NUS Fights Climate Change
We are half of the solution; your concrete action is the other half
The “NUS Fights Climate Change” campaign was launched in 2008 after the fourth assessment report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which states that “greenhouse gas emissions reductions…of 25-40%…will give a 50% chance of limiting global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels”. It encapsulates the 50-50 chance of successfully tackling environmental sustainability on campus, thus contributing to climate change mitigation.
SAVE’s projects fall under the umbrella framework, with each targeting to achieve a 50% improvement in their arrears. They are how SAVE is part of the climate change solution.
In 2009, the campaign was renewed under the theme “NUS Fights Climate Change, What About You?”. It is SAVE’s belief that it would take the concerted effort of every member in the NUS community to achieve an impact in mitigating climate change; and for the first time, involved the NUS population in evaluating and implementing environmental initiatives, which acknowledged that each and every NUS member is the other vital part of the climate change solution.
A ‘NUS Votes Earth’ campaign was also launched during Green Carnival 2009 whereby an NUS-wide poll was conducted to find out the community’s response to implement 4 initiatives: Set all thermostats across NUS to 25°C, Double-sided Submissions, Meatout Thursday and Phasing out of Free Plastic Bags in Canteens and Co-op. A total of 10 731 votes in was submitted in favour of the initiatives across NUS.
In 2010, “NUS Fights Climate Change – NOW or Never” follows the dismal conclusion of COP15 and encapsulates the current critical climate situation, reflecting SAVE’s resolve to instill a sense of urgency and mobilize the NUS community to act immediately given the severity and impending irreversibility of climate change, at the same time addressing the action that each member of the NUS population should take. This theme will stretch over a period of 3 years.
‘Green Spaces, Better Places!’ was launched during Green Carnival 2010 to garner support for the conservation of green spaces within NUS, in conjunction with Campus in a Tropical Rainforest (CiTR). 7849 voted in support of conserving the spaces against future development.
