I grew up wanting to be a conservation scientist.

My stories, toys, and spare time were filled with nature-related words, animal species, and exciting adventures that characters would partake in hopes of preservation, rehabilitation, and exploration.

Later in my life, I realised that very few children grew up into adults searching for those same stories. While I continued, now reading, writing, and playing the main character in some of them, many others had moved on to books about how to get as much money as possible, in the shortest amount of time possible. Books about what time to wake up to be as productive as possible, to make more money. Books about what industry, business, or investment would make you the most money ... in the quickest time, of course.

Many of these adults, I also learned, were so busy making money (quickly), that they stopped reading stories. They stopped reading stories to themselves, and they also stopped reading stories to their children.

And so, along with the loss of storytime, imagination, and a creative use of words, the intrinsic human connection with nature also started to disappear.

Professor Miles Richardson published an article in the journal, Earth, correlating the disappearance of simple natural words, like tree, river, flower, and moss, with a 60.6% decline in people’s connection to nature.

And so, on top of losing stories, we’re losing a part of ourselves.

_____________________________________________

David Attenborough said, “No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”

And for the majority of the humans that inhabit this vast and varied planet who’ll never have the ability to experience its true wonder, diversity, and magic – why would they care about its destruction?

There was a time, long ago, when people told stories of how the earth was made. They didn’t have scientific data or wear blinders of today’s modernity. They had stories - made up of whimsy, wonder, and lore. They told stories of ancient tortoises holding up the earth from the corners, of giant serpents who breathed life into living beings during the Dreamtime, of the Sky Woman who landed on geese feathers and cried out tears of trees and greenery.

All the stories portrayed Earth as a gift to us, the feeble human beings, who were allowed to be here on Earth as her responsible stewards. To live in harmony with other living beings, who were no better nor worse than us.

They are being, as we are being.

Inter-being and interconnectedness.

“I am because we are.”

But somewhere along the way, definitions changed to separate human beings from the rest of nature.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines nature as, “the phenomenon of the physical world collectively; especially plants, animals and other features and products of the earth itself, as opposed to humans and human creations”.

And it is not the only one. Currently, all English dictionaries separate humans from the rest of nature.

And if we are thought to be separate from, placed above, or labelled as entitled – why should we care?

And then, why would we protect?

Many tales, lores, fireside stories and songs have been lost over time, gone up in smoke along with the important messages they carried and the myriad languages that formed them.

We’re losing our culture to remain connected to nature as quickly as we’re losing nature itself. In 2025, the planet lost 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres) of tropical primary forest.

But how many people will know that?

How many will care?

And how many will understand the repercussions and consequences that losing primary forests will cause?

And those are statistics about forests. Artifacts, tangible, visible, physical trees, plants, and greenery that we can see.

How then the ocean, that most cannot?

Who will shed a tear when fish species become extinct, when salinity concentrations reach catastrophic levels, and when corals bleach to a point of no return?

This is how the vicious cycle keeps spinning, powered by infinite growth, apathy, and a belief that ignorance is bliss. And so, the planet continues to suffer – as we do – because essentially, we are nature.

_____________________________________________

A lot of science doesn’t find its way into bedtime reading. It’s not some juicy bit of news you want to read on the commute home after a long day of work either.

It has been composed, a priori, in a deliberately convoluted, semantically labyrinthine, and epistemologically discombobulated manner; nevertheless, it remains internally coherent, methodologically defensible, and empirically watertight, and should therefore be read and absorbed.

You get my point.

How can we get people to care when they don’t understand the science?

How can we convince people to change when they don’t see a reason to?

People will not protect what they do not love. They will not love what they do not understand, and they will not understand what they do not know.

And so, we, who have the ability to teach and to communicate science, must.

_____________________________________________

While stories inspire curiosity, ocean literacy turns that curiosity into understanding, which continues on like a sea of change, a ripple effect into more sustainable decision-making, eco-conscious values, and ultimately behaviours that protect our planet and all who inhabit it.

Teaching the rest of the world about environmental literacies like ocean literacy, for example, is a key to unlocking a whole library of new stories, encyclopedias of wisdom, scrolls of ancient wisdom.

We have now taken on the responsibility of sitting around campfires, meticulously repeating truth so that all generations remember, relearn, and act in a way that heals the planet, nature, and us.

Reiterating the knowledge until the world echoes back in unison.

Rote learning.

Repeat after me.

We must tell stories slow, intentionally, and we must tell stories true. For the world around with its algorithms, fake news, and inauthentic entertainers looking for a quick buck – will confuse people. These stories can reinforce cultures of competition, inequality and endless growth, which influences how we value one another and the natural world.

We must revisit the stories of the land, the ocean, and the forests, of the sky and sea ...

Otherwise we will lose ourselves, all of nature, completely.

We must learn, so we can teach.

We must unlearn, so we can understand.

And we must seek to find our tribes, our communities, our islands of coherence – where we are not alone in this, our mission, our responsibility. Our purpose to be placed here on this planet as storytellers, educators, and changemakers.

“Knowing that you love the earth changes you… but when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship into a sacred bond.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Marla Lise is a global educator, eco-literary advocate, and good faith communicator. With a deep love for nature and the planet, she uses words as catalysts to drive systemic change.

If you’re a conservationist, advocate or changemaker - this course is for you!

I’m teaming up with communications coach, Tony Corballis on this exciting new 8-week live lab.

influence-in-action lab

Positive change for a Planet in Crisis

In this live lab, we cover:

Week 1: Your case, your voice
Week 2: Stakeholder mapping
Week 3: Power and alliance
Week 4: Credibility and traction
Week 5: Handling pushback
Week 6: Human instinct
Week 7: Ego and cognitive bias
Week 8: Influential storytelling

Program price: €300

Abundance price: €400 (option to help make space for others)

Supported price: If finances are a genuine barrier, email us at change@theecochapter.com with:
🔺why you would like to join
🔺what contribution feels realistic

Join our September intake!

Registration and Details

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,
💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

Plastics have plagued Sri Lanka for decades. Since it was first introduced here in the 1940s, its innocent beginnings and promises of convenience have mutated into something quite sinister.

Today, Sri Lanka drowns in close to 1.6 million metric tons of plastic waste a year. For the last decade, the government has tried to tackle this plastic cancer. But while the country has been issued repeated bans and restrictions, the enforcement behind them has often been inconsistent, under-resourced and too weak to match the scale of the spread.

In 2006, Minister of Environment, Maithripala Sirisena banned the manufacture of polythene or any polythene product of 20 microns or below in thickness. Then, in 2010, the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) Chairman Charitha Herath was reported saying to ban polythene was impractical due to the lack of alternatives. In 2017, the CEA labelled the open burning of plastics and household garbage as illegal, explicitly forbidding open fires for waste. In 2018, the CEA banned the use of polythene lunch sheets, rigifoam boxes and shopping bags along with a ban on the manufacture, import or sale of containers, plates, cups and spoons made of polystyrene and a ban on the sale of processed or cooked meals packed in polythene containers. It urged the promotion of paper, cloth or reed bags or biologically degradable plastics for customers when purchasing items in stores.

The mitigation attempts continue in 2026 when the CEA recently joined forces with the police to crack down on the illegal burning of plastic waste. Again. While the policies keep getting updated, and blanket bans are announced, Sri Lanka’s tumour grows malignant without proper alternatives to cheap polythene and continually lacking adequate infrastructure, managed landfills and viable waste streams.

So, what are people to do? Preventing the burning of plastic waste will just leave trash bags piled up in unmanaged dumps – an open buffet for grazing wildlife and a haven for the deadly Aedes aegypti mosquito. Record-breaking dengue cases shouldn’t be added to the list of statistics from the already many catastrophes that Sri Lankans have had to put up with over the years – civil wars, natural disasters, resource crises and debt especially when the increased dengue cases are largely the result of an unreliable waste management system.

In 2020, the EU funded a documentary as part of its Green Recovery Programme that was filmed around 18 locations in Sri Lanka called Waste Action Lanka (WALK). The film recorded interviews with more than 50 people, including experts from the academic, private, public and even the religious sectors. Each came with their plea to stop the use of single-use plastic, to be mindful of the mountains of waste piling up around the country and to remember the sanctuary that the country provides to so many.

Yet, six years later, behaviour and systems change are yet to be seen. What will it take before Sri Lanka stops pointing fingers in blame for the waste that’s piling up on her shores and takes action into her own hands? How many of her cows, elephants and monkeys will die, starving to death with stomachs exploding, stuffed full of plastic? How many of her people will die from cancer-producing fumes emitted from burning carcinogens? How many more will suffer at the hands of dengue fever, their bodies wracked, platelets disintegrating and cells turning to mush?

Because ultimately, the bans can be repeated for another decade but without inculcating truly sustainable and planet-conscious values in the minds and decisions of all inhabitants, the ban will continue as just a policy framework without visible action or change for years to come.

The solution requires more than just a blanket ban. Consumers must know that there are alternatives to polythene and single-use plastics. And this is something that Sri Lankans once knew but seem to have conveniently forgotten.

Barely 100 years ago, plastic did not exist here. Ceremonies were not celebrated with the invasion of tacky plastic tents selling tackier plastic lanterns, toys and knick knacks. Food was not wrapped in calcium carbonate spiked lunch sheets. Artisanal goods and handicrafts, now replaced with cheap trinkets, were sought after and respected.

Once upon a time, people lived in harmony with nature. They followed the code of Abhayabumi where Sri Lanka existed as a land without fear. Today, it is difficult to count exactly the plethora of terrifying demons that have been unleashed upon this land, demons whom Sri Lankans seem to be allowing not only to stay but to thrive. But what if we could bring Abhayabumi back? What if the people could come together and try and un-learn the last century of harmful ways of living brought about by capitalism, colonialism and convenience?

The south coasts are facing an influx of tourism and development never seen before with historically high numbers reaching over two million. But its infrastructure has not been designed to deal with this surge. While two million is puny in comparison with many neighbouring tourist hotspots, the number already seems to be putting pressure on strained systems.

As more development continues, waste management isn’t able to keep up and rubbish ends up in piles along the streets, in waterways, and in the ocean. Recycling is falsely advertised as a solution to the plastic problem with the global average recycling rate standing at 9% and Sri Lanka’s at 11%. It is clear that we cannot recycle our way out of this mess.

Many already labelled the south coast as the next Bali – a tourism destination that promises sun, sand, surf and a huge range of wellness facilitites. However, Bali is also overrun in trash, sewage, potholes and pollution. And now Bali’s landfills are burning and its biggest landfill has stopped accepting trash due to overuse. Having an influx of tourists from Bali’s coast to Sri Lanka’s is great for business but bad for the environment. Without proper management, long term planning and truly sustainable practices, the southern coasts will fall into the same live fast, die young fate, burning out after a few seasons and having to be shut down as cesspools of filth.

There is still time to catch the disease before it mutates further. The south coast benefits from a seasonal way of operating, giving it time to recover during off peak months. Establishments have the luxury of the low season to shift the baseline of trash, pollution and sewage after intense high seasons. But landowners and south coast dwellers need to be intentional in everything they do, planning and designing for sustainability from the onset.

However, there is no time to wait for more policies, for the government to provide all the solutions or for people to just change their unsustainable behaviours magically. In the south coast, residents have pooled together to try a different type of magic – attempting to take matters into their own hands as stewards of the land.

On July 15, around 30 people decided to make the first step towards the south coast’s waste management and plastic pollution coalition – The Ripple 3ffect. They did not come looking for solutions. Each of the people who attended the first working group session showed up knowing that answers would not be found in the two hour workshop. They came because they knew that if they didn’t, the problem would just continue. They came because they believed that a community of people working together for a greater good could possibly make a difference. Maybe a small one, but a difference no less. They were invited to a yoga studio and sat on bolsters on the floor, the room illuminated with intimate yellow lighting, offering a safe space for confidential sharing and fast friendships. There was no space for interrogation or blame and that mood was set quickly.

First, they were invited to travel back to a time when they made the decision to stay in Sri Lanka and cancelled their return ticket, the decision to build that hospitality establishment and the decision that led them to those bolsters that evening. Despite their origins, the participants were invited to remember a time when they decided to call Sri Lanka their sanctuary and home for however long they decided to stay.

Those memories drove the gathering and the conversations that followed and continued late into the night and for weeks to come. Conversations about frustrations, possibilities and a renewed hope for positive action. Attendees of the night were also treated to stories of hope by Dilsiri Welikala from Kitesurfing Lanka, who showed a documentary he made with Director Mahinda Abeysinghe and Priyan Shanaka, first created for the The Climate Positive exhibition at the Barefoot Gallery. The short film, Monster’s Cave, is about a plastic monster made up of ocean plastics found on the beaches of Donkey Point, Kalpitiya. It reveals the stark contrast between discarded waste and a beautiful beach setting and what the community can do when they join forces and work together for good.

He also shared how the efforts of Kalpitiya’s waste management and plastic control brought them into a collaboration with schools and researchers in Germany and how that ripple effect still continues today. With proper infrastructure lacking and apathy high, old and new residents alike know that not doing anything will be disastrous. And so the initiative continues.

In just a few weeks, The Ripple 3ffect has grown into a hundred member strong WhatsApp community with monthly conversations, clean ups and working groups around waste management and plastic pollution in the hopes of mitigating the worsening problem of an overworked system trying to handle the throes of tourism invading the south coast.

The Ripple 3ffect hopes to instil a trifecta of low waste, zero single-use plastic and regenerative tourism, promoting the idea that we must do more than just cause less harm. It encourages establishments to consider the potential costs of damage from the onset in order to let nature and local communities thrive alongside their own businesses in their design and day to day operations.It hopes that this impact will cause a ripple effect where every positive action creates another, where everyone involved is held accountable to an eco-conscious bro code therefore, rippling out positive impact into schools, villages, tourists and ultimately, into the world. By starting early, there is a chance to allow the south coast to be like Bali, a spectacular tourist destination, without the waste.

