GAME ON!

Discover Sentosa’s giant new visitors

Sentosa Island is blessed with many wonderful sights – and the latest attraction is quite unique. In case you weren’t aware, there are four new giant creatures on the island. There’s no need to be alarmed for you won’t find these lurking in the rough, and despite their giant teeth, they’re completely harmless. That’s because the ‘Explorers of Sentosa’ are made out of wooden pallets, crates and floorboards discarded in Singapore. Created by Copenhagen-based sustainability artist and recycling activist Thomas Dambo, the four gargantuan statues of trolls from Danish folklore can be found basking on the sunny shores of Sentosa and in forested areas. They’re free to access, although you’ll probably need help from the interactive online treasure map to locate all four.

Sentosa Development Corporation

(SDC) Chief Executive Thien Kwee Eng said that she hopes the public will experience a sense of mystery as they search for the sculptures in lesser-known areas of Palawan Beach.

“We are excited to invite our international and local visitors to discover the giants and the sustainability-themed stories behind them,” she said.

Dambo has created 97 other sculptures, which are also made out of recycled materials and hidden in forests around the world, from China to Chile. The artist said his sculptures demonstrate the value of trash as a creative material.

“A lot of people are afraid of trash and don’t want to touch it, and we think that if we drop something on the floor, then maybe it’s not worth picking it up again or it’s not as good as something that is new,” he said.

“But trash can become something beautiful, that can make people smile and make others happy as a beautiful material that we can use for a lot of good things.”

Dambo also hopes that the totemic statues will teach visitors about nature through Danish folklore. Each troll has been given its own personality and a unique story about its experiences and interaction with pollution, specifically its encounters with marine litter.

“In Denmark, we have a big culture on natural stories about trolls,” he said. “What my figures represent is the voice of nature, and while nature can’t speak, I think nature has a lot to say about the behaviour of humans, who have recently come into the world.”

He added: “Ocean trash is very real to islands like Sentosa, with diverse yet vulnerable biodiversity, and I hope that the installations in this beautiful location can serve as a strong visual reminder of the need for responsible use of materials and their impact on the environment.”

The sculptures, which will be in Sentosa until 2024, are decorated with plastic garlands or “magic” orbs to highlight alternative uses of waste such as plastic bottles, canisters and water bottles.

Ms Angelina Lourdes, owner of creative studio Studio29, who designed the plastic ornaments, said: “Although some may think that upcycling plastic waste into whimsical objects will not reduce the amount of plastic waste in the end, beginning to view plastic as a creative material can incentivise people to begin sorting and cleaning waste for use in their projects.”

According to data released by the National Environment Agency in April, only 13 per cent of domestic waste was recycled in 2022, with contamination in recycling bins being the key reason that the rate remains low.

Ms Lourdes added: “Even if the joy from these objects wears off, at least they can be easily recycled because they’ve already been sorted and cleaned.”

Discovering Sustainable Sentosa

A stroll around Sentosa is always an education, and the trolls join the many other attractions that shine a light on the island’s sustainability efforts and quest toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.

In fact, it’s hard to go anywhere on Sentosa and not learn something interesting about what the island is doing to be more sustainable. Whether it’s a trip to SkyHelix, Sentosa’s first carbon neutral attraction, which uses energy efficient design that minimises electricity and carbon footprint, or a tour of the S.E.A. Aquarium, where an expert team oversees careful conversation and breeding, there are many interesting projects well underway.

Not all of these are so obvious. For example, behind the scenes, an advanced District Cooling Plant supplies chilled water to Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), enough for 18,000 rooms. Bio digesters in RWS’s kitchens, meanwhile, covert up to 95% of food waste into usable products, therefore reducing pressure on Singapore’s limited landfills.

Next time you’re out and about in the island – perhaps on a quest to find one of the ‘Explorers of Sentosa’ – be sure to take it all in and pass on some of these fun facts and figures. It all helps to spread the important topic of sustainability, and how Sentosa is working towards its key target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.

Sentosa Island

Exploring the implementation of a solarisation programme as part of 2030 carbon neutrality goals

1 solar farm contains 2,400 solar panels, generating 50,000kw hour per month

Resorts World Sentosa

95% of food waste converted into usable products through bio digesters

Cares for 51 threatened marine species

60% of all seafood is sustainably sourced

Sofitel Sentosa

Teamed up with Foodbank Singapore to donate untouched food

This was the 27-year-old’s first victory since she won the title last year, and what’s been particularly impressive is how she’s found her best form again after suffering with a wrist injury — which is something that can cause a lot of mental anguish as well as physical pain.

Ko admitted that her wrist injury had been playing on her mind, so she had to ease up on the amount of golf she was playing in order to give her maximum time to recover — and it’s clearly been worth it.

Ultimately, when it comes to her swing, Ko tops the table in fundamentals and efficient power — she’s a machine. Her athletic set up is a picture of perfection. The mix of athletic balance and lack of tension is a recipe for some powerful golf shots. She packs a punch, and that power comes from a steady base.

The power that she holds in her lower half really helps create a swing that is full of torque. From the start, she creates width and works the club away on a perfect line. Note how her shoulders are already winding up at this stage.

This wind up is key throughout her swing. Her wrists set at a perfect right angle to her left arm as it hits parallel and the weight loads into her right side. However, there is very little lateral movement in the action; it’s like she’s screwing herself into the ground as she reaches the top of her swing.

Ko’s shoulders are turned at 90 degrees, here, and she’s created a huge amount of stored power by keeping that lower body very steady. This ‘x-factor’ is the reason she creates such incredible clubhead speed: winding her upper half up against a really strong base.

Ko begins her downswing using her lower half; her weight begins to push into her left side and she starts that transition from the ground up. As she unwinds, the clubhead remains behind her and stays in that 45-degree lag position, an absolute must to create speed. All that stored power ready to release through the ball at impact is a serious weapon to have.

Now you can see how her hips really drive through as she clears her body towards the target. At impact, her lead wrist is beautifully in flexion squaring the clubface up perfectly as she strikes the ball. At this point, her ability to really compress the ball and impart a huge amount of spin on each shot would explain her impressive greens in regulation statistics.

Ko is notorious for going for the largest part of the green and always aims to leave herself an uphill putt on shorter approach shots. She freewheels through, and there is no doubt that her body powers this swing first and foremost.

Her swing is exceptionally rotational and this has definitely helped her keep a bit of pressure off the injured left wrist. If she were a player more reliant on an arm swing and excessive hand action, she may well have struggled.

Watching Ko’s swing here during the HSBC Women’s World Championship, it’s plain to see it’s an exceptional rotational action that relies on athleticism and some seriously strong glutes.