Yale-NUS Sustainable Solutions Conference (20 Aug)

Ms Elizabeth Heng, Secretary of I'dECO: the Yale-NUS Sustainability Movement, wrote to Earth Society to invite us to attend their Sustainable Solutions Network (SSN) inaugural conference on 20 Aug (Sat) at Yale-NUS College. The conference was entitled: “"Synergisms from the Ground-Up: Building Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration for a more Sustainable Singapore".

The SSN conference website can be found at www.ssnsingapore.org

Earth Society supported the conference by sending a representative to attend the event from 9.30 am to 4 pm. About 300 people from various environmental organizations attended the event.

NUS-Yale SSN invited Dr. Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State of Environment and Water Resources, to give an opening address during the event. After the speech, Dr Amy Khor joined Mr. Wilson Ang, Director of Global Compact Network Singapore, Dr. Shawn Lum, President of Nature Society Singapore and Ms Anbarasi, Deputy Chief Executive of ACRES, as panellist to answer the questions posted by the participants.

                                                                                                   

After the panellist discussion, speakers from various Environment NGOs such as Food Bank Singapore, Nature Society, Zero Waste SG, PM Haze presented on environment topics ranging from food waste, biodiversity, organic farming to the Haze problem in Singapore.  

As a sign to support sustainability, Yale-NUS SSN provided vegetarian lunch for the 300 conference participants. The veggie meal was colourful, tasty and satisfied the palates of the participants.  

After lunch, conference participants attended small-group (20 people) discussions on different environmental issues in various classrooms. Earth Society member joined in the discussion on “Food and Agriculture”. We discussed on how to reduce food wastage from farm to supermarket and to reduce global demand for meat to conserve the food and water resources on the planet.

After a day of fruitful presentations and discussions, the conference ended at 4 pm.

We are happy to observe that Singapore youths are taking a more active role to promote environmental sustainability in their campus. There is also an increasing trend among youth environment groups to provide veggie meals during Green events. Bravo and may the message of sustainability spread far and wide to encourage all to adopt sustainable measures to protect the planet. 

Company Lunch talk @ Kulicke and Soffa and Firmenich Asia Pte Ltd

As part of Kulicke and Soffa’s EHS (Environment, Health and Safety week) event, Ms Wong Ai Wah invited Earth Society to conduct a company lunch talk for their staffs in Aug.

On 17 Aug, Earth Society team reached Kulicke and Soffa at 11.45 am. Mr Jeffrey Lee, their EHS manager, received us warmly at the reception counter.

We conducted a Global Warming lunch talk for 30 staffs from 12 to 1 pm. We presented on the effects of Climate change on the world and showcase various solutions that scientists recommended to curb climate change. (Plant trees, Eat less meat, Green energy and 3Rs). Kulicke and Soffa staffs listened attentively to the talk.

On Aug, Ms Joanne Chia from Firmenich Asia Pte Ltd invited Earth Society to conduct a company lunch talk for their staffs. Firmenich Asia is a company which produce fragrances and flavours for the world’s renowned brands.

 On 31 Aug, Earth Society team conducted a Global Warming talk and Quiz for 30 staffs at Firmenich Asia Pte Ltd from 12 to 1pm. The staffs paid full attention to the presentation and participated actively in the Quiz at the end of the talk.

Many staffs came forward to sign up on our email list to receive further info on environmental protection.

Feedback from Staffs:

Very informative, the talk is well organised into a short presentation that captured the interest of our employees. Thank you! – Jeffrey Lee, EHS manager, Kulicke and Soffa

Very efficient and helpful talk with all important information for people. I will definitely recommend to others. Thank you.  - Daphne Goh, Secretary, Kulicke and Soffa

Very educational and good sharing. – Chen May, Wellness advocate

Educational and informative talk. Bring better awareness on how individuals can help to Go Green and Save the planet. – Julia Tan, Technical Service Manager, Firmenich Asia Pte Ltd

Interesting and fruitful talk. Teach us to reduce green house gas and reduce food wastage.  – Rebecca Lai, Planner, Firmenich Asia Pte Ltd

Company Lunch talk @ CSC Asia and International Air Transport Association

Ms Wong Mei Hua, Events Executive in United Overseas Bank (UOB), invited Earth Society to conduct 2 company talks for 2 UOB clients in Aug. This is the first time Earth Society has partnered with a Bank to deliver the Environment message to their clients.

The first talk was held at CAC Asia Holdings on 18 Aug.

