The phrase ‘get woke’ was popularized as a call to action in for the #BlackLivesMatter movement in 2013, after George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin. We adopted it as our event title as a reference to keeping knowledgeable about climate change and environmental issue.
Get Woke was designed to be educational rather than prescriptive. Our goal is to speak to people and help them understand some specifics like what temperatures of global warming, when does our world have to start acting, how people around the world are responding to climate change and how Singapore fits into the picture.
Also, there is a banner painting during our event. Our banner is captioned ‘Our climate is changing, how about you?’, and is a community banner painting and art station, where people can write, paint and share their thoughts on climate and environmental issues.
Lastly, meet Blobbie! Blobbie is a handcrafted plastic monster sculpture created with clean plastic waste collected in NTU by just 2 students over 4 months.
She symbolizes the great amount of waste we create, and we hope she inspires sharing on social media and passersby to rethink their single-use plastic consumption daily.
Thank you all for supporting our event and making this event a success! =)
On 4th of Feb 2020, Earthlink NTU’s Community Engagement had their local community engagement project (LCEP). LCEP is an educational project that aims to promote environmentalism to local primary school students through fun games and activities relating to recycling and sustainability. We also shared our knowledge of nature and biodiversity in Singapore to the students.
Hey Earthlings! Do you have a broken laptop lying around or want to learn how to repair a laptop? ?? Join us at Repair Hacks Workshop to learn basic fixes for laptops on the 6th of February(Thurs)! ??⚙️Only 30 slots open! There are many reasons why you should fix your laptop: • Save Money • Help your friends repair their laptops • Learn a new skill • Help combat the E-waste problem (Repair instead of throwing away) You are welcomed to bring your laptop to fix!? Register At: https://tinyurl.com/qvda5ru Join us now! ??♂️??♀️
In collaboration with NTU Dive Team, we organised a marine conservation panel discussion to engage the students in NTU on the marine sustainability and conservation ???☘️? , special thanks to Mr Stephen Summers from SCELSE, Ms Pei Rong from NParks Board and Mr Stephen Beng from Nature Society Singapore for joining us at the event!
Earthlink Sub Comm Bonding Day 2019 happened on the 26th of October! Thank you guys for coming to this bonding session. Hope you guys met some lovely friends, who always have the heart for our precious environment ??
They were a variety of games and activities throughout the bonding sessions♟?? Even though we were not able to go to the botanic garden due to the rain, we went to the Singapore National Museum instead!
On the 2nd of November 2019, our team of nature guides went on a journey to uncover the plants and animals of the mangrove at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Thank you so much for joining us!
One of our Nature Guiding co-director, Phoebe said: “It was really heartening to see so many of you eagerly asking questions, getting hyped up about the crocodiles and snakes, and taking pictures of everything.” Some of the interesting things they saw were the Mangrove pit viper and 2 Estuarine crocodiles.
Mangrove pit viper Estuarine crocodile
Mangroves are useful to both humans and nature in many ways. Firstly, they serve as a form of shoreline protection by acting as a natural barrier to incoming winds and waves, thereby decreasing the intensity at which they hit the shoreline. Mangroves are also able to, as part of the carbon storage mechanism in plants, store up to five times more carbon than an equal area of rainforest. Furthermore, mangrove forests are home to hundreds of species of plants and animals. The roots can serve shelter for many underwater animals, while the forest itself is a food source for other animals. Therefore, in order to protect such a valuable asset, we should contribute to the protection and conservation of mangroves worldwide, starting with our own mangroves right here at home.
We hope you have enjoyed yourself and learned a lot from the walk! This event could not have been possible without you guys! See you guys in future Earthlink events!
International Coastal Clean-up Singapore 2019 happened on the 19th of May. Our Nature Guiding team from Earthlink NTU went to Lim Chu Kang Mangrove to help out with the coastal clean-up. Despite many changes in the plan due to haze conditions, and also the muddy and tough conditions there, they managed to collect a whopping 302.5kg of trash!
The data that they have collected diligently was sent to the International Ocean Conservancy. The data will be used to aid policy-making and improve the understanding of human impacts on marine and coastal environments. A huge thank you to everyone who has participated in this event!
On 15 Jan 2019, Community Engagement from Earthlink NTU hosted a Local Community Involvement Project (LCIP) in Corporation Primary School (CPS). The target audience of this LCIP 2019 were the members of the Environmental Club from CPS. 21 Earthlink members volunteered in this LCIP which was designed to raise environmental awareness among the newer generations as well as to expose Earthlink members to volunteerism.
It was the first time Earthlink had ever conducted a LCIP in a primary school. Several portfolios from Earthlink NTU contributed to conduct lessons for the Environmental Club members. One of our portfolios, Nature Guiding, conducted a biodiversity sharing session with the students. Throughout the session, students seemed to be interested in topics regarding biodiversity. They were quite responsive and willing to answer questions raised by our volunteers.
