HCMC youth and their green dream
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Báo Tuổi Trẻ English
- 15 month(s) ago
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Many groups of environmentally-minded youths in Ho Chi Minh City have been actively leading campaigns and creative and long-term projects to educate and promote a greener lifestyle.
How to make environmental issues interesting, easy to understand and practical is a concern of many environmental groups Photo: Tuoi Tre
Members of the environmental group SIFE, many students at the city’s University of Economics have since 2008 visited schools and orphanages to promote saving energy as part of the group’s Greenagers project.
“For each program, we do not only talk about the current situation and the importance of protecting the environment. We also teach kids to make bags, photo frames, bracelets from recycled papers,” said Nguyen Thi Thao Nguyen, the project leader.
Another program called “Green neighborhood” that was started in 2009 has become a ‘trademark’ for the Go Green group. Members visited different neighborhoods to clean up and encourage locals to protect the environment for a year. Later, the group performed cheerleading dance in city parks to send green messages to morning exercisers.
“Recently, we visited primary schools to instill a green consciousness in the young children,” said Nguyen Phuong Mai, head of the Go Green group.
How to make environmental issues interesting, easy to understand and practical is a concern of many environmental groups.
At the end of February, members of GFOC (Green Future Of Children) group at the city’s University of Foreign Trade took 40 students at the Viet Anh primary school on a fieldtrip to a bamboo village in Binh Duong province as part of their “Experience green trips” program. During the trip, the volunteers told fairy tales and held games related to bamboos to increase the kids’ curiosity and interest.
“It’s all about environment talk, but how to interest young kids in green issues is what we have to consider and spend time on,” said Pham Thanh Thien, the group leader.
Similarly, volunteers at the Greenagers project took a practical approach by teaching kids to create recycled toys, organize booths to sell their projects and raise funds for poor people.
“Instead of abstract ideas, we can help children understand better the role of saving to protect the environment by showing them what they can do,” said Nguyen Thi Nhat Nu, project sub-leader.