Held in conjunction with Earth Day (a global environmental initiative marked for this Sunday, 22 April), 380 youths between the ages of 17 and 25 embarked on an “Amazing Race”-style eco-adventure to uncover their earth impact and discover ways to mitigate their ecological footprints, in line with this year’s theme on Carbon Footprint – “What’s your carbon show size?”.
The Challenge took the participants to locales including Bishan - Ang Mo Kio Park, Singapore’s first Zero Energy Building at BCA Academy, Bollywood Veggies, MacRitchie Reservoir and Singapore’s First Eco-mall, City Square Mall, where they faced various green challenges which focused on six sustainability topics, namely Energy, Water, Shelter (Buildings), Biodiversity, Waste and Food. These issues are the building blocks of a sustainable lifestyle that will contribute towards mitigating the impact of climate change.
To reduce carbon footprint via transportation, all travel was on foot or public transportation. Participants also had the opportunity to try out greener modes of transportation including the Trikke (a human powered 3-wheel carving vehicle that utilises conservation of angular momentum to allow a rider to propel forward) and the R2X Eco-Rider.
380 Eco-Challengers celebrate Earth Day. Image: CDL
The national competition is City Developments Limited (CDL)’s annual green rally, which aims to provide youths a fun platform to heighten environmental awareness and to cultivate “Eco-Change Agents”. Since the inaugural Challenge in 2010, the number of participants has increased by over 45 per cent.
The Challenge has also been successful in reaching out to both greenies and non-greenies alike, with over 85 per cent of the participants taking part for the first time. One of the first-time participants includes Melody Wong, a real estate undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
“The CDL E-Generation Challenge was fun! I’ve learnt that simple acts can make a real difference – something as easy as recycling an aluminium can instead of discarding it counts. For the same amount of energy to produce a new can from aluminium ore, you can produce 20 cans using recycled aluminium cans. To reduce my carbon footprint, I have been recycling my used drink cans since and encouraging my family and friends to do the same,” she said. Her team, ‘Success – SDE is the Best’, was one of the two teams from NUS’ School of Design and Environment, whose scores contributed towards their School’s pole position for the Institution Challenge prize, which includes a $1,000 cash donation to the school.
The CDL E-Generation Challenge, which was held earlier this month, is amongst the various initiatives by CDL to promote eco-consciousness within the community. Other eco programmes held in celebration of Earth Day include support a sportswear recycling initiative at City Square Mall this weekend.
To view the full release and CDL E-Generation Challenge 2012 highlights, please visit http://www.cdl.com.sg/app/attachment/cdl/investors_media/press_release/20120420.pdf
For more details about the Challenge, go to www.cdl.com.sg/egeneration2012 or www.facebook.com/CDLEGenerationChallenge.
The CDL E-Generation Challenge 2012 is supported by National Environment Agency and is a part of Clean and Green Singapore and Building and Construction Authority (BCA). Other event partners include Singapore Motor Sports Association, Environmental Challenge Organisation (Singapore), City Square Mall, Star Horizon Learning as well as My 3 Wheels and Emarco Enterprise.
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For more information, please contact:
Belinda Lee, Assistant General Manager or Eunice Yang, Manager
Corporate Communications
City Developments Limited
(Regn No: 196300316Z)
Tel: 6428 9315
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