8 Singapore Women Leading The Convo About Saving The Earth

Neo Xiao Yun is quite the multi-hyphenate. She volunteers at the non-profit Ground-Up Initiative (GUI), a regenerative farming and nature-based community, as a farmer, nature guide, programmes facilitator, social media copywriter, and informal advisor for GUI’s future plans. She also facilitates immersive wildlife and biodiversity programmes with The Untamed Paths (TUP), and runs outdoor adventure camps for children, organise programmes, and conduct marketing, partnerships and outreach. All this and more, with whatever free time she has outside of her full-time job!

What was your environmental/climate change awakening moment?

“When I was 11, Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth shook me logically to the drastic and significant challenge of climate change, global warming, biodiversity loss, and associated disaster events. However, environmental involvement did not extend into my life beyond an intellectual understanding. I remember being unable to tell my parents why we should switch off our lights for an hour to join in the Earth Hour movement – I had no emotional impetus.

Then, an educational immersion in Bhutan when I was 17 sparked the realisation of my personal connection to the earth. I fondly recall hiking under an expanse of blue, campfires under a blanket of stars, walking by temples nestled in beautiful places, and the sight of colourful prayer flags flapping animatedly in the distance. I’m not religious, but Bhutan found and touched me deeply. It was probably my first glimpse of a spiritual connection to the natural world around me. I rediscovered my love for the outdoors and wildlife. I saw first-hand how beautiful Mother Nature and the world is. I started to care. It’s this personal exposure to the importance of environmental education and human-nature connection, which still motivates me at my core to dedicate myself to this field, to help others realise their connection to the environment.”

Why did you decide to focus on biodiversity?

“Yale-NUS was where I was first initiated into environmental work and advocacy. I learnt new perspectives of thinking through sustainability topics, implemented environmental education projects, tended to the school’s urban farm, and wrote environmental opinion pieces. I discovered community, self-identity and the meaning of dedicating myself to a cause larger-than-life in environmental work. However, that was focused more broadly on sustainability, rather than biodiversity. In fact I dabbled in every single project that the Yale-NUS Sustainability Movement had, except nature trails and guiding!

For biodiversity itself, I started out just wanting to explore green spaces beyond our famous nature reserves. I grew to love not just the space but also the wildlife inhabitants and the entire process of wildlife spotting. As dusk falls, time melts away. Any moment, a pattern or a movement could suggest an instinct within: an inkling that that is not a vine, not a blade of grass, not part of the asphalt road. That is a snake, an Asian palm civet, a brown hawk-owl, a lesser mouse deer. I was fascinated, speechless, awed, disgusted, and excited in turn by snakes and the prospects of finding snakes late into the night while the rest of the city slept. It was like… falling into a manhole I didn’t even know was there. The community calls this ‘herping’ — the act of going out into the field to sight some amphibians or reptiles, including frogs, toads, snakes, lizards. ‘Herpetology’ is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of these creatures. Its Greek root is herpet, meaning “creeping”, which is a fascinating word to describe how this activity creeped into my life.

This was a similar trajectory for me and marine ecosystems and intertidal explorations. When I was younger, I associated seas or coastlines in Singapore as lifeless places, where the waters were a dull brown or olive green (instead of turquoise, aquamarine, green and light blue), waves were lacklustre, and sand was coarse, brown or grey and large-grained. In fact, there is a lot of marine wildlife in Singapore if only we knew where to look! Life teems everywhere you look — seagrass, crabs, shrimp, clams, fish, stars, urchins. Slowly, curiosity overtook apathy. The more I learnt, the more I wanted to know.

Ultimately, these personal wildlife explorations and the walks I facilitate aim to raise awareness and appreciation for the lesser known, less charismatic but underrated biodiversity that thrives in Singapore’s forests and seas. I want to show how disturbed, human- modified places also remain worthy of our appreciation, admiration and protection. And also, how we can turn the tide, if we conserve and preserve these precious habitats.”

How would you describe your approach to environmental advocacy on social media?

“I enjoy new experiences as I become exceptionally reflective and receptive to learning. For instance while in Oahu, Hawaii) for my  Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative experience, I consistently wrote IG stories and reflection pieces to capture, express and share my insights and lessons.

Running my environmental communications Instagram @eyes.uncloudedd, which is also where I log my experiences in and with nature and my socio-environmental impact work, has trained me to be adept in social media storytelling — a skill that’s adaptable across topics. I see social media advocacy as a worthy endeavour and challenge — to make meaningful content that can stand out from all the empty white noise and deliver a message.

Beyond educating about local biodiversity, I hope the account with my sharing and perspectives could benefit someone on their own personal journey towards conservation, climate action and connectedness with nature and the land.”

How do you envision a nature-inspired, 21st century kampung culture playing out in Singapore’s future?

“I think about GUI, a non-profit community located in a rustic open-air and very green space in the Khatib/Yishun area. We have a natural farm, an earth oven, a community-run tuckshop, a woodworking space, and a huge backyard hosting an ecosystem of educational partners whose work resonate with our mission.

Equally diverse are the people, coming from different backgrounds, socio-economic status, stages of life, and with different skill sets, knowledge and belief systems, yet who all come to embody the kampung spirit of generosity, teamwork, hands-on culture and environmental awareness. GUI’s mission is to foster deep and meaningful connections, to ourselves, to the earth, and to each other. As a space, it still feels drastically different from the rest of Singapore. It is a good platform for many people to reconnect with the land and to touch nature, like a kampung would! 

In contrast to the stressed-out, disconnected, fast-paced life, we offer people in Singapore an alternative set of “5G” values to practise — green, giving, gracious, grounded, and grateful. It is by engaging/nudging people to work on the farm that we strengthen the community, and also people’s connection to and sense of stewardship of the local environment.” 

What’s one message you have for everyone this Earth Day?

“Go out and be in nature — it’s good for you!”