– Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, author and motivational speaker
There are many issues that the community is facing. And only when we take the effort to find out more and keep ourselves up-to-date, can we be part of the solution and change can happen, to truly build a community that cares.
Good Samaritan laws may help reduce food waste
The Government is mulling over the introduction of laws that could help allay business concerns over liability issues in donating food items. A spokesman for the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) told The Straits Times earlier this month that it is exploring Good Samaritan...
Sponge cities and walls to manage water levels
The fight against rising waters is an existential one for China's economic heart of Shanghai. Its low-lying geography has made it uniquely vulnerable to rising sea levels and periodic flooding. A 2012 study found that it was the most vulnerable of nine cities around...
Indian city faces double whammy of heavy rain
Flooding in Mumbai has happened nearly every year in the past decade, with dozens having lost their lives. Even normal levels of rain are trapped by excessive construction and crumbling drainage systems that cannot deal with the flow. In addition, the sea has moved...
Battle against rising tides
JAKARTA Two weeks ago, Ms Cin Hua, almost lost her granddaughter to a flood caused by seawater overflowing onto land in North Jakarta. Low-lying coastal plains such as those at Kerang Hijau village in North Jakarta are vulnerable to storm surges, coastal erosion and...
Inclusive music in the air as autistic son plays with dad
When his 10-year-old son Orion was diagnosed with autism seven years ago, Mr Stuart Ang would not have dreamt that he would one day play in a concert with his son. But that became a reality for the music enthusiast. The pair, who played the French horn, joined about...
Needy students to get more help for tertiary education
A series of measures announced yesterday will make tertiary education more accessible and affordable for needy students and give an added push to social mobility. Most students from lower-income households in universities and polytechnics will see a big portion of...
Climate change will hit GDP of all nations
Climate change will damage the economies of countries whether they are rich or poor, hot or cold, by the year 2100, economists said in a new report. The report suggested that wealth and cooler temperatures are no protection from climate change's economic toll if major...
British supermarkets test plastic-free zones
Bowing to pressure from environmentally conscious consumers, big brand shops have begun taking steps to strip their shelves of plastic wrapping over concerns about saving the oceans from waste. "Nude zones" and "Food in the Nude" campaigns are already being rolled out...
Tech improves lives of kids with autism
Technology has helped improve the lives of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their caregivers, with parents fretting less when their children are out alone and the children learning with greater independence from online platforms. Housewife Lim Sook...
Iceland commemorates first glacier loss
Iceland was yesterday set to honour the passing of Okjokull, its first glacier lost to climate change, as scientists warn that some 400 others on the subarctic island risk the same fate. A bronze plaque was to be unveiled in a ceremony to mark Okjokull in the west of...
KidStart to benefit 5,000 more disadvantaged kids
A government pilot programme to help disadvantaged children up to age six will be expanded to benefit another 5,000 in the next three years, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday. KidStart, led by the Early Childhood Development Agency, was rolled out in the...
Three-pronged approach to tackling climate change
Singapore can do three things to tackle climate change: understand the issue, take measures to mitigate it, and adapt to it, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday (18 Aug). Finding solutions begins with understanding what climate change means specifically for...
Sharing platforms gaining popularity in Singapore
Sharing platform Olio is an ideal way to declutter. To list an item on the app, just take a photo and add a short description. Users get to "request" the item and pick it up from the a home or office. And unlike online marketplace Carousell, there is no need to haggle...
Women make their mark in male-dominated businesses
Two women entrepreneurs who blazed a trail in men-dominated industries have received the top awards given annually by Her World magazine to outstanding women. Ms Susan Chong, 49, founder and chief executive of eco-friendly packaging company Greenpac, is named Her...
NTU students find way to draw power from wastewater
Singapore's street lights could one day be powered by electricity generated by wastewater sludge. The system that could make this possible was developed by two Nanyang Technological University undergraduates. Called BAE - which stands for Biomass from Activated Sludge...
Scientists say air carrying plastic bits to Arctic
Scientists say they have found an abundance of tiny plastic particles in Arctic snow, indicating that microplastics are being sucked into the atmosphere and carried over long distances. The researchers examined snow collected from sites in the Arctic, northern...
Undergraduate’s group gives less fortunate students a leg-up
Mr Clarence Ching was thousands of kilometres away in Britain last year studying political studies at Durham University when a debate on inequality and social mobility erupted across Singapore. The former Normal (Academic) student, 24, he noticed that while all the...
Food-saving app aims to cut waste
Up until her early 20s, Ms Christine Yeo had no qualms about wasting food. If a bite of sushi was not to her liking, she would discard the entire serving on her buffet plate. Unused groceries were also left to rot in the refrigerator. Now, the 37-year-old accountant...
Climate change threatens global food security
According to a report by the United Nations, climate change and poor management practices threaten the world's farmlands and food security. Deforestation and loss of peatlands, mangroves and grasslands for large-scale agriculture are degrading life-giving soils,...
A fifth of fresh food here goes to waste
Close to one-fifth of imported and locally farmed fresh produce here is lost along the food supply chain every year, a study conducted by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and Deloitte Singapore has found. The study found that the food that is wasted translates...
