q&A.

29 March 2012: Ria Tan of Wild Singapore and Wild Shores of Singapore shared about the marine life around Singapore in a talk titled "The Secret Shores of Singapore". A highly insightful experience.

22 February 2012: Greenpeace Senior Markets Campaigner, Casson Trenor gave a heartfelt talk on how we must change ourselves before we attempt to change the world, and the importance of living for your cause, and not dying for it.

22 February 2012: Oceana CEO Andy Sharpless asked how we will feed nine billion people in 2050? Wild seafood can be the world’s healthiest and most sustainable protein. And yet we are fishing our oceans into oblivion. In his talk, he presented a plan to protect our wild seafood supply as well as prevent the oceans from collapse in the coming decades.

26 January 2012: In his talk titled "LOHAS: what is it, who are the Lohasians, why does it matter?", Adam Horler looks at LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health And Sustainability) and this ever growing market that businesses can tap into,

26 January 2012: In this session, Gouri Mirpuri gave a talk titled "It’s (Not) Easy Being Green: Running Upstream with 13 Environmental Heroes", where she shared her environmental journey and useful lessons from speaking with 13 environmental heroes in Indonesia.

4 January 2012: For our first session in 2012, we had Head of Greenpeace East Asia's Sustainable Finance Programme, Calvin Quek speaking about China's environmental problems and the role of NGOs in the country, with a particular emphasis on the financial sectors' complicit role in fostering "sustainable development". He also touched upon Greenpeace's work in Asia.

15 December 2011: Raymond Goh was our second speaker for this session on Bukit Brown Cemetary, where he explained the heritage significance of Bukit Brown. (Image courtesy of Lennard Chan)

15 December 2011: In this session specially organised to raise awareness on Bukit Brown Cemetary, Nature Society (Singapore) Conservation Committee Vice Chairman Dr Ho Hua Chew spoke on the ecological impacts of redeveloping Bukit Brown.

26 November 2011: In this session titled "Meet Your Famer", Cesare Cantarella of Cantalatt talked about his local Italian-style dairy farm and the future plans for his business. Yogesh Arora of Design-A-Cuisine was also there to pitch in his thoughts on holistic food.

10 November 2011: Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX Asia) held a documentary screening of End of the Line, in collaboration with Sinema, Young NTUC and Green Drinks Singapore.

27 October 2011: A panel discussion on the National Climate Change Strategy 2012 was held in consultation with the National Climate Change Secretariat. The Permanent Secretary, Tan Yong Soon kindly kicked off the consultation. Panel members included Jessica Cheam (The Straits Times), Vaidehi Shah (Singapore Environment Council), Howard Shaw (Halcyon Group), David Chou (evHUB), Abigail Alling (Biosphere Foundation), Michael Quah (NUS), P K Wong (A*STAR), Sanjay Kuttan (DNV Clean Technologies), Allan Lim (Alpha Biofuels) and Eugene Tay (Low Carbon Singapore / Green Future Solutions).

12 October 2011: This was a joint event with the Waste Management & Recycling Association of Singapore (WMRAS), where Mathieu Davy of Veolia spoke on recycling in Singapore. This session was kindly sponsored by Veolia.

29 September 2011: Davide Bonomi of Dufresne looked at electric vehicle battery technology.

29 September 2011: David Chou of evHUB spoke about what they are doing to help build the EV platform in Singapore.

25 August 2011: Naveen Raghavan Balachandran of Vestas speaks on WindMade, the first global consumer label for products made with wind energy and emphasises the importance of the choice consumers can make.

20 August 2011: Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX Asia) invite Sinema and Green Drinks Singapore to participate in their monthly Impact Chats, for a screening of Carbon Nation. Allan Lim of Alpha Biofuels kindly agreed to moderate the discussion following the screening.

27 July 2011: This was a special collaboration between us, Eco-Business.com and CleanTech HappyHour. It went really well, and we are planning to do this again in the near future.

30 June 2011: Eugene Tay from Green Future Solutions talks about the emerging trend of collaborative consumption.

30 June 2011: Brenda Tan of Action Coach speaks about how to run a green business successfully.

26 May 2011: Daniel Tay of Activistar talks about the off-grid world, where he looks at the application of renewable energy in Asia.

26 May 2011: Green Drinks KL Founder Steve McCoy talks about nuclear energy in Asia, and how we must examine the thinking process behind it.

