2. Contents
Why this Design for Change journey? ...................................................................................... 2
Background Research .................................................................................................................... 3
Preparation for Action Week....................................................................................................... 5
Our Action Week .............................................................................................................................. 7
Reflections .......................................................................................................................................... 8
Appendix .......................................................................................................................................... 10
Bibliography.................................................................................................................................... 14
3. Why this Design for Change journey?
a) Our team had chosen to take part in this DFC challenge due to the fact that
we all lacked experience in giving back to the society that had nurtured us for
years and this DFC challenge provided us with the perfect opportunity for giving
it a shot, so we decided to undertake this DFC challenge.
b) The objectives of this project would be to raise the environmental
awareness of the general people in Singapore so that they would be aware of the
fact that Singapore is not exempt from the environmental problems that plague
the world and that we face several environmental problems of our own. Also, we
would like the people to be aware of what problems we face and take action to
solve them and become environmentally responsible denizens of the world.
c) We are campaigning for a change in the ignorance and apathy of
Singaporeans towards environmental matters and their behavior regarding the
environment. What bothers me is the fact that often, people just ignore rubbish
on the floor or the rubbish and recycling bins nearby them just because they find
it too troublesome to throw away their litter. Also, people completely ignore
environmental problems around us and continue behaving in an
environmentally irresponsible manner.
d) Our project is about stopping litter and raising environmental awareness
in Singapore. We will be looking into excessive littering and ignorance among the
general public of environmental problems that we face and the available and
proposed solutions to the problems, like the recycling sites around Singapore.
We will be carrying out a service by distributing flyers in the Western, Northeast
and Central districts of Singapore to inform the people on why they should not
litter. Also, we will be holding a talk in Bryan’s Primary school, Montfort Junior to
educate the students on environmental awareness and why they should not
litter. In addition, we will be publishing a Facebook page and a mass email to
spread the word and rally supporters to our cause, as well as send a petition to
the government to suggest measures that could be taken to improve Singapore’s
environmental situation. The people involved would be the general public, our
fellow students and schoolmates in Raffles and our juniors in primary school.
The service will be held over Facebook and email, in Montfort Junior primary
school and in our residential areas.
4. Background Research
a) Our research on the environmental problems in Singapore and our
findings on the matter, our research on the litter problem in Singapore and our
research on the level of environmental awareness in Singaporeans are involved
in this project. The issues involved in this project would be the issue of littering
in Singapore, the issue of global warming and other environmental problems in
Singapore as well as the environmental ignorance of Singaporeans.
b) Everybody living in Singapore right now will be affected, as well as the
future inheritors of our nation.
c) The situation is actually quite severe, as according to a survey we had
done, the majority of Singaporeans have littered before. In addition to this, our
research has shown the Singapore faces “persistent littering”(Tan, Lee, Tan
2009), as well as showing that most Singaporeans are unaware that there is a
looming climate change crisis and thus have not made any efforts to curb global
warming. In addition, our preliminary research has further stated, “Illegal
dumping and littering have marred coastal landscapes”(Chua 2007) showing the
extent of the illegal dumping we face. In fact, even Singaporeans themselves
seem to understand that things are moderately severe, as they have stated
during our recent survey. However, nothing effective seems to have been done
about it, despite persistent efforts to solve these problems by the government
and the people, due to the fact that they still exist even now.
d) The various solutions for the problem would be, firstly, to educate the
people. In the case of the litter problem, heavy enforcement and cleansing is
already in place, so the root of the problem is the people, not the government.
Also, it has been stated by some Singaporeans that there is a lack of awareness
about the recycling programs that have existed in Singapore for years. If we
educated the people about these programs, for example, more people would use
them and this would help to reduce the potency of the problem. In addition, if
people understand why they should not litter, dump their trash on beaches, or
waste energy, they will not do so, removing the need for further enforcement or
campaigns. In addition to these reasons, the majority of Singaporeans seem to
believe that this is the way to go, according to our survey.
In addition to educating the people, we could of course heap more fines
on them, as with heavier penalties, no one would litter due to it being too costly
to pay the fines. However, Singapore has already have enforced this quite
heavily, with limited effectiveness. Despite this, many people still believe that
this is a viable solution.
