Despite the pandemic situation, this year NTU Earthlink has amazingly garnered a huge amount of support which led to an estimated 40% increase in engagement level with Green For Good 2022 (GFG) in comparison to Green Fest 2021! Across the wide-scale event, GFG 2022 has managed to achieve total engagement level of 10002 with a plethora of 24 initiatives, supported by 72 partners.
Author: he0001er
Green For Good 2022
This year’s Earthlink NTU’s flagship environmental festival, Green For Good (GFG) 2022!, centering three pillars—Food Sustainability, Biodiversity & Conservation, and Sustainable Living—GFG had seen events related to each pillar run throughout the month of March. These events were co-organised with the Student Affairs Office as well as over 50 other student clubs and external partners. Green For Good 2022 officially kicked started with an Opening Launch addressed by Tan Shi Zhou, President of Earthlink NTU and Prof. Madhavi Srinivasan, Executive Director of NTU Sustainability Office.
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. Through a plethora of engaging and exciting events, such as “Growing Greens Workshop”, where members from Earthlink’s Gardening portfolio will be showing participants how to turn recyclable materials like plastic bottles into self-watering planters, in which edibles can be planted and grown. This event was well-received and garnered 17 participants total with participants commenting they left with a heightened sense of knowledge on the type of edibles that can be planted and grown. Meatless Monday was a huge success for it generated about 1000 participants who came together collectively and created a huge impact as a result.
Many exciting events also occurred during the second week for Biodiversity & Conservation with “Pulau NTU”! This year’s theme highlights how rich our campus biodiversity is through various fun activities! We opened our week with “Our Campus In Nature Dialogue” session with our Guest-Of-Honour, Mr Desmond Lee as we tackled island-wide biodiversity discussion. We also had an exhibition that lasted the whole of March month at the North Spine Sky Deck, accompanied by the Research Symposium: Conservation Conversation. Workshops like “Wildlife 101” and “Strays and Pets” taught participants how to care for biodiversity around campus when we encounter them in our everyday lives! Hope our participants left learning something new! We also had “Learn Through Play ” where our participants played games and learned more about ecosystems! “AdveNTUre Walks” also introduced many more ecosystems around campus to those who joined us in campus-wide walks.
Lastly, for Sustainable Living Week, the highlights for the week features the Bring Your Own! Campaign, The Plastic Project Learning Journey (TPP) and Earth Hour! These events had garnered quite a great level of responses and participation from the audience with Bring Your Own! Campaign generated about 107 participants, The Plastic Project Learning Journey (TPP) generated about 25 responses and lastly, Earth Hour! had garnered an estimated 1300 participation rate! Not only that, we had fun but informative workshops like Repair Hacks Project and Alt.native Upcycling Refashioning Workshop where participants learnt how to give their computers and clothes a second chance! We also had a Linkway Exhibition where we invited 8 external organizations to join our exhibition! Clean Beach Campaign also lasted for a month from 26 February where we engaged 71 participants!
Earthlink would like to give official thanks to these external organisations for Food Sustainability Week, namely, Centre for a Responsible Future, Fine Food, Java Eco Project, iVegan, Wolf + Wald, Veganuary, The Social Space, Bright Green, Indosole, susGain, Earth Society, OMNI, Olive Oil, Ergo, WhatIF Foods, Growth & Opportunities, Green Monday, ALPHA biofuels, Urban Origins, Nanyang Technological University The Department of Food Science & Technology, Ashland, Soil Social, Panasonic, Asian School of The Environment, Sophie’s Bionutrients, insectta, The Food Bank Singapore Ltd, NTU Food Science & Technology Society. We would also like to give our official thanks to these external organisers for NTU Biodiversity Week, namely, Minister for National Development and Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration Mr Desmond Lee, Professor Kwok Kian Woon Associate Vice-President (Wellbeing) NTU Singapore, Associate Professor Valerie Du Toit-Low Deputy Associate Provost (Residential Education) NTU Singapore, Dr Vilma D’Rozario Director of Singapore Wildcat Action Group and Former Associate Professor at NIE NTU Singapore, Dr Shawn Lum President of Nature Society Singapore and Senior Lecturer of Asian School of The Environment NTU Singapore, ACRES, Herpetological Society of Singapore, ASE Club, Jane Goodall Institute, Hamster Society Singapore, Mandai Nature, treatsure, NSEA, Nanyang Technological University Singapore Sustainability Office, West Coast CCC, West Coast CCMC, Residents’ Network, West Coast, Passion Cares Event, Our Singapore Reefs, Singapore Birds Project, SIngapore Pangolin Working Group, Singapore Wildcat Action Group and Singapore Youth Voices For Biodiversity.