The Ripple 3ffect model promoting grassroots action could be applied in many places around the world. In the meantime, it is looking to find solutions in terms of closed loop systems, support for local artisans and handicraft makers, making sustainable options more feasible for consumers and remembering indigenous ways where sustainability wasn’t an industry – it was a way of life. It hopes that through better storytelling, establishments will also be proud to show off their sustainability efforts and in doing so garner more interest and more revenue to their spaces as today’s consumers become more aware of the plight of the planet and the plague of waste that’s attacking it in all parts of the world.

To help these efforts, The Ripple 3ffect is working in collaboration with The Pearl Protectors, tapping on their established accreditation system for the hospitality industry and their recognition of vendors that eliminate plastic waste based on varying levels of commitment. They have also produced a step by step guide for shoreline clean ups, which will be used by the establishments in their journey to becoming regenerative.

It has also partnered with the Thalpe Recycling Centre and hopes to find funding to ramp up the centre’s existing efforts in collection, aggregation, education and the logistics of transporting waste to various partners around the country. The Ripple 3ffect hopes that through many small unrefined efforts, it will have the ability to make Sri Lanka’s south coast shine as a beacon of sustainability, and as an example for the many coastline regions around Asia. A true fairytale story of how the underdogs managed to defeat a plastic cancer by working together as a coalition powered by hope and dreams of a better future.

The Ripple 3ffect is a community-led initiative of The Eco Chapter.

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

Work with me 💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,
💚 Marla Lise, earthling at The Eco Chapter

18 August 2026

“Dear Ms Marla Lise,
We are delighted to offer you admission to the fully funded PhD in Sustainable Development.”

That’s what I woke up to last Saturday morning.

I’ve been thinking about doing my PhD since I completed my MSc in 2012.

The first few times I’d thought about it, I was so confused as to what to do … I wanted to work on ecology, wildlife rehabilitation, on NGOs and their limitations, on animals and their behaviour, explore welfare and ethics, move into animal and environmental law …. my interests kept changing. And so - I never applied.

Starting The Eco Chapter three years ago however, put blinders on me. Environmental education, storytelling, and communication for impact became my calling. And for the last three years, I’ve been spending all my time on it.

My mom now says, “You are so focused - like a homing pigeon!!”

I can spend hours working without moving - achieving almost a sort of flow state - writing, researching, connecting dots, brainstorming ideas …

A PhD in itself, by myself.

I applied last year to one school - got accepted into the interview stage, but then the funding got pulled.

And then this year, I applied to another …

I applied for a PhD in Sustainable Development.

It was January this year when I was in a scary place, waking up on the first of the month - a new year, having recently experienced a breakup, the death of one cat and the rehoming of another, a bout of dengue fever, and with no stable income.

That got me panicking.

Uncertainty and worry led me to apply for everything I could.

Applying for work and PhDs became a full-time job - a hypnotic spiral of anxiety, frustration, and feelings of worthlessness - because, the system says you have to be productive, you have to contribute to the economy, you have to do.

Everyone had just started the new year, full speed ahead, with resolutions to run marathons, get promotions, make money! And here I was in my now very empty apartment, twiddling my thumbs and wondering what to do with myself.

I decided I needed to get myself out of that spiral, and seek answers, possibilities, and a change of scenery.

I’ve been in Sri Lanka exactly 6 months today.

I came to visit friends, and my solace - the ocean.
I stayed because it provided me a million reasons not to leave.

It’s been a journey of unknowns, possibilities, and serendipity.

Since being here, I've met so many interesting people, made new like-minded friends, explored different ways of living, thrived despite uncertainties, revelled in nature’s beauty, acknowledged and consoled discomforts, initiated a community … oh and I found myself on the Sri Lankan news.

If they had given me the PhD offer in January, I would have jumped at it.

It was exactly what I needed then: A constructed bubble where I would be given safety, structure and stability for at least three years - not having to think about what to do next, how to feed or house myself, or what I actually want.

Just finish the PhD, and then think about dreams later.

And this is how most decisions are made.

People are too scared to follow their hearts and dreams, and so choose conventional options where the road is planned out, routes are structured, stable, and secure.

This is how many end up stuck, telling themselves that they have no choice. Running on a hamster wheel so well designed, that it’ll take a life-or-death moment to push you off it. This is how many forget their dreams, hopes, and aspirations and convince themselves they’re happy when they’re not, only to question their whole existence on their death beds.

Because this is what the system does - it tells you to follow your now completely indoctrinated head. It lures you with carrots of safety.

This is the way it’s done.
This is the way it’s always been done.
Come, we will protect you.
You need us.
It’s dangerous out there…

Think differently, and you’re on your own. Critical thinking, asking questions, saying no - they’re all attributes of trouble makers. Leaving the system isolates you.
So, you don’t. No one wants to be an outsider.
And the tiny voices of rebellion die.

Thus, the cycle continues. I need to fit in. I need to show the rest. I need to post all my accomplishments.
A better job, another certificate, a bigger house, a fancier car, implants, clothes, gym memberships, stuff, things … more, more, more.

But somewhere deep inside, you know your heart doesn’t agree.
Your still nature-loving, wanderlusting, ancient heart.

Your heart that still yearns for freedom, that skips a beat when you do good, wholesome things, that longs for serendipity, that beats through your chest reminding you that you are human - not a machine, not a cog in a wheel, not destined to continue in the futile, monotonous, ceaseless pursuit of more.

And you know what?
If more of us listened to that animal-instinct, gut-feeling, joy-giving heart of ours … the system - well, it would completely lose its power.

They gave me seven days to respond to their offer.

And all seven days were filled with serendipitous serenades of synchronistic conversations, friendly hugs from recent strangers, stories around a bonfire, a new moon with the reminder of potential, and various people telling me that my journey has been an inspiration to them.

I truly believe that to have accepted the offer would have been a response to an application sent with an empty heart, a head fuelled by fear, and anxiety powered by scarcity and lack.

To do a PhD now would be to move back into the bubble of safety that set me on a downward spiral last year - saying yes to things my head says I should do.

It would demolish the groundwork that I’ve laid this year and reconstruct a box around me - that safe cell that my head is convinced is good for me. One that society will applaud me for - adding more alphabets to my name. Credentials that build my credibility, making me more hireable. An acronym that will put me one step higher in the hierarchy of the capitalistic world. A status that might make me stop questioning my worth - a definition of worth placed on me by the world of profit makers.

But would it?
Because it would still not be enough.

When the PhD is done, the goalposts would simply move again … “How recognised is your university? Who cares about sustainable development? The benchmarks have changed. You need a corporate certificate, not an academic one” … and list of reasons for me to keep pursuing more and more would just continue.

More things to distract me from what I truly want to do with my one short life.

It’s taken a lot of courage for me to say no to my head.
The voice that tells me I'm crazy for turning this down. That says, what are you going to do now? The unvoiced opinions of people around me telling me I wasted an opportunity. The long, looming road of uncertainties that now await … again.

I’m instead trusting the universe that has landed me here in this Sri Lankan sanctuary. Trusting the ancient concept of Abhayabhumi - to be without fear.
Trusting that I’ve been put here for a reason, and my work here is just starting.
Trusting that I am fully supported with a community that spreads across the globe, a loving and supportive family, and a planet-focused purpose - that doesn’t need validation from any governing body.

And so, I’ll be excitedly continuing my work at The Eco Chapter, with my two new interns, a growing community-initiative in Sri Lanka, and the pride of knowing that my proposal was accepted as part of a fully-funded PhD … and therefore, can be replicated wherever I am - validated by true societal impact, education, community-building, and connection - measures of worth that I’m honoured to wear as badges of success.

The road ahead isn’t going to be easy.
But it’s the journey my heart has chosen.

What’s yours say?

[📸 by me]

I’m teaming up with communications coach, Tony Corballis on this exciting new 8-week live lab.

influence-in-action lab

Positive change for a Planet in Crisis

In this live lab, we cover:

Week 1: Your case, your voice
Week 2: Stakeholder mapping
Week 3: Power and alliance
Week 4: Credibility and traction
Week 5: Handling pushback
Week 6: Human instinct
Week 7: Ego and cognitive bias
Week 8: Influential storytelling

Program price: €300

Abundance price: €400 (option to help make space for others)

Supported price: If finances are a genuine barrier, email us at change@theecochapter.com with:
🔺why you would like to join
🔺what contribution feels realistic

Join our September intake!

Registration and Details

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,
💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

Singapore often positions itself as a sustainability frontrunner: a small, wealthy city-state with strong regulatory capacity, efficient governance, and high public compliance. If any country could demonstrate how to meaningfully reduce plastic waste while maintaining economic competitiveness, it would seem to be here.

Yet Singapore’s plastic system reveals a more complex reality — one where technical capability and entrepreneurial innovation exist, but scaling circular solutions remains an ongoing challenge.

Measures such as five-cent charges on plastic bags and ten-cent deposits on beverage containers raise a broader strategic question: are current interventions primarily designed to reduce plastic consumption, or to manage it more efficiently within existing consumption patterns?

Understanding this distinction matters because it points to the next stage of circular economy development — moving beyond behavioural nudges towards infrastructure and market systems that fundamentally reshape how materials are produced, used, and recovered.

When Behaviour Change Isn’t Enough

Singapore introduced a mandatory charge on disposable plastic bags at major supermarkets in 2023, positioning the policy as a behavioural nudge to encourage consumers to bring reusable bags.

Initial figures show the scheme has generated significant revenue while disposable bag usage remains substantial. According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), supermarkets collected more than S$3 million in the first six months of the programme, rising to over S$6 million in 2024. During that same year, approximately 129 million disposable plastic bags were still distributed.

NTUC FairPrice Group alone collected S$3.41 million from bag charges in 2024.

While some proceeds have supported environmental and community initiatives, reports indicate that part of the revenue has been used to offset operational costs associated with implementing the scheme. This has prompted broader discussions about how sustainability costs should be distributed across consumers, businesses, and policymakers.

Expanding the Policy to Beverage Containers

The same conversation extends to Singapore’s upcoming Beverage Container Return Scheme (BCRS). First announced in 2020, the programme is expected to launch in April 2026 after delays in implementation.

Deposit-return systems are widely recognised as an effective mechanism for increasing collection rates for beverage containers. Singapore’s system will require consumers to pay a 10-cent deposit per container, refundable when the container is returned through designated collection points.

High Infrastructure Costs and Corporate Partnerships

However, implementation will require significant infrastructure investment. Reverse-vending machines, which allow consumers to return containers and collect deposits, can cost between S$10,000 and more than S$100,000 each, depending on their technological capabilities. Approximately 1,000 machines are expected to be deployed initially, expanding to 2,000 within the first year.

Singapore is also partnering with Coca-Cola on the scheme, while the beverage company has been identified by environmental groups as a major contributor to global plastic pollution. One cited projection estimates its products could generate 602 million kilograms of plastic waste entering oceans and waterways annually by 2030.

Such programmes illustrate both the promise and complexity of circular systems. They require coordination across manufacturers, retailers, logistics operators, and government agencies, as well as sustained consumer participation.

What Happens After the Bin?

Recycling is often presented as the cornerstone of Singapore’s plastic strategy. Yet current system performance highlights structural constraints.

Singapore has limited domestic plastic recycling capacity. In 2024, the country’s plastic recycling rate was reported at around 5 per cent — meaning the vast majority of plastic waste is still incinerated, with residual ash sent to Semakau Landfill.

Some plastic waste is also exported for recycling abroad, where processing conditions and environmental outcomes can be more difficult to verify.

These figures reflect a broader global challenge: modern plastic production has expanded faster than recycling systems can realistically manage. Many plastics are difficult to sort, contaminated by food waste, or composed of mixed polymers that complicate recovery.

As a result, even highly efficient waste systems struggle to close the loop without significant investment in processing infrastructure and material redesign.

For Singapore, this gap between waste generation and recovery capacity represents both a challenge and a potential economic opportunity.

As Natasha Syed, founder of Skilledin Green, previously told NewInAsia: “Rather than doubling down on what wasn’t working, we decided to take a step back and asked ourselves: What if we tried something different?”

Across Singapore’s circular economy, some young innovators are doing exactly that.

Where the Next Answers Are Emerging

Some of the most ambitious experiments in plastic circularity are emerging from Singapore’s startup ecosystem and research institutions rather than from large-scale policy programmes.

These initiatives are exploring ways to localise recycling, create new material applications, and build decentralised circular systems.

If successfully scaled, they could form the basis of a new generation of circular economy businesses.

PlasticTinkers: Bringing the Loop Closer to Home

PlasticTinkers, a startup incubated within the National University of Singapore ecosystem, offers a glimpse of how localised recycling could function within an urban environment.

Rather than exporting PET bottles for recycling, PlasticTinkers collects, processes and remanufactures plastic locally. The company transforms waste bottles into specialised filament used for 3D printing.

These materials have already been used in public art installations, including Singapore’s largest 3D-printed sculpture made entirely from recycled bottles, as well as in design products and consumer collectibles.

Beyond product innovation, PlasticTinkers is working to develop local technical capacity. Through workshops and educational programmes, the startup combines sustainability education with hands-on fabrication.

The team is also developing compact recycling machines that could be deployed in schools, maker spaces, and workplaces — potentially allowing plastic waste to be processed closer to where it is generated.

Such decentralised models could help address one of Singapore’s biggest structural constraints: the limited throughput of existing recycling infrastructure.

Magorium: A Different Road for Plastic Waste

Another emerging example is Magorium, a startup that originated from the Singapore Management University incubator.

Magorium has developed technology that converts plastic waste into additives used in road construction. The resulting pellets can be blended into asphalt mixtures to enhance durability while diverting plastic waste from incineration.

Although the technology is still undergoing pilot testing and regulatory review, the concept illustrates how waste materials can be integrated into long-term infrastructure projects.