Furthermore, many people have suggested that we simply install more
bins and recycle bins in the country. If we do so, it will be easier to just throw
away one’s trash due to the fact that there are dustbins everywhere, and it will
also be easier to recycle. This would eliminate the laziness and inconvenience
factors and ensure that most people will dispose of their litter appropriately. In
5. addition, many people believe that this is a solution as well, according to our
survey.
e) We arrived at the solutions by surveying various members of the public,
analyzing the problems that we noticed during our research using books and
Internet resources.
6. Preparation for Action Week
Our action plan, in essence, was to distribute flyers to members of the
public, put up a webpage for people to show their support for our cause and to
provide information to them on the subject in future. Also, we would send a mass
email, return to Bryan’s Primary school for a talk, and if possible, send a petition
to the National Environmental Agency.
a) On the subject of work allocation, we needed to create a presentation for
the students, design and give out flyers, create a website, draft a petition and
create and send a mass email. Bryan and Yimin were responsible for creating and
editing our presentation to the students in Bryan’s Montfort Junior School. As for
the flyers, everyone was responsible to distributing them; however Yimin and
Theodore were responsible for designing and editing them, with Bryan also
doing a bit of editing. As for the webpage, Bryan was responsible for creating it,
and the mass email was designed and first sent out by Yimin, though everyone
also sent them out. Bryan drafted the petition.
b) Our timeline of tasks was rather unusual, as due to our schedules and the
schedules of the primary school, our action plan occurred on staggered days.
However, it was something like this: On the 1st day, we gave out flyers, doing so
for the 2nd and 3rd day. Our website was released on the 4th day and the email
was drafted and sent on the 5th day. On the 6th day, we went to Montfort Junior
and gave a presentation to the primary 2 students there. Finally, on the 7th and
last day, we sent out a letter of appeal to Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, the Minister for
Environment to enlist the help of the government in increasing the number of
bins so people would not litter just because there are no bins around to throw
their litter away and also to educate people to increase their environmental
awareness.
c) As for resource management, we did not need any funding, except for
money to print the flyers. Our expenses due to printing were the cost of
approximately 12-18 pages per person, depending on how much they did. As for
manpower, we did not have to utilize any more people other than out four-man
team, the only exception being during the talk, where we had to mobilize the aid
of some teachers to solve technical issues and organize the students.
d) In the area of risk management, we minimized our risk of failure by
distributing our emails to those who we knew personally first and
recommending the site to those we knew personally. As for the flyers, we
attempted to minimize risk by providing an address for people to contact us;
however otherwise there was not much that we could do. No risk was involved
in the talk, other than wording our proposal well.
e) The people involved would be members of the general public, Primary 2
students, fellow Rafflesians and other acquaintances or former schoolmates of
ours, as well as the involved personnel at the National Environmental Agency.
7. f) We did a survey at Jurong East MRT some time ago, however our success
there was limited, due to the exceeding rush of most people that prevented us
from doing our survey with them. So, we only managed to get about 20 entries
there. To overcome this problem, we chose to survey our friends and family,
allowing us to reach the target 50 respondents. However, due to time
constraints, we were unable to conduct an interview. We observed that the
survey seemed to take a while to complete and that we could perhaps have
streamlined it further. Also, we observed that we were not so confident in giving
out surveys, with one member of the public noting this. Also, the area we chose
obtained its foot traffic through commuters, which were mostly in a hurry and
unable to answer our survey.
8. Our Action Week
a) During the action week, we gave out flyers informing people on why they
should not litter, with a short reference to the recycling bins in Singapore, to
residential areas in Jurong and Lorong Chuan. Also, we sent out a mass email to
classmates and former schoolmates in our contacts with identical text to our
flyer, to disseminate this info to our classmates. Also, we created a Facebook
Page with a short info section to rally support and subscribe people to future
information broadcasts from us. In addition to all this, we travelled to Bryan’s
primary school and gave a talk on the environment, why we should stop doing
environmentally inconsiderate things, our environmental problems and some
solutions recommended by us. Finally, we sent a petition to Minister of
Environment Dr. Balakrishnan to enlist his help in raising the environmental
awareness of people in Singapore, as well as to stop litter and solve the
environmental problems we face.
