Two beautiful Miss Earth Singapore ambassadors were invited to the Green Generation Concert to add a touch of glamour and grace at this celebration of eco-friendliness.
The Green Generation Concert, touted as the biggest environmental conservation and entertainment event in Singapore, was organized by Jane Goodall Institute (See inset box) on 5 June 2009 with the support from a group of student-teachers from National Institute of Education (NIE). This was held in conjunction with the Singapore Botanic Gardens’ 150th Anniversary. The Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage of the botanical gardens saw a throng of more than 1,000 people of all ages gathered and ready to party the night away for a good cause.
The event kicked off on a celebrative note with a cake-cutting ceremony for Jane Goodall’s 75th birthday, one of the world’s most renowned primatologists and conservationists, and the founder of Jane Goodall Institute. What followed was an exhilarating program filled with acts and performances such as Stomp by Chestnut Secondary School, using recyclable items as musical instruments; and DanceFuzion — a ‘green’ hip hop dance act by NIE.
As part of enhancing the green purpose of the evening’s program, beautiful Miss Earth Singapore green ambassadors, Ivy Leow and Shn Juay who were crowned the pageant’s 2008 and 2006 titles respectively were specially invited to convey the message of earth’s conservation.
Ms Shn Juay, a 23-year old NUS graduate who’s currently employed with a Norwegian company shared that although she was crowned as Miss Earth Singapore 2 years ago in 2006, she has not ceased contributing towards the earth’s conservation. She attributed her environmental-consciousness to her family upbringing where her childhood was mainly surrounded by kampung (village in Malay, referring to rural living) life. Even after moving with her family to a developed urbanized home, her family chose not to install any air-conditioning to conserve energy.
Juay believes that adopting a green lifestyle is all about cultivating good habits. She cited how her family’s green practice of sorting out trash for recycling had also influenced her towards recycling.
“I believe in using my own recyclable bag when I make any purchase at shops so that I won’t need to use any plastic bags,’ said Juay, “this is one little habit that I’m sure will make a big difference to our earth.”
Miss Earth Singapore 2008, Ivy Leow, a 26-year old IT analyst shared her views toward earth’s conservation, of how this would enable the sustainability of future generations ahead of us.
Leow also shared some of her future plans to leave a legacy beyond her time as a Miss Earth Singapore that will be aimed at promoting environmental consciousness among the youth in Singapore.
Together with her counterparts from Miss Earth Singapore 2008 — Carol Chin (Miss Air), Chang Wann Wah (Miss Water) and Yen Wu Ling (Miss Fire), she intends to begin a series of re-design workshops that will inspire and help youth in re-using materials from their current wardrobes with the objective to positively influence them towards conserving resources through creative means.
Quoting from one of the environmental leaders with the greatest global impact, the late David Brower, Leow aptly puts it, “We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”
About Jane Goodall Institute
  |
| PHOTOS: Lee Boon Bee |
Jane Goodall, one of the world’s most renowned primatologists and conservationists, founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977, which continues her pioneering research of chimpanzee behavior, a research that transforms scientific perceptions of the relationships between human and animals.
The Institute is a global leader in the efforts to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. It also is widely recognized for establishing innovative community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa, and the Roots & Shoots global environmental and humanitarian youth program, which has groups in almost 100 countries.
