Dear schoolmates,
As everyone understands, we all have the duties to go green, but it seems to be a difficult job for many. Actually, we can start from the very first step—‘Reduce’, which is also the theme of healthy living week this year. We can achieve waste reduction for environmental protection in three ways and levels—individual, group and school-based.
Individually, we can take part though bringing our own cutlery and water bottles. When it’s lunch time, while many of us rush into the restaurants to get our stomach full, we can also do something to reduce waste. It would be great if you could choose to eat in, but if inevitably you need to take away, it would be wonderful that you bring your own cutlery and ask the waiter not to provide you the plastic tools. Firstly, it is because plastic wastes are difficult to dissolve. Secondly, a package of fork, knife and spoon is usually provided while we may not use all of them, resulting in a waste of resources. Moreover, you can bring along your own water bottle to get water from the water dispenser instead of buying a bottle from the tuck shop every day. If everyone can bring your own reusable containers, it will definitely reduce waste significantly.
Other than individual efforts, we can also help reduce waste collectively as a group. Supplementary notes, past papers and homework answers are usually printed and distributed to every student. This consumes large amount of papers throughout a year. Among a group of students, uploading and distribution of these materials through the internet platform can save lots of papers. In addition, it could also be made optional for some subjects to buy exercise books for practice and a class of students to share among each other a few copies instead of obtaining one copy for every student.
To achieve a higher level of waste reduction, we should also join hands within the school to alleviate the problem. We could set up ‘rules’ to remind one another to avoid over-using resources and energy. For example, not turning on the air conditioner when it is 25°C or below, using both sides of the paper, using hand-dryer instead of napkins after hand washing etc. are measures conducive to energy conservation and saving consumption in resources. With concerted efforts and mutual surveillance, we can foster the spirit of waste reduction on our campus!
Although the suggestions above may lead to little inconvenience to our daily school life, only through these little steps can we make a significant change of our consumption culture on our campus. We are not living in isolation but living together with nature. We should bear the responsibility of protecting it! It’s time we did something for the environment. We should never wait or remain inactive. Take action now!
Yours faithfully,
Eunice Sui
Eunice Sui