b) During day one, two, and three of our action week, each individual
member of our group gave out the flyers we designed in their own residential
areas, namely Jurong and Lorong Chuan.(Refer to the appendix for the flyer) On
the fourth day we created a Facebook page to raise publicity for our cause and
educate the people. (Refer to the appendix for the webpage). On the fifth day, we
composed an email and sent it to everyone whom we knew and asked him or her
to help spread the message by forwarding it to everyone whom they knew. On
the sixth day, we went to Bryan’s primary school, Montfort Junior, and gave a
presentation to some of the primary twos there. (Refer to appendix for pictures
of the talk). On the seventh and final day, we sent a letter of appeal to Dr. Vivian
Balakrishnan, the Minister for Environment to enlist the help of the government
in increasing the number of bins so people would not litter just because there are
no bins around to throw their litter away and also to educate people to increase
their environmental awareness. (Refer to the appendix for the letter).
c) We think that our action may have impacted society in some way and
educated and convinced some members of the public not to litter as when we
asked the primary twos at Montfort junior whether they enjoyed the
presentation and whether they learnt anything from it, they all screamed yes
excitedly.
9. Reflections
Our objective of informing the public was met partially, as we managed to
disseminate information about the environment and why we should not litter to
5 primary school classes, as well as our classmates via email. However, due to
the lack of responses for the flyers provided, our public information campaign
could be considered a failure. Also, we received a dismal amount of responses on
our website, even after promoting it numerous times to our classmates and
friends, so our website’s objective to rally support for our cause could be
considered to have failed as well.
1. I think that our team has displayed the “I can” attitude a lot during our
Design for Change journey. Even when we were struggling to meet some
deadlines, we remained optimistic and put in our best and managed to meet our
deadlines. Also, even when we were faced with problems, instead of giving up,
we searched for alternative solutions and managed to find the answer.
2. Our team’s strengths would be our cohesiveness and team spirit. We did
not have any arguments and found it easy to come to an agreement on a certain
issue. Also, we had a lot of commitment, with every member appearing on time if
possible and we were fairly productive during our meetings and stipulated
Research Education periods, being able to finish a fair amount of our work in
them. However, our team had some weaknesses. For one, when at home, we
sometimes slacked off and procrastinated, creating some delay. Also, there was a
lack of planning, especially on the leader’s part, at times. Also, we were
sometimes dry of innovative ideas and found it hard at times to think of creative
solutions to our problems.
3. We encountered various challenges and difficulties in the process of our
Design For Change Journey. For one, we had to think of creative solutions to our
problems, and we found that hard at times, as we were not used to thinking
laterally. Also, we found it hard to get a meeting at times, as our schedules were
all different and we ended up with a very limited time frame to do our work due
to the various commitments we all had. In addition to this, we also had to deal
with distances, as two of our group mates lived in Jurong and the others lived in
the Bishan-Marymount area. Thus, during the talk that we held, Theodore was
not able to come due to the extreme distance involved. Also, we would
procrastinate at times and thus get bogged down for weeks and waste valuable
time. For example, we did not do anything for the whole holiday and thus got
severely sidetracked.
4. We have learnt a lot from this project. For one, we have learnt that we
need to manage our time well to meet our deadlines. If we fail to do so, we will
not be able to complete our task on time. Also, we learnt how to think out of the
box and we realized that there is more than one solution to a given problem and
we just have to find it. In addition to this, we discovered that we were not very
good planners or hard workers at times and had to learn to plan well and work
hard in order to prevent delays, like in this project. Also, I learnt that we
sometimes handle problems in an angry manner and failed to keep a cool head,
10. which we needed to solve problems or did not want to take the initiative to do
things, which was necessary for us to seize opportunities and succeed.
