Category: Greenspeak

When I started packing to leave Singapore for Bali in 2000, my friends were confused and apprehensive. Why was I leaving their safe and orderly little nation for the chaos of Indonesia? The civil unrest, financial crisis and fall of Suharto in 1998 were still vivid memories in the region. Many of us had sheltered […]

I celebrated National Day at Puri Lumbung in Munduk again this year. The rustic hotel is built among rice fields, clove trees and flower gardens high on the edge of an ancient caldiera. The view spills down to the north coast and Java’s Mount Meru beyond. The air is crisp and cool, and perfumed with […]

About five years ago my housekeeper’s son decided to start a little business making bamboo drinking straws. I’ve known Putu since he was four years old. So he’s been under my indirect influence most of his life, receiving subliminal messages through his mother Wayan Manis about waste management, nutrition and the environment. Now 20, he […]

Eating meat is so politically incorrect these days. Especially here in Ubud, where the population of gluten-free vegans per capita is probably higher than anywhere else outside south India. Many would argue that the term ‘ethical meat’ is an oxymoron. There’s abundant evidence that commercial meat production is highly damaging to the planet and cruelly […]

Recently a friend from Morocco visited me, bringing gifts of lovely natural body care products: rose water, orange flower face tonic, argan oil, frankincense. I was delighted to present her with some of the locally made, natural personal care products available within a 20 minute stroll of my house in Ubud. Over the years I’ve […]

Most of us have heard the ominous rumble of the mosquito fogger and been caught in its stinking white cloud of chemicals. I’ve always wondered just what was in the horrible concoction, but until recently no one could tell me. Trudy Rilling-Collins, a scientist with a degree in biological control of insects from University of […]

It’s challenging enough to manage production in the island’s towns and cities; kudos to those who are bringing us outstanding food products while creating employment in remote parts of Bali. Over the past few years I’ve visited several of these off-the-beaten track producers.   Cheese… The price of imported cheese is eye-watering these days, which […]

 We’ve just come through the longest rains I can remember, with downpours so frequent and heavy that even the mosquito larvae were washed away. The roof leaked, shoes mildewed, clothes and sheets never felt really dry. Every morning Wayan Manis would arrive to work in her raincoat and hang it up to drip with a […]

Gentle Reader, let us meditate upon the element of water. We have quite a lot of raw material to consider, given the constant downpours of the past few months. Deluge follows deluge. Ponds overflow. Trees topple, landslides scar the riverbanks, roads and walkways disappear under muddy lakes. Clothes and leather sprout acrid colonies of mildew. […]

And still we wait, at least at time of writing, for a possible Big Bang. Bear in mind there’s a week between filing my column and holding a copy of this paper in your hand. A lot can happen in seven days, especially under a dyspeptic volcano.   Imagine a knock at your door, an […]