By Chloe Tan and Gladys Chua
Since Project LUWAK Singapore was founded in October 2013, the team has taken various steps to inform the public about the plight of common palm civets in the caged-sourced kopi luwak trade. Our main outreach strategies include 1) educating merchants/cafes, 2) partnering established animal welfare organisations and 3) spreading the word through social media and public talks. We initially aimed to campaign against kopi luwak locally, but it eventually caught the attention of concerned groups and individuals overseas, and several partnerships were forged as a result. Here’s a look back at our milestones so far and also a glimpse of what’s to come!
Project LUWAK in Singapore
Launch of our infographics
As a team leveraging heavily on the power of social media, we recruited artist Esther Wee who designed this eye-catching series of infographics. The initial launch received 130 shares!
Partnership with SPCA Singapore
In January 2014, we linked up with SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Singapore and shared a write-up on unethically-sourced kopi luwak. The kind people at SPCA promptly published an article expressing a strong position against the trade. The webpage directs readers to our blog.
Link – http://www.spca.org.sg/animalwelfare_food_details.asp?id=760
Partnership with Project: WILD (Singapore)
We also got in touch with Project: WILD (Singapore) who front a campaign against the use of endangered animals for human consumption. Project: WILD is a well-known presence on social media. In March 2014 they shared our infographics on their Facebook page and 104 people subsequently shared the graphics!
Interview with The Online Citizen
March 2014 was a great month for the luwaks. With the publishing of “10Q – Project LUWAK SG: Putting some serious shit in your cuppa” by The Online Citizen (TOC), a popular site dedicated to cyber activism in Singapore, outreach for our campaign bumped up several notches and also received attention from a new audience. Thanks Howard Lee from TOC for the feature!
Link – http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2014/03/10q-project-luwak-sg/
Civet talk at Nanyang Girls’ High School
Civet researcher Xu Weiting (a.k.a. Civetgirl) spoke to 430 Secondary 3 students from Nanyang Girls’ High School on 2 May 2014. The girls enjoyed the talk and many were surprised that common palm civets can be found in Singapore! Shocked and dismayed that the kopi luwak trade is inflicting so much pain on these animals, the students paid-it-forward by featuring Project LUWAK Singapore at their school’s Open House on 24 May 2014. Posters were exhibited at the NYGH Backyard and 4 Degrees Cafe to show visitors how each of us can play a part in eliminating civet coffee farms.
Project LUWAK beyond Singapore
Partnership with SPCA Hong Kong
By collaborating with Jeanna Cheung (SPCA Hong Kong) and Fung Tze Shan (our Singaporean friend), we managed to roll out our infographics in traditional Chinese text, in a bid to bridge the language gap and spread the word!
Linking up with conservationists in Bali, Indonesia
Jonna Lehtinen, a primate conservationist residing in Bali, contacted our team to enquire about the printing and distribution rights of our infographics. She had been interviewed by the local newspaper Bali Advertiser, targeted at expatriates and tourists, about kopi luwak and came across our resource. Jonna is engaging her students in distributing the posters featuring the infographics at various tourist destinations and restaurants in Bali. We look forward to a long-term partnership where word continues to be spread to other parts of Indonesia, such as Jakarta.
Link – http://www.bawabali.com/bawa-news/1-latest-news/217-ethics-in-a-coffee-cup-by-ibu-kat.html
Sharing by animal welfare organisations in other countries
The power of social media also helped take our movement to other parts of Asia via SPCA Selangor and PETA Asia-Pacific. We are thankful to have friends around the globe who share the same concerns about the kopi luwak industry.
You can help too! Help us further the cause and sign the petition today: http://tinyurl.com/projectluwaksg-pledge. If you have ideas or would like to feature Project LUWAK Singapore in your page or column, feel free to email projectluwaksg@gmail.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Project LUWAK Singapore 