Do you want to know more about the environmental scene in Singapore? Find out now from our 3rd edition of the Singapore Green Landscape.

This year, the Singapore Green Landscape 2012 provides a review of 90 key environmental news in Singapore last year, and gives an overview of 156 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), green groups, business associations and groups, green websites, government agencies, and institutes and centres in Singapore, which are related to the environment.

We hope that this publication is useful for everyone who wishes to know more about the state of the environment in Singapore, find and connect with the environmental organisations in Singapore, or explore personal and business opportunities. This publication is free for download. Feel free to share this.

Fill in your contacts below to download the publication.

Having come across many green ideas over the past few years, there is one recent idea Eugene would claim that he ‘die die must share’ – the idea of Collaborative Consumption.

Collaborative Consumption refers to the idea of sharing that is empowered by technology and social networks, and how it changes consumption and the way businesses operate.

Sharing also covers renting, swapping, lending, trading, exchanging, bartering, and gifting. The advantages of sharing are that fewer resources are used to make and ship products, and less waste are generated and disposed.

The term Collaborative Consumption was first described in 2010 in the book What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers.

Other resources with similar ideas on sharing include the book The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing by Lisa Gansky and the Shareable website.

Eugene believes that Collaborative Consumption is an important and emerging idea because consumers are starting to realize that they can share rather than buy more stuff.

This is motivated by greater environmental awareness and cost consciousness, the proliferation of mobile peer-to-peer technologies and social networks, and the need to be part of a community.

In the book What’s Mine Is Yours, the authors describe three systems of Collaborative Consumption – Product Service Systems, Redistribution Markets and Collaborative Lifestyles.

Product Service Systems

Product Service Systems is where you pay for and enjoy the benefit of using a product without having to own the product.

Local examples in Singapore include HollywoodClicks.com, which rents movie DVDs to customers who receive and return the DVDs via post; Maternity Exchange, which offers maternity and nursing wear rental for mums-to-be; and Clean Mobility Singapore, which provides electric vehicle sharing and rental scheme.

Another example of Product Service Systems is MyRideBuddy, a dynamic and real time carpooling solution in Singapore, which matches users near common start and end points so that they can share a car ride together according to their convenience and preferences.

It allows individuals to benefit from the convenience of the car without owning one, while reducing costs and the problems of congestion and air pollution.

Redistribution Markets

The second system of Collaborative Consumption is Redistribution Markets, where you transfer used or unwanted stuff to somewhere or someone where they are wanted.

Local examples include SG Freecycle, where anyone can post their unwanted items or request for stuff that they want; Offstock, where companies can buy or sell excess stocks of chemicals and raw materials; and Pass It On, which allows the public to donate used furniture and appliances, which are given to needy families and charities.

Another example of Redistribution Markets is Waste is not Waste (WINW), an online waste exchange for businesses and organisations in Singapore and Malaysia.

WINW facilitates the exchange of waste materials and unwanted items from companies and organisations that no longer need them to businesses, non-profit organisations, designers and schools that can utilise those waste.

This reduces waste and keeps valuable resources out of the incineration plants and landfills while helping companies save time, money and reduce their environmental impacts.

Collaborative Lifestyles

The third system of Collaborative Consumption is Collaborative Lifestyles, where you share and exchange less tangible assets such as time, space and money with people of similar interests.

Local examples include Hackerspace Singapore, which provides a co-working and relaxing space for techies to work and collaborate; Give.sg, which allows anyone to organize their own fundraising campaigns; and SG Cares, which matches volunteers with volunteer groups and opportunities.

Another example of Collaborative Lifestyles is Milaap, a social enterprise providing a microfinance platform that enables individuals to make microloans that help villagers in India gain access to basic services, such as education, healthcare, electricity, and clean water.

While Collaborative Consumption is still in its infancy in Singapore, Eugene believes that this idea would gain more interest in the coming years and more companies would start to explore the business opportunities of sharing.

The earlier business examples show elements of sharing, but they have not really made full use of technology and social networks to better enhance sharing.

For the companies, they would have to work with the green and tech community, and maximize the use of technology to come up with better and more sustainable ways of sharing.

For consumers, it’s time to get ready for Collaborative Consumption.

Images: Love God and your neighbor 1 by sraburton; Collaborative Consumption Graphics – The Complete Picture by Rachel Botsman under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license

The National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) is currently preparing the National Climate Change Strategy 2012 (NCCS-2012) publication, and is seeking public feedback and ideas.

The NCCS-2012 will provide a framework and overall strategy for Singapore to tackle climate change, and will outline policies and measures to reduce emissions, cope with the impact of climate change and build our capabilities.

The public consultation by NCCS involves conducting an online consultation exercise, focus group sessions and community forums. You can give your feedback and ideas via the NCCS website from now till 14 Oct.

