The Environmental Convo

Higher education is the key to a better quality of life.  A university degree leads to better paying jobs and with more money the graduate can afford to pay for much more luxury goods and services than that needed for a reasonably comfortable lifestyle.  It is not surprising therefore that as a person becomes more educated, his lifestyle becomes less sustainable, fueled by high consumption and waste. 

The Environmental Convocation hopes to bring the message of sustainability to the graduates and their family members when they converge on the campus to celebrate the pinnacle of their academic success.  Instead of buying several bouquet of flowers and huge teddy bears we urge the graduates to buy or accept only one gift.  Donate the rest for a worthy cause.  Tell your friends not to buy you gifts but to contribute towards making the lives of the less fortunate a little better.  If you need to take those lovely convocation photos with beautiful bouquets of flowers, consider sharing amongst friends.  Or come over and borrow one of the bouquets we have on loan.

For the last few years, the Pesta Konvo (Convex) has turned into a carnival selling all types of goods and gifts, even blankets, which have nothing to do with celebrating the solemn occasion of our highest academic achievement.  Piles of rubbish from disposal containers are generated.  Dirty waste water are discharged into open drains.  The whole campus becomes choked with traffic crawling along spewing out noxious fumes, polluting our pristine garden and contributing to global warming.

The criteria to judge the success of future Convexes must be based on the triple bottomline – Profit, People and Planet (the 3Ps).  Part of its profit must be spent for the benefit of the community (especially the disadvantaged) and for enhancing environmental quality and sustainability.  Bigger is not necessarily better.  The organisers must in consultation with interested stakeholders select only businesses which subscribe to our environmental agenda and goals.  Efforts must be made to reduce the waste generated instead of providing huge thrash bags as the easier way to handle rubbish.  Promoting local products and produce will reduce our carbon footprint. 

Go Green for a sustainable campus.