Team Efforts- Let’s Go GREEN Together at HKUST
Read about the passion of the green team members
Written by Green Team members Vinee Kapoor and Natalie Chang
Why we care?
Both of us are parents to young impressionable kids and we are immensely concerned about the degradation of our environment. We want our children and the future generations to not live in artificial cocoons, but to breathe the fresh air, drink clean water from the streams, and run wild in the greens. Therefore, we attempt to follow sustainable parenting, which is taking the well-being of all children into account—not just our own—when deciding how to ethically use the world’s resources.
However, to raise empowered kids, it is essential to talk—not only about the problems, but also about the solutions.
How we act?
At home, we use metal straws, air dry the clothes, use ceiling fans and minimize the use of air conditioners, use cloth bags to shop, and of course recycle and reuse whatever we can. At work, we have designed and launched the “Meal Boxes Go Green” program in the Green Team at UST.
Joining the campaign is extremely simple – just bring your own reusable meal box for your meal takeaways at the HKUST canteens. Then get a stamp on your stamp card and get rewarded for it with lucrative lucky draw prizes.
Joining the Green team makes us more engaged and less alone in our efforts. We create and share a common vision, discuss ways to implement our thoughts and ideas, and finally combine our small efforts to make an impact on HKUST’s sustainability mission!
Does it make any difference?
We had run this campaign in the last academic year and had got some great feedback!
Of the 300 HKUST members we had surveyed, 40% of them had participated in the campaign. About half of them have continued to bring their own reusable containers after the campaign! This is very promising for us. It highlights that people are more aware and concerned of the damage we are bringing to the environment, and are starting to change their behavior.
The new campaign
This year – the campaign has already started, and runs until 28 December, 2018. For more information and stamp cards, please go to http://green.ust.hk/en-us/events/details/83.
We are also making the HKUST community more aware of the damage we are doing to the environment but putting some educational facts around campus. Such as – it takes 450 years for a plastic bottle to decompose!
We don't see this as being about us doing more; it's about us doing things differently. So come join us in this campaign if you still haven’t and make your contribution to the environment.
Want to do more?
If you want to contribute more, please join the Green team. We are looking for more good ideas and welcome any help to run the existing programs! You can reach us at Green@ust.hk and check out our Facebook page for more information.
