Feel Good Post

Its been a very good week. So to offset the negativity of the previous post, this one is (generally speaking) a "feel good post".

First three cheers to my wife. She was attending a function at her office and they served food with polystyrene containers. She told the organisers she is boycotting the food. And this a local authority in Penang! Oh, and she called up her nephew to warn him to make sure that the caterer for his daughter's first birthday party next weekend don't use styrofoam ... or else ...

The UMT (Universiti Malaysia Terengganu) student (probably Nuur Azreen) dropped by my blog to say thank you to the 5 USM students who went over to help them get rid of the white coffin. Thanks Ker Shin and friends. And Foo of MMU in Melaka dropped a line to find out more about getting rid of polystyrene on their campus thru their Social Awareness event. Asked for permission to use some of our stuff ... go ahead, an acknowledge would be most welcomed.

And then of course there were the two final year projects of mass comm students (Smart Fuel and Green Generation) who did a great job pushing green inside and outside the campus.
There were some tiny slips along the way but I tell them to be never afraid to make mistakes ... just to learn from them.

Then there was my focus group discussion with a small group of students from our three campuses talking about what university means to them. This is the first of hopefully a series under the People-Led Solutions Task Force of our APEX University journey.

Finally, a group of 34 UKM students and 4 staff came over for a talk on ... going green, of course.

This was thursday afternoon, 26th Feb. I got hijacked with an SMS message to take a RapidPenang bus ride from the Chancellory building with VC to the Smart Fuel campaign closing at DTSP. Notice the small slip ... or two?

The night before, I got a phone call from one of the organisers saying they managed to get some sponsors for prizes in the form hampers. I laughed, I knew immediately the reason for the phone call. He asked my opinion about the plastic wrapping. I told him he probably knew my answer. He said yes. So they got rid of the plastic wraps but I hope they remembered to send them for recycling. Ah, but the bigger question is really why do we still need all these prizes?.

This what I would call a "green prize". And I believe I paid for it. Well, not me, USM.

Four EcoKnights.
Actually, the only EcoKnight is the lady (Yasmin) who is with an NGO by the same name, famous for their EcoFilm Fest in KL. Next to me is Kwang Soo from South Korea who is President of EcoBuddha, an organisation which has been promoting sustainable lifestyle for 20 years. And at the far end is Kanda Kumar, Chairman of Malaysian Nature Society, Penang. We were speakers at the Kick Off Green Generation seminar, everyone of us talking about being green (and green washing). Friday morning, 27th Feb.

I decided to go low-tech without the slides. This was a "test" I developed to "measure" how green the audience was. I offered them a choice of polystyrene, EcoPak made from oil palm waste and another made from sugarcane waste (from Thailand). Which would they choose? I had three possible response which I would consider "green". I was totally blown away by the first student who answered. He got it right ... and won a cloth bag. So, what's YOUR answer?

A section of the students and invited guests. I believe they all got door gifts, including a so-called non-woven bag donated by a sponsor. If I remember Tupperware also donated some stuff. I told them not to offer me any souvenirs so that nobody gets embarrassed.

27th Feb, about 9 pm, Rumah Tetamu, USM.
Focus group discussion with USM students on what university means to them. The students surprised us with their openness and frank views. Looking forward to more such discussions in the future. What came out? Lecture, Lecture, Lecture and more Lecture - that's not what they want. Me, Me, Me & Me - some students are like that. SHE? total waste of time because it's not doing what it is supposed to do - racial integration. Facilitated by lecturers Lean Heng, Janet, Yoke Mui, Nasir and myself (as concept mapper).

I thought having the discussion at night would encourage higher participation. I was wrong. Students have so many activities and assignments, there were many latest minute apologies. This resulted in a lot of leftover food which the caterer packed in plastic bags. The students did not want to take any of those.

Saturday 28th Feb, 2.30 pm. Gave a briefing to UKM students about Kampus Sejahtera and our sustainability efforts. I tried the "green test" with the 3 types of packaging with this group also. I was totally blown away again when the first student to response got it spot on. I guess the young generation are really in tune with wanting to be green. I will try it out next week when I give a similar talk to new admin staff and lecturers and see the outcome.

Good Luck UKM. Wish you all green without the wash.