Author: he0001er

In collaboration with Earthlink, on January 11th, 2023, Mr. Karhian Toh, the founder of Supremo Tailor, conducted a talk on sustainable fashion at an event entitled “Looking great comes from making great choices.” The event gathered numerous participants and Mr. Toh had provided valuable insights and tips on how to make better styling choices in order to achieve these aims: to look good, feel good, and do good.

Mr. Toh began by discussing the importance of sustainability in the fashion industry, highlighting the negative impact of fast fashion on the environment and the people who work in the industry. He stressed the need and importance on consumers to be more conscious of their fashion choices and to support brands that prioritise sustainability. He then moved on to share some styling tips that had helped the audience make better clothing choices. He emphasised the importance of investing in high-quality, timeless pieces that can be worn for years to come, rather than buying cheap, trendy items that will quickly fade out of style. He also spoke about the benefits of renting or borrowing clothes, rather than solely purchasing them, as a method to reduce the negative environmental impact of fashion.

Overall, the talk was very informative and inspiring. Mr. Toh’s personal anecdotes and practical tips resonated well with the audience, and many left the event feeling motivated to create more sustainable fashion choices. The event was a great reminder that looking great and being sustainable are not mutually exclusive and that we all have the power to make a difference through our fashion choices.

Fig 1.1: Participants and nature guides before the start of the event at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
 
Mangroves are a unique habitat for a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna.  As such, many of these mangrove species are not found anywhere else because of their adaptations to the mangroves. Hence, it is not often that we get to appreciate the mangrove biodiversity. Additionally, this unique ecosystem covers only about 0.5% of Singapore’s land area today, an impact due to Singapore’s rampant urbanisation and deforestation. The largest stretch remaining is found in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (SBWR) and SBWR received its status as Singapore’s first ASEAN Heritage Park in 2003 and has been recognized as a site of international importance for migratory birds.

Fig 1.2: A participant having a closer look at the kingfisher perched on a pole along with the myriad of shorebirds at the wetland
 
This nature walk, which was held on 28 December 2022 by Earthlink’s Nature Guiding team, provides an avenue and opportunity for participants to get up close and personal with the beauty of the mangrove forests. The walk also serves to cultivate an appreciation of nature and conservation among all participants. Furthermore, as the annual bird migratory season, stretching from September to December is underway, participants may observe bird species that cannot be found within Singapore at any other time of the year. The top 3 moments experienced from the event were the observation of a collared Kingfisher, witnessing rare species through the vast biodiversity and how highly impressed were the participants towards the nature guides in their expertise in the field. Hence, the objectives were met in providing an outfield type of education, while aiming to raise awareness on local biodiversity issues and the importance of nature and environmental conservation, as well as to allow participants to understand the important role a nature reserve plays in preserving and conserving Singapore’s wildlife.
 
Through this event, Earthlink’s Nature Guiding Committee also hopes to expand the scope and reach of its presence. The world of nature is never fully explored and understood without the practical experience in the field. Thus, we hope to continue to inspire students and the masses to act in the conservation and appreciation of nature.

The International Migrant’s Day in befriending our migrant friends, was hosted on 10 December 2022 by Earthlink’s Community Engagement in showing appreciation for migrant workers in Singapore. Booths were set up and they were conceptualised with the aim of emphasising the act of appreciation for our migrant workers and injecting a fun element into learning about environmental issues. One booth was called ‘land a plane’ and migrant workers had to throw a paper aeroplane into boxes labelled with country names. Questions about the country would be asked and points would be awarded if the question was answered correctly. Another booth was called ‘toss a ball’ and migrant workers had to toss a ball into one of the holes in the cardboard followed by answering a question related to the environment. In conclusion, the outcome was achieved as smiles filled the expressions of the migrant workers and were very pleased with the selection of prizes that were prepared for them. Yet, despite all the enjoyable elements, Earthlink hopes that they were able to learn as much about the environmental concerns from the awareness promoted  through the interaction at our booths. The Community Engagement appreciates all the hard work that migrant workers carried out in transforming Singapore into what it is today. They keep our environment clean and allow us to live and work in well constructed buildings and infrastructures. The team is thus elated to have contributed to this event and hope that the migrant workers had a memorable experience!

