- What are the most urgent environmental problems on the island?
- Which organizations or individuals are already working on this, or want to do so?
- And what can we do about it?
- Can we be the catalysts for an environmental forum to deal with some of these problems?
Instead of a ‘talking heads’ forum talking about problems, we envisioned a festival day, with clowns, and children and vegetarian food, as well as information relating the environment, presentations, demonstrations, meditations, yoga, workshops for children, forest walks, portrait painters and a fun market area selling recycled, recyclable or natural products.
We offered healing treatments including massage, reiki and various esoteric healings and a series of yoga classes and workshops.
And we had a party – a wonderful lineup of musicians, drummers, fire spinners and dancers joined us. Maggie of ESP Productions did an amazing job (for free!) in putting on a lineup of the best talent Samui and Koh Phangan had to offer. We drank Samui rum and danced into the night…
No garbage!
This was a ‘green’ event – we made every attempt to not use plastic materials. We hired glasses, cups, forks and spoons. We build garbage bin collection points with three kinds of trash (organic, recyclable and non-recyclable). We build simple structures from local material. Immediately after the event, the grounds were clean and very little trash had to be put for the garbage collectors.
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Grassroots organization and support
Everyone working on the organization of this event did so voluntarily and for free. Many volunteers worked on the day. Most of the performers did not charge either. Many of the food stands simply donated all their proceeds to the Mala. The Samui community (and beyond) donated prizes and funds to make this a successful day, and raffle tickets were sold. Tamarind Springs closed its operations for the day and provided its grounds to host the event. The Samui Spa Association, the Samui Hotel Association and the TAT southern region were generous with support, donations and with arranging for the deputy governor for policy and planning of the TAT Khun Auggapol Brickshawana to open the Global Mala day. We felt that having his sympathetic ear to Samui’s woes was a step towards finding solutions to some the island’s problems.
We had the great honour of having Ajaarn Po, the abbot of Suan Mokh monastery in Chaiya, to lead a meditation to open the event. About 500 guests attended on the day and funds were raised from a gate donation, and raffle tickets sales, as well as from sales of the donated goods and foods.
What will we do with the funds:
We have a proposal from Khun Cholnachakorn Anumart (Diaw)of Biorock Technology-Thailand to initiate an environmental educational program on Samui to create a ‘green mind’ consciousness among children and teens. Biorock is a non-profit affiliate group of the Global Coral Reef Alliance conducting activities related to coral reef, and fishery habitat restoration efforts on Koh Samui. As most of their focus is under the water, Biorock knows that what we put in to the sea (water, runoff, sewerage) can have drastic and immediate impact on the reefs. This has encouraged them to raise awareness and seek cooperation with those on land. And the best place we believe to start is with the children – who are the ones who will inherit this island.
The Biorock proposal
The program includes on land activities such as ‘the forest is our classroom’ jungle walks, as well as classes in conservation, creative thinking and teen leadership courses relating to the environment. Underwater programs teach about coral, mangrove, and coastal ecosystems, as well as snorkeling and diving for a select group of local children in the hope of creating ‘reef gardeners’ – the future guardians of the underwater heritage in the Samui archipelago. We hope to see environmental media programs (TV, radio, clubs) will be initiated.
Khun Diaw also envisages trekking, camping and home stay activities teaching the fundamentals of eco-tourism.
Other projects
In addition we plan to work with local schools to create ‘trash banks’ where recyclable garbage like paper, cans and bottles can be collected at schools and the funds used for environmental classes, planting trees or other activities that will benefit the schools. We already have an agreement from some schools to work with us to start work on this. If anyone has other education related environmental groups or projects on Koh Samui, please do get in touch with us.
Information and education
We plan to hold educational hands-on workshops wherever we can find speakers. If you’d like to be on the mailing list for these, please let us know.