Lastly, for the Sustainable Living Week, we would like to give our official thanks to IMPOSSIBLE, alt, PUB, susGain, Chopvalue, Inter-University Environmental Coalition (IUEC), SGP Foods, The Plastic Project, Green Monday, SAVE, SiloamXperience, Project Blue Wave, National Parks, Nanyang Technological University, NTU SCUBA, National University of Singapore Department of Geography, National University of Singapore Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, NTUCMN, GreenSparks, NTU University Scholars Programme and Reef Ecology Study Team (REEF). We express our greatest gratitude towards these amazing organisations for making GFG 2022 successful!
Photo from “Growing Greens” workshop
Photo from “Refashioning Workshop”
Photo from “Repair Hacks” workshop
Screenshot from “Strays and Pets” workshop
Photo of trash collected from Beach Cleanup session
Picture from ”AdveNTUre Walks”
Screenshot of “Our Campus In Nature Dialogue” session
Week 2
Many exciting events also occurred during the Biodiversity & Conservation Week with “Pulau NTU”! This year’s theme highlights how rich our campus biodiversity is through various fun activities! We opened our week with “Our Campus In Nature Dialogue” session with our Guest-Of-Honour, Mr Desmond Lee as we tackled island-wide biodiversity discussion. We also had an exhibition that lasted the whole of March month at the North Spine Sky Deck, accompanied by the Research Symposium: Conservation Conversation. Workshops like “Wildlife 101” and “Strays and Pets” taught participants how to care for biodiversity around campus when we encounter them in our everyday lives! Hope our participants left learning something new! We also had “Learn Through Play” where our participants played games and learned more about ecosystems! “AdveNTUre Walks” also introduced many more ecosystems around campus to those who joined us in campus-wide walks. We also had an online challenge “Pulau NTU”! Did you managed to catch the amazing race, “NTU explorer”? Earthlink hopes that we were able to introduce the rich diversity that NTU has to offer!
International Migrants Day
To celebrate International Migrants Day on 18 December, the Gardening portfolio worked with charity organisation Sama Sama to set up a gardening booth as part of the festival at Kranji Recreation Centre. At our booth, the migrant workers used cleaned plastic bottles to make self-watering planters, with Neon Pothos cuttings. Afterwhich, they decorated their planters with paint and kuti-kuti and took them back to their dormitories.
We gathered at Kranji MRT at 2.45pm, and reached Kranji RC at around 3pm. Once there, we immediately set up our booth: transporting items from the storeroom, laying out the materials like plastic bottles and paints, and filling up our water jugs.
As the migrant workers filed in, some coming from buses, some coming on bicycles, a mix of exhilaration and nervousness began to seep in. Yes, we knew we had done our best in obtaining the materials (eg. We collected and cleaned 100 plastic bottles in three days!!), but what if there was something essential we had overlooked? Or, were the number of plastic bottles enough, the soil enough, the potted plants enough (we only had two)?
“I guess we might need to close shop early, if we run out,” Afraa (our Gardening Director) said grimly.
But the real challenge, we realised, was attracting people to our booth. Wisia and Miwen began creating a pretty planter, hoping that in the process, passers-by could be attracted. Then they paraded the compound carrying the rainbow planters, inviting anyone who looked interested to come see our gardening booth. Terese also invited over anyone who cast us a cursory glance. And the crowd grew, the crowd itself attracting a larger crowd! Looking at the scene unfolding before us, a sense of accomplishment, pride and relief filled our hearts.
By bringing back this vibrant, easy-to-grow wonder-in-a-bottle, we hope that the long-term care of this plant would help our new friends find a new outlet for relaxation.
