Held in conjunction with Climate Action Week 2022 from 19 to 23 September, SMU Students’ Association Council (SAC) organised an inaugural SMU Sustainability Week uniting the efforts by SMU corporate-level and student sustainability groups (SMU Libraries, C4SR and OCIS; Project Midori and SOSCIETY) to increase awareness on environmental sustainability and sustainable lifestyle practices to empower us to take action against climate change.

The SMU Sustainability Week was a five-day event organised by the Grassroots Working Committee (GWC) from the 18th SAC. This year, the team worked with both internal and external stakeholders to set-up booths and organise activities for students, staff and even the members of the public.

Here are some of the highlights during the week:

SOSCIETY Book Donation Drive — Old Books, New Stories

“Old Books, New Stories'' was a project brought to you by  SOSCIETY’s Community Service Department, the student representative body of the School of Social Sciences (SOSS), in collaboration with Books Beyond Borders, a non-profit organisation which collects and sells gently-used books. This initiative aimed to raise awareness and promote recycling and reusing books in SMU, through the act of giving new life to old books.​ The organisers hopes to build a world where everyone has an equal opportunity to access knowledge, a quality education, and become lifelong learners.

Around 180 books were collected and these will be sold to raise money for students to learn and lead in rural schools of Nepal.

SMU Libraries — Pop-up Fashion Waste Recycling Station

Renew Earth Sweat Shop was a community and participatory art project reacting to the environmental impact and labour conditions linked to the global fashion industry. The project attempted to ‘reverse’ sweatshops — to become what a sweatshop is not, to counter waste, rethink labour and to renew our earth. Held at The Hive of SMU’s Li Ka Shing Library, students and staff dropped in to learn and engage in various recycling processes, including creating fabric yarns, and salvaging reusable items and fabric from discarded clothing. Participants had also brought love back to old clothes through hands-on repair and mending.

Pop Up Eco-Booths in collaboration with Tzu Chi’s Zero Market & R3W

Organised in partnership with Tzu Chi's Zero Market and R3W, the Alcove was filled with 13 unique pop-up eco-booths from 21st to 23rd September 2022.

With the aim of promoting a truly sustainable lifestyle, Tzu Chi’s Zero Market partners various vendors to offer pre-loved, handmade, upcycled, repurposed items and organic produce. R3W also supports seniors, special needs and disadvantaged communities by offering their items for sale. During SMU Sustainability Week, the Zero Market showcased items from preloved and upcycled clothes from Cloop, to vegan soap bars from My Naked Bar.

Project Midori & C4SR — Fireside Chat: Towards Net Zero

“Towards Net Zero” is a fireside chat organised by Project Midori, a student-led community service project focused on encouraging the reduction of food waste. This event was targeted at the entire SMU community, with attendees comprising undergraduates, faculty and staff.

The fireside chat started off with a Campus Tour of the SMU Connexion (SMUC) led by student representatives from SMU Midori.  Senior Minister of State (SMS) Dr Amy Khor from the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment was accompanied on the tour by Dean of Students, Professor Paulin Straughan and Vice President of the Office of Campus Infrastructure and Services, Sundaravadivelan Selvam. The students shared about the Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) construction process of SMUC, as well the solar panel set on the roof of SMUC which harnesses on-site solar energy for the building to achieve zero-energy.

Panellists Senior Minister of State Dr Amy Khor from the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, Jasmine Tuan from Zero Waste SG, and Sean Tan, founder of Insect Feed Technologies, discussed the various facets of sustainability efforts in Singapore, explored how sustainable living practices and waste reduction initiatives that will bring us closer to achieving Net Zero Waste, with SMU student moderator Nandita Banna, Miss Universe Singapore 2021.

Organised in partnership with Office of Campus Infrastructure & Services (OCIS), supported by the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE), City Developments Limited (CDL), and in collaboration with the SAC and the National Youth Council (NYC), the sessions brought together some 60 participants who had gathered to hear about sustainability initiatives.

SMS Amy had shared on her Facebook post that “This is indeed a demonstration of how we can each rally our communities, and pull together resources to drive greater impact for sustainability and climate action!”

Reflections

Ler Wei Qiang, Chairman of the Grassroots Working Committee (Year 2, School of Economics), was grateful for the experience and opportunity to plan for this inaugural event: “It was a challenging yet fulfilling experience to unite the initiatives from the various student groups, offices, while working with external partners such as MSE and NYC to be represent SMU to be part of Climate Action Week.”

“This wouldn’t have been possible without the help from members from Midori, SMU staff Pamela and Patrick, as well as the coordination efforts from NYC and MSE representatives.”

Malcom Lee, Community Outreach Team Leader of Project Midori (Year 2, Lee Kong Chian School of Business) shared his reflections: “Organising the fireside chat was a rewarding endeavour that was not without its challenges. We had to learn to work with multiple layers in order to make key decisions, which I have learnt is the norm for most events. Nonetheless, we were fortunate to have four engaging panellists who represented very different sectors of sustainability and they were immensely passionate about what they did.”