If adopted at scale, such approaches could create stable demand for post-consumer plastic while reducing reliance on virgin construction materials.

Infrastructure applications are particularly promising because they can absorb large volumes of material — something traditional recycling markets often struggle to achieve.

Plastify: Rethinking Circularity From the Ground Up

Not all circular innovation occurs at the industrial scale.

Plastify, a community-driven plastic maker space founded in Singapore in 2021, represents a grassroots approach to material circularity.

The organisation collects HDPE and polypropylene waste from households, beach clean-ups, and corporate partners. These materials are sorted and processed locally before being transformed into products such as jewellery, coasters, and furniture slabs.

Equally significant is Plastify’s educational mission. Through workshops and school programmes, participants learn about the practical realities of plastic recycling — from sorting and cleaning materials to operating small-scale processing equipment.

In doing so, Plastify helps bridge the gap between environmental awareness and material literacy.

Singapore’s Opportunity in Asia’s Circular Shift

Singapore’s efforts to address plastic waste are unfolding alongside broader circular economy developments across Asia.

Countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have developed high-performing collection and recycling systems. Meanwhile, several Southeast Asian countries are experimenting with extended producer responsibility schemes and new plastic recovery technologies as they seek to manage rapidly growing waste streams.

For Singapore, these regional developments provide both a benchmark and an opportunity. With its advanced research institutions, strong logistics networks, and financial ecosystem, the city-state is well-positioned to become a hub for circular materials innovation in Asia.

But getting there will depend on whether promising technologies can move beyond pilots and individual initiatives into viable markets and infrastructure.

What Will It Take to Move Beyond Pilots?

Singapore’s plastic landscape highlights a key insight: the country does not lack technical expertise, entrepreneurial talent, or research capability.

What remains challenging is translating promising innovations into scalable infrastructure and viable markets.

Building a robust circular economy will require investment not only in recycling technology, but also in collection systems, material processing facilities, procurement frameworks, and industrial partnerships.

For investors, infrastructure developers, and policymakers, this represents a significant opportunity.

As circular economy initiatives expand across Asia, Singapore has the potential to move beyond waste management towards a more integrated materials economy — one where plastics are designed, recovered, and reused as valuable resources rather than discarded after a single use.

The long-term competitiveness of circular systems will ultimately depend not only on consumer behaviour, but on how effectively infrastructure, investment, and innovation can be aligned to close the loop.

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

Work with me 💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,
💚 Marla Lise, earthling at The Eco Chapter

3 August 2026

I’ve been battling in my head with the relationship between productivity, income, worth, and success this year.

I moved to Sri Lanka this February - wanting an escape from the Autobahn society (Singapore) that I was born into … and needing to run to nature in hopes of healing, being, and creating.

I had been to Ahangama in December 2024, to spend Christmas and New Year’s with two close friends who live here.

When I came back in February 2026, I was appalled by all the trash that lined every street, beach, and space, the increase of vehicles, and the rapid development that greeted me. In barely two years, this quiet little town was turning into a modern nightmare.

I had also recently visited Bali’s litter-filled streets - lined by rivers of black sewage, serenaded by a cacophony of incessant motorbikes and car horns - and there, I picked up Dengue fever - ending up in hospital for six days.

I didn’t want to go through that again - and I couldn’t believe that a replica was taking shape here, in Sri Lanka’s southern coasts.

And fast.

And so - me being me …

I started asking questions.

Why is it so bad? Who’s doing what? Why aren’t they doing more? Who should be involved? Where are the bins, the collection services, the recycling centres, the aggregation centres?

I asked - and many people were very happy to share stories.
Mostly ones of frustration and hopelessness, which were very quickly turning into apathy.

On 15 July - things serendipitously came together.

I pooled together a few new buddies, a venue, two speakers, some markers, paper, and I facilitated The Ripple 3ffect’s first connection and working group session.

It’s truly an amazing feeling when an idea transforms into an actual event, and when almost 30 people show up to support, believe in, and continue that idea.

I started the event with a little meditation session - sending the participants back in time - to when they made the decision to stay in Sri Lanka, when they cancelled the plane ticket home, when they signed their long term lease, when they decided to set up an establishment. And for the locals - when they decided not to leave.

I wanted them to revisit that feeling.
That feeling that made them stay. That feeling that made a difficult decision feel safe and right.
A decision to stay - because Sri Lanka was now, for them, a sanctuary.

Abhayabhumi

• Abhaya / अभय in Sanskrit means “fearless,” “without fear,” “safety,” or “protection.” It’s often used in religious and philosophical contexts to mean freedom from fear or being safe and secure.

• Bhūmi / भूमि means “land,” “ground,” or “territory.”

An ancient doctrine that distributed a message of responsibility toward the protection of all living beings and Sri Lanka’s natural heritage, offering a living legacy in global environmental conservation. A motivating force of compassion. The first word for Sanctuary in any language, and still today the Sinhala word for the same.

Quiet smiles erupted on peaceful faces with closed eyes.
Eyeballs moving - remembering, nostalgic.
Hands moved to hearts.
Hands held others.

This truly is a place of wonder.

Sri Lanka is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.
It is home to eight UNESCO heritage sites.
Almost 60% of her trees are endemic.
And its soil - is ancient.

And unfortunately … Sri Lanka has suffered tremendously.

Between the civil wars, natural disasters, debt, resource crises, and political issues - waste management and plastic pollution don’t come very high on the To-Do List of where its too-quickly depleting finances go.

So - we do what we can.

Because we are stewards of this land that we are residing in - however long we decide to stay.

Because we are responsible for our actions, and our decisions because they affect the entire planet and all who inhabit it. Because our planet has given us abundance, and it’s about time that we show some appreciation by thanking her for the sanctuary we have been blessed with.

The Eco Chapter is proud to be leading this community-led initiative, with facilitated monthly gatherings in hopes of finding solutions - however small.

Because that’s what the world needs.

Millions of imperfect little attempts to make this planet better - to build communities, spread awareness, seed active hope … and to keep trying, like our lives depend on it. Because they do.

The Ripple 3ffect is just the beginning - using connection, collaboration, and communication to start chipping away at this colossal problem.

And so if you’ve been following my LinkedIn posts - I've been trying to convince myself, and anyone else who needs to hear this - that success is not measured in financial gain or material wealth.

It’s measured in hugs, smiles, friendships, impact, community, collaboration, and a shared purpose to do good things together.

And you can help the success of this project - and all my other projects at The Eco Chapter.

𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘂𝘀.
If you can help, or want to get involved, get in touch for change@theecochapter.com

I’m excited to see where this goes.
And even more excited to be working on this social impact and citizen science project with my new team:
Shehan Tennakoon Bikram B Singh Liza Kaluzhskaia Zulaikha Aiman Z
Thank you for your passion, and your trust in me.

Oh - and the event …

it made it to the local news:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 3𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁.
A community-led initiative of The Eco Chapter.

One name, three commitments.

Low waste

Reduce what we make in the first place - the most effective waste is the waste never created.

Plastic-free

Eliminate avoidable single-use plastic across hotels, restaurants, cafés, and wellness spaces.

Regenerative tourism

Go beyond doing less harm - actively restore the ecosystems and communities tourism depends on.

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

Work with me 💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,
💚 Marla Lise, earthling at The Eco Chapter

16 July 2026

It rained everyday.

I knew I was going to be in the dark, in silence, and kept without dinner - but I wasn’t expecting the cold biting wind, the hard mat for a bed, the blanket that was too short and left my toes frozen, the wet soggy pants … oh - and definitely not the leeches.

I was offline for 10 days this July - venturing out into the hills of Kandy, Sri Lanka to check myself into my 2nd Vipassana course. I had done the first one in 2013, gotten a tattoo around my ankle to remind myself of the concepts of Dhamma and Metta - and then … promptly forgot about it.

Dhamma धम्म
— truth, teaching, natural law, the Buddha’s teachings

Mettā मेत्ता
— loving-kindness, goodwill, unconditional friendliness)

Read about my first course, Vipassana #1

Until now.

There was something calling me to enrol myself in another course this year - so I did. But when I finally received the email that my application was accepted, there was a huge part of me that felt I shouldn’t “waste” 10 days away from work.

Yet, somehow, something convinced me to pack my bags and get on an 8-hour bus ride.

I spent the night before in a small homestay overlooking the beautiful lush hills of Kandy, and woke up the next morning to the owner, Suresh, telling me that the only other lady at the homestay - now seated behind me at breakfast - was also going for Vipassana.

She sat there eating her food, quietly, completely covered in a long-sleeved long beige dress. I assumed she was already in meditation mode.

But she wasn’t.

We ended up talking for hours, finally arriving late to the Dhamma Kuta Vipassana Centre.

We spoke about energy, our shadow parts, an unravelling system, and about our very similar dreams and values.

Araliya became my accountability buddy.

It felt to me like the universe had placed her there to keep me on my meditation cushion for the entirety of the course - even though there were many, many times I wanted to scream bloody murder and run away. Knowing there was someone who’d be worried if I suddenly wasn’t there kept me in my seat.

So, I sat.

I sat and fought with my mind - for Vipassana isn’t about quieting the mind. It’s about purifying it. It’s about understanding that all our miseries stem from craving and aversion. Me being completely averse to sitting on a thin cushion for 12 hours a day, in the dark, in the cold. Me craving to be outside in the sunshine, by the ocean. Me being averse to waking up at 4am. Me craving comfort, something more fun to do, and my journal to write down the endless stream of thoughts spewing out of my completely agitated monkey mind.

But … I sat.

I sat for the whole 10 days, keeping to the strict schedule.

And on the day when they gave us back our belongings, when I had access to my journal - I had nothing to write.

One afternoon, I was called in to the interview room to speak with the teacher.

She asked what I was doing in Sri Lanka, and I explained my story. She looked me in the eyes and said, “You’re here for a purpose. Don’t waste it.”

It sent goosebumps down my arms.

It had already seemed that everything happening in 2026 was serendipitous. From staying in Sri Lanka, to the people I was meeting, to the projects I was now a part of. From one week to the next - it felt like I was truly here for a purpose.

Did she see that?
Or does she just say that to everyone?

Off went my mind again.

Making up stories, connecting dots, and doing everything in its power to keep me from concentrating on the sensations that were exploding through my body.

Unlike many meditation techniques, Vipassana is simple, straightforward, non-sectarian, and scientific.

Read more about the technique here.

Vipassana offers a lens to help one see that every experience is a lesson, has its worth, and should be embraced - no matter how averse to it we may feel.

It shows us that everything is impermanent, and this too - whatever this may be - shall pass.

It shows us that if we are equanimous - not averse to or craving anything, we can enjoy every moment - however difficult they may be.

I know that it’s important to heal myself if I want to continue this journey - to help people feel empowered in the face of a polycrisis, to find solutions holistically together, to build communities and islands of coherence that will eventually push the social tipping point over the edge.

I know that I need to be ready - to be compassionate, equanimous, and grounded when shit hits the fan … Because it’s going to.

Soon.

I know that this is my purpose - and I have to train both my body and mind to be fit to keep going when it gets difficult, when burnout hits, when I feel I'm banging my head against the wall.

I’ve been on the road now for a little over a year - living in my backpack, encountering new experiences, meeting a myriad of people, finding projects and opportunities to do my work with The Eco Chapter - and this has offered many opportunities of space, silence, and solitude along with a plethora of serendipitous gifts: some great, and some not so great.

Systems we once trusted are unravelling around us as we continue with our daily lives - numbed by hypernormalism - a deluded pretence that everything is okay.

But it’s clearly not.

We’re dealing with three major issues - all at the same time, all for the first time ever, and our brains and bodies have not and will not evolve fast enough to deal with the madness.

Through our infinite access to technology and its rapid changes we’re experiencing the rise of AI - leading to misinformation, distrust, and apprehension.
We’re dealing with major wars that affect all of us and our futures indirectly or directly.
And at the same time, we’re also dealing with an ecological catastrophe, one that might lead to the sixth mass extinction.

And many are not coping.

Many are suffering.
Paralysed by fear, anxiety, and loneliness.
Many are burning out - and fast.
Many are forgoing long-term planning, dreading our volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous futures.

And that’s intentional.
Intended by a system designed to keep us in chains - to keep us miserable.

We’re constantly craving something better and being averse to what is - hoping it could be something else. We are not happy unless we have more - more money, a bigger car, a bigger mansion, a promotion ...

Marketing, PR, and advertising keep you lusting after things you don’t need. Social media viral trends tell you that you’re not good enough unless you buy more, eat more, spend more, work out more. Influencers influence - while being stuck in their own cycles of misery - but of course, you only get shown their happy side - making you crave the same hedonism.

We are averse to losing everything, living within our means, being content. There’s a constant worry of scarcity that makes us hoard, makes us live in fear, makes us conform.

And that’s all done on purpose.

The system is designed to keep us stuck. It’s designed to keep us lonely. It’s designed to keep us holding on to it because we feel like we have no other choice.

And it’s designed extremely well.
And so the misery continues.

We’re kept wanting. Feeling unsatisfied. Running on that hamster wheel. Competing. Judging. Blaming.

We’re kept suffering.

Why do we allow it?
Why do we buy into it?

Deep inside we all know and have always known that ultimately our lives are short and impermanent. We all know that one day we will have to face death.

So why do we ‘waste’ our lives being unhappy?

Because … reason isn’t enough.
We have to experience the true wisdom of inherently knowing.

Intellect keeps us justifying familiar patterns.
It keeps us covered in soon-to-be-popped bubble wrap
It keeps us locked in supposed comfort - too scared to venture into our dreams.

We have to drown out the noise, and know ourselves - truly and authentically. We have to stop listening to the distracting chatter around us. We have to be silent, in solitude - knowing that we do not need to please anyone else, we don’t need to pretend to be anyone else, we don’t have to live up to anyone else’s standards … just our own.