Our Resources and Event Executive Overseas portfolios collaborated by giving lessons on recycling. To make the lesson livelier and more fun, students threw “bowling balls” made from newspaper onto the correct plastic bottle “pin” to answer questions related to recycling. This was to gain points for their teams during the versus game. It created a good atmosphere for students to learn whilst having fun. Additionally, students were taught to craft origami frogs using flyers and magazines to encourage “reuse” in our daily lives.
LCIP 2019 was carried out smoothly and was a successful first step in having Earthlink organise more community activities in the future. Both CPS students and our volunteers greatly benefitted from this precious and meaningful experience, and we hope that they will take what they have learnt and apply it to their everyday lives.
“In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but what we refuse to destroy.” — John Sawhill
Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park opened its doors to the public in late 2012. Nestled in the heart of Bishan, the 62-hectare park undoubtably became an instant favourite amongst nature-loving Singaporeans and avid joggers. As a matter of fact, social media addicts also would be enchanted with this urban park, for its lush hills and calm streams are extremely Instagram-worthy!
That said, it is of no wonder that the Earthlink NTU Nature Guiding Committee decided to hold its first Urban Park Expedition there. Earthlings, the NTU community, and members of the public excitedly gathered at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park on Saturday, the 27th of October, to explore what this sanctuary had to offer.
The Nature Guides kickstarted the trail with the Cleansing Biotope. It is a series of specially engineered wetland cells to facilitate water filtration and treatment. Subsequently, the filtered water will be used for the children’s water playground in the vicinity. It is indeed a stroke of genius, for a beautiful-looking environment can be maintained without having to tap on Singapore’s precious water supply! Furthermore, the Biotope is home to many small, shelled creatures. Snail-lovers were especially thrilled to find the Biotope’s cattails dotted with numerous Golden Apple Snails and their coral-pink eggs.
After admiring the Cleansing Biotope, the participants were introduced to Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park’s massive trees. The participants were blown away by the allure of the willowy Rhu trees and flabbergasted to know that Strangler Fig trees thrive by engulfing and “strangling” their hosts! About an hour into the Expedition, the participants also caught a glimpse of impressive-looking birds such as the Purple Heron and Stock Bill Kingfisher. In fact, Earthlink NTU Nature Guide Ng Wei Soon was astonished at how lucky the participants were to chance upon the majestic Kingfisher: “There normally [is or] are only one or two of them in a park.”
Two hours later, the Expedition ended with a mini wrap-up conducted by the Nature Guides. All in all, the number of green spaces in tiny Singapore may be limited. However, the latter is an inaccurate indicator of the sheer size of biodiversity we house in our concrete jungle. Hence, to all readers out there: do remember to slow your pace and take in the scenery around you. And who knows, you may spot a new species of an animal/plant or two!
The Student Leaders’ Night is an annual affair organised by the Students Affairs Office to recognise the contributions of student organisations towards the school and the welfare of fellow students. This year marks the third year of its running. During the pre-event interaction period, student ambassadors from Earthlink engaged guests and other student leaders to encourage them to sign up for Eco-Promise.
Eco-Promise was carried out by Earthlink to build closer ties with other NTU stakeholders, including its businesses, student clubs, and school authorities. This movement was initiated to encourage members of the school to practice more sustainable and eco-friendly habits. It also aimed to guide NTU’s stakeholders in taking steps towards building an eco-friendlier campus. Organisations that made efforts to keep their promises were acknowledged and received recognition during the annual Greenfest festival. Student associations also pledged to incorporate environmentally-friendly actions in their club activities and practices. Examples of such actions included not providing disposable cutleries during events, engaging caterers who provide reusable cutleries and plates, and minimizing the over-ordering of food which leads to wastage. Additionally, props should be recycled or reused, and excessive purchases should also be avoided. Clubs would also find it more worthwhile to share their resources.
During the event, Prof Kam Chan Hin, Provost (Education), highlighted the responsibilities of various organisations and applauded them on their movement and activities. Regarding sustainability, Eco-Promise was launched by Earthlink in March 2017 to encourage green movements by various organisations of the school. The Eco-Promise movement was one where student organisations pledged to support environmentally friendly practices and take measures to protect our planet. Earthlink also won the Mr and Mrs Kok Chin Yan Award for Student Initiative for Greenfest 2018. The goal of Greenfest is to educate and empower the NTU community to create a more sustainable environment and emphasize the need for action to mitigate climate change.
Earthlink’s initiative, “Ditch Da Disposables”, was also highlighted during this event in which no disposable cutleries were provided at the buffet station. Earthlink highlighted the importance of ditching disposable cutleries and encouraged attendees to bring their own. Earthlink also took the opportunity to set up a booth where reusable cutleries were sold at affordable prices.
