YOUTHS TAKING STEWARDSHIP
Been awhile since I last blogged. Was given a chance to write for the National Weather Study Project (NWSP). So since I stayed up almost all night to write it, don't want to waste it. So i'm posting it here for anyone who passes by to read it. I hope it will inspire some of you.
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YOUTHS TAKING STEWARDSHIP, EVERYONE A WINNER
Global warming is taking its shape into reality for many governments and corporations who have once chose to ignore its existence. However, they are now actively doing their bit to educate the public to start taking action by reducing their carbon footprint. This is a daunting task that will not work unless everyone comes together to make that stand and change his or her lifestyle to be a more sustainable one.
As a youth, I personally feel that we each need to start taking the lead an ownership of our planet. As the world moves towards globalization, what we do here will affect someone, somewhere out there and vice versa. When we talk about saving the world, it is really about saving ourselves from extinction. Way before human came into the picture, this blue planet has been surviving well. The evolution of mankind and phasing in and out of specimens of life are just part and parcels of what’s happening on Mother Earth. This is our world and it is in the matter of time before we are bestowed with this planet’s responsibilities and stewardship of our own kind. Hence, it’s time for us to do something if we want to inherit a world that allows us to continue to survive as a race.
Senoko’s initiative of the National Weather Study Project (NWSP) is one that allows the stakeholders of tomorrow, the youths, to have another avenue to start doing some level of research and understanding of what is happening to our planet instead of just hearing from the news and reading from books. The students who have participated in this project actually gained quite an extensive knowledge on what global warming is and why is it happening while they are involved in the project. It takes learning to a whole new dimension where the students have to start thinking and ask questions. This is a good fundamental build up for them to start taking ownership and knowing why they need to do so.
Given the opportunity to volunteer as a judge last year and also the chance to be the moderator for the secondary schools for this year, I can see the standard of the projects have significantly improved. It is gratifying to see the amount of efforts the students have put in and what is even more satisfying is to see students who took part in last year’s project hand over their findings to the younger batch. A sense of proper handing over can be observed and students are able to work on earlier findings and move forward to more defined and focused results that couldn’t be achieved last year. To top that, the students who participated this year have not only learned from their own projects, but also learn from their seniors who have participated in the project the year before.
In this article, I hope to firstly congratulate all participating students for volunteering yourself to be involved in this project despite your hectic schedule. Especially so for this year, where there is the Singapore Youth Festival going on. By getting involved, all of you are winners by your own ways. You have learned how to work as a team and also learn more than what your fellow schoolmates have form the textbook. You have had the chance to learn about critical thinking, to filter information from the vast resources of the Internet age and also learn from the judges who comes from all walks of life.
Secondly, I’d like to take the opportunity to urge all of you to take it further from NWSP, to go beyond the school if you dare. Now that you have a better understanding of what global warming is and what are the various environmental issues are happening, you can start doing something now. Being a youth is an asset that you should cherish to your advantage. None of you are too young to do anything. The only thing that will stop you is yourself. This is your world and no one is allowed to tell you what cannot be done. You owe it to yourself to have a world that you want when you take over from the adults of this century. Start taking ownership and share what you know to get people to take action to keep this planet a more sustainable one for us to live in.
Let me share with you an example of a young boy who started out his simple dream to just “Save the World” in hope to inspire every to not stop just here. He was primary three where he realized he wanted to make the world a better place because he wanted to help people to live better. And with this simple dream, it kept him going at least for the next sixteen years.
He began to get involved and read up about what is happening to the world. He started to pick up an old folder from home and started to do some newspaper cuttings and go to the library once in awhile to learn more about what is the environment and what are the existing interesting technologies. He kept doing that before he made his first step to take action by volunteering with an existing organisation to help people. But after couple of years, he felt that he wanted to do more, he felt that he could do more. So he went on to organize small groups to volunteer and to serve people. By then, he was already in his upper secondary school days. He carried on doing these simple things to until he was in his polytechnic days where he realized that if he were to be in an organisation and leverage on that platform, he could bring more like minded youth together to organize bigger outreach program. This could benefit even more people and hence his active involvement during his tertiary education years in various societies and union to help save the world in his own little ways. However, shortly after doing so, he left school and got into national service. But prior to that, an ASEAN Youth Conference on the Environment has given him a jolt to realize that if we don’t care about our planet now, we’d need to find an alternate space to live in time to come. This further probed him to look at the need to improve the environment if he wanted to save the world. We need to have an environment to live in order to survive.
The spirit or flare of trying to “Save the World” did not just end there. It kept burning in his heart and he wanted so badly to do something about it. He went back to paper reading and internet search. Finally, he chanced upon a trip to the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and made headways for it. The trip proved to be an enriching and worthwhile one. It inspired him to find an organisation to focus on getting youth to take ownership and educate the people to lead a more sustainable lifestyle by simple everyday decision.