We have to truly believe that we are not invincible, that nothing lasts forever, and that the end is imminent, and permanent.

Knowing that on that last day, with our last breath, we will know that we have lived our lives … as ourselves, true to our values, worthy of our own love and respect.

Only then will we step up to the plate - saying that yes, life should be well lived.

Knowing that we only have this one summer’s day - and therefore, are called to do everything in our abilities, however limited, to do something good - for the good of mankind, for the good of those around us, for the good of the planet and all its inhabitants, and for the good of ourselves … because, what else could possibly be more important?

"There can be no purpose more enspiriting than to begin the age of restoration, reweaving the wondrous diversity of life that still surrounds us." - E. O. Wilson

Rob Hopkins’ book, From What Is to What If (2009), has an entire chapter on
“What If School Nurtured Young Imaginations?”

He writes, “What if school were an enlivening and enlightening experience for them (the next generation)?” and then answers this question with, “I think more of us would have a sense of safety and belonging. We would be able to sit in silence and relish boredom without reaching for a phone.”

I am once again eternally grateful to my friend, mentor, and writing buddy Dr George Jacobs for the opportunity to write collaboratively.

Our chapter, Considering Solitude and Silence in Pro-Environment Actions by B2 Learners, is available for a free download thanks to Nik Peachey and his team at Peachey Publications Ltd.

Download the Chapter

Hi, My name is Marla.
While many people think silence and solitude are negative - I think they’re important to make space for creativity, imagination, and serendipity. 💚

I offer many spaces to sit in silence, and then to come together to brainstorm, form working groups, journal reflectively, and to have introspective conversations - to make sense of all the magic that occurs in the quiet.

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

I’m opening space for new clients in the 2nd half of 2026

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,

💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

Seen Blue is an impact storytelling organization, sharing ocean and water conservation stories to inspire positive action for our big blue planet.

23. June 2026

It’s a difficult dilemma.

On one hand, every diver dreams of the next dive. That excitement when booking your tickets, getting your gear ready, and finally making the trip to venture off into the deep blue. On the other hand, our being in the ocean just adds to its degradation. Carbon emissions from planes, diesel fuel from dive boats, damaging corals, poisonous sunscreen, plastic pollution, and more – all courtesy of ocean tourism.

So, what do we do?

The Blue Economy

The Blue Economy refers to the use of the ocean, sea, and coast for economic growth, while preserving the health of natural ecosystems. When done well, it should maintain a balance of economic, social, and environmental pillars and takes into consideration industries like fisheries, tourism, renewable energy, and transport.

Blue Tourism

Tourism accounts for a huge portion of the blue economy.

Coastal tourism refers to land-based activities that occur along coastlines. These include the building of infrastructure such as hotels, resorts, restaurants, bars, and also beach recreation, like swimming and sunbathing.

In 2025, coastal tourism accounted for 50% of all worldwide travel and tourism and generated $1.5 trillion in revenue. In many countries, coastal tourism drives the entire economy.

Ocean or marine tourism refers to the activities that occur in the sea such as cruising, sailing, and diving.

The Hidden Cost of Showing Up

And this is where it gets uncomfortable.

Because the very thing that draws us to the ocean – its beauty, its biodiversity, its sense of peace – is the same thing we slowly erode by showing up in the way we currently do.

Dive boats anchor on fragile reefs. Beginner divers kick corals without meaning to. Sunscreen washes off our skin and into ecosystems that have no defence against it. Even the presence of too many people in one place changes animal behaviour. And above it all, there’s the invisible layer: flights, fuel, infrastructure, supply chains. The footprint we don’t see but are very much a part of.

Yet, tourism is also what funds conservation in many parts of the world.

Marine parks, reef restoration projects, local livelihoods – they often depend on visitors. Remove tourism entirely, and you don’t necessarily get protection. Sometimes, you get exploitation of a different kind. Fishing pressure increases. Coastal development goes unchecked. Communities lose income and turn to whatever is available.

The Illusion of Balance

So, again … what do we do?

There isn’t a clean answer.

The Blue Economy, in theory, offers a middle path. Use the ocean, but don’t destroy it. Grow economically, but not at the cost of ecosystems. It sounds good. It reads well in reports. But in reality, it’s messy. Because “balance” is not a fixed point – it’s a constant negotiation between profit, people, and planet.

And right now, if we’re honest, the scales are still tipped.

Maybe the question isn’t whether we should engage with ocean tourism at all, but how we do it, and how much is too much.

Do we choose operators that prioritise reef-safe practices, even if they cost more?

Do we dive less, but with more awareness?

Do we question the need to fly across the world for a single experience?

Do we support places that are actively trying to regenerate, not just sustain?

And beyond individual choices, do we start asking harder questions of the industry itself?

Because the Blue Economy cannot just be another label we hide behind while continuing business as usual. It has to mean something. It has to require trade-offs. It has to challenge growth for the sake of growth.

Leave Only Bubbles?

Divers are often told to “take only memories, leave only bubbles.” It’s a beautiful idea. But even our bubbles aren’t neutral, they come with everything it took to get us there.

So maybe the point isn’t perfection.

Maybe it’s honesty.

And maybe it’s this: if we’re going to enter the ocean, we need to do it knowing that we are not separate from it and that every choice we make, before and after the dive, ripples far beyond those few quiet breaths underwater.

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

I’m opening space for new clients in the 2nd half of 2026

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,

💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

17 June 2026

The word monoculture was coined, along with the large-scale industries that we today term as ‘modern farming’, during the Green Revolution of the 1950s. But monocultures had already started around the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution (10,000 to 2,500 BC).

The ideas that came with the introduction of monocultures were simply this - one has a right to live and thrive - others don’t.

After hundreds of years of playing God … deciding who, what, where belongs versus those that don’t, what is valuable and what is not - we have become an intensely violent species.

From ripping up weeds, to testing on monkeys, to burning witches, to chaining slaves, to gassing semites, to blowing up children … throughout time, we’ve managed to craft and tell ourselves stories that reassure us that it’s okay to be violent, that our needs are more important, and that this other being - however much like us they may be - is insignificant and deserves to be abused.

We fragment land - allowing extreme violence over territory and imagined boundary lines. Skin colour still determines ones’ fortune and opportunities. Capitalism, economy, and infinite growth are prioritised over life. Money presides over humanity. Nature is a resource, used mechanically for greed.

We have justified sacrifice in the pursuit of greed, simply by telling ourselves stories. Stories that reinforce the violence.
Stories that encourage it.

When will we wake up and see - they’re just stories?

No child is born noticing the colour of their skin. They remain unafraid of snakes, creepy crawlies, and the boogey man. They remain neutral, wide-eyed, excited, smiling, curious, accepting - until we put them in their approved colours, separate them from the coloured, tell them their names, who they should pray to, what they should wear, what life is acceptable, who they should be …

Stories.

So many stories that we agree to - as adults even - assuming autonomy and independence - yet not realising how completely assimilated we have become, fitting like gloves into the moulds set out for us since our birth. We hate who we’re told to hate. Study what we’re meant to study. Judge like we were taught. And blame the ‘others’.

Stories.

Trauma.

Inter-generational trauma.

Guilt.

Shame.

Blame.

Hurt.

Stories carried from mother to babe.
From lover to friend.
Down the lines, never to end.

But if stories got us here … stories can get us out.

Violent words can be exchanged with those of non-violence. Replaced by compassion, empathy, understanding, and love.

Narratives can be major pathways for systems change.
Nothing new - just memories of what was. In those few moments of complete innocence, wander, wonder, and awe - we were once a blank canvas - ready for more, willing to explore.

Our world today - modernity - it encourages separation. It allows us to point fingers and say ‘other’. But modernity has been written with stories.
And stories can be deconstructed.
They can be erased. And they can be adapted.

They can be rewritten to be dripping with active hope, reciprocity, symbiosis, altruism, kinship, synchronicity, syntropy, and love.

What if we changed the metaphors?

What if nature wasn’t a resource to be used and abused? What if we wrote instead of our love affair with nature, where we sang her songs, wrote her poetry, and stayed up late into the night watching her every move, listening to her every need?

Stories are not etched in stone.

We can live by other metaphors.

We can replace the current stories of hate, separation, and exploitation with those of gratitude, serendipity, and awe.

To write stories where we step outside ourselves and see - we already have everything we need. Sufficiency can win over scarcity. Serendipity brought us here - all the millions of random decisions that gave us life. A story of a gift. A gift not to be wasted away in hate, violence, and slavery - but instead one of experience, connection, and community.

Why don’t we write that story?

Why don’t we eradicate monocultures and write an entire library, encyclopaedia, and dictionary of hopeful, connecting vocabulary back into the world?

Why don’t we see the interconnectedness that exists between you and me?
That it is our responsibility, to write new stories.
Stories that enable us to believe in the awe of the everyday.

These four distinct ways of perceiving reality come from eco-philosopher Joanna Macy in her foundational book, World as Lover, World as Self. They represent an evolution in how humanity relates to the Earth.

The four perspectives are defined as follows:

• World as Battlefield: The world is viewed as a chaotic arena where good and evil constantly clash. Your role is to fight the bad and defend the good.

• World as Trap: The world is seen as a prison or a snare. You focus on detaching from worldly desires or escaping the physical realm for spiritual liberation.

• World as Lover: You fall in oneness with the world. Your motivation to act on behalf of the Earth stems from deep, passionate intimacy and a desire to nurture it.

• World as Self: You recognize the world as your own extended body. Because everything is interconnected, an injury to the Earth is directly an injury to yourself, naturally inspiring protective action.

Listen to our interview with Manda Scott on why imagination, storytelling, and the “imaginal cells” of humanity will help us navigate the polycrisis and create a regenerative future: Manda Scott & the Rise of Thrutopia

Interview with Manda Scott

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

I’m opening space for new clients in the 2nd half of 2026

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,
💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

I just got back from my 2nd 10-day Vipassana course.

This week’s article is an unedited blog post from my first session in 2013.

14 July 2013

I just got back from a 10 day meditation camp – focussing on the ancient meditation method known as Vipassana – which simply means ‘seeing things as they really are’.

I set up this blog to try to raise awareness about environmental and animal issues and I also spent a lot of time trying to raise money for different NGOs and organisations around the world. Part of it was also to raise awareness about different types of music and different ways of thinking – to hopefully inspire people to step outside the box and be a little more open to the world around them instead of taking refuge in blissful ignorance.

Therefore, although the contents of this entry are not directly environmentally or animal related – they still fit into the main purpose of what this blog is trying to achieve.

I’ve only just recently gotten interested in things like spirituality, yoga and now meditation. Through my travels, I’ve managed to have many amazing conversations with people who think so differently from anything I’ve been exposed to. So thankful for being allowed to let my mind wander to places it’s never been and to learn things I never knew existed

The course consisted of 10 days of no communication, 4am wake up calls, 9pm bed-times, 10 hours and 45 minutes of meditation on your knees, 3 hours a day of sitting without moving, no music, only vegetarian food and no meals after noon, complete segregation, living in the forest and a lot of things to learn.

The course discourses and instructions were given by S. N. Goenka, a Vipassana meditation teacher who was raised in Burma – and they were televised or recorded sessions of a course that he taught in 1991. We had an assistant teacher that we could ask to answer questions either after lunch or after the day had ended.

The first 3 days taught us anapana meditation – simply paying attention to your breathing – not changing anything – just observing your breath and observing the sensations felt around your nose as the breath touches it in both directions.

Then on the 4th day we were taught the technique of Vipassana. I was slightly put off after the discourse that night, because I didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me – and was already thinking that I wanted to leave the camp because it was a big waste of time (and I’m terrible at keeping still!).

I went and talked to the assistant teacher and she managed to re-explain the technique to me – and its simplicity blew my mind.

When you react to anything – the first things that change are your breathing and the sensations all over your body. You get angry for example – your breathing gets faster, you might feel a sense of heat and your heart beats faster.

If you can realize that sensations and breath are changing – you can take a step back and look at the situation objectively and decide how to react – not just reacting on impulse.

The law of nature states that nothing is permanent. Everything is constantly changing – therefore, knowing that everything changes, you know that no matter what the feeling – good or bad – it will also change.

If we can react to any situation, to any sensation – good or bad, intense or feeble, long-lasting or brief – with equanimity, we’ll have the chance to react with wisdom, not on impulse, to make rational decisions with a calm mind.

Equanimity (Latin: æquanimitas having an even mind; aequus even animus mind/soul) is a state of psychological stability and composure which is undisturbed by experience of or exposure to emotions, pain, or other phenomena that may cause others to lose the balance of their mind. The virtue and value of equanimity is extolled and advocated by a number of major religions and ancient philosophies.

Everything in life – everything that we feel – can be put down to 2 sensations – craving and aversion.

We want something but we can’t have it, it makes us miserable in the end because we crave something.

We don’t want to feel a certain way, but we can’t get rid of this feeling, or we get more averted to feeling that we have an aversion to something – we’re miserable.

All the misery of the ENTIRE WORLD – comes down to 2 feelings.

Procrastination – aversion to do something now

Jealousy – craving something someone else has

Pain – craving not to hurt, aversion to the pain

Fear – aversion to doing something, craving not having to do something

Stress – craving to do more, aversion to not being able to deal with so much

Etc. etc. etc. etc.

So if you can learn how to train your mind how to deal with sensations all over and inside your body – training it to react to every sensation with equanimity – no craving of pleasant sensations and no aversion to unpleasant sensations – because you realize that ultimately due to the law of nature, all these sensations will go away – they will pass – they will change … you’ll slowly be able to react to ANYTHING equanimously. You’ll be able to react with wisdom – as you recognise things for what they really are, as you learn to be aware of the present moment.

This technique is also meant to open your eyes so that you learn to live with love, compassion and goodwill towards all beings. For all beings to be happy. And for you to be in a position that you can help because you’re able to deal with your own problems and now have more space in your mind and less agitation to be able to help other beings with their problems.