No doubt, this experience was an enriching one for all. Some migrant workers even imparted their gardening know-hows and tips to us, which we are grateful for.
Altogether, this was a thoroughly meaningful experience, and we are excited for more to come.
Booth by Gardening portfolio
Written by: Rachel Siew and Terese
Earthlink’s Projects Clinches Awards in Student Leaders’ Night 2021
“I’m really proud that the NTU BioBlitz turned out to be such a huge success, especially because it’s an example of how everyday people like you or me can contribute to conservation causes through the power of citizen science.” -Alexis Goh
The Student Leaders’ Night is an annual affair organised by the Student Affairs Office to recognise the contributions of student organisations towards the school and the welfare of fellow students. In the 6th installation of the Student Leaders’ Night, two of Earthlink’s initiatives were shortlisted for the prestigious ‘Mr and Mrs Kwok Chin Yan Award for Student Initiative’. This annual award honours student initiatives which have made significant contributions towards enhancement of student life, the improvement of the campus environment or the betterment of the larger community in the preceding year. The initiative that clinched the award was NTU BioBlitz 2021.
Green For Good 2021 (previously known as GreenFest) was a two-week long outreach event organised by Earthlink’s Campus Outreach portfolio, to raise awareness of environmental issues and spur collective and individual action among the NTU community. This involved engaging staff and students alike through activities such as a Fashion Treasure Workshop and a Bring-Your-Own-Container (BYOC) campaign, to name a few.
On the other hand, NTU BioBlitz was NTU’s first biodiversity-monitoring programme held in NTU. In March 2021, Earthlink’s Nature Guiding portfolio conducted 23 surveys to record the fauna found on campus. This was carried out with the aim of improving human-wildlife interactions as well as to improve NTU’s policies regarding campus wildlife.
Alexis Goh, Chairperson of NTU BioDiversity Day, voiced her thoughts regarding what the award meant for the team. “I’m really proud that the NTU BioBlitz turned out to be such a huge success, especially because it’s an example of how everyday people like you or me can contribute to conservation causes through the power of citizen science.” says the environmental science undergraduate.
“This can then open up the room for more collaboration opportunities, and allow Earthlink members to be more involved in the local conservation scene” – Tay Li Si
As the fellow co-director of Earthlink’s Nature Guiding portfolio, Li Si Tay hopes that moving forward, this initiative would be a stepping stone in increasing awareness of biodiversity throughout the whole NTU community. “I hope that our efforts under the Nature Guiding committee and the upcoming NTU Biodiversity Week committee can put Earthlink NTU on the radar of the other nature groups and organisations in Singapore. This can then open up the room for more collaboration opportunities, and allow Earthlink members to be more involved in the local conservation scene.”, says Li Si regarding his aspirations for the biodiversity and conservation movement.
All in all, the exceptional work of Earthlink and it’s portfolios would not have been possible without the support of the members, the partners as well as the various participants of the activities and initiatives. Moving forward, these awards serve as a supplementary platform to pave the way for the creation and execution of more projects and campaigns aligned with Earthlink’s mission to advocate for environmentally sustainable lifestyles and to increase the NTU community’s awareness on environmental issues.
Appreciation Night 2021
As the semester drew to a close, all the committees of Earthlink gathered in May, for an Appreciation Night event organised by Welfare portfolio. This was a night to celebrate the achievements of the past Academic Year as well as recognise individuals for their contributions to Earthlink.
The Awards given out at the event were:
– Long Service Award (three and four years)
– Innovation Award
– Dedication Award
– Earthlinker of the Year
Sub-Committee Bonding Night 2020
In October, the Camp and Welfare portfolio drew 37 sub-committee and management committee members together through Earthlink’s Sub-Committee Appreciation Night, themed “SPACE”.
Prior to the event, participants were split into groups (with acrostic names signifying friendship: Soulmate, Pal, Amigo, Camaraderie and E Hoa) and met their teammates briefly via WhatsApp.
All teams competed in a simulated space mission to travel from the sun to the earth. To start off, each team played icebreakers among themselves. Thereafter, teams competed against each other in games such as Scrabble, Show and Tell, and a Kahoot quiz on recycling and Earth’s atmosphere.