It seemed simple but it wasn’t, along the way people come and go and many adults didn’t really believe him enough when he started. They did not take him seriously and were waiting to see when he will give up and walk away from this little dream of his. A dream of saving the world or making the world a better place. Doubts came from not only from the adults but also from family members, working colleagues and also from fellow counter parts.
Nonetheless, he kept pushing forward and kept organizing activities to reach out to more youths and slowly, he was recognized for his effort. His friends turned from laughing at him to taking a step forward to ask him “I want to know why are you so passionate about what you are doing.” And some of these friends ended up becoming his generals in running the organisation. These friends who were inspired then in turn inspire more others and organize activities to educate more youth and reach out to more individuals.
Fellow environmentalist from both the local and international scene also started to appreciate his flare, his persistence and his sincerity. They began to partner him to work out better programs and events to reach out to more people. The government began to take notice of he and his group and lend their support. Corporate partners slowly took interest in what his organisation is doing and offered whatever they could to help him expand his outreach. Some even took him in and mentor him to realize his simple dream. Till date, he is still working very hard to realize his simple dream, “To create and maintain a culture of a more sustainable lifestyle.” This is his way of “Saving the World.”
The idea of sharing this little story is to have all of you realize two things. Firstly, no one is too young to do something to start realizing his/her dreams. You can do anything at any age. Start small, start simple. Build on small success and slowly you will infect more and more people who will take you seriously about saving the world.
And secondly, you will need to always persevere in order to achieve what you want. Stay focus and dreams will come true.
For those who did not win any prizes, I hope you realized you have already won the experience of a lifetime when you embarked on this journey. The friends you made and the knowledge you gained will help you more than you know it. Treasure it and share it to as many as you can.
For those who have won prizes, this is a bonus for you. And with the bonus, a certain level of obligation should fall upon your shoulders to take on the challenge to share what you have learnt.
For all participants of the NWSP, I’d challenge you to do take this opportunity to work together to reach out to your school community. Partner with your school and reach out to your own neighborhood.
This is your world to inherit in time, so you do have a say in it. Start taking stewardship of it now and by the time you are handed the rein, you’d be glad you did so because everyone will benefit from it, including you, your peers, your family and your loved ones.
-------------------------------------------
Any thoughts?
Dream on and make it happen cause dreams DO happen!
-------------------------------------------
YOUTHS TAKING STEWARDSHIP, EVERYONE A WINNER
Global warming is taking its shape into reality for many governments and corporations who have once chose to ignore its existence. However, they are now actively doing their bit to educate the public to start taking action by reducing their carbon footprint. This is a daunting task that will not work unless everyone comes together to make that stand and change his or her lifestyle to be a more sustainable one.
As a youth, I personally feel that we each need to start taking the lead an ownership of our planet. As the world moves towards globalization, what we do here will affect someone, somewhere out there and vice versa. When we talk about saving the world, it is really about saving ourselves from extinction. Way before human came into the picture, this blue planet has been surviving well. The evolution of mankind and phasing in and out of specimens of life are just part and parcels of what’s happening on Mother Earth. This is our world and it is in the matter of time before we are bestowed with this planet’s responsibilities and stewardship of our own kind. Hence, it’s time for us to do something if we want to inherit a world that allows us to continue to survive as a race.
Senoko’s initiative of the National Weather Study Project (NWSP) is one that allows the stakeholders of tomorrow, the youths, to have another avenue to start doing some level of research and understanding of what is happening to our planet instead of just hearing from the news and reading from books. The students who have participated in this project actually gained quite an extensive knowledge on what global warming is and why is it happening while they are involved in the project. It takes learning to a whole new dimension where the students have to start thinking and ask questions. This is a good fundamental build up for them to start taking ownership and knowing why they need to do so.
Given the opportunity to volunteer as a judge last year and also the chance to be the moderator for the secondary schools for this year, I can see the standard of the projects have significantly improved. It is gratifying to see the amount of efforts the students have put in and what is even more satisfying is to see students who took part in last year’s project hand over their findings to the younger batch. A sense of proper handing over can be observed and students are able to work on earlier findings and move forward to more defined and focused results that couldn’t be achieved last year. To top that, the students who participated this year have not only learned from their own projects, but also learn from their seniors who have participated in the project the year before.
In this article, I hope to firstly congratulate all participating students for volunteering yourself to be involved in this project despite your hectic schedule. Especially so for this year, where there is the Singapore Youth Festival going on. By getting involved, all of you are winners by your own ways. You have learned how to work as a team and also learn more than what your fellow schoolmates have form the textbook. You have had the chance to learn about critical thinking, to filter information from the vast resources of the Internet age and also learn from the judges who comes from all walks of life.