To gain a better understanding and knowledge on the procedures of farm operations in Singapore, Earthlink NTU’s Gardening portfolio had organized a physical farm tour to provide students with first-hand experience in the operations of commercial rooftop farms in Singapore on 7 Dec 2022.
With a deeper level of appreciation achieved, they can step up their agricultural efforts towards its 30 x 30 goal, which is to meet 30% of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030. Greenhood emerged as one of the winners of Singapore’s first tender for urban farming on HDB carpark rooftops. During the tour, participants developed a deeper insight into Greenhood’s rooftop precision farming, cutting-edge AI controllers for automated crop management, and patent-pending Mobile Aeroponic Channel (MAC) system utilised to maximise the production of salad greens. Participants had also learnt about the essential conditions required in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), and received the opportunity to hear about the ongoing research by Greenhood to establish the most productive vegetable variety. As the tour comes to a close, participants were surprised by receiving the chance to taste fresh kale produced by Greenhood, and participate in a short quiz, wherein 3 lucky participants walked away with mini-hydroponic cups of basil!
Moreover, numerous participants were highly interested in the commercial and community aspects of Greenhood’s operations, with many questions on their business model, outreach and technicality. In particular, questions were raised on Greenhood’s start-up journey and future plans for expansion, which were answered by Greenhood’s knowledgeable founder, Mr Gaurav Saraf. Therefore, as observed from the Q&A sessions, it had proved to be not only engaging but effective in evoking inspiration and participants’ inquisitive nature regarding Greenhood’s future endeavours.

In this last week of Green For Good, Sustainable Living Week. This week, we question how our modern lifestyle has impacted our environment and the way we live, hoping to inspire you to act before it is too late. The main highlights from 21st to 26th March 2022 include a slate of activities that will get you learning about different environmental issues with the chance to partake in hands-on activities, while actually making a difference for the environment. We have events targeted at plastic recycling guided by The Plastic Project (TPP), Bring Your Own Container (BYOC) and Earth Hour in collaboration with West Coast CC.

The second week of Green For Good (GFG) 2022!, also known as NTU Biodiversity Week which is centred around Biodiversity & Conservation. Join us as we dive into a week of nature appreciation and wildlife protection! Green For Good 2022’s NTU Biodiversity Week has a series of exciting workshops, games and even a research symposium!






Spearheaded by Earthlink NTU, teh second week of GFG brings together seven other school clubs and over ten passionate external nature groups such as NParks, Nature Society (Singapore), ACRES, and many more. This year’s event theme is “Pulau NTU”, which highlights our campus’ rich biodiversity through a series of exciting activities. From exhibitions to workshops, virtual challenges to nature walks, the slate of activities during NTU Biodiversity Week are thus meant to spark anyone’s interest in biodiversity & conservation!

To commemorate Earthlink NTU’s flagship environmental festival, Green For Good (GFG) 2022! Centering three pillars—Food Sustainability, Biodiversity & Conservation, and Sustainable Living— a series of articles will be released over the next few days, highlighting the major events from these three pillars!
In the first week of “Green for Good”, our theme is Food Sustainability where we aim to raise awareness on these three different areas: sustainable diets, food waste, and food security. To help cultivate the appropriate green habits on an individual level, fun and enjoyable activities such as the “Farm to Table Cooking Challenge” and “Growing Greens Workshop” are hands-on which aim to encourage participants to learn on the go! In the first activity, the main purpose is to delve deeper into food source consciousness to understand the seriousness of food wastage, while second activity emphasises on nurturing green fingers with self-sufficiency as the value attained.