350 Singapore, a team
in Young NTUC, is a Singapore Chapter to the global 350.org movement. Climate
Scientists such as Director of NASA, Dr James Hansen, have advised that to keep
the planet in a safe zone, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere should be kept
at 350 ppm (parts per million). However
the current CO2 level in the atmosphere has reached 400ppm.
In Jul 2015, 350
Singapore organized an ASEAN Power Shift event in the United World College of
South East Asia in Tampines. It is a 3-days youth Conference held from 24 Jul
till 26 Jul.
The event aims to bring
together youths from 10 ASEAN countries to a common platform where they will
form an aligned position towards the climate negotiations in COP21 in Paris,
learn about each other’s environmental initiatives and experiences, and provide
networking opportunities to catalyse more ground-up climate initiatives.
350 Singapore invited 200
youths from 10 ASEAN Countries to participate in this event. The organizing
committee invited Earth Society to send representatives to attend the event. To
support this wonderful initiative, Earth Society members attended the event.
During the 3 days conference,
we attended lectures by Keynote speakers, workshops on Environment Activism
conducted by various NGOs and listened to youth delegates present their
position on Climate change.
Dr Vivan Balakrishnan, Minster for the Environment and Water
Resource, graced the occasion and addressed the youths during the second day of
the conference.
During the event, we
networked with many youths and various NGOs who send representatives to attend
the event. (e.g. WWF, Sharksavers, Eco Singapore, PM Haze and Urban farmers.)
We observed that to cut
down on carbon footprint and promote an Eco-friendly lifestyle, ALL the meals served during the 3 days
Conference are Vegetarian meals.
We are hugely encouraged by this gesture as it shows that the
youths are aware of the huge impact our diets have on the environment.
Straits Time Reporter, Ms Jessica Cheam attended the ASEAN Power
shift event and wrote an Article about the event (published in Straits Time on
04 Aug)
Inspiring Asean youth
on climate change:
More info on 350
Singapore and the Asean Power Shift event can be found in 350 Singapore’s Facebook
: https://www.facebook.com/350sg
Bravo to 350 Singapore
and we hope that they can organize ASEAN Power Shift every year to promote
awareness and action on Climate change among ASEAN youths.
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