Meet Our Green Hero: Baida

The Green Knight

Baida Jane Hercus

KLASSics Alumna 1983 - 1988

“We need to protect our carbon sinks, restore degraded carbon sinks, and fund the switch to renewable energy and other effective means of reducing emissions.”

Baida was in The Alice Smith School from 1983 to 1988. In this story she shared her environmental journey and reminiscing nostalgic school memories during a visit back to school. Read on more for her story.

Back then the girls wore the gingham all the way through primary, a sore point for me as a tomboy. It didn’t stop me from tearing across the field every break and lunch to play run across. After leaving primary school I don’t think I wore another dress until I turned 16!

A favourite memory is of the old art room. It was a large, open aired space that smelled of clay and paint. The backdrop was a huge saga tree. I remember having to take bark rubbings and try to draw it.

Two other fond memories are of the furry iron-on letters on our PE kits and the painted jungle mural at the Year 1 dismissal area.

Fast forward a few decades and I enrolled my firstborn there. Gone was the art room, and in its place was a teacher’s lounge! Now, that too has been replaced by the new dining hall and Jubilee Centre. There have been so many changes (no more iron-on transfers and jungle mural either.) My three children have grown up at the school, my eldest completing her Year 13 just a few months ago. Although I can remember what the school was like, the developments do make you feel proud that the school is keeping relevant and is readily and actively improving.

“There is no Plan B as there is no Planet B”

This is one of my favourite quotes from Ban Ki Moon. We only get one chance to save the earth as we know it.

I truly believe that you need to fall in love with the natural world to want to save it! Half of the world’s population live in cities, 70% in Malaysia. It’s hard for urbanites in high rise buildings to garden and enjoy the outdoors. Free Tree Society was created to encourage people to be green from home. We start by offering a free plant or two, some basic gardening skills, and allow nature to do the rest. The response and support to our programmes have been fantastic since it started in 2013.

Did any experience in Alice Smith encourage you to pursue environmental work?

That’s a funny question with a funny answer. I mentioned the saga tree and mural as two of my favourite school memories. However, it wasn’t a childhood experience, but one as a parent at the Primary Campus, Jalan Bellamy, that launched Free Tree Society. It was by the Reception classes that I began a conversation with a fellow class mum, Bettina Khan, telling her about my idea of giving away free trees to green all the ugly urban concrete. To cut a long story short, Bettina came on board, we rallied together a committee and registered an environmental NGO within four short months.

The Free Tree Society has certainly made a huge impact on the community since it started. Tell us more about the society’s community outreach, partnerships and impact.

Free Tree Society Kuala Lumpur (FTS) spreads the environmental stewardship message through giving away trees for free to green our Earth. Since 2013, we have given away over 34,650 plants to homeowners, schools, marginalised groups, community gardens and wildlife habitats to proliferate planting, to encourage biodiversity and to promote a love of nature.

FTS operates through 3 programme sites, our Bangsar Nursery, Taman Tugu Nursery and an outreach programme called FTS On-the-Go.

The free trees are all grown with the help of volunteers. Volunteer sessions give urbanites an opportunity to take the first step toward engaging with environmental conservation. Sessions begin with an environmental talk on biodiversity and climate change, followed by a demonstration of environmental solutions including rainwater harvesting, wildlife habitats, and composting. We teach the basics behind mixing soil, planting seeds, propagation, transplanting, natural pest repellents, plant management, gardening maintenance and basic landscaping. We have trained over 15,000 environmental stewards with the goal of growing a greener Malaysian society.

At the Bangsar Nursery our focus is on planting edibles, fruit trees and ornamental plants for homeowners, schools and community gardens. The focus at Taman Tugu Nursery is geared towards increasing biodiversity in urban forests and reforestation projects.

FTS On-the-Go is a free mobile educational awareness outreach programme created just for schools and universities. Through hands-on workshops and talks FTS On-the-Go serves to tackle school-related and community environmental areas of concern. Our tailor-made educational programmes which combine knowledge, resources, and hands-on models are crafted to suit students of different ages and abilities. Our green truck made a visit to the Primary Campus, Jalan Bellamy, last term to talk about waste and conduct a composting workshop with the Year 3 children. Since its launch in April, On-the-Go has visited over 30 schools beautifying them with over 800 plants and trees in hands-on activities with school children.

We want to join the movement! Any great suggestions on sustainable activities which we can get involved with.

There are 4 key areas of environmental concern: the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, overconsumption and waste, and water scarcity. Of the 4 areas the climate crisis brought about by rising emissions is the most crucial.

The most effective way to reduce greenhouse emissions can be done from the home. Divest of fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy by installing solar. The good news is that switching to solar not only saves the planet but it’s also affordable and makes economic sense. We can also stop non-essential air travel, reduce meat intake, and compost organic waste at home. There are many NGOs besides Free Tree Society that teach composting. Growing homegrown organic edible is the best reward for learning composting skills!