Inspire
It all started when Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, was invited as our Guest-of-Honor during our Community Camp on 23 March 2019.  After the ceremony and as a casual dinner conversation with our group members, Mr Masagos shared with us about his work at the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources and on the general whole, the environmental issues in Singapore (e.g. waste management). He also brought up about the Climate Action Ambassador Badge scheme, a collaboration with the Ministry and the Singapore Scout Association to encourage scouts to take up climate action through ground-up initiatives, projects and outreach activities.

It was then that our group leaders decided that our group, Phoenix Scout Group, should lead by example and incorporate more climate action initiatives in our activities starting with the year 2019.

Learn & Decide

With that in mind, our leaders put into plan a series of activities revolving around the theme of climate issues such as a visit to Sustainable Gallery Singapore, beach clean-ups and community outreach events. The goals are:

• Providing opportunities to youths to increase their self and global awareness towards climate issues.
• Encouraging the youths to take on a more active role in tackling climate issues (e.g. being a voice).
• Imparting the values of service learning to youths.

Do
Our activities consisted of the following:

1. 25 May 2019 - A Visit to the Singapore Sustainability Gallery to learn about Climate Action (2hrs)

2. 25 May 2019 - Kite Making Activity through Repurposing of Trash Materials (2hrs)

3. 9 Aug 2019 -  Participation in National Day Cleanup and Outreach Event.

4. 7 Sept 2019 - Promoting the '5' Rs of Waste Management to the Public (4hrs)

5. 14 Sept 2019 - Participation in Pasir Ris Beach Cleanup (4hrs)

Share

We were given the opportunity to engage the public during our participation in the National Day Cleanup and Outreach event - a collaboration project that SSA has with Public Hygiene Council. We got the youths to remind the public to pick up after themselves and not to litter after watching the fireworks and when leaving the place. 

During Good Deeds Day, the youths were also tasked to engage grocery shoppers and advise them on the use of recycling bags and the 5Rs of waste management. The youths also got the shoppers to sign an e-pledge to show their support towards environmental causes.