FEE EcoCampus Programme
FEE EcoCampus Activities
-2017-
Planting Seeds of Sustainability in Future Leaders Youths.
2nd August 2017
Rural Sanitation and Sustainable Lifestyle Programme at Kampung Batu 20, Tanah Rata.
17th June 2017
Bubur Lambuk Say No To Food Polystyrene Containers.
17th June 2017
Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Consumption and Production (YESCP) Mini Workshop.
7-8th June 2017
WWF-Malaysia Dedicated Earth Day 2017 to Youths.
22nd April 2017
Planting Seeds of Sustainability in Future Leaders
The ~Youth conference - empower change towards a more sustainable lifestyle~
Food opens doors to cultures and traditions. So much so that people are willing to travel the world to find authentic or bizarre food that gives them the history that goes far beyond the delicious meal presented on a plate. Not only that, food is nostalgic and provides an important link to our cultural heritage.
Though it’s celebrated and valued, there is a growing concern on how we are taking food for granted. Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry documented that Malaysians waste 15,000 tonnes of food daily, including 3,000 tonnes of edible food that could provide three complete meals a day for over 2.3 million people.
Producing, distributing, storing or cooking food uses energy, fuel and water. Each of these processes emits greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Then we go on to waste an alarming 30% of the food we buy and what ends up in landfill create further greenhouse gases.
Fuelled by this concern, WWF-Malaysia’s EcoCampus team organised the second edition of the youth conference – Building Bridges for Sustainable Consumption and Production (BB4SCP) at Mall of Medini, Johor Bahru from 2 to 5 Aug 2017.
The field visit is one of the most important components in the conference where the delegates gained a more holistic understanding of the information shared during the discussions and presentations. The trip helped bridge the gap between learning and hands-on experience.
The conference also drew the delegates’ attention to the fashion industry which is the second biggest polluter of freshwater resources on the planet. A quarter of the chemicals produced in the world are used in textiles. Our high demand for fast fashion is making it worse as it puts pressure to fashion producers to create clothing as fast and as cheap as possible. Now clothes have become dispensable and disposable, which encourages rapid consumerism and waste.
WWF-Malaysia Dedicated Earth Day 2017 to Youths
In honor of this year’s Earth Day theme of environmental and climate literacy, WWF-Malaysia dedicated the celebration to youths. Hundreds of them came from all across Malaysia to witness their fellow friends taking the stage to speak on environmental sustainability in a session called ‘Sembang@WWF’. It is a platform for youths to speak and share their ideas on environmental issues and activities with a larger audience through storytelling.
The half day event also saw a new partnership materialised where WWF-Malaysia partnered with Soka Gakkai Malaysia to launch a Buddhism animation series called When We’re Friends (WWF) with Nature. Inspired by the teachings of Buddhism, the faith-based animation series carries the message of, ‘It starts with one’ and uses the ‘Learn, Reflect, Empower’ approach.
“Youths are the voices of tomorrow, they will be our future teachers, policy makers, voters, and will play many other important roles. The exposure should begin from now, so they will be able to make informed decisions and be willing to change their mindset and behaviours for a more sustainable future,” said Dato’ Dr Dionysius Sharma, Executive Director/CEO of WWF-Malaysia.
Bubur Lambuk Say No To Food Polystyrene Containers
The food polystyrene containers are even more widely used in Kuching especially in the month of Ramadhan as there are many Ramadan Bazaar around Kuching. Unfortunately, public awareness regarding the impact of the use of food polystyrene containers is still low. The blessed month of Ramadhan will be able to continue with good blessings if the community is aware of the impact of the use of food containers and polystyrene boxes. Therefore, IPG KBL’s volunteers took the opening move to organize a campaign to say no to the polystyrene containers while distributing bubur lambuk for free to the community on June 17, 2017. Financial support for this project was obtained from KBL IPG staff and donations from students. Stickers showing the danger of the use of polystyrene containers were plastered on the cover of every bubur lambuk. In addition, the brochure on food polystyrene containers have also been prepared.
Volunteers distributed the bubur lambuk to the community around India Street as explained. Educating the public about the hazards of polystyrene containers was subtly implemented to raise the public’s awareness on the topic.
Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Consumption and Production (YESCP) Mini Workshop
The YESCP Mini Workshop took place at WWF-Malaysia, PJCC Office from 7 to 8 June 2017. The workshop was attended by a total of 19 youth participants from private and public institutions and teacher’s training colleges (IPGK). The objective of this mini workshop was to educate and raise awareness about the sustainable consumption and production in the sphere of multiple commodities based on the respective workshop sessions. Interesting and eye-opening workshop sessions were Sustainable Seafood, RSPO and its sustainable initiatives, Water Demand Management, Tetra Pak and its sustainability initiatives, LEAF Activity and experience sharing on Raja Musa forest educational field trip. One of the highlights of this mini workshop was the initiative by UTP EcoCampus Student where they held a share session about UTP’s sustainable initiatives as well as guiding other participants to plan their desired activities within and beyond their respective institutions. The participants were also divided into groups and guided on developing strategies and work plans, as well as pitch their sustainability efforts for support. As part of an immediate action, participants were required to blog on each session based on their preferences upon completion of the workshop. The completed blogs were required to be shared on social media using specific hashtags. Other important immediate outcomes of this workshop include upcoming empowering plans in organising sustainability projects.
Rural Sanitation and Sustainable Lifestyle Programme at Kampung Batu 20, Tanah Rata.
The Rural Sanitation and Sustainable Lifestyle Programme organised by Universiti Teknologi Petronas EcoCampus Student Workgroup (UTP-ECSWG) took place at one of the orang asli settlements at Kampung Batu 20, Tanah Rata on 17 June 2017. The objective of this programme was to educate and empower the orang asli in the field of sanitation management, recycling initiatives, utilisation of solar panels (energy), composting for agriculture as well as a dengue awareness session. Sponsored by Camfil Sdn Bhd and supported by WWF-Malaysia and National Education for Sustainable Development Workgroup (NESDW), the highlight of this programme was the launching of new toilet units by the village head of Kampung Batu 20. As UTP-ECSWG (formerly UTP-SUSWG) is part of the YESCP cell group members, this programme indicated one of the youth empowerment outcomes of YESCP as well good practice in public private partnership (PPP).