Earth Hour Outreach

Make some noise for Earth Hour 2017! Earth Hour is a yearly initiative, celebrated across 172 other countries, to allocate 60 minutes to turn off all lights and electrical appliances! This year, Earthlink NTU has organized two Saturdays of fun and games to spread the awareness of Earth Hour 2017, and to get more people to join us for 60 minutes of saving the planet. The first event of Earth Hour 2017 was a training workshop that happened on March 18th, with Earthlinkers ready to lead their respective groups of volunteers to learning more about the environment and Earth Hour!
The event kicked off on a high note with the ice-breaking game of Paper Towns, where every group was supposed to replicate green buildings in Singapore, armed only with newspapers and scotch tape. At the end of the session, we were all amazed at the replicas of Supertree Grove, and The Hive that some of the teams have built! After getting volunteers all warmed up, the organizers of the event took the floor with a presentation to share some facts about Earth Hour and the environment. Did you know that more than 100 countries are participating in Earth Hour now? Even though many more are starting to catch on, there is always more to do, and that is why Earthlinkers are trying to spread the word about Earth Hour with the outreach.
During the workshop, a group of students from Wee Kim Wee School was also invited to share their final year project with the participants. Their project, “Make the Cut”, is focused around sustainable fashion, and they organize and coordinate events to dispel some myths about fashion. They have held restyling roadshows, which challenges participants to mix and match a limited number of clothes to make 7 different outfits. They also encourage upcycling of clothes, and one solution that they had provided was to repurpose old clothes into purses and pouches, instead of discarding them. This led the event to another hands-on activity for the volunteers!
Volunteers were provided with old clothes, zippers and fabric glue, and with instructions and kind assistance from the founders of “Make the Cut,” everyone was measuring and cutting, and eventually made their purses and pouches within the allotted time! Kudos to the “Make the Cut” team (https://www.facebook.com/makethecut.sg/)!
After the good fun, and armed with more knowledge about what the volunteers are volunteering for, the event shifted to Jurong Spring Community Club to begin the actual outreach program. Volunteers were briefed about the Earth Hour event to be held at Jurong Spring CC, and all the talk about workshops like natural soap making, terrarium building, plant propagating, etc. and also the recycling drive that got everyone excited! Volunteers then went door-to-door for the outreach program to raise awareness about Earth Hour, and the event happening on 25th March, which is held in conjunction with Jurong Spring CC.
Outreach events are never 100 percent foolproof, as some of the volunteers of the outreach experienced. There were residents who were interested and wanted to know more, but there were also others who are not as receptive. However, the outreach program was a success overall, and was even blessed with cool weather. It started raining cats and dogs after the event officially ended for the day, so we got lucky there!
Earthlink NTU’s main event for Earth Hour 2017 is happening 25th March 2017, and you may visit our Facebook page for more information! Remember, it only takes 60 minutes to make the earth a better place, are you game to join us for Earth Hour 2017?