Green Initiatives @ GIIS East Coast

Sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In addition to natural resources, we also need social and economic resources. Sustainability is not just environmentalism. Embedded in most definitions of sustainability we also find concerns for social equity and economic development. Where does the term come from? While the concept of sustainability is a relatively new idea, the movement as a whole has roots in social justice, conservationism, internationalism and other past movements with rich histories. By the end of the twentieth centuries, many of these ideas had come together in the call for ‘sustainable development.’

Sustainability is a holistic approach that considers ecological, social and economic dimensions, recognizing that all must be considered together to find lasting prosperity.

Adopting sustainable practices, whether large or small, can have significant impacts in the long run. If every office worker in the United Kingdom used one less staple a day by using a reusable paper clip, 120 tonnes of steel would be saved in one year

Sustainability is a topic that will be exceptionally important to subsequent generations of students, as they tackle the issues of climate change, environmental degradation, and more. Thus, sustainability education should be a vital part of formal education systems worldwide. While there are currently a few successful sustainability educational programs around the world, they are by no means widespread. Also, various sustainability initalives should be taken by educative institutes to make the children and youth understand the importance of our finite resources.

With this in view, a few initiatives described as under are taken at GIIS, East Coast.

1. Weekly workshops on project " Change the way you think about Food” in collaboration with WWF (Wide Fund For Nature):

Students of grade 7-10 (Sustainability group of EC campus) under the guidance of teacher attend weekly workshops on Food Wastage organized by WWF, Singapore. The project objectives are:

• Get the whole school to change the way they think about food and diets

• Get the whole school to make food choices that are better for them and the planet

• Get the whole school to rescue food before it becomes waste

The sustainability group of students conducted a pre-project survey amongtheir peers and other students to understand their thinking about food. They learnt about food resilience and sustainable diets through interactive activities, understood the food system and finally how to make better choices for their health and planet’s health. Currently the students are involved in making an action plan to get the whole school to understand sustainable diets, make better choices to reduce food loss and food waste. This shall be followed by measuring impacts of their action plan.

2. Weekly talks on sustainability and Awareness spread among whole school to choose ECO FRIENDLY FOOD AND PRODUCTS via NEWS Bullein displayed in tutor period/Morning assemblies. Some of the recent talks include use of ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) Certified sea foods, MEOD marked veggies, and PEFC certified products;

ASC farm certification demonstrates the environmental and social sustainability of farmed seafood through the ASC standards.

- It assures that everyone involved in the aquaculture industry strictly adheres to practices that minimize environmental impacts, and complies with the highest level of social responsible practices when producing sustainable seafood products

-Meet the requirements of the major global retailers whose seafood sourcing policies require ASC certification on an ever-increasing scale and providing access to key seafood markets.

MEOD foods have stringent growing process and quality checks, and guarantee that the vegetables are 100% pesticide free. It uses less than 1% of the water needed in conventional farming and reuse and upcycle all plant inputs.​

PEFC-certified products come from PEFC-certified, sustainably managed forests. Forests that have been verified by independent experts to ensure they are managed in line with strict international standards. When a product carrying the PEFC label is bought, it can be assured that you are not contributing to deforestation. On the contrary: you are helping stop it. Moreover, you are also supporting the millions of forest owners who manage their forests sustainably. Forest owners who care for their forests and depend on them for their livelihoods. There is no better time than now to make a change, helping us to protect our forests now and for the future.

Students of team Sustainability provide talks to whole school to create awareness among students and teachers to buy eco-friendly products. In our school, we use PEFC certified A4 paper.

3. Virtual talk and awareness on E-waste and its recycling:

E-waste is one of the priority waste streams identified under Singapore’s Zero Waste Masterplan. A virtual talk on E-waste and its recycling was provided by personal from Mercantile group, Singapore where students were emphasized to be more focussed on RETHINK, prior to three ‘R’ words- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Rethink can be added to the start of the priority especially for young mind, because Rethink is about considering how our actions affect the environment. By way of inculcating importance of recycling in young mind, they will grow up to be responsible global citizens! In this talk, the students were enlightened about device lifecycle management of Phones, Tablets, Laptops etc and how these can be recycled to give them a new life.

4. Virtual tour of green and clean Singapore experiences by NEA (National Environmental Agency):

Singapore is known for being a clean and attractive city despite of the fact that tons of waste is being dumped into bins on daily basis. Virtual talks are frequently been organized by NEA and we keep a track of these, inform our students of these and attend them in full strength. One of the recent virtual talk was on the journey of trash to treasure in Singapore was organized by NEA and the students and parents across whole school registered for these talks and attended.

There were 3 virtual talks:

1. Sembwaste Materials Recovery Facility (MRF): In this the participants found out how recyclables are sorted and packed for the recycling process!

