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:

15 Jan 2020: The CRL response team shared its next steps, primatologist Andie Ang and Nature Society (Singapore) President, Shawn Lum, answered questions about the 5-year engagement process between lta and green groups.

13 nov 2019 – a closed door session between the national climate change secretariat (NCCS) and youth activists. In this engagement session, both sides got to know each other better; NCCS learned about the youth activists’ concerns, while the youths heard learned more about what NCCS were working on.

19 July 2019: Eirliani Abdul Rahman and Woon Xin Hui shared with us their personal experiences of visiting the Arctic. eirliani trained with well-known polar guides Matty McNair and Sarah McNair-Landry on the frozen Frobisher Bay in Nunavut, Arctic Canada in March 2017 and April 2018, and recently visited Spitzbergen, arctic Norway in April 2019. Woon Xin Hui followed Robert Swan and Barney Swan on an expedition to the Arctic in june 2019, after being one of the winners of this year’s CDL E-Generation Challenge.

16 January 2019 – In this session organised by Climate Conversations and Green Drinks (Singapore), we discussed the open electricity market and green energy options available to residential consumers. Panellists included Jane Tay, Manager, Energy, Sunseap, Quek Leng Chuang, Co-founder & Director, ES Power, Russell Marsh, Renewable Energy Policy Expert, Joel Tai, Lead Analyst, Ohm Energy, and Nilesh Y. Jadhav, Senior Scientist & Programme Director, Energy Research Institute @ NTU.

7 November 2018: We explored Singapore’s food security, insecurity and food waste in this session co-organised with Foodscape Collective. The panellists included Huiying Ng, Foodscape Collective (Moderator), Manda Foo, co-author of Food Matters, founder of Bollywood Adventures, Bjorn Low, Edible Garden City, Daniel Yap, Yihong Minimart, Daniel Tay, SG Food Rescue, Abhishek Bajaj, from a charity working with the low income community, and Max Yeo, Eco-Wiz

21 September 2018: In this session about bees in Singapore, Zestin Soh delighted us with a captivating photos of bees he encountered locally, while John Chong introduced his bee education centre to us, and Lesster Leow shared his experience in Africa and the newly established Association of Beekeepers in Singapore.

29 March 2017: Eugene Tay of Zero Waste SG shared waste statistics in Singapore, the different recycling collection systems for households and companies, and how different types of waste are being recycled. He also talked about his upcoming campaign “Let’s Recycle Together”. Pearlie Tan of Marcom Recycling Point gave us insights on commercial recycling and we learnt the challenges of commercial recycling in Singapore.

13 February 2017 – Pea Shermain shared her 1-month volunteering experience at zero waste town, Kamikatsu, Japan, and Toyo Miyoshi talked about about his initiatives so far and his plans to turn Ayagawa into a circular society and transition town, and how music is a good way to share the values of life [photo credit: Mohammad Juhari]

19 January 2017 – Professional organiser, Nathalie Ricaud of Get Organised & Beyond shared the benefits of decluttering and the options to dispose of your stuff to trigger the start of your decluttering journey, while Farah Sanwari of Repair Kopitiam gave us insights into what happens at their events and what was repaired, while Agatha Lee of Green Issues by Agy explored the bond we have with our garments and how techniques such as upcycling and repair can help us appreciate what is in our wardrobe. [Photo credit: Mohammad Juhari]

16 November 2016 – Moderated by Mr. Low Ming Hwee, it was a time for the Green Drinks committee to take stock of what the community wants to see more of at our events. Thank you for feedback shared with us, for those interested, it is available on our blog. [Photo credit: Mohammad Juhari]

26 October 2016 – We screened Planetary as a lead up to the Singapore Eco Film Festival. Programming Director, Tulika, introduced the festival highlights. [Photo credit: Mohammad Juhari]

29 September 2016 – Eugene Tay of Zero Waste SG introduced the concept of the circular economy, and share the current status in Singapore and what we can do to move towards a circular economy for Singapore, while Mike Orgill of Airbnb introduced home sharing, and how it promotes more environmentally sustainable travel. [Photo credit: Mohammad Juhari]

31 August 2016: Gwyndalyn Ko of MEWR and Li Xin Min of NEA talked about the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint, in particular, “Towards A Zero Waste Nation”, while Benjamin Tay of PM Haze shared about the recent People’s Expedition to Experience Peat (PEEP) at the Raja Musa Forest Reserve (RMFR) in Selangor, Malaysia.

