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Earthlink was the proud host of the Joint University Environmental Conference (JUEC), which was held last 28th of May, Saturday. JUEC aims to provide a platform for IHL environmental clubs to share and discuss the possibility of collaboration on their projects. Our friends from the environmental scene in Singapore also joined the event. Participants of JUEC included representatives from university-based environmental clubs, namely NUS Students Against Violation of the Earth (NUS SAVE), Yale-NUS Sustainability Movement (I’dECO) and SMU VERTS, along with representatives from environmental organizations such as National Environment Agency (NEA), Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR), ECO Singapore, and People’s Movement to Stop Haze (PM.Haze). Every delegate talked about their upcoming events and approached each other to discuss potential collaboration efforts. After a sumptuous dinner, the delegates from the university clubs stayed back for the closed-door session, where they proposed and discussed more specific collaboration plans.
More photos available at :JUEC Facebook Photo Album

Earth Hour is a worldwide environment conservative movement for our mother Earth organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). This annual event intends to encourage individuals, communities, households and businesses to switch off their lights for just one hour, from 8.30pm to 9.30pm in order to show their commitment to this planet they are living on. It was first started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia back in 2007, but it has grown to engage more than 7000 cities and towns worldwide and is still expected to continue growing.

In conjunction with Earth Hour, Earthlink NTU, after months of planning, discussions and preparations, successfully launched an Earth Hour event on 19th of March, 2019. This project was only made possible through collaborations with many parties such as NUS Save and Ideaco; not to mention the contributions of our sponsors, with City Development Limited as our honorable Gold Sponsor. This was one of the largest events held by Earthlink in academic year 15/16 – which spanned from 9.30a.m to 9.30p.m. It is comprised of three main phases, each with a different tasks to be accomplished: namely Training Workshops, Outreach Program and the Night Event.

The event began with the registrations of approximately 50 passionate volunteers in NTU. The majority of them were from Earthlink NTU, but some volunteers are from other institutions like Hwa Chong Junior College. They proceeded to the Training Workshops where they were trained on how to reach the public and convey the messages in a friendly way. After the training workshops, it was the time for them to apply what they had learnt.

The volunteers left NTU by bus at 1.00p.m sharp, headed for the residential area of Jurong Spring. In the outreach program, the volunteers were divided into a few groups, with each group proceeding to different block. Over the course of 3 hours, they approached the residents to explain the purpose and benefits of Earth Hour, as well as encouraging them to participate by switching off their lights for an hour at night. In the meantime, the volunteers also reminded the residents about the Night Event which would begin shortly.

The Night Event began on 5.45p.m. It was the main draw of the entire event, where delicious foods, great performances, lucky draws, interactive games and goodies’ bags were provided to the audiences at just S$2 per pax. The foods were halal vegetarian in order to cater for everyone’s food restrictions, while being more environmentally friendly.

During the event, several booths were set up around the seating area comprising of registration booth to welcome the participants, and interactive game’s booths which intended to pass on certain environment related messages such as reduce, reuse and recycle, as well as energy saving tips. In order to promote the idea of “Bring Your Own Container”, a lunchbox was given along with a goodies’ bag to participants who had completed the booth games. Before the closing ceremony but after the lucky draws had been done, a countdown session to switch off the lights was initiated to mark the beginning of Earth Hour.

In conclusion, environment awareness is a necessary thing to be raised among the public. You might have no idea of how much waste is being generated by every one of us in a single year, but the resultant effects are incredibly detrimental. If we do not stop what we are doing and start changing, we are putting our lives and futures at stake. All in all, this event could be considered as a successful one, as the responses from the residents were overwhelming. This wouldn’t have happened without the active participation of all volunteers, the efforts of the organizing committee, the help from other parties as well as the sponsorship from various organizations. We would like to express our deepest gratitude once again to everyone who was involved in making this event a success.

As Day 2 of Greenfest 2016 drew to a close, Earthlink celebrated the work and effort put in by our subcommittees through the Subcommittee Appreciation Night. The event started at 6 pm to allow the subcommittees who have been volunteering for Greenfest a brief rest before attending the Appreciation Night. After registration, everyone chose a table and settled down. The event was kicked off with a speech from Steven, our President, thanking everyone for their hard work this past academic year, and for making Greenfest a resounding success. Steven also surprised everybody with his performance of You Raise Me Up – which was nothing short of incredible.