Secondly, I’d like to take the opportunity to urge all of you to take it further from NWSP, to go beyond the school if you dare. Now that you have a better understanding of what global warming is and what are the various environmental issues are happening, you can start doing something now. Being a youth is an asset that you should cherish to your advantage. None of you are too young to do anything. The only thing that will stop you is yourself. This is your world and no one is allowed to tell you what cannot be done. You owe it to yourself to have a world that you want when you take over from the adults of this century. Start taking ownership and share what you know to get people to take action to keep this planet a more sustainable one for us to live in.
Let me share with you an example of a young boy who started out his simple dream to just “Save the World” in hope to inspire every to not stop just here. He was primary three where he realized he wanted to make the world a better place because he wanted to help people to live better. And with this simple dream, it kept him going at least for the next sixteen years.
He began to get involved and read up about what is happening to the world. He started to pick up an old folder from home and started to do some newspaper cuttings and go to the library once in awhile to learn more about what is the environment and what are the existing interesting technologies. He kept doing that before he made his first step to take action by volunteering with an existing organisation to help people. But after couple of years, he felt that he wanted to do more, he felt that he could do more. So he went on to organize small groups to volunteer and to serve people. By then, he was already in his upper secondary school days. He carried on doing these simple things to until he was in his polytechnic days where he realized that if he were to be in an organisation and leverage on that platform, he could bring more like minded youth together to organize bigger outreach program. This could benefit even more people and hence his active involvement during his tertiary education years in various societies and union to help save the world in his own little ways. However, shortly after doing so, he left school and got into national service. But prior to that, an ASEAN Youth Conference on the Environment has given him a jolt to realize that if we don’t care about our planet now, we’d need to find an alternate space to live in time to come. This further probed him to look at the need to improve the environment if he wanted to save the world. We need to have an environment to live in order to survive.
The spirit or flare of trying to “Save the World” did not just end there. It kept burning in his heart and he wanted so badly to do something about it. He went back to paper reading and internet search. Finally, he chanced upon a trip to the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and made headways for it. The trip proved to be an enriching and worthwhile one. It inspired him to find an organisation to focus on getting youth to take ownership and educate the people to lead a more sustainable lifestyle by simple everyday decision.
It seemed simple but it wasn’t, along the way people come and go and many adults didn’t really believe him enough when he started. They did not take him seriously and were waiting to see when he will give up and walk away from this little dream of his. A dream of saving the world or making the world a better place. Doubts came from not only from the adults but also from family members, working colleagues and also from fellow counter parts.
Nonetheless, he kept pushing forward and kept organizing activities to reach out to more youths and slowly, he was recognized for his effort. His friends turned from laughing at him to taking a step forward to ask him “I want to know why are you so passionate about what you are doing.” And some of these friends ended up becoming his generals in running the organisation. These friends who were inspired then in turn inspire more others and organize activities to educate more youth and reach out to more individuals.
Fellow environmentalist from both the local and international scene also started to appreciate his flare, his persistence and his sincerity. They began to partner him to work out better programs and events to reach out to more people. The government began to take notice of he and his group and lend their support. Corporate partners slowly took interest in what his organisation is doing and offered whatever they could to help him expand his outreach. Some even took him in and mentor him to realize his simple dream. Till date, he is still working very hard to realize his simple dream, “To create and maintain a culture of a more sustainable lifestyle.” This is his way of “Saving the World.”
The idea of sharing this little story is to have all of you realize two things. Firstly, no one is too young to do something to start realizing his/her dreams. You can do anything at any age. Start small, start simple. Build on small success and slowly you will infect more and more people who will take you seriously about saving the world.
And secondly, you will need to always persevere in order to achieve what you want. Stay focus and dreams will come true.
For those who did not win any prizes, I hope you realized you have already won the experience of a lifetime when you embarked on this journey. The friends you made and the knowledge you gained will help you more than you know it. Treasure it and share it to as many as you can.
For those who have won prizes, this is a bonus for you. And with the bonus, a certain level of obligation should fall upon your shoulders to take on the challenge to share what you have learnt.
For all participants of the NWSP, I’d challenge you to do take this opportunity to work together to reach out to your school community. Partner with your school and reach out to your own neighborhood.
This is your world to inherit in time, so you do have a say in it. Start taking stewardship of it now and by the time you are handed the rein, you’d be glad you did so because everyone will benefit from it, including you, your peers, your family and your loved ones.
-------------------------------------------
Any thoughts?
Dream on and make it happen cause dreams DO happen!
posted by Wilson Ang a.k.a ShamU at 5:36 AM
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