Schools for Green Action campaign to foster sharing

Consumer Association of Penang (CAP) is collaborating with SMK Convent Butterworth to foster sharing among school communities, with the theme “Schools for Green Action”.

The Green Action Week theme since 2018 has been ‘Sharing Community’.
Going green and becoming sustainable are not new initiatives for schools in Penang.

CAP is holding this year’s Green Action Week at SMK Convent so that other schools that have come to the programme can see, learn, emulate the green actions, and share their initiatives.

To introduce green projects to schools, CAP started edible gardens, herbal corners, and composting units at schools in Penang so that teachers, students, and school gardeners could grow chemical-free plants and vegetables.

Schools in Penang have also been actively moving towards zero waste through waste prevention, minimisation, repurposing materials, composting of organic waste, and waste segregation at the source for recycling.

These initiatives have received support from the City Councils of Penang Island and Seberang Perai.

SMK Convent Butterworth has all this and more, including rainwater harvesting, practising energy savings, making natural growth promoters for plants, making cloth bags out of old t-shirts, etc.

CAP aims to incorporate the concept of sharing and collaborative community through schools.

Schools for Green Action can combine learning with hands-on experience, providing our future generations with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values needed to lead a sustainable lifestyle.

According to CAP, when sustainability and environmental consciousness are inculcated in children from a young, they will continue being mindful as adults, make greener choices and reduce their carbon footprint.

Furthermore, when school communities collaborate and share knowledge, goods and service, they don’t only bring communities closer together but also reduce our ecological footprint.

Green Action Week is a global campaign to promote sustainable consumption. Each year from September to October, organisations worldwide take joint action to promote a common cause.

This initiative started in Sweden in 1990 by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and has grown to become an international partnership since 2010.

It is carried out in coordination with Consumers International, of which CAP is a member.