Exhibition

The Green Carnival 2008 exhibition is divided into the following themes: Turbulent Times, Capturing Climate Change, The Fight Begins, Projects 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and The Tipping Point.

1.Turbulent Times

a.The severity and urgency of climate change is a pressing global problem. View our photographic exhibits that will illustrate the latest scientific information on climate change from sources like the IPCC reports, NASA websites, National Geographic etc.

b.Photography Competition: Capturing Climate Change

In collaboration with NUSSU Video and Photographic Committee, a photography competition titled ‘Capturing Climate Change’ will form an extension of ‘Turbulent Times’, giving one a holistic perspective of climate change captured by photographers of diverse backgrounds.

2. The Fight Begins

This section will showcase environmental champions in NUS – from students, administrative to academic staff. We hope that visitors would draw inspiration from these ordinary individuals who have made a positive difference to the climate challenge. A history of SAVE will also be chronicled and displayed.

3. Projects 0, 1, 2, 3, 4

The next section presents SAVE’s 5 environmental initiatives (Zer0waste, 1 Degree, Rebate2Earth, SAVE3s, Food4Thought) in an attempt to create awareness and encourage acceptance of the NUS community for these initiatives.

a. Zer0waste tation

Informative posters will be displayed to explain the need for this initiative in campus as a CSC survey revealed that there is a lack of awareness and knowledge about recyclables. See how event banners are recycled into reusable bags to minimize waste – an initiative jointly developed by SAVE, CSC, SW CDC’s WEworkz programme, NUS COOP and NUSSU Executive Committee.

b. 1 Degree Up Station

The 1 Degree Up station will present our 25 Degree Policy and the new Sustainable Office programme in NUS. A life-size model of an eco-office with energy/resource saving features will be exhibited. A SAVE member will be deployed to act as an office staff in the mock office to explain the energy and resource conservation aspects of the office to visitors, increasing the realism of the exhibit.

c. Rebate2Earth Station

Leveraging on Rebate2Earth’s resounding success and aiming to leave a deeper and lasting impression, these two trademark posters for the campaign will be blown up, with a comprehensive write-up explaining the bleak environmental conditions which marine animals and ecosystems face from plastic pollution in Singapore.

Witness how ‘Affluenza’, a term used to describe unsustainable addiction to overconsumption and materialism, is present in the lifestyles of ordinary Singaporeans. To further explain this phenomenon, a television sited at this station will screen an insightful short film ‘The Story of Stuff’. Narrated by Annie Leonard, this 20-minute, fast paced film reveals the dark side of production and consumption, and exposes several important environmental and social issues.

d. SAVE3s Station

Cardboards instead of conventional panels will line the perimeter of this segment to promote the concept of reusing. Indigenous native plants from CSC’s Kent Ridge Reafforestation Nursery will be exhibited to decorate this station. A ‘Hall of Fame’ will be constructed on these cardboards to highlight the initiative that all reports, assignments and theses for both Undergraduate and Graduate Studies can now be submitted on double-sided printing or through electronic submission. Other academics and NUS staff from various faculties and disciplines will also pledge their support for this initiative in the ‘Hall of Fame’.

e. Food4Thought

Discover the drawbacks of meat consumption which relates to many environmental problems, including climate change. In our effort to promote and encourage an environmentally sustainable diet, visitors to the station can also help themselves to free vegetarian food samples offered by food vendors.

4.The Tipping Point

This last section of the Green Carnival Exhibition, warns of the dire planetary consequences if we were to disregard the urgent warning signs of climate change. This section starts off with a summary of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, a 700-page report that examines the effect of climate change on the world’s economy. The latest science now indicates that even if we were to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations through global mitigation efforts, we will no longer be able to avoid the impacts of global temperature increase and sea-level rise. The exhibits in this section will present the various impacts on food, water, ecosystems, extreme weather events, risk of rapid climate change and major irreversible impacts for different increases in global average temperatures and sea-level rise.

Six Degrees could Change the World
To enhance visualisation, the National Geographic Channel documentary, ‘Six Degrees could Change the World’, will be screened. This programme uses computer-generated imagery to illustrate the devastating impacts if the Earth is warmed from 1 degree to 6 degree Celsius.

Letter Written in 2070
Progressing on this journey into the bleak future, an article published in a Spanish magazine Crónica los Tiempos in April 2002, ‘Letter Written in 2070’, will be presented in PowerPoint slides. It describes the severity of the global water shortage in the future and emphasises the importance of water conservation, as climate change will cause severe dry weather spells, heat waves and droughts, leading to strife, conflict and wars in some parts of the world.

As visitors exit the exhibition site, the convergence of exhibition panels draws parallelism to the message that the window of opportunity for avoiding the most damaging climate change impacts is narrowing and closing. The action that the world takes, or does not take, in the decade ahead, will have a profound bearing on the future course of human development.

At the end of the exhibition, there will be a wall where individuals can pledge their support for our NUS Fights Climate Change initiative.