Making A Difference: Learning To Be Green

Last year, my aunt Martini, who is also my muse (she opened my eyes to the world of healthy living), gave birth to her first child, Dragon, at the age of 39. She lives in Florida but came to Singapore months before labor for its good healthcare system.

Singapore is ranked #6 in the World Health Organization. It currently has the lowest infant mortality rate in the world (equaled only by Iceland) and among the highest life expectancies from birth, according to the World Health Organization.

Martini gave birth to Dragon in a tub (water birth) at NUH last year on August 13th 2009. No drugs. No epidural. Just natural birth. That made baby Dragon a certified organic baby!

(Left) Within the first hour of child birth.

Dragon & I.

Martini and Dragon went back to Florida a few weeks after he was born but came back to Singapore for his 1st birthday. She admitted wishing she had tried to have kids sooner. Now who would've thought? Martini has always been this bad ass who's always up for an adventure and extremely strong-minded. Like I said, she's my muse. I thought she'd think that having a kid was a total waste of youth and time. Well it seems she's found her softer side. Next to Hello Kitty and cycling, of course.

The family loves Japanese food.

Happiest baby ever.

I caught up with Dragon & Martini a couple of weeks back during a short visit to Singapore. He is so big now, compared to the last time I saw him when he was just a baby!

The main reason why I'm writing about Dragon (besides the fact that he is absolutely adorable and how I admire his mom for her strength) is because of what Martini has planned for him in terms of education. The family is planning to move to Bali so Dragon can grow up there and attend the Green School. Green School is an amazing project, pioneering sustainability within education. It is pushing boundaries in schooling at a time when the world must review whether more of the same is acceptable.

If you watch the video, you will learn that the kids attending the school love that they are being surrounded by nature, not by the concrete walls of regular schools. They are being taught to love and nurture their environment while learning the essential core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science so they will have doors open to them for whichever kinds of further learning and careers that they choose.

"If we are to believe just a small proportion of the statistics we are hearing and seeing about the destruction of our planet, individuals need to take a more responsible approach – and education is the key starting point. Our aim is to develop responsible and green habits in these young people which will be with them for life."

"Being at one with nature – in these classrooms without walls – has a huge and positive impact on the learning process.  It positively affects the quality of relationships, the way that people conduct and behave with sensitity to each other, and it helps those youngsters who are easily distracted in conventional classrooms to focus much more easily on their tasks – there are plenty of distractions at Green School but they are natural distractions which are acceptable to, and not in conflict with concentration."

Students and their parent on the first day of school.

"Given the economic mess that our world has created in recent times, an education system which produces more of the same is not going to work.  Something has to change, and Green School is at the cutting edge therefore of being able to do things differently."

"An education at Green School is preparation for Green Leadership of tomorrow.  Our students will be the confident generation that wants to, and can, make a difference."

This is definitely something worth sharing and bringing to light. It's for the future. It's for your kids and your grandchildren. What do you want them to learn about Earth?

Share this with someone you know.