Clean & Green Week 2006 to focus on youth and climate change

By Farah Abdul Rahim, Channel NewsAsia
Posted: 01 November 2006 1714 hrs

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will launch Clean & Green Week 2006 this Sunday.

The campaign this year aims to instil a greater sense of ownership in the environment, especially among the young, and to raise awareness of climate change.

The campaign comes after a survey by the National Environment Agency last week that showed the number of litterbugs was on the rise.

Some 4,000 litterbugs were caught in the first nine months of this year - and more than half of them were young Singaporeans.

"I was kayaking in Kallang Basin and saw a lot of plastic bags and drink cans being thrown over the shore. I was disgusted by how apathetic Singaporeans are to our situation. I hope through this campaign, I can get more Singaporeans to raise their awareness about how serious this issue has become, and make Singapore a litter-free country," said Eric Hu, student, Hwa Chong Institution.

Organisers say this year's campaign will go beyond the usual tree-planting to spur the young to take personal responsibility for the environment.

"The younger generation over time has perhaps become less sensitive to the environment, so much so that this mentality that no matter where they go, it's okay to drop a piece of litter or not to care for their environment, someone will come after them, clean up after them - this maid mentality is something we want to tackle," said Derek Ho, Chairman, CGW Launch Committee.

Republic Polytechnic is taking part in the Clean & Green Week for the first time.

More than 1,000 students will be involved in the various activities to nurture greater environmental consciousness and to encourage more youth environmental activism among the young.

The polytechnic plans to get some of these students to become eco-guides next year when the mangrove swamp behind Admiralty Park is ready.

Climate change is also a major theme this time.

"Much more can be achieved through greater sense of awareness by the general public, not just awareness but having the man in the street actively taking action to help reduce greenhouse gases, address the issue and making it a habit in their daily lives. It could be something as simple as changing a light bulb to a more energy saving compact bulb, switching off lights, turning off equipment on standby mode - very simple things," said Howard Shaw, Executive Director, Singapore Environment Council. - CNA /dt