To warm up the mood, a mass game session was conducted. Everyone was asked to mingle about and form new groups according to various rules. By the time the mass game was concluded, dinner was served.  After dinner was a relaxing free and easy session, where everyone were allowed free reign to do anything they wanted. A photo booth was also set up for the occasion, which allowed everyone to take photos together. As there was a photo printer at the booth, participants were even able to obtain a hardcopy to bring home.

Finally, to wrap up the event, a lucky draw was held. Lucky members of the Earthlink committee were able to walk away with food containers, FairPrice vouchers, pendrives, Starbucks tumblers, and even power banks! Although this was a small event to thank everyone for their help this past academic year, I felt that the event really showed just how far Earthlink had come this past year. Personally, I have made many new friends and learned many new things during my time as a part of Earthlink. I hope that the end of the academic year doesn’t mean that we stop being a part of the Earthlink family – I look forward to seeing all of you next year!

With a growing population and ever-growing demand for food, water, space and other limited resources, the number of environmental issues we are faced with has skyrocketed in recent years. It’s hard to keep up with all the problems that our planet is plagued with and all the things we need to do to minimise the consequences we have on the environment. With that in mind, Greenfest 2016 was an event focused on not one, but many environmental issues, a hodgepodge of booths, games, and prizes to raise awareness on a variety of issues such as waste, energy, nature reserves, pollution, deforestation and many others.

A massive undertaking, Earthlink collaborated with numerous organisations in Singapore to raise awareness amongst NTU students about their part to play in environmental conservation and the overall improvement of our planet’s health. It also drew critical links between our actions and the problems we later find ourselves facing as a result of them (such as the haze). While this may sound like a dull, sanctimonious affair, it was quite the opposite. Hosted at the newly constructed Canopy K in NTU’s North Spine, the event featured music, games, and attractive (even somewhat unique) prizes, including mini cacti and reusable bamboo cups. Other features included a bicycle-powered electric blender, to highlight the importance of renewable energy sources, a leaf-bookmark making station, and a booth featuring herbs grown in NTU’s lesser-known herb garden.

NTU is continuously pushing green initiatives and raising awareness about the environment. With its dedication to its EcoCampus plan, it comes as no surprise that initiatives by Earthlink within NTU attract so much interest. The need for environmental consciousness may seem obvious, but with the ever-worsening environmental conditions, both in Singapore and globally, the message clearly needs reiteration. Simple measures taken by students can collectively make a huge impact. Conserving water through methods we have been reminded of for years in school, using reusable containers instead of disposable plastic, as well as sourcing and supporting sustainable industries whenever possible are all things we can do that may cause some short-term inconvenience, but will reap immeasurable benefits in the long term. It just takes some mindfulness and concern for the planet we are collectively responsible for. Greenfest aimed to show that this needn’t be a dreary, dull task, but can be fun, engaging and highly rewarding to us and everyone around us.

It was a hot, sunny morning – a good reminder of the weather we have in Singapore; and an appropriate setting for the Saturday event about water. The theme of Singapore’s World Water Day 2016 is: Walk, Jog, Conserve – make every drop count. The neighbourhood community of Jurong Lake: elderly residents, families, and students alike were invited to take part in the event.

Sweaty and warm from an early mass walk/jog around the Garden, it was a crucial reminder to the public about how much we need water. Water is a valuable resource that we commonly take for granted, especially given that we do not need to worry about water shortages or poor water quality in Singapore. The effective management and treatment of water could be both a good and bad thing in this respect. Schools and organisations came early to set up their booths in a coordinated effort with PUB to educate the public about the significance of water conservation, the value of water, and how water allows us to enjoy meaningful activities.

River Valley High School helped to promote awareness about virtual water. Water is inherent in everything we do, use, or consume; computers, plastics, clothes – basically everything – require lots of water to produce. They also had a hands-on “Residential Rain Garden” activity, where participants can create a well-drained, mini plant, in reused NEWater bottles.

Making the effort to conduct their own research, Jurong Junior College shared their research results on cost savings from water and energy conservation. They also had structures made from recycled 500ml plastic bottles to visually represent the amount of water we waste by leaving the tap running instead of using a mug when brushing our teeth, for instance.