Here are 12 ideas for the National Climate Change Strategy 2012, which was submitted by Low Carbon Singapore to NCCS:

1. Support a National Campaign on Climate Change Involving Different Stakeholders
2. Explore Soft Approaches to Create Behavior Change
3. Expand the Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme to Other Common Products
4. Encourage Carpooling, Carsharing and Bikesharing
5. Provide Incentives for Commercial Transport Fleet Operators to Reduce Fuel Consumption
6. Set Clear Direction to Promote Cleaner Vehicles
7. Provide Practical Advice for SMEs to Measure and Reduce Energy and Carbon Emissions
8. Mandate Building Owners to Reduce Lightings at Night
9. Include SCEM Training Curriculum into Relevant Tertiary School Courses
10. Set Mandatory Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard
11. Work Towards a Four National Switches Energy Strategy
12. Rethink the Use of Coal

If you wish to read more about the 12 ideas, you can download the report by filling in your info below:

Image: Screenshot of NCCS website

GAIA is Singapore’s first sustainable living mook (magazine book), published by Green Future Solutions. This free publication is for consumers interested in news, ideas, tips and products that benefit people and planet.

The first Sep issue of GAIA covers:

• NEWS
• FEATURE: Die Die Must Share – The Idea of Collaborative Consumption
• INTERVIEW: Carpooling 2.0 – Interview with MyRideBuddy
• HOME: Give It Away – 10 Ways to Clear Your Stuff
• HEALTH: Choosing a Healthy Dinner – 2 Tasty Vegetarian Recipes
• STYLE: Playful Elegance – Organic Clothing Mix and Match
• LEISURE: Simply Ling Kai – Supporting Local Music
• BOOKS
• DEALS

The first issue of GAIA is now available for download below. Feel free to share this. For advertising enquiries or any feedback, please send an email to eugene@greenfuture.sg.

Fill in the info to download GAIA and subscribe to updates on future issues:

He also shared local examples of companies involved in Collaborative Consumption, and new business opportunities for entrepreneurs and companies interested in this new but important trend.

Here’s his presentation slides:

On 1 Jul 2011, the Malayan Railway Land will be returned to Singapore for development. Nature Society (Singapore) (NSS) submitted a proposal, The Green Corridor: A Proposal to Keep the Railway Lands as a Continuous Green Corridor, to the relevant government agencies on 21 Oct 2010. NSS proposes to retain the current KTM Railway Land as a Green Corridor after the train operations cease. The proposal can be viewed at http://www.nss.org.sg/doc/TheGreenCorridor101103.pdf.

At Green Future Solutions, we see the potential of The Green Corridor and support the proposal. We agree with the NSS’s views that:

There are so many compelling reasons to preserve the Railway Land as a Green Corridor. It is readymade Nature Corridor, Recreational Space, Eco-friendly transport route all rolled into one. It is a valuable piece of ecological and historical heritage that should be preserved for future generations of Singaporeans.

To gather support for The Green Corridor, we created the ‘We support The Green Corridor in Singapore’ Facebook page in Nov 2010, which has about 1,460 supporters so far. It’s now 3 months to the closure and return of the railway lands on 1 Jul. Time is running out as we wait for the government’s reply on the proposal.

We decided to step up our efforts and to develop a new campaign website for The Green Corridor. The new campaign website at http://www.thegreencorridor.org/ was launched on 8 Apr, and serves to:

1. Gather support for The Green Corridor and unite supporters (broadening the support base to include non-Facebook users, businesses and organisations)

2. Show the government that there is public interest and support for The Green Corridor (sending monthly updates to key government agencies on number of supporters and news)

3. Archive stories, photos and videos on the railway and The Green Corridor (allowing the community of supporters to share their experiences and vision)

You can help us to gather more support for The Green Corridor. We hope to reach 10,000 supporters by 1 Jul. Visit the website now at http://www.thegreencorridor.org/ and find out the various ways to show your support, spread the message, and share your stories.

The term Collaborative Consumption was first described in the book What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers. Other resources with similar ideas on sharing include the book The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing by Lisa Gansky and the Shareable website.

Here’s the presentation slides:

The global green business revolution is gaining momentum and changing how businesses operate. A new generation of business leaders and companies around the world, including Singapore, will face new challenges and opportunities along this sustainability journey.

What lies ahead for businesses is perhaps summed up best by Daniel Esty and David Lubin in their May 2010 Harvard Business Review article, The Sustainability Imperative, where they declared sustainability as an emerging megatrend similar to previous megatrends like quality, IT and globalisation.

Companies need to manage sustainability as a business megatrend and those with the right vision and execution to navigate the megatrend will come out ahead, while those that don’t will be swept aside.