I’ve been learning how to deal with people and situations happening to me in the last few years. I’m noticeably a lot less angry than I was in college. A lot more patient and a lot more understanding. I was always like ‘everything happens for a reason’ – but I think that this explanation goes one step further.

For example, about 2 months ago, my Iphone and my camera was stolen from my room while I was in Utila. I was like yeah well, everything happens for a reason – it’s fine. But inside I’m like – arsehole stole my camera now how am I gonna do stuff with my photos when they look like shit coz I only have my underwater camera? Yes I’m SUPER thankful that at least I have my computer and at least 1 camera left … but DUDE!!

During the course I was thinking about this – and was like – what kind of person was that to take all this. How much misery/problems/ignorance would he/she have to result to stealing – and how lucky am I that I have places to go and take pictures of – whereas this person needed to steal for whatever reason. I should have nothing but compassion for you.

Also – ego. We create these images of ourselves – in our eyes and in other people’s eyes and we crave that this image will not change. So we’re scared to be embarrassed – scared to ‘lose face’ – so we do or don’t do so many things – which we might hate – causing misery. If we could just react objectively to whatever we do or not do – realising that no one is going to care about your actions after a period of time – the moment will vanish, whatever they had in their minds will be gone after sometime due to the fact that everything changes.

We also create images of other people in our minds. You’ve probably heard people say things like “you’re not who I thought you were!” when they get upset. That’s such a loaded statement.

Firstly: who am I?

We’re all nothing but a mass of subatomic particles and every particle vibrates constantly without stopping. Particles and atoms get recycled and change – that’s how we grow and start looking different as we get older – the change is gradual and we are not able to notice that things are happening or changing.

So therefore – this ‘me’, ‘I’, ‘my’, ‘mine’ … doesn’t really make any sense – since we are all just masses of changing particles.

Secondly: what makes us think that our thinking is correct in the first place.

We might think that this person is an angel because of our experiences with them – but 5 other people may think the exact opposite of this person due to their experiences with that person.

Vipassana meditation is centred around three attributes:

- Shila – moral conduct

- Samadhi – concentration of the mind

- Panna – wisdom

Therefore it is suitable for people of any religion or with no religion etc., its just teaching you how to be a better person by clearing your mind of all its agitation and all the battles and chaos internally so you have more understanding and compassion to deal with others. It also teaches you to enjoy every moment – to truly live in the moment – because you realise that every moment is fleeting and you will never be able to get it back.

So many commonly known phrases come for a teaching as simple as this:

‘engage mind before putting mouth into gear’

‘mind over matter’

‘seize the moment’

etc. etc…

Anyway …

This is my opinion and my experience with Vipassana meditation and I hope that at least one or two of you might feel that you can relate to some of this or that it makes sense to you.

If you’d like to learn more – please visit their website at – dhamma.org – and they hold classes in centres all around the world and have books and other resources also at pariyatti.org

I have a lot of things that I’ve realised that I need to fix about myself and will continue to try my best to continue to do that.

I can only serve others if I heal myself from the inside and stop being miserable.

I can only share my peace and happiness if I’m truly happy and peaceful.

And I can only try my best to extend this service to all beings, two legs or four, fur or feathers, lungs or gills, skin or scales.

If my life makes a positive impact on the life of just one other being – I have not lived in vain.

Stay tuned for Vipassana #2 - 2026 version.

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

I’m opening space for new clients in the 2nd half of 2026

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,

💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

16 June 2026

This week, the world met its first trillionaire.
(I had to look up how many zeroes there were in that - 1,000,000,000,000 …)

This trillionaire could divide his wealth to give a portion of it to everyone in the whole planet … all eight billion people would receive $125. While that might not sound like much … it’s still one person being able to give everyone in the entire planet money.

I’m not sure how we’re allowing this to happen considering 600 million people live in poverty.

This money, would give them all around $1600 … a lot in many countries.
Enough to feed starving children, empower and educate communities, regenerate soils for harvests, and provide clean water and sanitation. At least for a few months - until they were able to step out from under the poverty line.

But … I can’t imagine that Elon Musk is that generous.

No - he makes his money blowing up rockets, spilling their debris over the ocean, planting seeds of moving to Mars in people’s heads, and building AI systems (GROK) that allow children to be undressed on screens.

And this is the type of person that our world celebrates.

Our system encourages individualism.
The idea that we are our own person, without connection to anything or anyone else. The idea that success is linked to being rich enough to do whatever we want without consequences, care for others, a thought for the planet, or any form of compassion, empathy, or kindness.

Everything is a transaction.
And we have to win.

We vote presidents into office that have the loudest voices, and a"strongman" leadership style. We worship celebrities - soccer players, musicians, actors … people who earn in the millions. We chomp at the bit over the full pocketed, well dressed, wealthy, powerful - those insignia-d to say, “Yes, I’m the sh*t!”

This is what our society and system teaches us to want.
It teaches us to want it so bad that it makes us forget who we are.

Because everything is built on a story.
And the story that sells is - money, power, wealth, status, sex, hedonistic narcissism …

Elon Musk may have roughly twice the inflation-adjusted wealth of John D. Rockefeller, and at his peak, Rockefeller controlled wealth equivalent to around 1.5% of the USA’s GDP.

Oh! … And let’s not forget the Epstein files …
Hundreds of names appeared across different documents, including politicians, business leaders, gurus, and celebrities.

More people that our system celebrates.

This is the power we give them - the knowledge that they can do whatever they want. At the expense of little girls, their families, their countries … and even the entire planet.

And secretly (or not so secretly), there are many who want to be just like them.
To have that kind of power - where we don’t have to care, we don’t have to think, we don’t have to fight with our consciousness, we don’t need to feel guilt, or shame, or responsibility.

We celebrate them because we want what they have too.

We crave silver bullet solutions, instant gratification, fame, followers, viral posts, one night stands, swiping to find a soul mate … no consequences. No responsibility.
No thinking, no guilt, no accountability.

Essentially - we allowed this.
We subconsciously willed this mess into existence.

We voted them into power.
We cheered at their successes.
We didn’t stop the madness.

In 2013, Grist published an article titled, “None of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use.” They call these costs “externalities” - costs imposed by businesses that are not paid for by those businesses. Costs that would amount to millions - in terms of pollution, water, waste, “free” minerals, “free” coal, and “free” oil.

Yet today in 2026, we see the rise of the trillionaire.
So the profit-making continues, and has been continuing with tremendous prosperity.

Musk might be the first, but he isn’t going to be the only one.
These UHNWI (Ultra High-Net-Worth Individuals) got rich from exploiting a planet that the rest of us live on.

Why don’t we tax the ultra rich?
Why don’t we ban billionaires?
Why don’t we just say no to the fact that 1% of the world’s population owns more than the other 95%.

What are we so afraid of?

This fear … is going to be the end of democracy.
It’s going to be the end of dignity.
It’s going to be the end of civilisation as we know it.

Today - the natural capital doesn’t just refer to our natural resources, nature, biodiversity, ecosystem services - it isn’t just whatever we want to label as ‘other’ - it refers to us too.
We’re nature … and we’re letting them treat us the way we treat nature - dispensable, exploitable.

And we’re letting them.

Enter … The Intelligence Curse - when powerful actors like states and companies no longer have an incentive to care about regular people.

The rich are so rich now that voters and tax payers are unnecessary.
AI builds systems, and does work so fast that humans are now labelled “lower-value human capital”.
Those in power can do whatever they want, wherever they want - for example, bringing Ebola into an Ebola-free country.

But there are 8 billion regular people.

Why aren’t we doing more to protect our worth, our lives, our livelihoods, our families, the very soil we live on, the air we breathe, and the water we drink?

Why isn’t every single one of us doing something, anything, everything we possibly can to save, enjoy, and live our one and only life on our one and only habitable planet?

This affluence won’t last.

We’ve had recessions before.

We’ve lost power before.

We’ve had a global pandemic.

What happens when the electricity stops and the numbers go back to zero?
What happens when there is nothing left to buy?
What happens when everything we drink, eat, and breathe has been poisoned?

Where will the fun be then?

We’ll just be swimming in a cesspool of unattended consequences.

And that will be life.

And it will be hell.

What will you celebrate then?

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

I’m opening space for new clients in the 2nd half of 2026

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,
💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

3 June 2026

I have been basking in compliments and colours.

I published The Eco Chapter’s Impact Report this month, and it was met with amazing messages of support, love, and reassurance that there is so much value and importance in the work that I’m doing.

Download the Impact Report

Yet, my work - like the colours in my photos - are not valued, because they’re not in line with the economic measures of success.

They’re valued, verbally - but not valuable intrinsically.

And therefore - not valued financially.

Our society has become very good at measuring what can be counted and very poor at recognising what actually matters.

My work at The Eco Chapter will never give you an immediate return on investment, will probably not meet many of your company’s KPI’s, and will probably also make you rethink your entire profit-driven strategy.

But my work will definitely make your company more resilient in the face of a VUCA environment, show your stakeholders that you’re truly making an impact, make your staff happier, feeling more understood and seen, and on top of that - it’ll help you help others, in the spirit of reciprocity and humanity.

The Eco Chapter’s Impact Report for 2026, shows clearly that we, even individually, can do so much, and that impact can be proven without any mention of carbon or profit.

Impact can be seen through behavioural changes, community-building, and meaningful engagement. It also highlights work that focuses on long-term investment that builds resilience, forces critical thinking, and encourages ideas of reciprocity and sufficiency.

Resilience, imagination, community, ecological literacy, and behavioural change are valuable precisely because they resist easy quantification.

But impact without dollar figures attached to it is dismissed by many.

(That’s also why we’re in the mess we’re in - collectively!)

And companies with colourful impact reports devoid of charts, AI generated slop, and made up statistics (like mine) do not fit into official grey boxes.

There have been several occasions where my proposals have been dismissed on the basis that I am not considered senior enough or that my experience lies largely outside the corporate sector.

While corporate experience can be valuable, it is not the only indicator of capability. It is frustrating that the corporate sector doesn’t value motivation, initiative, academic qualifications, real-world experience, and a proven track record of learning and impact - factors often overlooked in favour of profit-centred career pathways and fancy job titles.

Sigh…

“They earn their abundant livings by converting bar graphs that plot their companies’ profits into consummately written, politically exemplary, socially just, policy documents that are impossible to implement and designed to remain forever on paper, secret even (especially) from the people they’re written for. They breed and prosper in the space that lies between what they say and what they sell.”

―Arundhati Roy

We operate on a system that values instant rewards and gratification.

Silver-grey bullets. Incoming money. Now.

Have you noticed the disparity in salary between those who do good and those who exploit?

Take the salary of a biologist, a conservationist, an artist, a writer, a social worker … and compare it to someone from a private bank, an oil & gas company, big Pharma, Amazon, Google, Microsoft …

We value planet-destroying, life-ending, money-making, colour-erasing professions.

I mean … we just crowned our first trillionaire - someone who’d rather just pack up and go to Mars than deal with the problems on Earth!

Grey coats our once-vibrant planet like a plague.

Thick, sludge. Omnipotent. Omnipresent.

Even though they’ve coloured the dollar bills green (US dollars - what everything else is based on), we know this is a mask. Because under that fancy greenwash - it’s all grey.

Grey concrete. Grey conversations. Grey ambitions.

Grey is the colour of greed.

All the evil in the world is powered by money. They make up numbers, add more zeroes, and print more pieces of paper.

They add bars to our grey prisons - slaves to scarcity, slaves to a social construct that doesn’t tangibly exist, slaves to a life yoked to numbers on a screen.

Grey keeps us living on autopilot - running hamster wheels, stuck in commutes, buying unnecessary shit, posting on social media, craving attention … hankering for colour, but so consumed that we have no idea what it is that we want.

Heck, we don’t even know who we are anymore - because we’re just told to be grey!

“Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?”

―Charles Bukowski

What would you do if you didn’t have to work for money?

Travel, spend more time with your families, read and write, create art, sing, learn an instrument?

All the wholesome, colourful things we could and would do if our world wasn’t coloured grey.

But we push colour aside in the quest of infinite grey.

Grey dams powerful rivers, dredges oceans, paves fertile soil, clear-cuts life-giving forests - for what? To build more and more and more grey.

Grey makes people pray indoors, worship monotony, lust after being busy.

Our anthropogenic world, today built with gloomy, grey infrastructure.

This is the life that you desire. Stuff. Things. More!

They’ll tell you - this is civilisation. This is the best way to be.

This is heaven - our somber grey paradise.

Everything before grey was chaos, was hardship, was purgatory.

But was it?

Helena Norberg-Hodge recounts her time in Ladakh, India in her book, Ancient Futures - saying that no one was ever in a rush. Only four months of the year are working months.

The other eight were for festivals, feeding the animals, storytelling and parties.

But grey came along and stole all the colour from that world too.

People from colourful, celebratory villages left their greens and reds and yellows and trudged into the city in search of civilised lifestyles, in search of grey.

Grey skulked in on smoke wisps and whorls and infiltrated every tribe, village, people, and nation of our vibrant planet and polluted our kaleidoscopic landscapes.

It polluted our creative and imaginative minds.

It whispered in the ears, of parents, lovers, friends, children, “Colour is worthless. Conform to the grey. You will have a better future with me. Come. Come.”

And we did.

We gave up the dancing, storytelling, and parties - what a waste of time, when you could be making money?

Who needs colour when you could have more grey!?

We spend all our lives in grey buildings, until the grey-masters tell us it’s enough, and we can go and die somewhere else because now we’re a burden to society - us with our now grey hair.

We spend all our lives chasing grey that we forget that colours exist.
We spend all our lives telling ourselves that we have no choice.

We even wear grey (and judge anyone with a Hawaiian shirt as a beach bum, hippie - all that colour - can’t be up to any good).