Boon Lay Garden Primary School represented their spin-off experimental findings about the use of “Shade Balls” to reduce evaporation from a water body. This is an idea actually implemented for the Los Angeles reservoir in an attempt to preserve enough supply amidst the tough drought last year.

A key showcase from Yuan Ching Secondary School was their very prominently decorated kayak, which serves to highlight their established Dragon Boating CCA. This is to remind the public that water allows us to enjoy many recreational water activities.

Earthlink was also active in engaging and educating the public about the impending water crisis around the world, and how it affects Singapore. Simple but thought-provoking questions were posed to participants about how they conserve water at home, and how they can do more.

There were also organisations – namely Engineering Good, Anytime Fitness, and the Taman Jurong GRO – promoting their various work and activities. Engineering Good aimed to bring clean water to developing countries via “humanitarian engineering”. Their LifeStraws, Biosand filters, and Ceramic Pot Filters are all designed to eliminate most pathogens and bacteria from water, hence giving the people clean water on the spot.

We are all truly fortunate to be living in Singapore, with access to clean water supplies. Hopefully participants were able to take away lessons from the short event about the necessity to conserve our water. It doesn’t take much to waste that little bit of water, but it also doesn’t take much to save that little bit of water we waste: “Make Every Drop Count”.

Greening NTU 2016 was a two-day event organised by Earthlink on the 17th and 18th of February to promote green living and environmentally conscious lifestyle choices. Chief among these was Green Monday, a growing movement that advocates vegetarianism and veganism, at least once a week on Mondays.

The reasons behind Green Monday are manifold. From an environmental standpoint, animal agriculture requires space, crops, water and other resources that are simply unsustainable. According to ourworld.net, over 50% of the planet s crops are currently being used to feed animals and not people. The animals that are fed these crops are certainly not able to sustain as many people as the crops themselves would sustain; an elementary understanding of food chains and the downgrading of nutritional value as you progress up the chain from plants to predators would show that. Alternatively, the mere fact that over a billion people in the world are undernourished could prove that there is a problem with the distribution of resources.

according to the National Geographic. To produce this much meat, farmers and factories can t spend much time on ensuring clean and humane treatment of animals. Many argue that humans are natural herbivores, judging by the shape of our teeth and the lack of developed incisors. I m no biologist, so I make no claims as to the validity of these statements. However, as an engineering student, one thing I do understand is efficiency. We are funnelling half our potential food sources into animal agriculture which returns a significantly less amount of food. This is inefficient and unsustainable.

Many worry that cutting out meat from diets poses a health risk to humans. After all, meat and dairy provides us with Vitamin D, B12, iron, calcium and of course, protein. However, while these may be convenient sources of these nutrients, plant foods are often much denser in these nutrients. Beans and legumes provide abundant protein; leafy greens are much richer in calcium than milk and cheese. And all the other vitamins found in animal products can be found in fruits and vegetables with just a little extra effort. One needs only turn to YouTube to find a veritable fruit farm of people advocating all manner of vegan, fruitarian, raw-till-four, fully-raw, bananas-only, potatoes-only, juice-only, high-carb-low-fat, low-carb-high-fat, high-carb-high-fat (I m still working out how this one works) diets that do not include animal products whatsoever, but still provide all the nutrients needed for a healthy lifestyle. Of course, I m not suggesting we drop everything and start shovelling down fruit; that would be, well, bananas.

out meat could even save us some money, considering meat costs a lot more than beans or vegetables. Greening NTU aimed to show students that a day of no meat could benefit human health, the environment, and animals. And who knows, one day a week might turn into two, or even three. Reducing the demand for meat even slightly may give animal agriculture industries a chance to rethink their processes and work towards a kinder, more humane and more sustainable world for animals and humans alike.

