Your support is making ripples of change!
We’re already done with three quarters of the year and we won’t come this far without your support. During the months of July, August, and September, individuals and organizations across Southeast Asia were sending waves of change in their own communities through the profit that you were all contributing. Two Seastainable grants were conducted in the Philippines and Indonesia while various initiatives were launched and co-sponsored in Singapore. There’s no better way to go on with this journey than sharing all these inspiring works to keep us going! Read on and share the thrill with us.
Seastainable Initiatives
Seastainable’s Plastic Free July Challenge
Singapore | July 2019
Seastainable took part in this year’s celebration of Plastic Free July. Seatizens were encouraged to join the Seastainable’s Plastic Free July Challenge. They were encouraged to share how they manage to reduce their single-use plastic consumption every meal. 1 winner per week were announced and won voucher worth $ 25 SGD as a mark of our $ 25,000 SGD seapport to 25 conservation projects across the 5 Southeast Asian countries. It was heartening to see our seapporters put in the effort to track their plastic use - and we see more and more conscious seapporters joining us on a daily basis.
Oftentimes, we forget to slow down and enjoy the simple things in life. I find it difficult to achieve a zero-waste lifestyle and #ecoguilt starts consuming me. But being in this journey for the past two years, I always keep in mind that sustainable living is not a perfect path, rather it is a journey that has its own ups and downs. We all have a part to play and support each other. So, keep striving for a better world to live in!
Youth4Green Climate Action Workshop by CDL, Singapore | 21 July 2019
Concurrent with the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources’ Climate Action Week, the Youth4Cimate Fest 2019 was also held at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Samantha Thian, founder of Seastainable and Anna Oposa, Chief Mermaid and Executive Director of Save Philippine Seas co-led the event. They discussed the elements of a campaign to promote collective action and behavior change to 20 participants who attended the workshop. The event was organized by City Development Limited, and we would like to thank Esther Ann, Chief Sustainability Officer of CDL, and their amazing team, Rena, Jen & Tracy for organizing this!
Women in Sustainability, Singapore | 28 July 2019
An afternoon full of finspiring Women in Sustainability was spent in 11 Hamilton last July 28. A total of 30 participants attended the meaningful talks of Toh Ziling, Co-founder and COO of RE:ERTH, Debra Lam, Co-founder of Society Staples, and Jia Min, Founder of Inthebrickyard. Seastainable hosted the event bringing out fun quizzes and was moderating the panel session. Among the topics discussed were how different initiatives can cross collaborate to drive empathy and understanding across different advocacies. We want to emphasize that women can lead businesses that are the driving force for good, not just for profit but towards providing products for the people and our environment.
A big thank you to our lovely ladies as well who set up amazing booths Eileen from byiroiro, Joline from The Sustainability Project, Sarah from ohhoney, and Ziling from RE:ERTH!
Seconds Guru Zero Waste Bootcamp, Singapore | 24 August 2019
In 2019, Seconds Guru team Lara & Anuja, launched the Zero Waste Bootcamp. Since its inception, Sam has support as one of the facilitators, and representing Seastainable as a Guest Judge. As the boot camp was in its 2nd run, it was inspiring to see the fresh wave of ideas and energy from the participating teams. The facilitators were tasked to choose advocates who are driven to make waves of change to the pressing environmental issues in Singapore. Refeel won in the said bootcamp which campaigns in the central business district of Singapore for conscious consumerism and make the use of reusables a norm again. Refeel piloted a cup refill & deposit system at Hong Leong Building. As the winning team, they were entitled funding of up to 500 USD through the Seastainable Grant for future initiatives.
Reusable Packaging for Seastainable Operations
As we continuously strive to be sustainable even with our operations, we called out for donations of used packaging materials in good condition. These packaging materials such as bubble wrap, plastic polymailers, and medium to large ziplocks will be used for the shipment of our products. Thank you,
seapporters who responded to our call for donations. In just a month, we received a total of 15kg. We promise that these will be put into good use. We are piloting chemical recycling programs (More to come) and will update you once we have fully launched.
Still have reusable packagings at home? Keep posted with Seastainable’s announcement on when can we accept the next batch of donations!
Seastainable Grants
During the 3rd Quarter, two conservation grant projects are making some waves in the Philippines and Indonesia. With your continuous support, we were able to turn these young aspiring leaders’ visions into action. Read on what these collective actions did in their own communities:
Bin Your Butt Project - 27 July 2019 | Surigao del Norte, Siargao Islands, Philippines | $526.55 SGD
Siargao Islands in the Philippines has become one of the famous surfing destinations. Aside from its perfect waves for surfing, its pristine waters also attract tourists from around the globe. Thus, the threat is now being posted to its once untouched environment. One of the major marine litters during clean-ups worldwide turns out to be cigarette butts and this is no different in Siargao. Bin Your Butt Project is a movement against dropping off cigarette butts in the Cloud 9 area, the surfing site in Siargao. Spearheaded by Jae Antallan, han alumna of Sea and Earth’s Advocates (SEA) Camp of Save Philippine Seas, the project targets the local community and surfers to be proactive in protecting and preserving the island which has been their home since birth. Through your seapport, we were able to provide $ 526.55 SGD to make this happen.
Attended by 36 participants ranging from 18-35 years old, the program involved pre- and post-tests and talks about the current wealth and threats to Siargao. 30 Bin Your Butt Receptacles were installed on coconut trees surrounding the area and collaterals about the initiative were also distributed to establishments nearby. The organizers plan to replicate this project to other parts of the island. Bin Your Butt Project also motivated the local government to ban smoking within the Cloud 9 area and designate a specific smoking area, away from the shore. Want to know more about this project? Click here and spread the word!
Thresher Shark Project Indonesia (TSPI) - August to September 2019 | Alor, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia | $1,305 SGD
The Alor Fishing Community in Indonesia is known to be one of the communities that is highly dependent on thresher shark hunting. With the regulations of the national government of Indonesia to protect the thresher sharks, communities such as Alor, are most vulnerable to this change. Thus, the Thresher Shark Project Indonesia (TSPI) team was inspired to bridge conservation and community livelihoods for mutual benefits.
Co-funded by Seastainable Co. with $ 1,305 SGD, TSPI initiated discussion with the Alor Fishing Community, District & Village Leaders, Provincial Government, Dive centres/resort communities, local NGOs and Tribuana University, Alor. A total of 25 participants from these sectors attended the two-day multi-stakeholders meeting. Each of the stakeholders presented their identified problems and proposed solutions. From these pools of proposed solutions, they ranked these options according to their perspectives as to what to prioritize. After these meetings, the results were communicated through social networking sites of TSPI and through the youth radio stations, PSPK Alor Radio 95.6 MHz, in Kalabahi, Alor and in London School of Public Relation (LSPR Radio) situated in Jakarta. 30 posters on thresher shark conservation were also distributed to 6 government Institutions, 7 schools, 4 dive centres, public spaces and community centres.
This initiative by the TSPI team has opened new doors for the different stakeholders to work together for both conservation and the community. The team will be further discussing these matters with the Department of Planning, Research, and Development to create the middle-term development planning activities. Want to dive deeper with TSPI’s report? Just click here and learn more about it.
As we continue to journey together in this sustainable living, we would like to send BIG WAVES OF THANKS for your continuous support in this advocacy. Keep swimming with us for more projects and initiatives across Southeast Asia!
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