Ms Adele Heng, UOB Relationship Manager, spoke to the employees on UOB savings accounts before introducing Earth Society to speak on Environment matters.

We conducted a Global Warming talk to 30 CAC Asia Holdings staffs from 12 to 12.40 pm. We presented on the effects of Climate change on the world and showcase various solutions that scientists recommended to curb climate change. (Plant trees, Eat less meat, Green energy and 3Rs). The staffs received the talk warmly and many come forward to sign up on our email list after the talk.

The second talk was held at International Air Transport Association (IATA) on 30 Aug. We conducted a similar talk to 30 staffs at IATA from 12 to 12.50pm.

We are glad that UOB bank is promoting environmental awareness among their clients and hope that more banks will join in to provide such value-add service to their clients.

Feedback from Staffs:

Very informative! I learnt a lot and will contribute definitely!

– Emmanuel , IT professional, CSC Asia Holdings

Very informative! Excellent information for our Self-awareness on how we can contribute to save the world.

– Jesus Panuncillon, Senior Analyst Programmer, CSC Asia Holdings.

The session was very good and highly informative. Appreciate the efforts put in to cascade the information.   – Rajkumar, IT lead, CSC Asia Holdings.

Super interesting and inspiring presentation! Suggest to organize a group to raise awareness and follow up on implementation.  - Nadya, IATA staff 

It’s a very good presentation, quite an eye-opener with the facts and figures. It could actually help to raise awareness and convince people. Well, I am convinced! - Antonia, IATA staff

I learnt that eating less meat helps in saving the environment. This is a good and informative talk. Keep it up and keep sharing!  – Justin, Accountant, IATA

Global Warming talk @ National Archives and Warren Condo (Aug)

Mr Sophian Pungut, welfare committee member of National Archives of Singapore (National Library Board), invited Earth Society to conduct an Environmental talk for National Archives employees on 03 Aug.

On 03 Aug, Earth Society team reached National Archives at 2.45 pm. We conducted a Global Warming talk for 30 NLB staffs from 3 to 4pm. We presented on the effects of climate change on the world and showcase various solutions recommended by scientists. We also presented on global water shortage and how to save water.

Feedback from Staffs:

It’s a very educational, informative and illustrative talk. It creates awareness and is a very well presented program. – National Archives staff, NLB

Very informative. Climate change and attitude towards food consumption starts in schools.    – Mr Shanker, Technical Officer, NLB

Very informative session on little known facts. We are always told to save water to save the world’s resource, yet we can save so much more water by eating less meat. Hopefully the message can be more widespread in the future. - Jessica, Assistant Archivist, NLB.

Mdm Lee Siew Kiang, a resident of ‘The Warren’ Condominium, invited Earth Society to conduct a Global Warming talk at “The Warren” on 06 Aug.

Mdm Lee heard our talk at her company lunch event (Emix in the NSL group) and arranged to bring the talk to her fellow residents in “The Warren” Condo.

On 06 Aug, Earth Society team reached ‘The Warren’ at 8.45 am. We conducted a GW talk for 40 residents from 9 to 10 am. The residents listened attentively to the talk and many came forward to sign up on our email list after the talk.

Assembly talk @ New Town Secondary (29 Aug)

Mr Tham Ming Hwee, Green Committee teacher in New Town Secondary, invited Earth Society to conduct an Assembly talk for the school cohort on 29 Aug.

On 29 Aug (Mon), Earth Society team reached at 8.30am. We will conducted a Global Warming Assembly talk for the Sec 1 to Sec 5 students from 8.50 to 9.20 am.

After the talk, we set up a booth at the school canteen to gather feedback and pass more info to interested teachers and students.

We manned the booth from 9.30 am to 11.30 am.

Students’ Feedback:

The talk was very good. It was very educational and I learn that the Earth is deteriorating faster than expected. – Fahmy Razali, Sec 3, NTSS

I think that the talk was very informative as I learnt a lot more about global warming. The talk was also very interesting too.   – Dione Yeoh, Sec 2, NTSS

The talk was interesting and I learnt a lot from the talk. I learnt many new info such as producing beef also causes global warming.   – Shanice, Sec 2, NTSS.

Assembly talk @ Holy Innocents Primary (02 Aug)

Mdm Ye Peishan, from Holy Innocents Primary, invited Earth Society to conduct an Assembly talk for the lower primary students on 02 Aug.