27 July 2016 – Jonathan How of Relief Singapore spoke about his mission experiences during the haze crisis and his thoughts about the way forward towards a haze-free future, while Robin Low of Civil Innovation Lab looked at why we fail at creating sustainable impact, and how resources can be wasted [Photo Credit: Robin Low – Social Hub]

13 January 2016 – Nee Soon MP Louis Ng sat with the Green Drinks community to gather feedback on the environmental issues we would like to be addressed.

5 November 2015 – Calvin Quek, head of the sustainability finance program at Greenpeace East Asia, spoke to us about pollution in China and their work on the ground.

30 September 2015: Ray Huang of PACT led a talk about ballast water management and its environmental impacts – including marine bio-invasion, titled “Out of the box ideas to tackle the ballast water conundrum”. This talk was followed by a panel discussion with Dr Guillaume Drillet of DHI, Tim Wilkins of Intertanko, and Cynthia Wong, a marine ecologist, and Ray Huang, moderated by Adeline Seah of Biodiversity Connections.

30 July 2015 – Tan Yihan of PM.Haze kicked off the night with a talk on what their organisation is doing about the haze. This was followed by a panel discussion with him, Kavickumar Muruganathan of Singapore Environment Council (SEC), Cheong Poh Kwan of Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), and Jonn Lu of Game Changerz.

25 June 2015 – In this collaboration with National Youth Council (NYC) for YOUTHSPEAK – an SG50 series of conversations, our focus was on Singapore’s food sustainability and -security issues. We had a panel discussion moderated by Bhavani Prakash of Eco Walk the Talk/Green Collar Asia, featuring the following panellists – Foodscape Collective, Eugene Tay of Green Future Solutions, Daniel Chia of Slow Food Singapore, Nicholas Ng of Food Bank Singapore, Shannon Lim of OnHand Agrarian. (Photo by Foodscape Collective)

25 March 2015: In this session, we looked at Shifts and solutions in sustainable commercial interiors. Our panel included Robert Coombs, CEO, Asia Pacific, Interface Inc., Ms. Faye Hugo, Workplace Wellness and Sustainability Consultant (Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa), Haworth, Mr Tan Phay Ping, Board Member, Singapore Green Building Council and Managing Director, Building System & Diagnostics Pte Ltd, and our moderator – Bhavani Prakash of Eco Walk The Talk and Green Collar Asia.

25 February 2015 – Bhavani Prakash of Eco Walk the Talk and Green Collar Asia looked at some of the ways which human behavior change can be effected to bring about pro-environmental action. She listed examples derived from interviews with Singapore-based companies, and her own observations of positive change in Singapore society, using research based frameworks.

29 October 2014 – In this session sponsored by BBX Singapore, we explored the sharing economy in Singapore – how it works, its progress and challenges here. Our speakers included Eugene Tay of the Sharing Economy Association (Singapore), Fenni and Swito of Rent Tycoons, and Hon Meng of BlockPooling.

12 September 2014 – A collaboration with Pomeroy Studio and Shophouse & Co., this Green Drinks session was held on the rooftop of the National Design Centre as part of Design Green! Singapore. This casual networking session featured a short introduction to Design Green! by Pomeroy Studio’s Jason Pomeroy and Shophouse & Co’s Stella Gwee shared about their ‘Transitional___’ platform.

28 August 2014 – In this collaboration with Biodiversity Connections, we looked at aquaculture on our shores and beyond. Alistair Douglas of SmartAqua and Shannon Lim of OnHand Agrarian, two highly knowledgeable industry players, shared details about the work they do locally and internationally, and the industry challenges they face.

17 June 2014 – This Green Media Roundtable Discussion was organised with our Youth Partner, Young NTUC. During this session, environmental journalists and bloggers shared their views on Singapore’s journey towards sustainability – how far we have come these 50 years, and what else we can improve or focus on. Panellists included Eugene Tay (Green Business Singapore), Bhavani Prakash (Eco Walk the Talk), Feng Zengkun (The Straits Times) and Jessica Cheam (Eco-Business.com). This session was moderated by Olivia Choong. (Photo credit: Nor Lastrina Hamid and Bhavani Prakash)

27 February 2014 – We looked at the future of food farming in Singapore, this interesting session featured Bjorn Low of Edible Gardens, Allan Lim of The Living! Project, and Andras Kristof of Homegrw. They shared what they had been working on and what plans they have for the near future.

