Why we love trees!

Here's a fantastic image from Felix and Tal, the NUS/ETH Zurich team studying the microclimate effect of trees over on the old astro at Dover. The guys flew a drone with a thermal imaging camera over the grid layout of trees (visible as circles in the image). The image hardly needs interpretation - in mid-day tropical Singapore, trees can mean the difference between comfort and sunstroke. If the future cities of a warming world want to be sustainable and liveable then clearly planting certain tree species will determine whether we create urban hells or civic oases.

Climate Amelioration effect of trees - Dover Campus: Image courtesy of Tal Hertig/Felix Sadlo, ETH Zurich

Notes on image from Tal and Felix

The Image shows only surface temperatures. Thus the cooling that is seen within the plot is mainly caused through the trees shading, although evaporative cooling cannot be excluded as a causal effect, as the plants are cooler than their surrounding partially due to transpiration. Nevertheless the image shows that plants are very effective in cooling their immediate environment.

It should be further noted, that the numbers are not exact due to the faults of thermal imaging. However the temperatures are within the same ballpark as the actual temperatures and the relative temperatures are very accurate (differences between surfaces).

Dover's first Rainforest Restoration Graduates!

Two Dover students from the graduating Class of 2015 came back to the Campus just days after the ceremony to receive yet another prestigious certificate! Aayesha Fazal and Puthyda Keath were dedicated members of the College’s Rainforest Restoration Project and the first to receive their Certificate in Rainforest Restoration Practice from Dover High School Principal Danny O’Connor. This new UWCSEA qualification recognises the development of some of the nursery and field skills as well as knowledge needed to contribute effectively to rainforest conservation.

Both Aayesha and Puthyda achieved a Distinction in their final assessment, having acquired considerable technical understanding of reforestation issues in the region and competencies ranging from data collection and monitoring for research to publicity and management of work schedules.

We will sorely miss the committed contributions of Aayesha and Puthyda to the project. Aayesha was the project’s leader at Dover and longest serving member (4 years) and both her and Puthyda gave up countless hours working in the nursery and planting at sites across Singapore.

We wish both of them and all of the project’s grade 12 graduates at both campuses a happy and successful future - planting trees wherever they are!

Greening the Megablock

New buildings are a massive use of resources and source of emissions so ensuring they are as energy - efficient as possible during their lifetime is essential for a school aiming for sustainable development.

On a tour of the Megablock this week Operations Director Simon Thomas showed us the large planting areas that will help keep temperatures cool as well as some of the innovative air conditioning engineering that will help us control electricity consumption.

Simon's designs mean that we will be able to plant as many as 50 indigenous trees within the building footprint alongside flowering plants and vegetables. The cooling system designed in collaboration with the Future Cities Lab at NUS means the building will have a much smaller impact than a building this size would normally have.

At the moment the MegaBlock just looks, well, like a Mega block, but within a year or so we should see it transformed into a green building we can be proud of.

Environment & Wellbeing: Sodexo helps connect the dots.

Chef Seenivasan cutting the Italian Basil in the Herb Garden

On the surface this could look like just another of our good news gardening stories, however this one has the potential to change the way we think about environmental stewardship and sustainability. Too often we talk about how we are doing things "for the environment" as though somehow Nature needs us...good old UWC saving the world again! In reality we know this is arrogant and delusional - we depend on our natural world for everything. In trying to protect our environment or at least minimise the damage we cause, we are really working for our own well-being.

Raising herbs in a small patch of Dover Campus may seem just a fun hobby, but it can point the way to a more sustainable future for the school, one that is focussed on the well-being of our environment and our community. Last week Dover's Veggie Wednesday saw our partners Sodexo use the fresh Basil grown by the Campus Gardeners for their pasta pesto - a lunchtime favourite here. So how does this tasty treat really join the dots in the complexity of sustainability issues where we are attempting not just to reduce our ecological footprint, but build a stronger, fairer community and enhance individual well-being?

