Speeches
Speech by Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Education, at the Launch of "Green for Hope" Project on Thursday, 10 July 2008, 10.00am at IMM Garden Plaza (Level 3)
Mr Liew Mun Leong, President and CEO, CapitaLand
Principals,
Teachers,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning.
It gives me great pleasure to be here to launch the CapitaLand “Green for Hope” Project. Everyone should play their part—especially the next generation
The need to protect the environment from mankind is becoming apparent.
Unprecedented snow storms, floods, droughts—news of unusual weather are hitting us ever so regularly. It is becoming clearer even to the layman that unless human beings show some restraint in the use of our natural resources we will suffer the consequences of our actions. It is, therefore, important that we educate our young on the virtue of conserving resources and caring for the environment. By imbibing the values of recycling and reducing waste at a young age, we hope our children will develop lifelong habits which will inspire them to do their part to protect the environment.
To this end, the Ministry of Education has collaborated with the National Environment Agency to reach out to our children. Some of these initiatives include the Environment Champion Workshop, Clean and Green Singapore Schools’ Carnival and Schools Recycling Outreach Programme. 173 primary schools participated in the Schools Recycling Outreach Programme last year, and collected a total of 380,000 kilogrammes of recyclable waste. This is roughly equivalent to the weight of 2 Boeing 747 airplanes, or 26 double-decker buses.
Private sector innovation- “Green for Hope” Project
Our efforts in recycling are now augmented by this new project of CapitaLand, and its charity arm—CapitaLand Hope Foundation.
CapitaLand earlier launched its “Building A Greener Future” Programme, a series of community outreach projects to engage the public in protecting the environment With this Green for Hope project, they aim to engage the younger audience—our children. With CapitaLand Hope Foundation, which focuses on meeting the needs of underprivileged children, CapitaLand is combining two corporate social responsibility initiatives, environmental protection and helping underprivileged children in this “Green for Hope” project.
CapitaLand’s aim is to encourage children to recycle, by appealing not only to their ideals of saving the earth, but also to give a gift of “hope” to their fellow classmates in need. With this in mind, they approached the Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore, public waste collectors, the Ministry of Education and the National Environment Agency to work together towards this common goal. For every kilogramme of recyclable waste collected, CapitaLand Hope Foundation will donate two dollars. This money will be deposited into the schools’ welfare fund to help needy students with their education expenses.
I understand that CapitaLand has a target for the schools. They hope that participating schools will achieve a recyclable waste collection of 875,000 kilogrammes, more than double what was achieved last year. If we achieve the target, we will be saving 13,500 trees and enough energy to light up 960 sixty-watt light bulbs and to run 400 television sets for a year!
Translating this “Green” target into a gift of hope, CapitaLand Hope Foundation has set aside a total of $1.75 million to be donated to the participating schools’ welfare fund. This amount will provide school uniforms for over 87,000 underprivileged students, or textbooks for more than 20,000 children, or one year’s supply of breakfast for over 11,500 students in need.
To further encourage the students to exceed this target, CapitaLand Hope Foundation will donate an additional $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000 to the top three schools with the largest collection of recyclable waste.
Building a greener and brighter future together
It is indeed gratifying to see organisations from both the public and private sectors actively supporting schools in their environmental endeavours. Caring for the environment is one of the key features of our Community Involvement Programmes. Our students are encouraged to do their part for the environment through recycling efforts and park adoption, among others. Such partnership therefore fits well with what our schools are doing towards protecting the environment. We believe that the Green for Hope project provides our students with an opportunity to practise good environmental habits and apply practical solutions to environmental concerns. At the same time, it gives our students a chance to help the less fortunate in the community in a tangible and meaningful way. To a generation who grew up in prosperity, it is important that we teach the values of empathy and compassion. For these reasons, the Green for Hope project is particularly meaningful.
We need more of such collaborations between industry and schools. Each of us may not be able to save the earth, but together, bit by bit, project by project, we can make our efforts count. By caring for our environment and caring for the needy in our community, we can make Singapore a much better home for everyone.
In closing, I wish all participating schools all the best in the “Green for Hope” Project and I hope that all the students will have a meaningful experience ahead.
Thank you.