Increasing community work through schools and companies
Presently, organizations such as schools and companies have been increasingly taking part in community works. These community works usually involve around natural environments such as beaches and public parks. Additionally, these environmental community work are implemented as mandatory in order to ensure attendance.
School efforts
Schools are crucial in moulding a child’s morals and perspectives on life as he/she spends more time in school than at home per year.
Schools are pushing their students to take part in environmental volunteering in order to promote the sense of environmental citizenship. Students typically volunteer at communal nature spaces such as beaches or parks, and are given simple tasks like picking up litter. By educating environmental citizenship to students, they can cultivate their environmental identities from a developing age.
‘A Bright Spot (Beyond school compounds)’ is one of the few examples on encouraging Singaporean students to take care of our environment beyond school compounds. Students following this movement should remember the phrase: Promote awareness, action and advocacy. On top of being responsible for one’s own actions, students can also educate others and encourage them to be more environmentally friendly.
Picking up litter at a public beach Source:https://www.clearlysurely.com/blog/pitfalls-to-avoid/3-atrocious-reasons-to-buy-an-insurance-policy-2/attachment/cslt-2/
Company efforts
On top of schools, corporations are also taking part in these environmental initiatives in order to build teamwork and a sense of community amongst employees. Certain corporations mandate their employees’ attendance for these community works, counting it as a ‘working day’. By including environmental responsibilities into one’s work life (which takes up a huge chunk of one’s daily life), environmental identities will be slowly, but surely cultivated.
The ‘Path of Service’ programme is a company initiative in the globally known US brand Timberland, which encourages its employees to participate in an community sustainability project of their choice for up to 40 paid hours annually. By volunteering in projects which are helpful to the environment, employees are able to gain recognition from the company and increase their salary. As such, employees are conditioned to view environmental efforts in a positive light, motivating them to cultivate environmental identities and contribute more to the environment.