GIIS East Coast commemorated World Environment Day 2020 with various activities that included encouraging the carrying of own shopping bags, a parents’ workshop on making newspaper bin liners, and students watching a story on “A Polar Bear” in the Kindergarten segment related to the iCare topic of global warming and a video on biodiversity. Every morning, they take a water pledge and sing green songs.?

Throughout the week, students from PYP Grades 1 – 5 took part in an array of activities involving colouring, creating colour poem, creating posters, creating a comics strip and also took time to create their pledge for nature. This World Environment Day 2020, PYP students reflected on their role as members of a global community and promised to take part in taking care of the environment.  They made their personal pledges for nature.  During the day, PYP 5 students also hosted a short, fun and engaging webinar.  In addition to getting the PYP community to understand more about the event, they also conducted a quiz and have also taken them on a tour of the African wilderness in Kenya and South Africa. 

In addition, students from Grade 8A CLSP attended a thought-provoking talk by Dr Gonzalo Carrasco, Research Fellow at Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University on Ocean Health. Dr Carrasco spoke about the harmful effects of lead, zinc, and microplastic in our mangroves and the oceans, and shared about his research and conservation efforts. Through his talk, students gleaned the importance of caring for our world as environmental health directly impacts human health. Grade 8A CLSP Environment Management students also presented on Bio-diversity and our role in nurturing nature, driving in the day’s theme of making “Time for Nature”. 

Walking the talk, the East Coast Green Campus took a pledge to protect life on the planet. The pledge transcends adopting and disseminating habits and behaviours and promises active responsibility in transforming society to achieve sustainable development and the quality of life of all inhabitants of the planet.

World Environment Day is celebrated worldwide on 5th June to encourage awareness and action for the protection of the environment. It is also called “People’s Day” to show our care and support for Planet Earth and the environment. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Time for Nature”, which focuses on our role to provide infrastructure to support biodiversity.