2. TES SINGAPORE: In this, the participants discovered how electronic wastes can be transformed into reusable materials, instead of ending up in Semakau landfill and how e-waste recycling helps the environment.

3. Fireside Chat with NEA expert : The participants had a Fireside Chat with NEA expert, the topic of which was "Challenges for a sustainable Singapore" with a focus on recycling.

5. Tetra pack training program:

The students are a part of Little Green Dot Training Programme delivered at regular intervals of time. In this training efforts are made to increase the recycling rate of Used Beverage Cartons (UBC) in Singapore, and is focused on raising consumer awareness, sharing their knowledge and expertise, facilitating collection infrastructure, and supporting recycling technology development through community recycling activities. In the training provided to students, they are encouraged to recycle Used Beverage Cartons (UBC), and while doing so, rinse & push the straw back or put the cap back on the package and do the 3Fs – Flip. Flap. Flat before dropping it off at the recycling drop off center. The recovered materials can be made into notepads, roofing sheets and school benches.

6. Weekly virtual talks on Sustainability on different topics:

There is a continuous effort among teachers to make students understand the meaning of sustainability and its importance. To make students be a part of this drive, virtual weekly talks were carried out separately for Air pollution, Ocean pollution, Animal Extinction, climate changes and deforestation and how these are interrelated to each other. Students of IB-PYP curriculum were divided into 5 groups and each group was assigned a teacher mentor and a parent mentor with one topic. It was a collaborative experience where the learners demonstrated an in-depth collaborative inquiry. It provided learners with an opportunity to demonstrate independence and responsibility for their own learning. They explored multiple perspectives by which gave them an opportunity to synthesize and apply their learning of previous years to reflect upon their journey on understanding the importance of sustainability.

7. Beach Clean up:

Beaches are diverse, beautiful, natural treasures that are here for all of us to explore and enjoy together. Unfortunately, trash on our beaches jeopardizes these shared natural treasures. By cleaning up the beach, you ensure that visitors from all over the world can enjoy your beaches fully. Over the past few years, the world has woken up to horrifying headlines about sea life that has unfortunately died due to consuming or being trapped by the waste we throw in the oceans. When our garbage washes up on coastlines, it gives us an opportunity to remove it before the tide washes it back out. Removing litter that we finds on the beach guarantees that marine wildlife won’t come into contact with it and perhaps find itself imperiled in some way or another.

Keeping this in mind, the entire GIIS campus, including teachers, staff and students are on a mission to clean the beaches at least once a month.

In association with NEA, beach clean up activity was undertaken by all the teachers and staff members of east coast. Getting motivated and encouraged by their mentors and guides, students also showed their interest to be a part of this noble cause. Few classes have already done their share of beach clean up this session, however for others a complete schedule has been made and slots are booked every month with NEA for beach clean up.

8. Carbon Footprinting:

In East Coast we have undertaken the Carbon neutrality project -an initiative from CERE (Centre for Environment, Research and Education) where we are in the process of mapping the carbon foot printing of school from the year 2019. This is to be followed by meeting the international reporting standards and implementing low cost carbon reduction strategies in school which ensure considerable financial savings and engage in staff awareness activities. Target is to make the school carbon neutral followed by carbon negative in the coming few years.

9. Maintenance of Organic garden and Green House in East Coast campus.

Efforts are continuously being made to make the organic garden self-sustainable. The green products are grown, harvested and sold within the campus. The revenue generated is wisely spent on the organic garden for its expansion and sustainability. There is a continuous effort to maintain the organic garden and Green House, composting, harvesting, selling of organic products, maintaining records of selling, money collection and further expenditure and expansion. Our green campus is a habitat to wide variety of birds and their chirping and visits to classes can be regularly seen during teaching hours. Because of a wide range of trees and plants, students get fresh air to breathe and do not need aircons in most of the classes which is reducing the release of greenhouse gases, thereby reducing the impact of enhanced green house effect which is damaging the planet. Students also attend a few of their classes in open air under the tree whenever the weather permits to connect more to nature.

10. EC campus is an active participant of One Million tree movement:

The OneMillionTrees movement aims to restore nature back into our city through the planting of more than a million trees across Singapore over the next 10 years. This is part of our efforts to transform Singapore into a City in Nature, which is a key pillar under the Singapore Green Plan 2030. Community is key to the success of this movement – so our campus has joined the movement and play an active role in the greening of Singapore!

Teachers have signed up the ONE million tree movement and join whenever the slots get open with students. As of now, this activity is undertaken once a month across campus. Till date, a total of 366,249 trees across Singapore through this movement of which EC campus also share a part!