Furthermore, we were sometimes scared of giving out surveys or talks and
needed to be more confident. In actuality, we discovered that my life experiences
were not too different from these people, as our project was aimed at people just
like us. We have grown a lot during this project as well, as we have learnt to
realize our ideas, as well as handle problems with maturity and take the
initiative to do things. The things that are stopping us from picking up the habits
are laziness and not daring to do certain things, as well as lack of initiative. For
example, sometimes we are too lazy and do not follow through with the project
or finish it on time. In addition, our group is fearful of giving out surveys or talks.
We do not really think that we have the makings of a good social worker yet, as
we are not selfless or committed enough. Also, we are sometimes unable to
empathize with the plight of other people. This will have to be improved on in
the future.
5. There are many improvements that we could be making. For one, we
could be less lazy and more committed as if any group member was lazy or
forgot to do his part, the whole group would be delayed. Also, we could plan our
schedule better and make sure that we stick to it, so that we do not get delayed
or sidetracked by too much. Also, we could learn to be more confident when
doing surveys and giving talks as we often feel apprehension when it comes to
doing this type of task. In addition, we could have procrastinated less so that we
would have completed our work faster. Also, we have to be more creative and
innovative so that we can create ideas that are fresh and this would help increase
the idea’s popularity. Finally, we have to learn to handle problems calmly and
keep a cool head in order to make the right decisions.
11. Appendix
1.
Our flyer
Raising Environmental awareness and Stopping
Litter in Singapore.
A student initiative by raffles institution students:
Bryan Low
Shin Hyon Young
Theodore Choo
Zhang Yimin
This is a picture of a rubbish dump.
This is what Singapore may look like if we continue to ignore
the many rubbish bins set up and litter wherever we want.
Do we want to live in such an undesirable condition? So,
please thrash the misconception that you can simply throw
your rubbish on the ground and someone else will pick it up
and clean up after you. On the contrary, people will get the
wrong idea that littering is okay and follow your actions
blindly. It is not. Once people start thinking that way it will
not be long before Singapore starts looking like a rubbish
dump. For a cleaner living environment tomorrow, stash your
trash and do not litter. Thank you.
Picture from http://apwsm.org/trash
Any queries? Please contact dontlitter68@yahoo.com.sg
2. Our webpage: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stopping-litter-and-raising-
environmental-awareness-in-Singapore/225297177509624
14. 5. Our letter of appeal:
Dear Dr. Balakrishnan,
We are students from Class 2E of Raffles Institution working on a project on
environmental awareness and stopping litter in Singapore, entitled “Stopping
litter and raising environmental awareness in Singapore”. We felt that we
wanted to make a change in Singapore’s environmental solution and had decided
to write to you due to your expertise on the matter, resources and manpower.
Not having much first hand information, we conducted a survey to find out a bit
more about environmental awareness and littering in the public. In the course of
our search for information, we found out that many of the respondents wanted
more recycling bins and dustbins in the country and felt that this measure would
reduce our current environmental problems. In addition, the respondents felt
that heavier fines would help solve this problem as well. Finally, they also felt
that we had to put in more effort to educate the people. (Attached in this email
are our survey questions, findings and analysis.) Therefore, after finding out
about the viewpoint of some members of the public, we were inspired to do our
part to change things.
So, could you please consider installing more recycling bins and dustbins,
imposing heavier penalties and finding new and more engaging ways to educate
the people about the need to keep our environment litter-free so that we can
move one step closer to our collective dream of a clean, green Singapore?
Thank you for your time.
Regards,
Bryan Low
H/P: 92230303
Email: bryanlow66@gmail.com
Shin Hyon Young
Email: mcvain77@gmail.com
Theodore Choo
Email: tb1234567890@gmail.com
Zhang Yimin
Email: zhangyiminzhang@yahoo.com.sg
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Neil Humphreys (2008). Complete notes from Singapore . Singapore: Marshall
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Tan Yong Soon, Lee Tung Jean, Karean Tan (2009). Clean, green and blue:
Singapore's journey towards environmental and water sustainability. Singapore:
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Johan Tell,BillMcKibben (2008). 100 ways to save the world. San Francisco, CA:
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and/vetpeudypn10/3#Knol - a unit of knowledge: share what you know, publish
your expertise.. Last accessed 15th July 2011.
Franz Prrez. (Unknown Year of Publication). Switzerland’s international
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