Contributed by: Choo Peiling
The Tampines Festival Park was a site of excitement for nearly 500 residents and students on Saturday, 6 June 2009. They were there to participate in the Youth Eco Fiesta 2009 and celebrate World Environment Day 2009. This festive event was made possible with the collaboration of 4 organisations. It was organised by the National Youth Achievement Award Gold Award Holders’ Alumni (NYAA GAHA) in collaboration with the Tampines East Youth Executive Committee, with the support of the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the National Parks Board (NParks). The theme for this year’s World Environment Day was “Your planet needs you! Unite to combat Climate Change”. The Guest-of-Honour for the event was Mah Bow Tan, Minister for National Development and Co-Chairman, Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development
Several popular activities were organised to attract the participants. There were lively performances ranging from hip-hop, Latin, soul and ethnic-inspired dances. The song and dance items were put up by students from eight different schools. These activities showcased the talents of Singaporean youths.
Underlying these activities, there was an important environmental purpose that the organisers wanted to impart to the visitors. The committee had worked hard to ensure that a green mindset was infused into the event. For instance, throughout the fiesta, youth messages and wishes for the environment were read out. There were also exhibitions by NParks on Singapore’s Biodiversity Trail, and NYAA on its environmental projects. The Eco Bus of NEA was also an attraction.
The emcees promoted the advantages of improving our carbon footprint. They stressed that it was not just important to the planet but the added bonus in helping us in many other ways, such as, our lifestyle and costs, which resonated well with the audience.
Terence Chia, Chairman of NYAA GAHA expressed, “There’s scope for improvement in every single thing we do. Even the smallest contribution is important and necessary, as we collectively hold the power to make Singapore a greener place for the future.”
“Sustainability will come from a change in mindsets and behaviours from everyone. At the end of the day, it’s about how every individual makes decisions, that we’ll make our impact sustainable,” concluded Regina Oon.
August 16th, 2009
The following are some of the submitted environmental messages. We would like to hear more from YOU! Do continue to submit your dedications by 11.59pm on 5 June 2009!
1. Lee Tian Xiang Andy, 19, Singapore: Money can buy pleasure, comfort and luxury. But money can’t heal the earth. Reduce, reuse, recycle - prevention’s ALWAYS better than cure!
2. Wan Yunyu, 20, Singapore: Save our mother earth, because we love her so much.
3. Cheryl Teo, 19, Singapore: I hope that… the green trees and blue skies will still be around for my great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren to see (:
4. Cheryl Wai Xinting, 19, Singapore: I hope everyone would love our earth more as much as they love themselves.
5. Fu Shixi Joshua, 18, Singapore: The way forward? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!!!
6. Loh Yuh Yiing, 19, Singapore: I hope that we would not just be aware of environmental issues, but be able to acknowledge, find the courage and motivation to address them. We share an interdependent relationship with the environment we live in so advancing environmental conservation and efforts to curb climate change is the least we can do in our capacities as one collective Man to contribute to the flourishing of this relationship. Go us!
7. Sidney Tio, age undefined, Singapore: GLOBAL WARMING!!! makes it very hard for us to function outside the house. Hopefully this can be changed and good luck to everyone trying to change this!
8. Liu MF, 31, Singapore: I hope the world would be more aware of the pollution caused by ignorant people and act on it.
9. Chia Xian Siew Priscilla, 15, Singapore: My wish for mother earth is for everyone to be aware of the effects and consequences of our actions and how every single one of us can play a part in conserving mother earth, no matter how small we think we are. She has given us so much! A lovely environment for us to live in, which can sustain life, beautiful natural features for us to enjoy… the list is endless. Is it that hard to give something back to her? Doing something small, like switching off our appliances when not in use? If everyone could play their part, mother earth would certainly be very pleased and happy! Just like how my mother would be if I tried my best to help her! 
10. Darrell Loo, 18, Singapore: The earth is the only place we can live in. It’s just right in every way, to breed human beings. So therefore, we must return this lovely earth the favour of keeping us alive. So we must do our best to keep mother alive too! A small favour could mean a big part in trying to preserve our world. Imagine: If 1 person can influence another person to change his or her habits, won’t the world be a better place? So why not be the 1 person to influence another person?
11. Lee Shan Hui Vivian, 19, Singapore: There are so many issues regarding environmental conservation that I’ve read and heard about that I don’t know what to begin with.. Coral reefs are disappearing from the coral triangle region, oil and fishing developments are pushing animals like the grey whale to the brink of extinction, ice bergs are melting fast due to global warming. Some of these things may not have a personal effect on some people, but for me, when I do watch television shows on animal planet for example, I can’t help but realise that the earth that we’re depending on might just crumble in our own hands. For this reason, I really hope that everybody will take small steps to save our planet even if it’s just switching off the air-con for a few nights, taking our own paper/cloth bags for shopping purposes, not taking plastic bags unnecessarily, recycling the aluminium cans we have at home, not putting the computer on standby mode for nights. All these small things can go a long way in helping the environment. I also hope that like the UK, efforts will come to a point where families can recycle our organic waste; while it is considered low-value, I think it also plays a part in environmental conservation.
June 4th, 2009
In conjunction with World Environment Day (WED), The NYAA Council, GAHA and Tampines East YEC will be organising the YouthEco-Fiesta 2009. Details of the event are as follows:
Date: Saturday, 6 June 2009
Time: 7.30pm to 9.30pm.
Venue: Tampines Festival Park (next to Blk 257), Tampines Street 21, Singapore 520257
Directions: Take a 10 min bus ride from Tampines Interchange/Station to Block 230B and walk over to the Park.
We have been in touch with a number of you who have indicated interest in helping with organizing/running the event. If any of you are keen to help in the running of the event, and have not already indicated interest, please email Pui Shan at alohapig88[a.t)hotmail.com with your name and mobile number by 3 June 2009.
Apart from having performances to spread the message of environmental conservation to the public, we will also be having a exhibits by the National Parks Board on the Singapore Biodiversity Trail and the National Environment Agency’s Eco Bus.
We would also like to hear YOUR wishes and hopes for the environment. If you have a message or a dedication that will help to spread awareness of environmental conservation and climate change, we would like to hear from YOU! Selected messages can be viewed at this website and messages may also be read out during the actual event. Send in your dedications here by 11.59pm on 5 June 2009.
We hope to make the Eco-Fiesta a memorable and interactive experience for all and hope to see you and your family at the fiesta!
May 31st, 2009
Dear Gold Award Holder,The National Environment Agency - 3P Partnership Department will be holding the next series of Youth Environment Envoy (YEE) workshops in March 2009, and it has invited the NYAA Gold Award holders to participate in the training during these YEE workshops.Gold Award holders can choose to attend either:
- The weekday workshop held on 17-19 March (Run 11) OR
- The weekend workshop held 20-22 March (Run 12)
A copy of the application form can be downloaded from here.The closing date for applications is 23 February 2008. Please forward all forms, via email, directly to NEA.
December 21st, 2008