We have been brainwashed to see no value in the beauty of colour, creativity, imagination, art, or love - unless there is a grey dollar sign attached to it.

We have been indoctrinated to believe that this is life.

We’ve stripped multifarious forests - myriad of greens, displaced biodiversity - endless combinations of spots, stripes, chirrups, and purrs, we’ve peeled off psychedelic traditional outfits … all in our pursuit for grey and this new, complete disregard for all things colourful.

So much disregard that we don’t even have the language, words, or vocabulary to describe the infinite variety of colours that exist.

But we all know the language of grey.

We speak the language of business - devoid of adjectives, nuances, ornate, flourishes. Grey. The words to make money. The vocabulary of transactions.

And so we sit - stuck, alone, anxious, depressed, unfulfilled in our sad, little grey worlds, playing with our grey-bought things, reading up how to make more grey …

Image taken from: They Live (movie)

What if we all called a strike, and told grey to get the hell out of here?

What if we all just said this is ridiculous - look at the world outside.

Why am I wasting my one summer’s day in a wintry grey penitentiary?

Social constructs can be deconstructed.

Why don’t we start - while we still can see the colours, while nature still gives them to us as gifts - for free, while we still have a planet to call home, before the grey-masters destroy Her completely?

“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.”

―Ursula K. Le Guin

A little more colour everyday …

Start freeing yourself from the grey chains.

Slowly …

You’ll see.

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

I’ve opened up space for new clients!

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet (and all her colours),

💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

1 June 2026

If you were in Sri Lanka this week, you’d have seen the invasion of plastic-covered plastic jellyfish. Once shrouded in ritual to symbolise impermanence, Vesak kuudu, or Vesak lanterns are now cheap, tacky ornaments.

Vesak lanterns were traditionally made of bamboo and thin paper - the same materials used to make kites - in order to show that beauty is fleeting, should be enjoyed, and then should be let go of. The lantern - a symbol of the traditional octagonal Atapattama - or eight-sided structure - to show balance, and to remind Buddhist practitioners of mindfulness and humility.

The lanterns are assembled and hung up for Vesak, solely for them to be admired, and then disintegrate with the rain, burn with a lit candle, or dismantle with the elements.

… cue plastic.

Not only are today’s lanterns plastic, they’re covered in plastic to protect them from the elements.

Despite the Central Environmental Authority’s warnings to avoid using plastic and polythene materials for decorations, hundreds upon hundreds of lanterns were displayed this Vesak in Sri Lanka, some small enough to hang on a tuk tuk, others the size of the front doorway.

It was interesting to note that it wasn’t just the villagers with their plastic-covered frippery, the banks and offices had their share too - even ones emblazoned with logos.

“Yes! Our company is a proud supporter of the plastic crisis!”

Plastic decorations weren’t the only single use plastics banned during the festival.

“The CEA reminded the public that a number of single-use plastic items, including drinking straws, cups, plates and cutlery, are banned under existing gazette regulations.

The use of polystyrene food containers, polythene lunch sheets, plastic garlands and decorative materials made from polyethylene or polypropylene has also been prohibited.”

-Newswire LK

Yet - many restaurants were dishing out free food and drinks in single use vessels.

While the dansal activities of handing out free food in the name of community and the Buddhist concept of dana - the act of giving without expecting anything in return - are commendable … I dread to think what Buddha would say if he saw that the items being shared were litres and litres of ice cream, to a highly diabetic population, covered in plastic, littering the streets in trash, and flimsy plastic decorations soon to be burned to pollute not just the soil, but the air with toxic fumes as well.

Sri Lanka and Vesak aren’t the only victims to the ubiquitousness of cheap plastic ware. Every festival around the world seems to have plastic as a VIP guest. From Christmas trees, and tacky plastic toys, to plastic cutlery, plastic woven outfits, and plastic flowers. Plastic is everywhere - and we know this. We eat plastic, drink plastic, and breathe plastic. Yet something tells us - go make some more, go buy some more.

Why?

Recycling doesn’t work.

Recycling is a marketing gimmick that encourages you buy more plastic under the pretence that it’s magically going to turn into a valuable article again and again.

Plastic is pilfering from your peaceful life.

It’s literally stealing your life from you, your planet home, and from the generations to come. Plastic leaches into ground water and aquifers, polluting wells, streams, and lakes. Plastic falls from the sky in rain - all over you, your homes, your children. Plastic is in the food you eat - a credit card size of it weekly.

And before you think that plastic isn’t harmful … think again.

It’s made of petroleum.

Imagine eating a credit card worth of diesel every week.

That’s what we’re doing to ourselves - and to many, many generations to come.

The answer?

Switch off the damn tap.

Go back to natural materials - real trees and actual flowers.

And more importantly - go back to the festivities that count to you.

We don’t need to show off our wealth during celebrations by buying trinkets and knickknacks.

We don’t have to show the world how Buddhist, Muslim, or Christian we are by the size and elaborateness of our decorations.

We don’t need to play the games of the capitalistic, opportunistic plastic peddler.

Ceremonies, rituals, and true beliefs - are in you.

Your heart - the natural material of true celebration.

Hold a party there.

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

I’m opening space for new clients in the 2nd half of 2026

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,

💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

This is also a time for me to say 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗞 𝗬𝗢𝗨 to everyone who came for events, gave me opportunities, financed my work, wrote testimonials, gave me hugs, sent me messages of love, cheered me on, supported from the sidelines, had me and my work in your thoughts and hearts.

I hope this impact report shows you that your trust, support, and belief in this work were never wasted.

And I’m hoping to keep going for many more years to come.

In June 2023, The Eco Chapter began as the eco-conscious arm of The English Curve, created to explore the relationship between language, education, and environmental awareness.

By 2025, it had evolved into its own independent entity and registered company - marking a new chapter of growth, purpose, and possibility.

This first report shares where we’ve made progress, and the ongoing challenges of writing better future narratives through environmental education, storytelling, and sustainability.

If you believe in the power of education, story, and community to shape a better future, I’d love you to read it. 💚

Download the Report

This year, we launched 5 new offerings:

1. Impact Consulting for purpose-led and eco-conscious brands looking to communicate their impact more clearly and credibly.

2. Mentoring for individuals transitioning into the environmental and sustainability sector, as well as young people beginning their careers in purpose-led fields.

3. Education for NGOs where we offer strategic content creation, curriculum design, storytelling support, impact communication materials, and narrative development with clear, compelling stories that resonate with stakeholders and supporters.

4. Research storytelling: A storytelling service for universities and researchers that translates academic research into clear, accessible, and engaging narratives for wider audiences.

5. Travel Light: a regenerative learning initiative for travellers, tourism organisations, and communities working at the intersection of travel, conservation, and environmental responsibility.

If any of these or our initial consulting and storytelling work sound interesting to you.

Get in touch for change@theecochapter.com

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

I’m opening space for new clients in the 2nd half of 2026

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,

💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

24 May 2026

In the 1970s, Ivan Illich’s radical ideas were very much against the environmental movement, the education system, and the healthcare system.

On top of believing that organised religion was bureaucratic, school made people stupid, and the legal system made people more fed up, he believed that volunteering in different countries was a way to pat yourself on the shoulder and wear that badge of honour, without actually caring.

If truly caring was more difficult than the symbolic protesting with placards, sending a donation, or praying for the less fortunate - could you still say you cared?

To care (verb)

It can represent an emotional investment (feeling concern or affection) or a physical action (providing assistance or protection)

How much of an emotional investment would we give to someone in another country, suffering from a war that doesn’t directly concern us?
How much assistance would we provide to an orangutan in Borneo, having his forest home felled by loggers?
How much protection would we give to a child, covering her ears to block out the sounds of bombs falling all around her?

We say we care by doing the bare minimum so we can say we’ve done something about the mess that we’re living in.

We say we care because we have good intentions - sending thoughts, prayers, donations, and sharing social media posts of those far away … and then our duty of care stops there.

Because if we were to care anymore, put our hearts and souls into truly caring, genuinely investing time, sincerely protecting - we assume our fragile hearts might break.

So, we give ourselves the freedom of indifference and the invitation of apathy instead. We stand back and applaud those with those special hearts - those able to do more - and then we close our eyes.

We say our prayers. We send our donations. We repost on social media.

We turn off the news.

We numb ourselves from anymore than our little hearts can handle.

But what if we were able to hold our hearts completely open?

What if we knew that these feelings of grief, joy, longing or sorrow weren’t just ours alone?

What if we knew that if we cared altogether for a planet we all call home … we could actually save ourselves from the destruction that awaits?

What if we believed that our hearts wouldn’t break - because the pain is shared.
That the weight is carried by 8 billion hearts around the world?
More - because the burden is also borne by the hearts of our ancestors, the more than human, and the other than human.

We have forgotten that the burden of caring immensely - isn’t ours to bear alone.

We have forgotten that the heart has layers - your heart, plus the heart of the land, plus the hearts of the rest of the population - beating together.

What if actively caring with all our hearts allowed us to see possibility everywhere - because we believed that there would be better days coming?

What if it allowed us to see what ifs in the places of what is?

Noah didn’t build an ark because a storm appeared.
He built it in anticipation of a storm coming.

And boy is there is a storm coming.

A big one.

And if we practice care, community, and connection when the storm comes - it’ll be too late.

Today is the day to start preparing for the deluge.
(Yesterday would have been better.)

To learn the importance of yielding without being knocked over.
To be responsive to this ever-changing world.
To know our hearts are strong enough to care without breaking.

We have to start practicing today, because when trouble arrives, when sh*t hits the fan - we’ll be ready to bear it. We’ll be ready with open arms. We’ll be ready with our support systems.

Many of us don’t have the time to care for others - because we say we spend the time: to use up, to give out - to deplete energy.

But what if we shared the time?
Time shared weaving together communities of care - actively contributing to mitigating and managing a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous future.

Because winter is coming.

And when the emergency arrives, when it’s time to truly care - you’ll already be there - ready and able with a strong, special heart, one full of love, peace, and compassion and an available community standing strong beside you.

We need to build these practices in peace time - when the stakes are low. Build up defences like relationships, health, connections, community, and resilience.
Not just as a means to an end - but a way to enjoy each other, caring fully, and experiencing life.

What if you were doing the unequivocally right thing - by caring 100% - and in 10 years time, what you’re pioneering, could reframe and reshape the entire future?

Research shows that efficacy is a precursor to action - defined as “if I do something do I think it will make a difference”. There’s also research showing that efficacy boosts hope, and more.

But hope has become a dirty word to many because it is now a euphemism for burying one’s head in the sand, but that that’s not the definition of real hope. Hope is the commitment to continue, no matter the odds - borne out of love - out of caring. Knowing that a better future can exist - as long as we care about it enough.

So - to hell with good intentions.

Do something about this mess. Do something to stop the tempest. Just do something.

What are you capable of doing, as the small creature you are, with your little heart, with the people and communities around you, in the space that you are in?

Are you able to care for yourself, and them?

Then do that.

And do it well.

The future will be profoundly grateful for what you’re doing right now - no matter how small and inconsequential you may feel.

Read The Eco Chapter 2026 Impact Report

I’m opening space for new clients in the 2nd half of 2026

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,
💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

Marla has spent years exploring the world, from volunteering in wildlife rescue to diving in marine conservation projects across South and Central America.

Combining her scientific background with a passion for storytelling, she founded The Eco Chapter, an initiative dedicated to eco-literacy and regenerative storytelling.

In this interview, Marla shares her journey, insights on conscious travel, and how we can all move through the world with more respect, awareness, and purpose.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and how The Eco Chapter came to be?

I grew up picking up every stray cat I found on the street. My parents would let me keep them for a week before we eventually had to surrender them to the animal shelter.

I’ve always wanted to work with animals or find ways to keep their habitats alive and thriving. So I pursued a degree in Animal Science in Australia, and later returned to Singapore, where I’m originally from, to complete my master’s in Environmental Science. But Singapore didn’t offer many opportunities to work closely with wildlife or nature, so I left again.

What was meant to be a short trip became almost four years of backpacking and volunteering across South and Central America - first in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, and later in marine conservation when I became a dive master.

During that time, I noticed a significant gap: what I could understand from science (as a native English speaker with a scientific background) was often inaccessible to others. The barrier wasn’t intelligence. It was language. Science can be closed, technical, and overwhelming, and the way we communicate it often keeps people out.

So I trained as an English teacher. Teaching offered a way to break those barriers and gave me the flexibility to continue volunteering in conservation.

In 2023, after working as a sustainability manager, I realised I wanted to dedicate myself fully to education and find a way to combine my love for science with my growing skills in language and storytelling. And that’s how The Eco Chapter was born: an eco-literacy and regenerative storytelling consultancy using words, stories, and systems thinking to empower change through eco-literary advocacy.

Today, The Eco Chapter works with companies, organisations, and individuals to examine the narratives we live in, reframe them through understanding and compassion, and imagine better future narratives that are regenerative, inclusive, and alive with possibility.

What motivates you personally to focus on environmental education and conscious travel?

For me, this feels like my purpose. I was fortunate enough to receive a scientific education and to travel the world, often to places many only dream about. And at a time when they were still pristine. I have seen god in the mist of Iguazu Falls, and I have looked into the eyes of a jaguar. Experiences like these rearrange something inside you.

So for me, there is no greater purpose than to ensure that these places, and the beings who call them home, are protected. Everything I do now, through education, storytelling, and regenerating the way we see the world, is simply my way of honouring that responsibility.

What inspired your upcoming Travel Light project, and how does it fit into the mission of The Eco Chapter?

The idea of the Travel Light project was born in December 2024, while I was backpacking through Sri Lanka. Everywhere I went, I could see how much care the land needed, yet travellers had so few meaningful ways to help.

So I began imagining a gentler path. A way to connect eco-conscious travellers with practices that allow us to move through the world with more respect, more awareness, and a lighter footprint.

