NTU Ecofest 2020 was a two-day festival held in NTU, Crespion Plaza that featured an exciting array of sustainability-oriented enterprises and student groups, fun DIY workshops as well as talks and movie screenings focusing on environmental conservation and advocacy themes.
The theme for NTU Ecofest 2020 was “Building Our Green Community” and through the event, the team aims to inspire, connect and mobilise a community of people who want to take action for the environment. The team hoped that by giving vendors and organisations this platform, they can help spur the green movement and community from the ground-up, while making living consciously and sustainably the new norm in NTU.
The team had six members and despite being from different majors in NTU, they are driven by similar goals of increasing advocacy for the environment and building a stronger green community where like-minded individuals can interact freely and share important knowledge with each other.
As time is running out to reduce our carbon emissions and prevent the worst effects of climate change, this decade is crucial in determining the fate of our planet and hence the existence of humans and all other living things that share this home with us. We are living in a climate emergency and yet climate action continues to be moving at an ever-slowing pace. The team hoped that with events like NTU Ecofest 2020, they can provide an impetus for participants to take bolder actions towards climate change and spur bolder climate actions.
The Highlights
Success of the campaign were the result of supporters.
Several speakers who are active in the local environmental scene were invited to conduct sharing sessions with participants. Some of the speakers include Xin Run from SG Climate Rally, who spoke about “Climate Crisis and Singapore 101” and Dr Shawn Kaihekulani Yamauchi Lum, President of Nature Society (Singapore), who spoke about “Nature, Technology and Universities – Building Synergies for a More Liveable and Biodiverse World”.
For movie and documentary lovers, the team also screened Okja and Chasing Corals to engage participants.
For participants who prefer DIY activities were not left out. The team engaged Foundspace to conduct weaving workshops at the event.
There was also an array of booths by sustainability-driven enterprises as well as student groups. The include Earthlink NTU, Freedom Cups, Ocean Purpose Project, SusGain and UnPackt.
Other fun activities such as thrifting, clothes swap and sale of environmentally-friendly goods were also organised at the event.
Earthlink NTU shared about its initiatives and programmes at the event. ‘Get Woke’ was one of the few events organised by Earthlink to educate the student population about climate-change and its impact. During the event, there was a showcase of messages and thoughts of NTU students on climate and environmental issues. This served as a good entry point for Earthlink representatives to discuss about climate issues with participants.
The Memories
Reflection #1 – The Challenges
Insufficient publicity.
The team did not have a particularly strong following on their social media account during the initial stages and even leading up to the event. This made them slightly worried (coupled with other problems such as the COVID-19 outbreak) as they were concerned that vendors and speakers may not be very pleased with the turnout.
Although the team had to deal with some last minute cancellation of activities due to the pull out decisions of some vendors, the team was glad that most of them were very understanding and continued to show immense support for the event by turning up and continuing with their booth activities, talks and workshops despite the small crowd.
The event coincided with the COVID-19 outbreak.
It was unfortunate that the COVID-19 outbreak was ongoing during the event, and the team was worried that this might lead to a postponement or worse, cancellation of the festival. However, the event went on as usual, with several safety precautions in place such as compulsory registration for contact tracing purposes.
Thankfully, the vendors and speakers were very understanding and complied with the necessary measures. Despite a lower overall turnout due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the team was heartened to see a higher level of engagement between vendors, speakers and participants, at an event that is more impactful although smaller in scale.
Reflection #2 – The Takeaways
Important to have a common goal.
Even though the organising team consists of students from various study disciplines and years, the event was still a success because everyone in the team had a mutual interest in advocating for the environment and motivated to embark on a project that can leave a greater impact.
The ultimate aim of this event was to bolster the green community in NTU and inspire participants to be leaders in advocating for environmental action and grow their own community.
Teamwork is an essential part to make the event a success.
Throughout the event planning and execution process, the team did a great job in delegating roles and keeping each other in check of the project’s progress. The team was also very supportive in listening to different ideas and inputs, while respecting each other’s opinions that made the pre-event process smooth and enjoyable.
Always be prepared for last minute changes.
With the onset of COVID-19, the team had to be prepared for last-minute changes and take extra precautions as advised by the school. The team managed to soldier on through this and exercise resourcefulness in preparing items like hand sanitizers.
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