Green Student Council
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Background
The Green Student Council was established in August 1993. It was founded by a group of secondary school students who cared for the nature, although the group also includes university students currently. It is an association concerning environmental problems. Their motives are to organize gatherings for secondary students, to promote awareness of the environment and to keep the public informed through the internet.
The organization has been established for more than 10 years. Many members are now working in the society. They are in a variety of professions, for example, accounting, teachers and lawyers. These members are expected to bring the idea of environmental protection to the field they are working in.
Achievements
No-Plastic Bag Day
Recently, Hong Kong tops the world in plastic bag use, going through 33 million daily, or about 5 bags per resident. Australia, with a population of 20 million, uses a quarter of that number while Ireland, which introduced a plastic bag levy in 2002 for its four million people, uses a third.
So, the organization has organized a No-Plastic Bag Day on the first Tuesday of each month. It aims at reducing the use of plastic bags which causes serious damages to the environment and threatens wildlife. Another aim of the programme is to raise awareness of the environment among businessmen. This programme is supported by many shops. Two major supermarkets, Wellcome and Parknshop, have joined this programme. Other types of shops, such as retailing and department stores, have participated in this programme as well.
The Green Student Council also tried to promote the programme to all universities in Hong Kong, but so far only the University of Hong Kong has promised to launch the programme in the campus. Mr Ho, Chairperson of Green Student Council, expressed that the university students, who would pillars of our society, should bear the responsibilty of environmental protection. He hopes he can bring this message to all universities.
Green student council is enthusiastic on promoting less use of plastic bags. Besides the No Plastic Bag day, she had organized a No Plastic Bag Week in the Mid-autumn Festival with the Sino Group, which advocates reducing the use of plastic bags when buying moon cakes. It was strongly supported by many shops including Pappagallo, Kee-Wah, Mango Cake, Qi Chinese Restaurant and Shanghai Restaurant.
Also, she sent letters to all moon cake sellers to post her poster in retailing shops and asked shopowners to encourage citizens to bring their own bag when purchasing moon cake.
Moreover, to raise the awareness of the reduction in the use of plastic bags, the organization held a relay run on 4th July. People holding the "no-plastic-bag" torch ran from Central to Tai Koo. It symbolized that the council brought the message of reducing the use of plastic bags to every district. The run was also held to remind the public that 4th July is the "no plastic bag" day of July.
Against Air Pollution
The Green Student Council also brought the issue of energy waste to attention. In an attempt to reduce energy waste and to raise awareness of ineffective air-condition filtering systems on buses, a protest was held on December 25, 2005 by members of the student group. With the support of Kwai Tsing District Council member Lam Siu-fai, the event took place outside of the Kowloon Motor Bus depot in Lai Chi Kok.
Promoting Environmental Protection to China
In August 26 and 27, the Green Student Council joined Foshan, a China city, to promote the ban of plastic bags. Details about Hong Kong's No-Plastic Bag Day were introduced to the public in Foshan. There were many activities, for example, games and sign-up campaign. Many retailers and citizens were supportive. The Green Student Council also visited Waste Treatment Centre and was interviewed by the local radio. It succeed in promoting environment protection.
Investigation on the lunch arrangement in the primary schools
The Green Student Council conducted a survey concerning the lunch arrangement in the primary schools. 1117 students responded to the survey. About 90% of the students knew that the plastic foam lunchboxes were not environmentally friendly. 95% of them were willing to give up using those lunchboxes. 57% of students stated that they could not eat all the food in the lunch boxes.
On 6-10-2006, a group of students with the representatives from the Green Student Council demonstrated to the government. They demanded a set of rules and regulations about the lunch arrangement and lunchboxes.For example, they wanted the food to be rationed according to each student's need rather than in a fixed amount to every student so that there could be less waste of food. Also, they hoped the government would require the schools to reduce the use of disposable dining utensils and lunch boxes. The organizatin believed that these measures could help soothe the solid waste problem in Hong Kong.
Encouraging the public to participate in different environmental protection activities
The Green student Council not just organized the activities. But they also encouraged the public to participate in environmental protection activities through the internet. For example, it encouraged the public to participate the light out activity on 8th August which is to turn off the lights for 3 minutes. Also, in May 2006, it encouraged the public to be the "butterfly army" organized by the Green Power to learn more about the butterfly in Hong Kong .
Opinions
Green Student Council's work is not just confined to organizing different demonstrations and activities to raise the awareness of environmental protection. They also express their opinions towards different conservation matters in Hong Kong.
Opinions towards the conservation policies stated in the recent policy address
In the recent policy address, Mr Tsang mentioned different kinds of environmental problems and decided to introduce different policies to tackle these problems such as air pollution.
However, the Green Student Council thought the new conservation policies were not holistic enough. These policies fail to address the problems like the solid waste problem, conservation of energy, urban planning and the use of plastic bags.
Speaking of the use of plastic bags, the Green Sudent Council felt disappointed that in this policy address no concrete proposal and timetable were raised about the levy of plastic bags, tyres, electronic device.
The president, Ho Hon Wan,said the society had already had the consensus over the level of charges on the use plastic bags. He said the chief executive neglected the importance of reduction in the waste.
Regarding the reduction in solid waste, the Green Student Council suggested the government change all roadside rubbish bins into recycling boxes and made all newly built estates implement the recycling policies on each floor. The Green Student Council felt disappointed that the chief executive did not get to the heart of problem in his recent policy address.