In 2020, a fire covering the size of a football field and with flames nearly four storeys high broke out in Lim Chu Kang. The fire was caused by horticultural waste that has been accumulated for a long time and burned for almost two weeks. I could see the flames and smoke from my window.
The incident got me thinking about our interactions with nature. When visiting the site of the fire, I could hardly breathe. The burning was a result of a very transactional relationship with nature - we are mostly concerned with making things manageable for humans.