14 November 2013 – PUB’s Chief Engineer for Drainage Planning, Ridzuan Ismail shared the government agency’s strategic approach in drainage design and flood management in Singapore. A discussion on flooding in Singapore followed, moderated by Grace Chua of The Straits Times, and included Ridzuan Ismail of PUB, Yuen Sai Kuan from National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS), Eugene Heng from Waterways Watch Society, and Liew Yien Phin from Black & Veatch.

23 October 2013 – Nominated Member of Parliament Faizah Jamal gave a short introduction on the background of the Cross Island Line through the Central Catchment Nature Reserve issue, making references to the Population White Paper Land Use Plan. Following which, Tony O’Dempsey of Nature Society (Singapore) spoke about the importance of preserving our natural heritage through the Nature Reserves, and arborist Goh Mia Chun shared his role in protecting trees.

28 May 2013 – This Pop-Up Green Drinks: Networking Tuesday! session was kindly sponsored by Veolia, in collaboration with the Waste Management & Recycling Association Of Singapore (WMRAS).

31 January 2013 – To help speed more people into the environmental sector, the January Green Drinks event features Environment & Sustainability Career Pathways as a topic and featured Dr. George Ofori from National University Singapore, Dr. Joanna Coleman from National University of Singapore, and Mr. Nathaniel Steiner from EarthStream Global.

29 November 2012: Tay Lai Hock of Ground Up Initiative shared about the eco village that the organisation had been working on for four years and the new vision of expanding it to a campus of a much greater space to redefine learning, innovation, education for entrepreneurs and more.

29 November 2012: Ibnur M. Rashad of Sustainable Living Lab (SL2) talked about their focus  within the organisation and the sustainable innovations they create, such as the iBam 2.

27 September 2012: Leslie Ng of GoMyWay shared how their GoMyWay taxi-sharing mobile application works and how it offers people in Singapore a viable commuting alternative.

30 August 2012: Siti Maryam Yaakub of Team Seagrass shared the vital role seagrasses play in maintaining the health of marine ecosystems, the changing face of seagrass landscapes in Singapore and it’s potential for combating climate change.

30 August 2012: Chengzi Chew of DHI Group talked about Aqua Republica, a new online strategic game that taps into social networks and the phenomenon of serious games, and how it helps raise awareness and educate stakeholders of the importance and challenges of managing limited natural resources in the face of multiple and often competing demands in the drive towards sustainable development.

26 July 2012: Lee Eng Lock, Associate Consultant to The GreenAsia Group, and Michael Totten, Senior Advisor to Conservation International gave us a tag team talk on energy efficient ways of cooling buildings. Eng Lock shared some chilling cases of how buildings are wasting energy and money, and ideal ways to cool buildings while cutting spending, energy and pollution in the process, while Michael will spoke on how to accelerate scaling of incredible savings throughout the utility sector in Singapore, Asia and globally. A highly informative and entertaining talk, and very well received by the audience!

12 July 2012: At this special session, Director of the 3P Network at the National Climate Change Secretariat, Yuen Sai Kuan gave a presentation on the National Climate Change Strategy document, before going into a panel discussion on the document and looking at how Singapore residents can collectively take action. Moderated by Grace Chua of The Straits Times, the panel discussion consisted of Yuen Sai Kuan of the National Climate Change Secretariat, Michael Quah from NUS, Allan Lim from Alpha Biofuels, Nominated Member of Parliament Faizah Jamal, Eugene Tay of Green Future Solutions, and Melissa Low of Energy Studies Institute.

28 June 2012: Butet Manurung, Founder of SOKOLA Foundation and recipient of accolades that include TIME Magazine’s ‘Hero of Asia’, World Economic Forum “Young Global Leader”, Ashoka Fellowship and UNESCO’s “Man and Biosphere Award”, shared her journey into the Indonesian rainforest to start a school for the Orang Rimba. She also talked about her new book “The Jungle School”.

27 June 2012: Held at the Luminance! Festival 2012, Bjorn Low and Rob Pearce from the Edible Garden City Project talked about food security and shared their urban farming experiences and how people can be part of this revolution and social community.

15 May 2012: After screening two talks, one by John Hardy on Green School titled “The Green School Dream”, and the other by Elora Hardy on Ibuku, titled “Building a Sustainable (Bamboo) Future”, Founder of Green School, John Hardy shared the progress of Green School and Ibuku since the talks took place.

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.

27 November: Leon Toh,  a petrochemicals journalist, gave a presentation on how petrochemicals are a part of our daily lives, re-looking into the idea of resource depletion, how little people actually know about petrochemicals, and how it is killing us all.

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)

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