In conjunction with the annual event of Earth Day on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection, the Integrated Sustainability & Urban Creativity Centre (ISUC) Student Chapter at Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) took the opportunity to inculcate among its members the importance of caring for the mother earth.
Before the actual day, the club had organised the ‘Chrysalis Workshop’ on the 14th of April. Project Manager Leindall Cheng Lin-Shi elaborate that this workshop was about how butterflies and moths are important not only to help flowers pollinate but also as ecosystem barometers, for their presence or absence can tell us a lot about the local environment.
According to scientists' observations, climate change will impact butterflies as temperature changes and rainfall amounts may alter their migration patterns and timing. Therefore, ecologists study butterflies' behaviour, population numbers and migration patterns to help determine the impact of these environmental issues.
“Apart from different species of butterflies and moths, APU students also learned about how different host plants could affect the growth of the caterpillars and their survivability,” said Leindall who is currently pursuing a Diploma in Software Engineering at APU.
This had brought the ISUC members to plant two types of hostplants and place them on the rooftop garden to observe how ecology systems work.
The ‘Twilight Hunt: In the Dark’ was held on the night of the 27th of April when all the lights on campus were switched off. This activity was intended to create awareness of the impact of reducing carbon footprint.
“32 teams comprised of 152 students participated in the treasure hunt. The game began at 8.00 p.m. with all the lighting systems on campus unplugged. Students could only use their mobile phone flashlights as their only light source for the entire two hours after the treasure hunt started. During these dark hours, participants had to complete a total of seven puzzles,” said Ms Abbhirami Sivarajan, the Advisor of the ISUC Student Chapter at APU.
“By turning off all the lights on campus, we had not only helped save electricity but allowed nocturnal creatures and insects to go about their nocturnal activities uninterrupted,” added Leindall.
While ISUC smoothly concluded their Earth Day celebration with lots of creative activities, the members hope they can build a ‘sustainable garden’ in the future and create a small ecosystem in it to prove that APU ethos is not all about technological innovation but also about being sustainable and environmentally friendly.
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