On 2 Aug (Tue), Earth Society team reached Holy Innocents Primary at 12.15 pm.
We conducted a Global Warming talk for the P1 and P2 students from 12.30 to 1pm. We showed environmental cartoons such as “Animals Save the Planet” and WWF animations for the students. Students and teachers listened attentively to the talk.

We left the school after the talk.

Global Warming talk @ Temasek Poly (29 Jul)

Temasek Poly Green Interest Group (TPGIG) invited Earth Society to take part in their “The Industry and The Environment -- An Education and Outreach seminar” event on 29 Jul from 7pm to 9 pm.

TPGIG organized this seminar to promote environmental awareness among students.

TPGIG invited Earth Society to present on Global Warming and Ways to reduce climate change. 

They also invited Zero Waste Singapore (http://www.zerowastesg.com/) to speak on “Save Food, Cut Waste”, and Vegetarian Society to speak on Going Veggie: A New Approach to Health and Environment”.

About 50 students and teachers to attended the event and we had a fruitful discussion on reducing waste and adopting an eco-friendly lifestyle to help the environment.

We are encouraged that many youth groups are now taking the initiative to organize Eco-events in their campus to increase environmental awareness and encourage eco-measures to protect the environment.

Assembly talk @ Global Indian International School (27 Jul)

Ms Parameshwari, primary co-ordinator of Global Indian International School (Queenstown), invited Earth Society to conduct an Assembly talk for the school cohort on 27 Jul.

On 27 Jul, Earth Society team reached Global Indian International School (Queenstown) at 10.40 am.

We conducted a Global Warming talk for 500 primary level students from 11 to 11.45 am followed by a 10 mins Quiz.

We presented on the effects of Global warming on various parts of the world and show the effective solutions that scientists recommend to curb Climate change (i.e. Plant trees, Eat less meat, Green energy and 3Rs). We showed environmental cartoons such as “Animals Save the Planet” and WWF animations for the students.

Students enjoyed the talk and participated actively in the Quiz at the end of the talk.

Many teachers liked the talk and came forward to get more info from us after the talk. We were also invited to the Principal’s office to speak to the principal at the end of the talk. We were surprised to learn that Global Indian International School served vegetarian meals to all their students in all 3 campus in Singapore.

We went to the canteen to enjoy a veggie meal before we left the school.

Company Lunch talk @ Keppel Logistics (21 Jul)

Mr Jerald Lim from Keppel Logistics invited Earth Society to conduct a company lunch talk for their employees on 21 Jul. This is the second year Keppel Logistics invited us to talk to their staffs. Keppel Logistics catered veggie meals for the staffs as this is a Green event.

On 21 Jul, Earth Society members reached Keppel Logistics at 11.45 am. We conducted an “Environment Conservation” talk for 25 staffs from 12 pm to 1 pm.

We presented on Overfishing in the Ocean, Deforestation in the Land and Green house gas emissions in the Air. We also covered issues such as Biodiversity losses, Factory farming, Climate change and Water shortage.

Keppel Logistics staffs listened attentively to the talk.

After the talk, we left the company at 1.15 pm. 

Company Lunch talk @ Eastern Pretech, NSL Chemicals and NSL Pte Ltd (Jul)

For the month of July, Mdm Hong Yi Ying, an Engineer in NSL Chemicals, invited Earth Society to conduct 3 Environment talks for 3 companies in the NSL Group (Eastern Pretech, NSL Chemicals and NSL Ltd.)

On 19 Jul, Earth Society conducted a company lunch talk for 30 staffs in Eastern Pretech. We presented on the effects of Global warming on various parts of the world and show the effective solutions that scientists recommend to curb Climate change (i.e. Plant trees, Eat less meat, Green energy and 3Rs).

We conducted a similar talk for NSL Chemicals on 20 Jul and another talk for NSL Ltd on 28 Jul.

The staffs in the companies listened attentively to the talk and many staffs came forward to provide feedback at the end of the talk.

Feedback from Staffs:

The environment talk about global warming is really useful. It made me realize to save this Earth starting from myself. Thank you!    – Dery, Staff, Eastern Pretech

The talk is very useful. It shares with us how important it is to save our environment. – Mr Chew, Staff, NSL Chemicals

Very insightful presentation, sure to stir peoples’ hearts. New angle to environmental protection. Maybe can add some program suggestion for corporations. Good job!

- Eileen Liu, Corporate communications, NSL Pte Ltd

Very insightful talk. Didn’t know that a simple diet change can do so much for the environment indirectly. Looking forward to change the diet. - Andy Tan, Accountant, NSL Pte Ltd