Green Denmark Award launched to encourage students to fight climate change

By Teresa Tang, Channel NewsAsia
18 August 2007

SINGAPORE: It is a competition about robots but it has an environmental twist.

A new award, called the Green Denmark Award, has been included in this year's National Junior Robotics Competition.

The new component was launched recently by the Danish Ambassador to Singapore, Klavs A Holm.

"The most important political question for many years to come will be how to fight global warming. Denmark has huge experience in fighting global warming and energy consumption. What we want to do with this competition is to alert the youth and make them find out how they can contribute to fighting global warming," said the ambassador.

Participants in the competition are required to write a paper on green solutions practised in Denmark that can be transplanted to Singapore.

Besides the essay, students need to come up with robots that must complete various tasks in an obstacle course.

Bill Lim Tao Xuan, a participant from Rulang Primary School, said: "It (the competition) is good. We can share all of our ideas so that we can (minimise) global warming or climate change."

"Because we are global citizens, we are also fighting climate change.....a process which everybody has to go through, the Earth has to go through, so we have to slow down the process," said participant Qi Xuan, from Yishun Town Secondary School.

37 teams from 13 schools are participating in the competition this year.

Winners will be announced early next month. They stand to win trophies and prizes from Lego and the Danish Embassy. - CNA/ir