If we travel with intention and honouring the places and beings we encounter, we can contribute so much more to conservation. Travel Light is my way of helping that shift begin.

What kind of preparation do travelers receive before joining a trip or volunteering with an NGO through Travel Light?

Travellers receive a week of grounding webinars before they even step on the plane. They learn about the deeper context of the places they’re about to visit: climate change, the desertification of parts of the Amazon, the quiet grief of coral bleaching, or even an introduction to living gently around elephants.

The intention is simple: that travellers arrive already in the right frame of mind - one rooted in respect, humility, and care.

Because these places and beings are sacred. And too often, as travellers, we forget. We move with entitlement instead of reverence. Travel Light invites us to remember. To show up ready to help, honour, and protect.

In your experience, why do tourists often act irresponsibly toward the environment?

Often, tourists arrive with a sense of entitlement … as if a place owes them something simply because they’ve paid to be there. There’s no real connection to the land, the animals, or the people. It becomes “just a holiday,” a transaction where payment is mistaken for permission to act without care.

But this entitlement is rooted in something deeper: a lack of education, a lack of context, a lack of relationship.

Take elephant riding, for example. Most people never stop to consider how the elephant feels, what it has endured, or what its life is like when the tourists go home. There’s no connection to its suffering because no one has given them the story behind the experience. Without context, compassion has no room to grow.

So tourists end up believing, “I paid for this service, and I want my photo and my story to take home.” Not out of cruelty, but out of disconnection.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to travel more consciously but isn’t sure where to start?

First, I would tell them to read.

Learn about the place they’re going to. Meet its people before meeting them in person. Learn the history, the geography, the stories that shaped the land.

And then go - but go gently.

See the world through their eyes, instead of forcing them to adapt to yours. There is so much wisdom in every place we visit, and not just from the people - the animals, the rivers, the forests, the mountains all have something to say if we learn to listen.

Every trip should be a classroom.

A global classroom of life, humility, and love for all of Earth’s beings.

We are all related.

And it’s time we start acting like it.

How does storytelling help travellers understand the communities and ecosystems they visit?

Stories spark neural pathways in the brain releasing oxytocin and dopamine, the chemicals that help us feel trust, empathy, and connection. This is why stories touch us in ways facts and figures never can.

Because these aren’t statistics in a guidebook.

They’re people.

They’re animals.

They’re sacred places with memories and meaning.

Storytelling helps us reconnect with what we’ve forgotten. It invites us to feel, to care, and to remember our place in the world. And when we feel connected, entitlement dissolves. Empathy grows. Respect follows.

This is why storytelling is so important: it rebuilds the bridge between us and the living world.

»First, I would tell them to read. Learn about the place they’re going to. Meet its people before meeting them in person. Learn the history, the geography, the stories that shaped the land.«

- Marla

In your view, what are the most urgent actions we can take to combat climate change and reduce pollution in our environments?

The most urgent action we can take is to reframe our narratives. For too long, the story of sustainability has been told as a story of sacrifice. As if caring for the planet means giving up comfort, convenience, or luxury.

But when we look more closely, we see that the best things in life are already free:

• The quiet joy of being with friends and family.

• Slow mornings.

• Time in nature.

• Breathing deeply.

• Feeling held by the world instead of rushing through it.

If we spent more time turning inward — reflecting on what truly brings us happiness — the extractive mindset would begin to dissolve. We would no longer seek fulfilment through consumption, but through connection, presence, and meaning.

And if all of us, together, shifted our stories in this way we could change the world.

If you could inspire every traveler with one key lesson, what would it be?

Travel slow.

You’re not there to collect photos for fame or proof.

You’re there to learn, to explore, to grow.

Move with intention.

Let the place teach you.

Take your time.

More information:

Website – The Eco Chapter

More Articles from Marla Lise

Get in contact with Marla Lise!

Orginal publication

10 May 2026

In 2012, I spent a few months volunteering at the Amazoonico Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation centre in Ecuador. From ocelots, to monkeys, to wild pigs, and snakes - we collected the forgotten and damaged of the human-wildlife interface.

Some of the animals were spoils of the illegal wildlife trade, others refugees after parents had been murdered for stealing food from farms, or killing dogs - trying to get a meal. Many of their habitats were getting decimated - and they were thrown into centres like ours for being a nuisance. Some snakes had their skins sloughing off them - poisoned from being draped like scarves over necks of tourists, doused in sunscreen, perfume, and mosquito repellent.

We had babies of all species, too young to care for themselves, and now too dependent on a human surrogate to ever be released into the wild. We had monkeys, taken in as pets when small and thrown out when they became too big or wild to handle. Others had been experimented on in laboratories - now too feral and angry to even be social with others like them.

Cord removed from the waist of a capuchin monkey that had started to cut into his flesh.

That’s where my mind wandered off to - the jungles of the Ecuadorian Amazon jungle, when a man holding a baby monkey with a cord tied around its waist walked up and down Unawatuna beach in front of a restaurant I was sitting at in Sri Lanka.

I was glad that my brown skin seemed to be a deterrent, for he didn’t bother coming and sticking the monkey in my face, asking if I wanted a photo, or to carry the baby for 5000 LKR.

The average Sri Lankan wage is 55,000 LKR per month, so could you blame him?

This happens all over the world - because tourists allow it.
They’re in a new country, they’re happy to do things they wouldn’t normally do at home - including pay money to touch a baby monkey with a cord tied around its waist.

The fault is not on a local guy capitalising on a business venture. It’s with us, who turn a blind eye to the suffering of the animals we use for our entertainment. To the system that we allow to continue. To these unsustainable businesses that boom because we are entitled tourists that leave our morals, ethics, and values at home.

This baby monkey will not be a baby forever.

And then what happens to him?
And what happens when the next baby is ripped away from the safety of its mother to find himself on the end of a cord?
And to the one after that?

Because it’s not going to stop.

There are approximately 18 sea turtle hatcheries located along the southern coast of Sri Lanka.

While many hatcheries have the turtles’ safety and well-being in mind, some of these hatcheries are illegal, and run under the pretence of helping turtle conservation. Many of them work by digging up nests along beaches after mama turtles come up to lay their eggs. They charge tourists to come in and watch these babies squirm around in their unnatural hostels, also to carry them into the ocean.

These baby turtles find their way into the ocean using the light of the moon, usually emerging at night. Now however, with light pollution becoming more and more pervasive, the babies are getting confused - running into the streets.

Only 1 in 1000 turtles survive into adulthood, and 6 of the 7 sea turtle species are endangered.

Now with climate change, habitat loss, and pollution - life is already getting a lot more difficult for turtles without us messing up their first journeys to the sea.

An explosion of baby turtles I got to witness randomly on a beach.

When will we learn that animals don’t exist for our entertainment?

When will we allow a relationship of co-existence, where both human and other-than-human worlds are allowed to thrive, as they are, where they are?

When will we step off the pedestals we’ve erected for our species, believing that we are allowed to dominate over all else, and have been given the right to exploit?

What I can offer: HERE

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,

💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

27 April 2026

Open AI launched ChatGPT in November 2022.
Since then, all the big players have established their own versions of large language models, conversation assistants, and productivity tools.

It’s barely been 5 years, yet, generative AI has exploded, like a bat out of hell, into our everyday lives.

But now that we’ve let Pandora out of the box, there’s no way to put her back, no matter how hard you try, sitting on it will not work.

We’re manifesting destruction, and supercharging it through AI.

Singapore recently announced a decision to teach AI to 9-year-olds in schools, as part of their formal education curriculum. Minister for Education, Mr Desmond Lee emphasised “a 'low exposure' model under close supervision.”

Their justification?

That “structured guidance within classrooms is seen as a safer and more effective approach” than “leaving children to explore AI independently on the open internet.”

It seems strange that while several countries have banned social media for children below the age of 16, Singapore has decided to ramp up technology use for children even younger.

In 2022, the KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) in Singapore did a survey and found that most children of all ages in Singapore were using screens more than they should. They came up with guidelines and strategies to give parents alternative activities, and reduce Singapore’s increasingly high childhood myopia rate.

Studies have found that 9-10-year-olds face a “fourth-grade slump” - where creative thinking decreases due to increased focus on rules, structure, and a fear of failure. Other studies have shown that the slump doesn’t affect all.
Instead other fourth graders have been found to have a “substantial increase in fluency, flexibility, uniqueness, and unusualness elicited by figural stimuli.”

At this age, their brains are still developing, and at this stage, children should “have a growing need for independence in their decision-making and thinking process.” Yet, the Singapore government has decided that it would be better for their futures to get AI to think for them - stifling brain development, eradicating childlike creativity, and annihilating imagination.

Adults around the world have been suffering at the wide stretched fingers of AI. On top of people falling in love with their LLMs and even marrying them, AI systems have driven many to suicide.

If adults who have grown up long before AI systems were available to the general public, cannot handle the immense amount of information that AI generates, how will a 9-year-old child?
Who are these teachers who are so adept and grounded in their own ability of AI use that they’re prepared to stand guard at the fortresses of these very young minds?

AI kills consciousness.
It stops empathy and compassion.
It distracts and brings anxiety.
There are constant doubts about what's real and what’s not.

A child using a phone to play a video game, killing an intruder in a video game with a ‘kill shot’, swipes the same device to an Instagram video showing the news: an actual child getting killed - shot in the head - behind a warning that says “viewer discretion advised”.
How are they to separate fiction from reality?
It could be AI, it could be real.
How are they to know?
And how are they to care, when this is now the only world that they’ll know.

How do children learn social skills when now their best friend is a robot on a device? COVID-19 saw youth become addicted to screens, socially awkward, and losing social skills. And now we’re imposing this screen time on them - when they have the world outside to play in.

Adults are already losing the capacity to sit with ourselves, undistracted by doomscrolling, and instant gratification. Our phones, an extension of our limbs.
We’re losing the capacity to sit with others, to practice deep listening, to think without looking up, to wander, to ponder. We’ve forgotten direction, how to calculate, how to spell, how to form sentences.
We use AI to do everything for us - so we can do more and more and more.

But we can’t cope.
How can they?

What are we doing to our future generation?
What are we so afraid of that we’re resorting to stealing their childhoods from them?

That Singapore as a country will lose out?

But this is abuse in the name of protecting an economy, and progress for progress sake at the expense of children.

And if Singapore starts - which country will be next?
Because the rat race is going to continue - and your children might be the next victims to be chewed up and spat out - no matter where you live.

Margaret Wheatley coined the term, "technological magisterium.” She explained that the people of today think “we’re the top of the pyramid, we’re the most conscious creative and technofabulous civilisation that has ever evolved, and technology will save us.”

But we’ve seen that technology is dividing and disconnecting us more than ever before. It’s meant to connect, but causes anxiety, misinformation, fear, and hate. We don’t know what’s real anymore, and there’s a constant doubt in the back of our minds about authenticity, and trust.

What makes us human anymore if a robot does our thinking for us?
A robot based on algorithms, created by code, and programmed by humans with ulterior motives.

Which AI are they going to use in schools?
There are so many now - and who’s the programmer?
Where are they feeding the LLM information from?
Because each tool comes with its own set of biases.

New '“ethical” LLM system, Thaura.AI for example is developed by Syrian engineers, two brothers who clearly state they’re against big tech AI, and they are backed by the “Tech for Palestine Incubator.”

Aiden Cinnamon Tea on the other hand is an LLM that was trained by Vanessa Andreotti, Indigenous academic author of Hospicing Modernity and Outgrowing Modernity, and her team.

And then we have ChatGPT - that gets most of its answers from Wikipedia and Reddit.

We’re just recycling people’s ideas, un-evidential ideas, and not thinking for ourselves. And this is the world we’re creating.

In many countries, formal education systems are already so linear - we’re not allowed to meander, to create, or to question narratives. It’s all about acceleration, grades, and expectations.

And now - it’s going to get a lot worse.

Don’t let them do it.

Click to watch:

AI Whistleblower - Karen Hao

AI Critic Karen Hao reveals what 90 OpenAI employees told her.

Karen Hao is an AI expert, award-winning investigative journalist, and former reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering American and Chinese tech companies. She is also co-host of the podcast The Interface and freelances for publications like More Perfect Union and The Atlantic. Her latest book is the bestselling ‘EMPIRE OF AI: Inside The Reckless Race For Total Domination.’

She explains:
◼️Why the US-China “AI arms race” may be misleading and politically driven
◼️Why AGI is a marketing scam used to consolidate trillion-dollar power
◼️The hidden human cost behind AI training

What I can offer: HERE

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,

💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

18 April 2026

ghost light (noun)

A single, exposed electric bulb (often LED or incandescent) on a portable stand left burning on an otherwise dark theatre stage when the venue is unoccupied.

Ghost lights were left on during the COVID 19 pandemic as a sign of hope. A beacon of light that vowed that the stage would not be empty for long. Though no one entered the stage or the theatre, a ghost light burned, shining through the darkness, awaiting the return of the players.

The world seems like an empty stage at the moment.

So many of us, players, are frozen in suspense waiting for the next announcement, the next election, the next market shift, the next missile, the next reason to panic or proceed.

Decisions are made with Plan Bs and Cs attached to them, in case of this, in case of that. Our decisions based on the decisions of those in power, them deciding between ceasefire or bombs, resource availability or scarcity, peace or war.

War is a dangerous thing. Not just for those directly involved in it, but for everyone on the planet. Even those of us, fortunately far away, are still psychologically manipulated by the possibilities of horror that might await us too. It puts us on the edge, numbs us with worry, and also keeps us completely distracted and distraught.

So, instead of creating solutions, we’re bracing for collapse. Because how does one imagine peace and harmony when our insecurities and vulnerabilities lie in the hands of strangers?

How can we work towards solutions when we’re busy trying to survive?

But just because it’s black, just because there’s an empty stage - it doesn’t mean the players have given up.

