Dover Campus' commitment to the Mission recognised in Straits Times

Dover Campus' commitment to the making education a force for a sustainable future was recognised in Straits Times last week. You can see a display of some of the amazing tech that has made the megablock a world-class building in terms of energy efficiency in the foyer of the Administration Offices on the third floor.







 Our whole campus was also inspected earlier this month for the final assessment for Green Mark Platinum - a certification of buildings that meet strict environmental criteria. The 5 components of the assessment are Energy Efficiency, Water Efficiency, Sustainable Operation and Management, Indoor Air Quality and Other Green Features. Simon Thomas, our Director of Operations who has been leading the bid for this certification explains the significance:

"If we are successful in this application and we are given the Platinum award (the highest available in Singapore) it will be a true testament and recognition to the efforts of the whole department in continuously making decisions based on energy and water efficiency and acting in line with best practices in sustainable operation and management of the facilities.

It must be remembered that sustainability is at the heart of the UWCSEA educational mission and this whole effort demonstrates our alignment in not only educating the students in sustainability but very much acting as a leading example of green facilities management for other organisations in Singapore.

This journey has been ongoing for over 7 years, It’s been a rather extraordinary effort from many individuals to get the campus to this position, I am very grateful for everyone’s efforts. Thank You!"

Good luck to Simon and the team...we expect the good news soon!
Follow the team's superb work on all their engineering strategies for resource efficiency on the Negative Watts blog.

So much happening...no time to blog lah!

Term 1 at Dover Campus flew by with so much expansion of our environmental stewardship initiatives that there was scarcely time to record all that was going on. So here's just a taster of the last few months...

Green Campus GC has been working flat out to unite light blue, dark blue and green shirts for a sustainable future by continuously updating our recycling systems. Not only do they organise the system but they sort, clean and deliver most of our recycling on College. It's hard, dirty work that has little glamour and publicity so if you see the team at work on a Thursday afternoon, do show them your thanks for their fantastic efforts...and of course make sure you reduce re-use and recycle.

Talking of reducing LEAF GC supported by Round Square Student Leaders extended their campaign to reduce the use of disposable plastics on Campus with their innovative 'VIP lane' for those using re-usable mugs. The initiative was a huge success thanks to terrific organisation by long-time campaigner Samay Bansal (G12) - a man who has the courage and conviction to accept the moaning from those who have yet to embrace the zero-waste message. Clearly however the coolest kids were delighted by life in the fast lane. Boys where you at?

 

 The Zero-waste message was re-enforced by the outgoing Student Council at the end of term one with a vivid demonstration of a typical morning's waste at Dover Campus. This is our daily contribution to Singapore's Incinerator..yep everything here is burned sending carcinogens, heat and useful resources up into the atmosphere...the very opposite of our mission. Please help spread the message...let's move to the zero waste-age.

Campus Gardening now incorporates many different groups all working hard to support our amazing landscapes team lead by the legend that is Andy Tan. You can follow the Edible Schoolyard group on their blog here or on twitter @UWC_edibleyard . With attacks by squirrels, snails and aphids, this group are sure developing some resilience and learning a lot too. They have had great successes along with the struggles through and customers at the Holiday Fair were delighted to buy delicious turmeric and herbs freshly harvested from our dover gardens.

Andy Tan and Sajjat display these superb planters that Andy recycled from old builders' pallets. Turns out Andy's a demon carpenter as well as gardener!