“Ring~ Ring~”, “Ring~ Ring~” A bicycle bell sounds close behind her. Tania turns around and steps aside quickly as the cyclist speeds past.
“Be careful, kid.” She calls after him. “You nearly caught my arm.”
“Let’s walk nearer to the fence.” Lynn suggests.
They continue with their usual evening walk along the coastal path. The sea breeze caresses Tina’s face and the sounds of the waves calms her. Container ships stand high in the water.
Although all she wanted was as simple as to enjoy the sounds of the nature they are not alone here. There are groups of people here and there in this Labrador Park; jogging, family picnic gathering, cycling, and some walking their dogs.
A group of youngsters is walking in front of Tania and Lynn. Students, it seems. They talk loud, laugh, even louder. Each carries a bag of fries and a cola. They might have bought them from the vending machine at the entrance.
One of them, a young guy, swings his long arm, and a red object flies in a smooth curve, right into the sea. Tiana balls her fists. That red object was the soft drink plastic bottle he just finished drinking.
(The dustbin is just right in front of you, 100 meters away. Why would you do that?) Tania questions him, in her mind. His group of friends, none of them scold him but they cheer and whistle instead…
“Tania, you okay?” Lynn asks. “What’s wrong?”
“The dustbin is just right in front of them and yet he throws plastic bottle to the sea.” Tania grumbles.
After walking for nearly an hour, Lynn suggests to head over to the hawker center nearby, to grab some light dinner. A red cola bottle on the table, next to where they seated, slips into Tania’s sight. It reminds her about that annoying scene just now and triggers her memory when she first came to Singapore. That was about ten years ago; she was amazed to find out that this country has a huge floating platform that was often used to host public events, e.g. concerts. What a great invention!
At that time, she has a striking idea that she has yet to share it with anyone. (Was it built by plastic material that makes it floats? If yes, could they make the platform bigger? We have tons of plastic waste in almost every country. If we recycle and use all those plastic waste, we would definitely have enough ‘material’ to build a massive platform, isn’t it?) Questions flooded her mind, one after another… Now, it could be the right time to share her idea with Lynn. Tania quickly grabs her mobile phone and search for some information.
“You see, around the world, we have nearly one million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute, while five trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year. In total, half of all plastic produced is designed to be used only once and then thrown away.” Tania reads out a short documentary fact to Lynn. “I have been having this idea ever since I came to Singapore; hear me out.” Tania’s eyes are shining, her waving arms add on to her body language, to elaborate her idea about platform to Lynn.
“Why platform?” Lynn asks when Tania first shared her idea.
“I think we really need it. If we could build a solid plastic platform that could sustain the cold temperature of around -2 degree, then it could replace the thick floating ice on the Arctic Ocean.” Lynn knows Tania well. Tania, the die-heart fan of National Geographic and Animal Kingdom documentary.
“If it’s doable, make them in white; then Arctic animals like polar bears might think that they were real ice-bergs despite the real ice melting more and more each year due to global warming.” Tania takes a sip of the milk tea she ordered, and continues sharing her creative thinking.
“It helps to maintain the ecosystem of Arctic wildlife. Every time I watch the documentary where the polar bears and seals have no place to land, and those melting broken ice-bergs; I can’t help but sad.” Tania stares at the milk tea in front of her. Silence kicks in.
“Yeah, I saw icebergs collapse news some time ago too.” Lynn says, in monotone.
“Polar bears need some place for them to land and seals especially, need a landing area to save their life from the killer whales, you know. They won’t have the ability to keep staying in the water 24/7. A safe place to rest is in need.” Tania stirs the milk tea in the cup, even though it has already turned lukewarm, Tania tells Lynn the saddening images that came into her mind.
“Oh yeah, the other day, I saw a video clip on sea turtles being choked by plastic items and whales being tangled by those non-biodegradable fish nets. They were so helpless! Men tried to pull a straw out from a turtle’s nostril. That turtle shred tears suffering the pain while blood bleeds from its nose. I can’t imagine how painful that must have been.” Lynn grabs on Tania’s arm, emotionally. Lynn frowns her eye-brows, shares what she saw on YouTube video clip with Tania. “Luckily, they met with some kind-hearted people that helped them remove those items and set them free.” Tania lets out a relief sigh while saying this.
“If we think it further, we, humans might need that floating platform as well. To keep us from sinking into the sea when a disaster like a tsunami hits us. Our current home might be flooded by a massive wave in seconds. We all saw those videos that captured the terrible scenes of the tsunami hitting several places. How many lives were lost?” Tania continues.