11. Book Donation drive:

Books Beyond Borders in Singapore is a social business dedicated to expand educational opportunities in the developing world. The books they collect are sold at cheaper prices and the money collected is sent to underprovided countries like Nepal. Our students actively participated in this drive and donated hundreds of books. To make it a practice, we intend to organize the book drive every month.

12. Aerobic Composting:

Aerobic composting is a type of compost made in the presence of air with curd as the catalyst. Dry leaves and raw kitchen waste is involved in the process of composting and the end product is manure which can be used as fertilizer while growing plants rather than chemical ones. This not only reduces the amount of biodegradable waste going into the landfill but also prevents pollution of soil through synthetic herbicides. It is made in a perforated container and takes about 3 to 4 months to finish decomposing. It helped us grow our own produce and plants in the school. It helps us reduce soil pollution by using artificial fertilizers. It also helps the soil retain its nutrients.

13. Newspaper Bin Liners:

The newspaper bin liners initiative introduced in the school aimed at reducing the single use plastic as well as food waste by lining bins in classroom with liners made out of newspapers rather than plastic.

14: Earth Day Celebrations:

Earth day is the day that inspires and brings about awareness and appreciation for the natural environment around us. It takes place on April 22nd every year. Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970 and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day network and celebrated in more than 193 countries each year.

Earth Day network increases awareness among people by buying Green Products, conserving energy, focus on the 3R’s (Reuse, Reduce and Recycle) and planting more trees and saplings.

At GIIS East Coast Campus, we were proud to celebrate the day by displaying 630 plants in the formation “GIIS EC” and creating a record in the Singapore Book of Records for the largest word formed by saplings.

By participating in this mega event we wanted to reiterate our late Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s legacy – Singapore the Greenest and the cleanest country in the entire region and to instil the sense of responsibility among us students.

The students who had paid for the saplings were given back the saplings to grow it in their home. The remaining saplings were planted in the same formation in the school campus.

Our students from Grade 1-5 participated in various Earth Day competitions in the PG Smart Campus. To name a few, Poetry Recitation, Colouring and drawing, Movie mania and Junkyard Wars. They won prizes in all the competitions.

As part of our House Activity, we had Best out of Waste Earth Day activity. The students had to bring recycled materials to make useful articles and displayed them in school.

15. The South Africa Mobile Library Project 2019 (Book Donation Drive)

The South Africa Mobile Library Book Donation Project organized by the Sony Group of Companies in Singapore celebrated its 12th year in 2019, with a donation of English language children’s books to South African children. Sony in Singapore started supporting this annual CSR project in 2008 and we have donated over books to-date. The success of the project in Singapore is due to the strong support from schools and the community, as well as Sony employees. The books will be shipped to Durban, South Africa in end December by Ocean Network Express Pte. Ltd. (ONE), which provides free transportation for all books collected by Sony companies globally.

Here in GIIS East Coast Campus we get the students to engage with the local community to donate books to the needy. Parents were communicated of this donation drive. We could see the loving hearts of our students fill the baskets with books. It was overwhelming to see the baskets full. Six energetic teams were formed to sort out the books and pack them in boxes. This task was done in sprint speed. It was overwhelming to see the generous donation of books and the students were extremely delighted to be doing this for the kids in South Africa.

During the month of November, besides collecting books, our students were also involved in sorting, tagging and packing the books. This provided students the opportunity for project management and teamwork. On November 11th our books were dispatched in four cartons to Sony Singapore. We donated a total of 384 books for the needy children. This created students in both countries to experience a personal touch to the whole project.

We celebrated ocean day on 8 Jun : This event is linked with SDG 14: Life below water. At the current time, there is a continuous deterioration of coastal waters owing to pollution, and ocean acidification is having an adversarial effect on the functioning of ecosystems and biodiversity. This is also negatively impacting small scale fisheries. Saving our ocean must remain a priority. Marine biodiversity is critical to the health of people and our planet. Awareness talks and various activities were planned for this day to make students understand the importance of oceans and sea life.

Nature walk and trails: We have signed up with NEA for nature walks and trails and ensure to be part of it and also involve parents to be involved along. This activity is linked to Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all age.

Food donation drive: We have been organizing food donation drives at our campuses to provide packed food to needy people and migrant workers. This drive is linked to goal 2: Zero Hunger.

Eco friendly gifts and plantation on birthdays: To any visitor in campus, eco friendly gifts like small potted plants, jute bags, hand made dairies etc are given as a small gesture. Also, students plant a sapling in the organic garden on their birthdays.

To conclude, there is a great need for sustainability worldwide. Today’s youth will be the ones that have to make the decisions about sustainability in order to survive and thrive. Sustainability is an interdisciplinary topic and should be taught with this in mind. This together can help us to preserve the planet for ourselves and future generations.