Teaming up for the environment

Green Brigade, the environmental group formed by us, was invited by the Al Futtaim Carillion construction company recently to visit their worksite in Abu Dhabi.

The aim was to share and explain to workers the benefits of recycling and other environmental issues, focusing mainly on what we can do on an individual level as part of their celebration of sustainability week ending on June 6, 2013.

Members of Green Brigade had adopted a unique way to address the workers. A presentation may not have been very interactive in order to understand the issue and the actions required, so we developed a small drama to focus on the usefulness of recycling and how we can do it as an individual.

In the later part of the skit, we focused on various ways of conserving water and electricity.

We started with a presentation on ‘Our Climate, Our Responsibility’ and what Green Brigade has done so far. Then we presented the skit that received a lot of applause. There were around 800 labourers present. They enjoyed the fact that we were able to share with them something new in an interesting manner.

We then had a quiz competition just to conclude the session by asking simple questions on what we had told them during the day. It was an instant hit with fierce rivalry between the labourers to win the prizes. They were given eco-friendly pencils and scales as prizes. We also distributed eco-friendly recyclable bags for them to carry their thing, instead of using plastic bags.

In brief, it was an amazing experience. The Green Brigade always believes that initiative of change needs to start at the grass root level.

The reader is a student based in Sharjah.

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