Not at all put off by the prospect of getting muddy, eight Earthlinkers enthusiastically signed up for the Horseshoe Crab Research and Rescue programme conducted by Nature Society Singapore (NSS). It is an event aimed at getting the public to be more in touch with the biodiversity we have in Singapore, specifically the Horseshoe Crab. By making the public go hands-on, a deeper connection can be forged between them and the Horseshoe Crabs, hence cultivating their sense of wanting to protect and conserve this species.
The Horseshoe Crab is not exactly a crab as its name might suggest; it actually descends from an unexpected lineage of spiders and scorpions. It is an ancient species, predating flying insects and even the dinosaurs! The Horseshoe Crab is a deeply fascinating species, such that there is even a complete, detailed, and engaging website all about it here:
http://horseshoecrab.org/
The Horseshoe Crab attracted people from all walks of life into joining the conservation effort. Both young and old, students and moms, and all those simply interested in interacting first-hand with the species, were truly amazed at and awed by it. One could tell from the look on their faces that they were deeply engrossed and eager about getting down and dirty with the Horseshoe Crabs.
The event was held at the Kranji mudflats, in which the coastal species and the mangrove species (two of the four kinds of Horseshoe Crabs found worldwide) roam. The guides from NSS explained some features about the Horseshoe Crab and some factors to distinguish between the male and female crabs. While it may seem awkwardly placed, the tail of the Horseshoe Crab allows it to properly navigate through the mud. Male crabs have more beefy and muscular arms; the females are usually larger in size. A male and female crab were passed around the participants so that they could get a closer look. At this point, one might be worried that some anxious person might accidentally hurt or drop the crab in fear. Yet, everyone was really careful with handling the crab, in full wonder for the species.
We were all then divided into groups of around 15 people and sent out into the muddy fields to fend for ourselves. We were supposed to look out for and retrieve any Horseshoe Crab that we saw, so that they could be measured and weighed for research purposes. The sight of everyone eagerly and happily frolicking in the mud made me feel hopeful for humanity s future. This particular scene reminded me of the olden days where children can be seen playing around in the green, in the mud, out and connected with nature. Perhaps participants will realise the importance of nature and strive to protect what is left, rather than continue being cooped up within the concrete walls we have built around us.
Overall, it was a truly fun and engaging experience for all participants alike. About 150 crabs were found  a dismal number partially owing to the heavy rains in the morning, or could it be due to another reason? Lots of litter were picked up from the mudflats: plastic bags, wrappers, product packaging and even huge tarps were found. It was not just the mudflats; the area separating the coast and human civilisation was so heavily littered and choked with waste, it was as though I was seeing the ugly and dirty side of Singapore. We have such a fascinating species living in our country; can we really bear to see their habitat defiled and tarnished by our polluting ways? Hopefully the state of the environment in which the Horseshoe Crabs lived was a real wake-up call to all participants: we should not destroy our wondrous natural environment, and should protect these amazing creatures and secrets nature holds for us.

On the sunny Saturday morning of the 27th of February, 35 Earthlinkers came together to join International Coastal Cleanup Singapore (ICCS) – an event organized by Nature Society Singapore (NSS).
After having a light breakfast, we travelled by bus to the Lim Chu Kang beach, where we would be cleaning up. When we had reached our destination, we unloaded all our equipment and listened to a safety briefing by Zhi Sian, the Nature Guiding Director. We then split up into groups and distributed the equipment  which consisted of gloves and tongs  among ourselves before heading down to the beach. We were joined by 28 other participants, which were from Earth Buddy, another environmental organization, and the public.
The sight of the beach was not pleasant, to say the least; it was littered with all sorts of garbage, from shredded plastic bags to abandoned truck tires. At 10.30 am, we started to pick up any trash that we could move  we decided that things like the abandoned table half buried in the dirt would not be worth the time to dig out. I spent the vast majority of the next two hours picking up Styrofoam scraps, which proved to be the most numerous type of waste found washed up on the beach. Most of it looked like they were shredded pieces of Styrofoam food containers, but we did find pieces of foam packaging as well.
Although foam products were the most plentiful, we managed to collect a ridiculous variety of garbage from the beach. The runner-up in terms of quantity was plastics such as bottles, plastic bags, and even a few lighters and combs. There were also quite a few glass bottles and lightbulbs (two fluorescent tubes even) lying around the beach. Of course, we had also collected a couple of unusual articles like a glass tile and a huge abandoned fishing net, all tangled up in the prop roots of a mangrove tree; that was quite a fun item to move, as many of our participants can testify.
By 12.30 pm, the participants formed a human chain to move the bags of trash they have collected to a central point for weighing. All in all, we have managed to collect a staggering 982.5 kg of trash (including that fishing net) among all participants! The most worrisome part of this is that we collected this amount of trash even though we did not clean the beach up entirely in the short two hours of the event. Another point is that the most numerous types of waste, the plastics and foams, are the most hazardous to marine life because they float, and is nearly impossible to digest.
With that being said, I would still consider this event to be a success, not just because we literally removed over a ton of garbage from the beach, but also because I can see how it exposed the participants to the consequences of littering; several participants even commented that they would be more careful with where they throw their garbage. However, I think that we should not just be concerned with where we throw our trash, but also be concerned about the volume and type of trash we produce as well. Even though it was exhausting, everyone felt a sense of achievement seeing the beach that was much, much cleaner than it was before. I personally felt that this was a meaningful event, and would not hesitate to join again next time  I am sure that many participants share my sentiments too.

