We are delighted to receive $2,400HKD from the Year 2 students at Bradbury School.  As part of their Earth Day Event, which took place on the 22nd April 2013, the students placed donated coins onto a large outline of an orangutan on the playground.  This activity supports the School’s Unit of Inquiry on Habitats, where students learn about orangutans, their habitat, and how humans are affecting them.  The donation will go toward reforestation and orangutan conservation.

Themed as Green Voices for this year’s conference, the one-day event at Discovery College, Discovery Bay, was to have students from 12 ESF member schools to brainstorm potential campaigns in raising environmental awareness in Hong Kong.

Guest of honour, Ms. Christine Loh, Under Secretary for the Environment HKSAR, took the stage as the Chief Judge for students’ work on various campaign ideas in raising environmental awareness. Ms. Loh’s insights in the environmental policy developments of Hong Kong gave students an unprecedented insight into how decision makers tackle some of the very challenging questions in promoting conservation in Hong Kong, such as the domestic waste recycling programme.

Keynote speaker, Dr. Andy Cornish, former Director of the WWF Hong Kong, spoke about his campaign experiences around the total ban of trawl fishing in Hong Kong under his directorship between 2005-2012.

Dr. Willie Smits was the keynote speaker in the 6th Annual ESF Environmental Conference

Dr. Willie Smits, keynote speaker in the 6th Annual ESF Environmental Conference was also present at this year ‘s conference.

Students from one of Masarang HK’s partner schools, the Victoria Shanghai Academy (VSA), also took part in this event and presented ideas on school greening. This included the utilization of a slope behind the school for tree planting for education and vertical greening on school buildings.

Teams from other schools presented ideas on reducing food waste in school, banning shark fins, recycling plastic in consumer products and reducing air pollution.

The participating schools at this year’s conference included:

• Kennedy School (microbits),
• Shatin Junior School (plastic products),
• Discovery College (Shark Fins),
• Renaissance College (Food Waste),
• Clearwater Bay School (Shark Fins),
• Kowloon Junior High (Food Waste),
• Glenealy School (plastics),
• Quarry Bay School (Air Pollution),
• Beacon Hill School (Food Waste),
• Peak School (Ivory),
• Victoria Shanghai Academy (Air Pollution),
• Bradbury School (Food Waste).

You can find more information at the ESF website and ESF Facebook.