They’re working harder than ever to make sure that when the stage reopens, their efforts will bring the world to the seats.

And maybe that’s what we’re in darkness for - to work towards The Great Turning. Maybe we needed to see that politicians and those in power really don’t care about us - countries are run as economies, businesses, industries. Maybe we needed this horror to show us that together we are better.

Maybe we needed to be shown that resources are finite, in order to save them. Maybe we needed this wake up call to make sure that no matter what - our ghost lights stay lit. That they remain glimmering in the darkness despite all that’s happening around us.

Because, if we turn off our flares, we’ve admitted defeat.

But the black will never win, because the solutions already exist.

They're sitting in the minds of distracted, busy people who don't have the time to explore them. They're waiting for the next long, meaningful conversation to be introduced. They're screaming out from the mouths of babes - whom we tell to keep quiet, colour between the lines, and memorise for exams.

The solutions need to emerge, and maybe the current time of drawn curtains is the juncture for them to evolve. Maybe they just needed this period of madness to come to the surface, germinate, and then grow into saplings of better days.

Maybe this was all part of the bigger plan.
Chaos before a storm - a storm to clean and heal.

What if this was a time for creativity?
Voicing ideas into the world - no matter how outrageous they sound.
What if those questions and ideas made sense to someone else - and before you know it, there’s plan in place.
And who knows?

How can we live towards a world that we believe in?
A world that we want?

What if this is what is meant to happen - for us to get to a better future narrative?
Maybe we’ve hit rock bottom, and the only way is up.

And for those with ideas - let us stand behind them. Let us motivate them to keep ideating, no matter how crazy those ideas sound. Let us remove the barriers that stand in their way. Constant support, affirmations, and reassurance - yes!
Let’s do that! I’ll do it with you.

What if we start worldwide movements?

Lights flickering around the globe in the dark.

Slowly building that better future, revitalising this empty stage.

Can you be a ghost light in the darkness?
Can you be a shield for others who flicker with hope?

Can we keep them blazing … no matter how dark it gets?

What I can offer: HERE

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,

💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

7 April 2026

seva [say-vuh] / ˈseɪ və /

the concept of acting selflessly for the good of others, without expectation of reward

We live in a world where an increasing number of people are obsessed with well-being. Since around 2010, the ‘wellness industry’ has rapidly gained traction - growing 6.2% annually since 2019 and is expected to turn over $9.8 trillion by 2029.

With the world moving further and further away from natural wellness - time in nature, a slower pace of life, community-centred lifestyles - people have found ways to hack a system that puts their nervous system on edge. Biohacks, millennial hacks, and productivity hacks are taking the world by storm.

Today the internet is inundated with people boasting about how regulated their nervous systems are, how many pieces of tape they wear to sleep every night - covering their nose, their mouth, their eyes, under a face mask, plugged into ambient noise, under an infrared light, and then wake up at 4am to stick their now unplastered faces into freezing ice baths, practice gua sha, spend twenty minutes preparing their matcha oat milk lattes, or putting butter into their mushroom coffees, and then spending an hour at rocket yoga, and a breathwork class before stuffing now unpuffy faces with protein pancakes, avocado on toast, sardines, and an acrid shot of ginger and turmeric. Ice plunges, steam baths, float tanks, hanging upside down, intermittent fasting, drinking olive oil, eating raw onions like apples, you name it.

I ask - what’s it all for?

Why are we fuelling another industry that tells us to do more to escape the capitalist world we already live in? The industry that is driving us to this obsession with hacking our now dysfunctional bodies and minds in the first place? We’re replacing one competitive unsustainable way of life for another.

Why are we working so hard to ‘better’ ourselves - really?
Do narcissism, ego, and self indulgence have anything to do with it?

Yoga class walls are now lined with tripods and selfie sticks - influencers showing off their balancing acts while flaunting the latest Lulu Lemon or Alo Yoga attire - because of course, you have to do yoga in a cute yoga outfit.

Gyms are decked with all kinds of crazy machines, each one promising to give you that taut, lean, body. We don’t sweat anymore - working out in air-conditioned rooms surrounded by mirrors - flexing, checking ourselves out, and pumping iron to the point of failure.

We stuff ourselves with protein, because the wellness industry says we can’t get enough. We come up with carnivore diets, keto diets, cleanses, detoxes, and all combinations of the sort. The supplement varieties are through the roof.

We wear white and go to sound baths with expensive gongs flown in from Tibet, thousand dollar sound bowls, pillows, chanting, tantra workshops, embodiment practices, somatic methods …

But for what?

Do they really make us feel better?
Or is this industry just promoting another form of capitalistic distraction and numbness?
An even more unsustainable way of life through empty promises of inner peace?

A lot of the teachings of this booming industry are bits and pieces pulled out from ancient practices based on indigenous wisdom. But many of these excerpts are taken out of context, recycled with fancy names, and sold for hundreds of dollars.

The glitz and the glam. Sexy, shiny, silver bullets.

Just take this pill. Lift heavy weights. Bend over like a pretzel.

That’s all you need to be well. That’s what you need to find peace.
To do more.

More reps. More breathwork methods. More difficult asanas.

More …

But the wellness industry ignores the full story - the part of the ancient teachings asserts that external actions and empty words are not enough.

We have to do the inner work too.

Meditating for three hours a day and then going to work to trade blood diamonds, attending Vipassana retreats every six months to come home and work in fossil fuel companies, pumping iron and then using that strength to beat up people …

Why are so many becoming yoga teachers, breathwork instructors, handpan players, life coaches? Because we’re getting seduced by the glory … the caricature of namaste-saluting linen-wearing barefoot calm, regulated people with flawless bodies.

The burgeoning industry adds distractions to our already super busy lives. Another one profiteering from people’s vulnerabilities. Quick fix external actions that claim to solve all your problems.

We want the retreat in the fancy Balinese villa, with the chlorinated swimming pool, sporting the latest pair of $100 micro-plastic laced leggings, eating avocados out of season, quinoa shipped from South America, sleeping on bamboo bedsheets in rooms lit by Himalayan salt lamps blasted from the mountains of Pakistan.

We want the peace without giving up the luxury.
We want the excerpts - not the full story. The easy bits - not accepting a life of sufficiency and simplicity, and practicing non-attachment.

We are so obsessed about the actions and performative ways of making ourselves feel better physiologically and physically that we have completely ignored the motivations that make us truly feel better mentally, emotionally, and give our lives purpose.

In many ancient teachings, words and actions are only one part of the ‘method’ to be well. The more important, not too sexy parts, include giving up hedonistic pleasures, doing good for humanity, living within our means, and self-study.

Take Kundalini yoga for example. From their ancient writings, it is clear that this practice goes far beyond asanas, tantra, and breath work.

Kundalini, like many other ancient practices emphasises that yoga is not just about movement. Asanas are simply one out of the many different ‘limbs’ that yoga teaches. Patanjali, in his teachings about Ashtanga yoga, also highlights that before any movement can be done, we need to revisit the Yamas and Niyamas - social ethics, introspection, studying ancient texts, and practise not doing harm at all - to anything or anyone.

Many ancient breathwork and meditation teachers and practices stressed the ideas of healing oneself in order to heal the world. Ancient Buddhist teachings - where many of these yoga, breathwork and meditation practices come from - in fact negate the idea of the self in the first place.

But the wellness industry seems to glorify the self. Personal bests, self help guide books, gurus, influencers …

The constant capitalistic competition continues - now in a race to be the most regulated, fit, decongested, person on the planet. And what makes it worse … once we realise that our bodies won’t look that way forever, we add more supplements: botox, implants, facelifts, steroids …

Because we were never well to begin with.

We’re not happy. We’re never satisfied. And the wellness industry knows that, and knows that we will keep biting into it rather than do the real work to heal from the inside out.

The wellness industry is not here to heal us - it’s here to make us feel that we’re never going to be good enough - so we spend more, train harder, buy more, isolate ourselves more, take more enhancers, and post more photos.

To truly heal, we need to get out of this thing we’ve created called the wellness industry and move into an altruistic world of Seva.

How many of us would study the ancient books to search for true meaning in our lives?
How many would sleep on straw mats, give up material goods, and go into nature to truly calm our nervous systems?
How many would give up expensive gym memberships and donate that money to the poor?
How many would return to washing the feet of those in ashrams, sitting silently for days at Vipassana training, asking for alms on streets with monks to remove themselves from a capitalistic, competitive world and instead quietly meditate with love and metta for peace?
How many would walk pilgrimages of the Camino, with nothing but a tent, and not for glory - just enlightenment and a quiet time of reflection in nature?

We’re a society of dysregulated people, running after silver bullets to heal agitated nervous systems - ignoring root causes, and putting individual gratification over collective success and mutualism of our planet and all that call it home.

And we’re boasting about it.

Take a look around.

The world doesn’t need you to deadlift heavy weights, it doesn’t need you to do 100-hours of breathwork or 200 hours of yoga, it doesn’t need you to become a life coach at 20 years of age.

It needs you to heal.
Truly.

It needs you to be at peace with yourself, living the life you dreamed of, spending time in nature, breathing in deeply - at your own pace, taking care of your mind, your body and your heart - without competition or comparison. It needs you to know that you were given this ‘self’ but that vessel, like everything that surrounds that vessel is impermanent and will be gone one day.

All that will be left behind will not be how much you bench-pressed … but how you made others feel. How you helped, how you motivated, how you supported, how you gave away generously, how easily you laughed, how comforting your hugs were, how you listened …

The world needs your strength - yes - the strength of your conscious heart - not your biceps. It needs your own quiet servitude to a greater good, your own way of giving back to the planet that has given us so much. It needs you to find your purpose and your joy - so that it radiates throughout you and through the universe, and that people are healed just by being in your company, and that they may truly heal too.

Our human race needs you - through your service, reciprocity, sufficiency, and a life of true purpose.

We don’t need a wellness industry to do that.
We don’t need expensive supplements.

We just need healthy, conscious, open hearts - beating together.
Being well.
Truly well.
Together.

What I can offer: HERE

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,
💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter

6 April 2026

The current war began with Trump’s declaration of “Operation Epic Fury” based on four military objectives to overthrow the Iranian government:

1. prevent Iran from any nuclear possibilities

2. destroy missile sites

3. degrade any proxy networks

4. annihilate Iran’s navy

While many countries have not been directly involved in this power-driven charade of d*ck-swinging, the whole world has already or will suffer the trickle down effects of this ridiculousness.

Despite realising this, many governments have stayed away from taking part, preventing more carnage, or helping others. Many have been busy buffering their own shores and making sure that they and theirs are safe. While the ‘big guys’ at the top continue to bark orders and go tit for tat, other authorities are almost too scared to reprove the madness and ask for a complete stop.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to demand “that Iran open the Strait of Hormuz or face “hell” … saying the US will hit Iranian power plants and bridges”, Israel continues to bomb civilians in Lebanon, and oil prices skyrocket. Even if peace was found today, the Strait of Hormuz will never be the same.

We live on a finite planet with finite resources. Because of this war, we’re losing more oil than the three consecutive oil crises in the 1970s - up to 11 million barrels a day according to Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

There’s a war going on outside no person is safe from. No matter how invincible we may think we are, and this war will have many repercussions for a very long time. What this war is showing us is that it is clear that top-down approaches to power are messy. They’re based on biases, stereotyping, power-struggles, and ego.

What this war must teach us is that it’s time to take the power back.

There are 4 types of power (by author and teacher: Starhawk)

1. Power-Over is power built on force, coercion, domination, and control. It motivates largely through fear which helps protect and hoard the leader’s power.

2. Power-With is shared power that grows out of collaboration. It is built on respect, mutual support, influence, and empowerment.

3. Power-To allows team members to maintain their own agency and acknowledges their unique potential to make a difference.

4. Power-Within is the ability to recognize the differences in others and the self-confidence to challenge assumptions along with long-held beliefs. Power-within is the belief that you can make a difference.

At the moment we are victims to the power over us. Many around the world are pawns to this game being played without our direct involvement. We can see pieces falling and being removed all around us, but we’re stuck in our tiny box - helpless and at the mercy of the hand that moves us around the chess board.

But what if we stopped that?

Because ultimately, humans made this power over us. We allowed it to happen. Unknowingly. But we voted these monsters into power. We succumbed to their game. We watched quietly as kings and queens were defeated, all fortresses were torn down, and our lives were disregarded by those salivating for the want of more.

But we can resist.

By taking the power back from those with power over, we can start to build the power within, and then the power with, and then have the power to - stop this madness.

Grassroots, bottom-up communities are so important today. Now more than ever we need people to band together and say ‘enough is enough’. I can do something on my part. Now more than ever we need to promote education and awareness, because every single person on this planet has the power to do something for the good of humanity.

The Four Agreements (by Dr. Don Miguel Ruiz)

• Be Impeccable With Your Word.

• Don’t Take Anything Personally.

• Don’t Make Assumptions.

• Always Do Your Best.

Now we need to learn how to cultivate that power within.

We need to break free from autopilot, turn our gazes inside, ask what we need to be happy, to be sufficient, to be at peace. And it’s really the most simple things like mindful living, breathing deeply and intentionally, meditating, journalling, reflecting. And once we find that power within, we can find the power with our tribes - building communities and islands of coherence. Hearts being together for peace and harmony with our human, non-human, and more-than-human brethren. Supporting each other, knowing we’re in this together, being earthlings rather than enemies.

And with that - we have the power to build emergent systems of life as we were made to have. Living in reciprocity and gratitude for the gifts that Mother Nature has given us, finding ways for everyone to thrive in whatever situation they’re in, building each other up instead of tearing down, finding ways that we can contribute to the betterment of the society as a whole.

We need to take the power back.

What I can offer: HERE

💌 Let’s talk: change@theecochapter.com

In service of our planet,
💚 Marla Lise, Earthling at The Eco Chapter