Launching UCSI’s Green Campaign With the KL Mayor!
The 20th of June marked the official launching ceremony of UCSI’s very own Green Campaign which sets out to achieve various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations.
The ceremony was held at Block G in UCSI University KL campus and was graced with the presence of the mayor of Kuala Lumpur.
The ceremony started off with a speech from the UCSI Group Founder and CEO, Dato’ Peter Ng, who stated that UCSI University has been making changes in order to make the university campus environmentally sustainable and has worked hard to achieve various SDGs, namely that of ‘Quality Education’ and ‘Life on Land’.
He also said that even though the steps we have to take to achieve the SDGs are difficult, it does not mean we should give up on achieving the SDGs.
In fact, he said that UCSI will be even more determined and pour in more effort into making changes and policies which help attain the SDGs.
He even took this chance to notify the audience that UCSI has been named the best private university in Malaysia by QS World University Rankings for the second year in a row.
He ended speech by saying that he hopes UCSI will be able to achieve multiple SDGs in the near future and the efforts taken by UCSI will foster students who are able to inspire others to be more environmentally conscious.
After that, the guest of honour of the ceremony, Dato’ Nor Hisham Bin Ahmad Dahlan, who is the mayor of Kuala Lumpur gave his speech. He began by expressing his gratitude to UCSI for inviting him to such a meaningful ceremony.
He went on to state that Kuala Lumpur is no longer a city which aims to be the biggest, most advanced or brightest city, but a city which prioritizes the quality of life of its citizens as well as its environmental sustainability.
In this regard, he complimented UCSI for being a private establishment in KL which has taken practical steps to become an environmentally sustainable establishment and hopes that other private establishments can view UCSI as a good example and follow suit.
At the end of his speech, a terrarium made by UCSI students was presented to him as a token of appreciation for officiating the ceremony.
Right after the speech from the mayor, a video showcasing the efforts taken by UCSI to be environmentally sustainable such as waste management, rainwater harvesting, using solar-powered street lights and many more were shown to the audience.
The ceremony continued with presentations given by representatives of green projects and programmes organized by UCSI staff and students.
Representatives from the Palm Oil Student Ambassador Programme, Green Up Project, Nature is Our Treasure and the 3rd International Conference on Molecular Biology and Biotechnology were given a chance to introduce their respective projects/programmes and explain which SDGs they hope to achieve to the audience.
Awards and certificates were also given to all the projects and programmes at the end of the presentations.
The ceremony ended on a high note with a speech from Rosemary Morrow, a permaculture (sustainable agricultural system) specialist from Australia.
She highlighted that unfortunately, most of the current environmental issues are caused by her generation and we as the younger generation have to solve those issues.
However, it does not mean that the responsibility of environmental conservation falls only on the shoulders of the young, but it is the responsibility of all human beings on Earth.
She said that she hopes to see more establishments realize the importance of environmental conservation and take measures to ensure their establishments are environmentally sustainable like UCSI has.
She added that she hopes to see UCSI students spread their environmental consciousness to the general public so everyone can see the importance of environmental conservation.
The ceremony serves as a reminder to all UCSI students to play their role in conserving the environment.
Be it small actions such as switching off the lights in empty rooms or drastic measures such as organizing green events and projects, we should all help conserve the environment whenever possible so the generations to come to have a clean and safe environment to live in.