It started on a bike ride around Pulau Ubin.

We’d rented bicycles at the jetty and were slowly making our way along the coastal path — no traffic, no malls, just dirt tracks, mangroves, and the four of us pedaling at a pace that felt almost foreign after the usual rhythm of city life.

Halfway through, we stopped by the water to catch our breath. My daughter was looking out at the mangroves for a long while — quiet, which isn’t usually like her.

Then she asked, “Papa, why doesn’t Singapore have more places like this?”

I gave her some answer about land scarcity and development priorities. She wasn’t satisfied. She pushed further.

She’s been reading about climate change at school — the heat waves, the disappearing forests, the species going extinct — and something about standing in one of the last quiet, wild corners of our island brought all