“I can’t swim; so I really need something that could keep me floating or standing on.” Tania reminds Lynn.
“Haha… Yeah, I know that; you would definitely need a float.” “Interesting idea you have here!” Lynn is a good listener; she digests new information without the rush to give comments like most people do.
“I would call this artificial platform the Noah’s Ark!” Tania declares.
“Huh?” Lynn’s eyes open wide.
“It is literally like the Noah’s Ark we see in the movies. That giant ship that could sustain the calamity; having all species on earth boarding this life-saving ship, just hoping that everyone could survive the disaster.” Tania says, with a big smile on her face. “But how many living beings could it carry?” Tania adds.
Lynn is very much into fantasy-fiction movies and even anime. “Noah’s Ark” was only a myth in our daily life. “Would such a project require huge funds to make it happen?” Lynn bites on the ice cube from the orange juice she ordered. Her eyes, sparkling.
“That, only scientists can tell how much budget it would need? If only they could give us some numbers.” Money is the main concern here. Tania truly understands this. “I think we could collaborate with those reputable commercial organizations, you know, those that pledged to reduce their carbon footprint and zero-waste vision.”
“Right. Many big companies especially MNC are doing that.” Lynn adds. Many corporations and countries have put aside annual budget for environmentally sustainable work. Quite a number of sustainable projects kick off and bring positive outcomes.
“There’s the possibility of tapping into government bonds or charity funds. Or even, through a crowd-funding campaign. Raise funds from the public. I can contribute the money that I have saved to get myself a new mobile phone.” Tania shares her thought.
“Haha… Count me in!” Lynn lifts her orange juice glass and cheers to Tania’s milk tea cup.
Tania believes in this quote. Whenever the timing is right to do so, she would share this idea with the people she has conversation with, without any hesitation. She even shared this idea with her boss, the Chief Finance Officer of the MNC (i.e. multi-national company) that she works in. He praised her great idea; and that’s all. Nothing much he could do about it. Tania voices it out through posting on her social media, i.e. Facebook. Nothing happens besides that few ‘LIKE’ from her friends.
(Where can I bring this idea to? I don’t know any scientist or politician…) Whenever this topic comes to Tania’s mind, this question of hers has no answer.
“We might need the knowledge from expertise from various studies, such as zoology, biology, geophysics, chemistry, and even engineering.” Lynn comments after finishing her dinner plate.
“Wow! Sounds like gathering all the experts in one room and working on the ‘save the earth’ project. So much like my favourite movie ‘The Avengers’! Awe… My heroes and heroines.” Tania delighted with her visualize scene!
(Am I only dreaming? I don’t think so. It can be realized.) Nothing can shake Tania’s belief as she has already seen the real-life floating platform.
Recently, on the news, she read about the floating solar farm. The largest floating platform was constructed at Semakau Landfill, Singapore; planned to be used for dumping incinerated ash.
(See? Floating platform ideas, in a massive size! Their usage could be varies but we could level up the purpose of this floating platform to save living beings on earth!) Tania says this to someone in her 5D world.
(Who should I speak to? Dear Gods, dear guides, could you please lead me to someone who has the authoritative power in making this Noah’s Ark come true?) Tania frowns. She prays whole-heartedly.
(We don’t have Superman or great heroes with outstanding super power on earth. If we, humans, can actually do something to save our own lives, we should do it instead of waiting and relying on others to save us. Let’s be realistic. Lead me to the right person that I could bring my idea to, please.)
Today, Tania still determines to continue looking for the ‘right’ person to make this Noah’s Ark happens.
I wish to look for this illustration but not avail. So, I edited it myself.
Photos were not own by me. If any copyright issues, I would remove them.
Reference Material:
1. The largest floating platform at Semakau Landfill, Singapore.
Some info about it is available and published at Singapore NEA website (click link below and have a read.)
2. The Float @ Marina Bay, Singapore.
Some info about it is available and published at wikipedia.org website (click link below and have a read.)
3. The Sea Turtle With Straw Up Its Nostril
I have linked to view the original video filmed by Marine Conservation biologist Christine Figgerner, PhD. to my video page (click the link below to view the video but don’t forget to read the Warning and Disclaimer note.)
You actually make it seem so easy together with your presentation but I to find this matter to be actually something that I feel I would by no means understand. It seems too complex and very broad for me. I am looking forward on your next put up, I will try to get the hold of it!
Thank you for reading my post. This idea needs collaboration from experts from various sectors.