28 April 2011: Eco Walk the Talk's Founder Bhavani Prakash gave an insightful talked about the issues behind genetically modified (GM) food.

19 April 2011: With the looming elections, we organised a panel discussion to look at the role of green issues as part of the general elections. The panel consisted of Howard Shaw, Mark Cheng, Wilson Ang, Tan Hang Chong, Edwin Khew, Allan Lim, Kenny Eng, and was moderated by Jessica Cheam.

31 March 2011: Anand from GreenPost talks about paperless billing, and Alex Ng from SPW Enterprise shares the environmental issues behind e-waste and about what businesses can do.

24 February 2011: Jessica Cheam talks about COP16 and what it means for businesses and individuals.

27 January 2011: Tham Wai Hon speaks on the conservation potential for the KTM Railway when the Tanjong Pagar route is shifted to Woodlands in July 2011.

27 January 2011: For this month, there were two speakers. Here we have nature lover and researcher N. Sivasothi talking about the flora and fauna of Singapore, in a talk titled "Zoological Explorations of Singapore".

25 November 2010 - Naturopathic physican, acupuncturist, homeopath and clinical nutritionist Dr Sundardas talks about "Lowering Your Toxic Burden" by being aware of the toxins absorbed by the body through simple acts of breathing, eating, drinking, and applying products with chemicals in them.

28 October 2010 - Academic and activist Dr Jem Bendell asked the question, "What is a green drink?", an improvised group exploration of our consumption and the implications for change. Alongside, Yvonne from GoGo Rama, captured and interpreted the dialogue through illustrations.

30 September 2010 - A double act. Chris Tobias talked about Singapore's energy future while Christina Crane explained locavorism, and her journey in Singapore.

26 August 2010 - Loo Deliang talks about what climate change means to Singapore, which Heather Chi addressed Singapore food future

29 July 2010 - Green Drinks KL Founder Steve McCoy suggests how we need to relook the way we change the world in a talk titled "Sustainability: Changing the Way We Change the World"

1 July 2010 - Marcus Tay from NUS showcased a local case study on recycling in a talk titled “NUS Recycling story – Using human biases to encourage green behaviour”

12 June 2010 - Alpha Biofuels conducted a soapmaking workshop for us. Following which, we conducted a garbage enzyme-making workshop.

19 May 2010 - Young NTUC & Green Drinks Singapore documentary screening of "Addicted to Plastic".

22 April 2010 - Young NTUC & Green Drinks Singapore screening of the documentary, Tapped. (Photo courtesy of Young NTUC)

23 March 2010 - Young NTUC & Green Drinks Singapore documentary screening of "HOME".

25 February 2010 - Mr Low CK talks about global warming and how meat reduction helps cut one's carbon footprint.

28 January 2010 - Gathering of environmental NGOs, green groups from schools, green businesses and individuals to discuss plans for 2010, and allow for collaboration opportunities.

26 November 2009 - Jan Croeni talked about zero emission vehicles, mainly electric vehicles.

29 October 2009 - A session on permaculture. We had a panel comprising of Andrew Tay and George Jacobs (Vegetarian Society, Singapore), then a talk by Chris Tobias on applying permaculture principles to business.

24 September 2009 - Origin Exterminators talks about their environmentally-gentle pest eradication technology.

27 August 2009: Richard Chang gives a demonstration on the tencel strength of Biostarch biodegradeble bags.

30 July 2009: Hrydhal Damani asks whether in the wake of the environmental pressures every city is facing, would it be possible for Asian cities to balance its aspirations for economic progress against investing in environmental conservation? Would developing countries go through the same cycle of exploitation and consumption of natural resources as their western counterparts? Or is there a way that they can possibly leap frog into an ecologically sustainable state of being without compromising on economic progress?"

25 June 2009: In this laundry special, TS Ong of Green & Clean Laundry spoke on their wet cleaning services, and Thian Zhiwen of Bloomerang spoke about their eco hangers.

28 May 2009: Eric Chew of Bud Cosmetics talks about toxins in skincare products.

29 Jan 2009 - Ground Up Initiative's Tay Lai Hock talks about his journey and how he connects people to the earth.

28 August 2008 - A discussion on the Sustainable Singapore Vision, moderated by Julian Wong.

29 November 2007: Our first Green Drinks session, which comprised of a straight up networking session, at Food#03. We held this format for a year before moving into talks and discussion panels. (Photo courtesy of Daniel Rosa)