Well, not only did the pasta pesto prove as popular and healthy as ever but the chefs really enjoyed being able to pick their own fresh-as-can-be, quality ingredients a few convenient metres from the kitchens.  And as one of the main points of Veggie Wednesday is to start connecting us to the ecological implications of our diets, what better way to demonstrate this by using herbs that have been raised using just sunshine and love and without the usual energy-intensive fertiliser, refrigeration, packaging and transport?

Chefs Raymond & Ah Fook preparing the pesto sauce

Not only that, but gradually much of the compost being used in the herb and vegetable gardens is generated on campus by the partnership of the Grade 12 Budden Initiative working with a Grade 9 service group and our awesome Estates team. And for all you Sustainability experts out there (that will have to be all of us at UWC), no prizes for guessing where the compostable material comes from - yep you got it, vegetable and fruit peelings straight out of the back of the Sodexo kitchens. So which genius invented this circular system? Oh, yes; Nature.

Less waste, less cost, less energy. More health, more community, more fun. Maybe sustainability is not that complex after all.

Many thanks to Mr Shoeb of Sodexo for providing the photos (and for all his help moving us to a more sustainable campus!)

Pesto's looking good...

....et voila!

Ok, so we had it with burgers, but hey, who's perfect?

Talking of more fun, check out the first Dover Organic Salad that featured in the Kurt Hahn Boarding House Gourmet Evening recently - Tossed Romaine Lettuce, Red Wispy Mustard Leaves and Mint, harvested just minutes earlier from the Herb Garden. As chair of Thought for Food and Kurt Hahn's demon chef, Shen Ming Lee is in foodie heaven....despite having to be photographed next to some random balding guy.

Spring has arrived!!

Well, not really... but some of us from more seasonal climes still associate the renewed productivity of gardens with the turning of the earth towards the sun...even if here on the equator it's constantly overhead. For antipodean teacher (how eurocentrist is that?! sorry, southern hemisphere teacher) Susan Edwards, it must feel like October at them moment as her fantastic herb and vegetable garden at Dover is thriving with thai basil, okra, tomatoes and much more. Our hard working, full time-gardens team have enjoyed several harvests of the tasty Kang Kong and the herbs and beans have been shared with some of our secretaries and parent helpers too. Everyone in our community should feel free to sample the food sustainably and enjoy the garden. Campus gardeners operate Monday and Wednesday after school and Grade 2 Gardeners on Wednesday 1.45-2.45pm...drop by and talk to the teams if you'd like to know more about urban gardening.

Alumni and Gap Year students with a strong interest in food sustainability may want to consider this new summer school.

Campus Gardeners gets great help from parents and staff and has members from Junior, Middle and High schools working together.

Our great gardening team (From L-R: Andy Tan, Kalam, Salem and Alamgir (with bin driver Alex!)

Good news for all of us is that Alamgir, one of our Bangladeshi gardeners, is on the mend after a long illness. He'd been looked after well by the nurses in the clinic and his friends at Dover and will be gently easing his way back into garden duties as he recovers. We hope he takes it easy (tell him if you see him working!!) but its great to have him back.



We recently recruited parents, kids and staff for some heavy gardening work as the campus gets redesigned. thanks to all those who gave up a Saturday morning for our second Gardening Working Bee.

A times the gardens resembled World War 1 trenches, but thanks to some sterling effort by volunteers and the gardening team we saved lots of plants from a small garden that had to be removed for Fire Access.

Grade 2 Gardeners learn propagation of plants for the new high school building.....

 .....and work come rain or shine!

We've also sown seeds and planted out vegetable seedlings this term as part of our weekly service.

New eWaste Bins on Dover Campus

Former Grade 12 student Samarth Chawla has arranged for two more eWaste bins to be placed on Dover Campus. The bins were provided by Starhub and will be monitored by Green Campus College Service. One bin can be found by the lift in the High School block, Level 2. The other is outside of the Main Library. Please bring in any electronic waste from home and deposit it in the bins. There are also two yellow drive-up bins: one in the recycling area next to the Ropes Course and the Bus Bay and the other is in the car park near the entrance to Music. These can accept larger items.;