Their thoughts on why sustainability is becoming a megatrend:

Why do we think sustainability qualifies as an emerging megatrend? Over the past 10 years, environmental issues have steadily encroached on businesses’ capacity to create value for customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders. Globalized workforces and supply chains have created environmental pressures and attendant business liabilities. The rise of new world powers, notably China and India, has intensified competition for natural resources (especially oil) and added a geopolitical dimension to sustainability. “Externalities” such as carbon dioxide emissions and water use are fast becoming material – meaning that investors consider them central to a firm’s performance and stakeholders expect companies to share information about them.

These forces are magnified by escalating public and governmental concern about climate change, industrial pollution, food safety, and natural resource depletion, among other issues. Consumers in many countries are seeking out sustainable products and services or leaning on companies to improve the sustainability of traditional ones. Governments are interceding with unprecedented levels of new regulation…

Further fueling this megatrend, thousands of companies are placing strategic bets on innovation in energy efficiency, renewable power, resource productivity, and pollution control. What this all adds up to is that managers can no longer afford to ignore sustainability as a central factor in their companies’ long-term competitiveness.

We prefer to call this sustainability megatrend as the green business revolution because fundamental shifts in mindsets and ways of doing business are required. These are uncertain times with many challenges but there will also be opportunities and winners. Business-as-usual will be overthrown by innovative and responsible business thinking.

Being a globalised and forward-looking city with connections between East and West, developed and developing, Singapore is in an excellent position to lead the green business revolution. But are businesses in Singapore ready?

To help the business community in Singapore, we revamped Green Business Times recently and aligned our editorial content to better face this green business revolution, with a focus on Strategy and Leaders, Operations and Culture, Design and Tech, and Marketing and CSR.

Green Business Times aims to be the leading online sustainability toolkit for businesses in Singapore, and shape the green business revolution in Singapore by inspiring businesses and providing them with the knowledge and tools.

We will chronicle environmental news in Singapore, highlight new sustainable business practices and case studies, showcase innovative companies and business leaders, and explore the tools and strategies for navigating the green business revolution.

Green Business Times is getting ready for the green business revolution in Singapore. Are you ready?

Image credit: lusi via stock.xchng

Freecycle is a popular global movement promoting the reuse and exchange of free unwanted items through local groups. In Singapore, there is an active group called the Singapore Freecycle Network.

Companies can use the free online Freecycle@Work app to develop a Freecycle programme and allow employees to post items they no longer need, find items they want, and assess their impact in terms of how many pounds of material saved from the landfill and their green ranking in the company.

Employees can post unwanted company items (such as office stationery and furniture, filing cabinets, computers, etc) or their own household items.

How to Use Freecycle@Work

1. Sign up for a free account at Freecycle@Work and start inviting your colleagues to join.

2. You can assign moderators who can delete old posts, edit posts and responses, or create notices that are automatically sent to all users.

3. You can also make use of the Freecycle@Work posters or find ideas at the Freecycle@Work blog to promote the programme.

4. Post an unwanted item to give away:

Click here to view the embedded video.

5. Post an item that you want:

Click here to view the embedded video.

6. Respond to a listing:

Click here to view the embedded video.

7. What to do after an item is taken:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Companies can use the Freecycle@Work app to complement existing waste management and recycling programme in the office. Give it a try and see whether it increases your employees’ environmental awareness and help your company reduce unwanted items from being disposed as waste to the incineration plant or landfill.

Image: Freecycle@Work Facebook profile picture; Freecycle@Work logo; Freecycle@Work screenshot.

Greenpeace’s Unfriend Coal campaign wants Facebook to:

• Increase the use of clean energy to make Facebook coal free
• Develop a plan to make Facebook coal free by 2021
• Educate users about how Facebook powers its services and its carbon footprint
• Advocate for clean energy at a local, national and international level

Facebook announced last year that it is building a new energy efficient data centre to serve the hundreds of millions of its users, but the company plans to run it on electricity from burning coal, which is the most carbon intensive fossil fuel and also very pollutive. Greenpeace believes that Facebook can move away from coal and switch to clean energy, and influence the rest of the IT sector to do likewise.

Singapore loves Facebook and almost one out of two Singaporeans is a Facebook user. While we use Facebook to connect with our friends or for marketing non-profits and businesses, let us also encourage Facebook to be an environmentally and socially responsible company.

You can show support for Greenpeace’s campaign and encourage Facebook to unfriend coal by Earth Day, simply by liking the Unfriend Coal Facebook page, and sharing the page with your friends.

It seems that Facebook is paying attention to the campaign and is willing to take action, from this recent video interview at the World Economic Forum between Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace, and Randi Zuckerberg, Marketing Director of Facebook and sister of CEO Mark Zuckerberg (watch the 27-min video below to learn about the campaign, and also hear Kumi’s thoughts at Davos and how Greenpeace uses social media).

All Facebook needs now is a nudge from its own users, including Singaporeans who love Facebook.

Source and images credit: Greenpeace