This virtual event allowed new memories to be forged and friendships formed.
Earth Hour 2021
Earth Hour is an annual event and global movement where individuals, communities, and organisations are encouraged to switch off their electrical lights for one hour. Since 2014, Earthlink has taken an active role in organising Earth Hour events for the South West Communities of Singapore.
For this year’s event, Earth Hour 2021 was held in partnership with the West Coast Youth Network from West Coast Community Club. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Earthlink livestreamed the entire event on Facebook. Nonetheless, such restrictions did not deter External Liaison; the virtual space flourished with lively, memorable activities that left the audience rapt.
Themed videos featured residents of West Coast sharing their personal practices, habits and visions centred on three topics—Carbon-lite living, Recycling, and Gardening. The videos also showcase students making pledges to save the environment, hawker stall owners sharing their packaging tips, and residents showcasing their wonderful
upcycled craftwork—these are very heartwarming and educational at the same time.
Another highlight of the day was the interactive games segment, which a participant remarked as “especially attractive”. Through live polls, viewers made life choices that ranged from the personal to business to the government level. Videos of people making these choices were also streamed.
Next, the event had a lively panel discussion, which was moderated by our External Liaison Director Khushi Chhetija and West Coast Youth Network Murali. The topic was on Singapore’s food resilience, and present at the panel was Minister for Transport, Mr. S. Iswaran as well as representatives from Citiponics, Growthwell Group and Shiok Meats.
In addition to the dance performances by the various NTU groups, a resident, Victoria, also performed a dance signifying climate action. Rich in symbolism of environmental catastrophe and the urgency of climate action, the dances left the audience inspired to take stronger steps to preserve all that we have left on earth.
Insect Feed Tour 2021
In January, Community Engagement organised an Insect Feed Tour to biotechnology company Insect Feed Technologies, where participants learnt about food composting aided by black soldier flies. Prior to the event, the portfolio conducted a briefing to share about food waste as well as how black soldier flies and micro-organisms accelerate decomposition.
In groups of five to eight, participants underwent a guided tour by the hosts of Insect Feed Technologies. The tour featured different stations, such as Hatching (where new insect larvae breed and hatch); Larvae feed (where food waste is fed to the larvae) and Food Processing Plant (grinder where flies are converted into food mix).
By feeding on pre-consumer food waste, black soldier fly larvae transform into a protein-dense animal feed that can replace unsustainable traditional animal feed. As an added bonus, frass is produced as a by-product of the process, which is chockful of nutrients that makes it the perfect organic fertiliser for crops. Some advantages of black soldier flies include how they have a high growth rate and adaptable to different environments.
Many participants were inspired by the passionate and knowledgeable staff members of Insect Feed Technologies. The guided tour and collective sharing from participants made the experience, an educational and memorable one.
Local Community Engagement Programme 2021
@Corporation Primary School
In March, several Earthlink members headed over to Corporation Primary School to conduct a series of educational activities to raise awareness about climate and environmental issues.
Activities on the programme agenda ranged from a ‘bowling pins’ game (above) to a ‘mix-and-match’ pictorial one, all of which seamlessly incorporated bite-size information about the environment.
The children’s boisterous energy was heartwarming, making for an unforgettable and inspiring experience for the Earthlinkers running the event. Said Afraa Aijaz, an Earthlinker from the Resources portfolio, “Educating primary school kids on the importance of thee 5 ‘R’s, the “do”s and “don’t”s of recycling was such a fulfilling experience. I look forward to more of such programmes!”
Reflecting on her experience, Community Engagement Director Yeong Yoong Sze mused: “You would be surprised at how clever and enthusiastic the students today are about climate change and biodiversity.”
Clean Beach for Each 2021
In January, Community Engagement’s Clean Beach for Each campaign rallied the NTU community to take part in beach cleanups, by posting pictures of themselves using specific hashtags.
Tips on how to obtain equipment for cleaning were also provided. By the end of the campaign, the total trash collected amounted to 106.5 kg, and four regions had been covered: Yishun Dam, East Coast Park, Sembawang Park and Pasir Ris Beach.