CAPTains and the One Million Trees Movement

This article is based on reflections written by participants – CAPTains from the Phoenix House, Fellows and a family member.

A million more trees in the next 10 years! The National Parks (NParks) Board’s One Million Tree Planting movement is not only pro-environment but also envisions to revitalize the biodiversity of Singapore through a civic participatory model. Their invitation to join hands in planting trees across the island was enthusiastically welcomed by our CAPT community. Under the guidance of Assoc Prof Tan Lai Yong, different groups of CAPTains participated in tree planting events at different locations, in collaboration with NParks. Starting in end-November, every Friday, for five consecutive weeks, 25 to 35 CAPTains, including CAPT Fellows and their families, visited Pulau Ubin and planted at least 50 trees per visit. For instance, on 11 December 2020, 35 CAPTains from Phoenix House took the ferry from Changi at 8:30am to plant trees at Ubin island. They were joined by four CAPT Fellows and their families too. As one of the participating CAPTains, Summer Walters, reflects, though it was a fun House bonding event, it also enabled “a valuable learning experience” for all. The most fascinating example of this learning was captured by one of our youngest participants, Tristan Pu (8 year old godson of one of the Fellows), in his reflections on the highlights of the day as below. 

Planting trees, a seemingly simple activity, turned out to be “an eye opener” for Roxanne Tay and other CAPTains. While some found planting trees to be harder than they had imagined, others felt it was not that impossible! Regardless of the difference in the actual experience of the activity itself, Ivan Foo shared that everybody gained a deeper understanding of how our “survival is very much dependent on the environment”. According to Lawrence Liang, such activities “extend beyond the human condition to the (re)creation of habitats for wildlife” and are “able to contribute to a greener environment”, as stated by Amber Tan. Further, CAPTains articulated their learning experience as below:

“I have gained deeper respect for the workers who do this on a daily basis, and I understand better why only certain species are planted in certain places now.” – Sean Loh

“While it might be faster for our migrant brothers to finish planting the trees, I think that it is important that Singaporeans get under the sun to appreciate our natural environment.” – Neo Hwee Shuen

Reflecting on the question regarding the value of a civic participatory model for this project, CAPTains expressed that “a home cannot be achieved without building a community that is willing to take care of it” (Nigel Cross). One CAPTain rightly summarized the value as below:

“The event served as a reminder that a whole of society effort is required for us to keep Singapore green and to preserve our environment. Also, it made me appreciate the physical efforts of the foreign workers who have helped to plant trees or maintain green spaces all over Singapore, be it along the road or even in NUS around CAPT” – Tan Yi Jie

Though the hands-on tree planting events were fun-filled activity for CAPTains, they reflected that it created a meaningful “way of acknowledging the environment and its importance” (Mark Ngoh) leaving them “empowered in the knowledge that as citizens, we can play our part and do so much more in making an active effort for our environment” (Faith Teo) and “take more ownership over our actions that can benefit the environment” (Lim Yi Leo).