Nature Trails and Night Wonders (NTNW) is one of the most fascinating outdoor activities of Earthlink. It is sort of like a nature classroom – which is quite popular in the western education system – intended to let participants experience the vibrance of the mangroves firsthand . Apart from that, this activity was also one of the outreach events organized by Earthlink, meaning that this event was not solely meant for Earthlink s members, but for all NTU students.

NTNW was organized on the 30th of January, which was a Saturday. The entire event was carried out at the Pasir Ris Park and it lasted for about 8 hours in total, including travelling time. The event proceeded successfully and satisfyingly, with the sun shining splendidly. Approximately 50 participants, including Earthlinkers partook in this event. To warm them up for the walk and to break the ice among them, the participants were randomly divided into 4 teams to compete in the games conducted by our game masters.

After the ice breaking games, it was time for the main attractions of this event: the nature walks. There were 2 individual nature walks being conducted, namely the Nature Trails and the Night Wonders. Nature Trails was conducted during day time, around 5pm in the evening, at Kitchen Garden in the park. Along the journey, a variety of edible plants like vegetables, culinary herbs and spices were showcased to all of us. The nature guides played their roles well in giving extra information and explanation whenever necessary, such as the uses of the plants, flowering season, as well as the plantation method. In the park, we frequently discovered various living creatures like butterflies and birds. We even saw a chicken wandering around!

Night Wonders was the finale of the event. It was carried out during the night in the mangrove forest. Again, all the participants were led by their respective nature guides for a mangrove board walk. This time, at a significantly different habitat from the previous walk, we were able to view all the flora and fauna that had adapted themselves to the mangrove environment. Mangrove swamps are characteristically high in salinity but has a low oxygen content in the water, as well as an increased exposure to high temperatures during low tide. As such, we could discover a unique ecosystem in the swamp, such as mangrove trees that possess breathing and props roots, the dog-faced water snake and mudskippers. We learnt a lot about this special ecosystem during the journey, from both our own observations and the information provided by nature guides.

As a conclusion, this journey did not just allow us to view the beauty of nature, but also how human activities affect it. We should bear in mind that environmental issues decide our future too. Therefore, we need to find a balance point between urbanization and conservation of environment, in order to seek for continuity of Earth s life as well as for human to better off.

On the 26th and 27th March, by the newly renovated North Spine, Earthlink held Keep Them E-Live, an event aimed at raising awareness on electronic waste, which is a topic discussed not nearly as much as it should be. The constant improvements and updates in the electronics world have made the shelf life of smartphones, laptops and other devices very, very short. New and improved versions of devices are released constantly, and consumers often struggle to stay up to date with their tech, and don t have the time to think about where their old phones and devices are going. Improper disposal of these devices are extremely dangerous for the environment as they contain lead and mercury, and can release toxic fumes when incinerated. Consumers may also be interested to know that their devices contain rare and valuable resources within their circuitry, which could lower the burden on the earth if they were to extract and recycle them.

Often, consumers who haven t the time to repair and salvage slightly faulty devices choose to throw them out and replace them with new ones. However, making an effort to have them repaired could reduce the amount of e-waste produced, while maintaining the device s functionality, and lowering the impact on the earth and the consumers wallet.

Keep Them E-Live focused on educating the NTU community about e-waste in Singapore and around the world, and provided simple tips to cut down on e-waste. This was done through mini games held at the booths that aimed to inspire responsibility and awareness on the consumers part.

The message that Earthlink has for consumers is simple: be mindful of your electronics, repair when you can, replace only if necessary, and the impact we could collectively have on the world would be tremendous. A few simple changes on our part could result in reduced mining and deforestation, preserving ecosystems and reducing the effects of global warming.