April 22nd, 2019: Under the subject, “Protect our Species,” CUD’s H3 Club organised the annual Earth Day on campus.
The aim of the event was to raise awareness & educate students about the importance of the Reduce, Re-use and Re-cycle initiative and addressed issues surrounding sustainability and environmental protection and consisted of various presentations, food stalls, challenges, games, raffles which was both entertaining and educational.
Several external organizations took part and there were several booths aimed at supporting “up cycling” or improving and reusing unneeded things.
Students were requested to bring unneeded, light colored t-shirts (for tie-dyeing), broken electronics, empty batteries and plastic water bottles. The bottles entitled the students to raffle tickets, the winners receiving prizes.
The event opened with a welcome speech from Dr. Ahmed Okasha who outlined the need for more environmental awareness especially the over use of plastics in our everyday lives.
This was followed by a presentation from Mr. Rashed Karkain who spoke about the history of and the rationale behind the Earth day project.
Dr. Alethea Wang, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Communication, Arts and Sciences talked about endangered species and discussed hoe ways to prevent ecological damage.
Faculty and students attending then had the opportunity to visit the various stalls set up on the day.
One of the stalls to feature was Goumbook, who focus on the region’s efforts towards a greener economy. Their representative, Wissam Ali said that, “Based on the ethos of the Goum, a tribe of North African people who existed practicing an ethic of self-help and collective responsibility; sharing resources, reusing them when possible and avoiding any wastage; we aim to make all of us stand up for a green ideal and unite towards a better world where we share facts, ideas and advice on how to live a more responsible life. Anything we can do together for the environment is a good thing for this and future generations. We invite students to sign on as ambassadors and volunteers.”