3 ways to get a full body workout and be sustainable in Singapore
Go green Singapore! Cut down waste and tone your waistline at the same time with these fitness workouts
Text: Tiff H
It’s undeniable that our physical health and how to get fit has been top of mind lately. Yet, on a more collective level, we also have a huge concern for our planet’s health. Indeed, earlier this month the Singapore government shared the country’s green plans as our Red Dot slowly recovers from the economic, social and environmental effects of Covid-19. The Singapore Green Plan 2030 is a national sustainability movement, which seeks to rally bold and collective action to tackle climate change, and lays out clear actionable goals on both an individual and collective level.
Maintaining our fitness with full body workouts and going green doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive. Here, we highlight three sustainable Singapore activities that will get you moving, contributing to both your physical health and a more sustainable Singapore.
Kayak clean-up
Take part in the efforts towards waterways clean-up to ensure that litter, including plastic waste, is prevented from being washed into the ocean. Adventure Paddlers’ unique Eco Tour via kayak starts from Pasir Ris Park and offers the opportunity to not only get fit but contribute to the recovery of environment damages. Through the kayak tour and visits to gathering points of marine debris (coastline and slow current waters), you’ll understand the source, the effects and journey undertaken by marine waste.
Beach clean up
Taking part in a beach clean-up is one way to keep the beaches and the environment healthy for everyone to enjoy, while getting your body moving for that full body workout. Samantha Thian for example spends four mornings a week picking up trash on the beaches of East Coast Park as her form of morning exercise. She started a Telegram group called the ‘East Coast Beach Plan’ galvanising Singaporeans to help clean up East Coast’s beaches. Other social enterprises that conduct coastal clean-ups and are part of the movement to foster a more sustainable culture of dealing with waste include Green Nudge, Seven Clean Seas and Trash Hero Singapore.
Plant a tree
The Garden City is truly living up to its name with some of the key targets of the Green Plan including planting one million more trees in Singapore, developing over 130 hectares of new parks and enhancing 170 hectares of existing parks with more lush vegetation and natural landscapes. Trees beautify our environment but their values lie beyond the aesthetics. They remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, increase biodiversity in our environment, prevent soil erosion, as well as provide shade and lower the atmospheric temperature. This can help in Singapore’s effort in combatting climate change and environmental sustainability in the long run.
Be a part of this celebration of nature by planting a tree or two, and we don’t just mean pulling out your wallet and donating a few bucks, but actually rolling your sleeves up a planting a tree yourself. With Garden City Fund, you can donate a minimum of SGD 300 to plant a tree in one of the National Parks.
