The green army avenue of SIST organized an informative webinar on climate change and how to take necessary action for the survival of the human species on the 13th of February 2021 via Google meet. This webinar was held in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of SIST. More than 50 SIST students and many faculty members including the chairman of SIST, Mr. Jayanthan Kulasingham participated in this webinar to contribute to this educational evening.
The guest speakers for the event were as follows;
· Miss Ashrifa Ali, who is a past student of SIST and is currently a PHD candidate, Biomedical Sciences, University of North Dakota, USA.
· Mr. Sanith D. S Wijeratne, CEO/Director of a carbon consulting company.
· Past students of SIST namely Amanda Fonseka, Nadia Azmy and Parami Peiris who are currently following master’s programs based in Sri Lanka and abroad.
The evening began with an inspiring speech by Miss Ashrifa who was one of the earliest members of the Green Army Avenue. She spoke of the current situation in the world and how the irresponsible actions of people led to a polluted environment that may be unsuitable for human habitat in the future. She also spoke of the importance of taking necessary steps to tackle climate change which was followed by a rather nostalgic moment where she recalled the projects that were carried out at SIST during her time as the first president of the green Army. Next Mr. Sanith D.S Wijeratne presented the factual evidence of global warming effects on climate change and he mainly answered three questions during his presentation, they are, Can we change? Must we change? Will we change?
He highlighted the importance of society understanding the need for proper action against climate change by sharing his personal experiences as a coordinator of a leadership program held in USA on the topic of Global warming and Climate change. This presentation left us all in awe as it described what would happen to us earthlings in the near future if we do not take prompt action. After this mind-blowing session, the past students of SIST namely, Nadia and Parami took turns in explaining the past projects performed by SIST including the ‘ECOBRICK project’ which was a successful attempt at recreating a practical and environmental-friendly concept utilizing waste materials at SIST premises. They reiterated the process of making an Eco brick by using all the plastic waste that is found at home and how it could greatly benefit not only humans but also the environment. At present Eco bricks are being marketed in small scale industries as a solution to use plastic in an ecofriendly manner. Other projects and workshops such as ‘An Eco centric You’ and Karthiga’s project in Jaffna on raising awareness among the people of the dire consequences of global warming have been carried out by the students of SIST throughout the years.
Finally, Amanda Fonseka conducted an interactive session on how to write a project proposal as it was important for the proposal writing competition which was to be held on behalf of the 20th anniversary of SIST. Many crucial tips were given by Amanda to all the students, that highlighted a few key points such as the structure of the project proposal which includes a summary, background, goals and objectives and so on. She concluded by saying that we have to use the mnemonic ‘SMART’ when writing a proposal of high standards and it stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.
All in all, it was a wonderful session packed with exuberant and charismatic individuals who strived to make a change in tackling climate change and it also provided a much-needed inspiration to the audience to further accelerate the measures that are already taking place to save mother nature. Just as the theme of the program suggests, the green army once again proved its commitment towards a greener environment by this timely online event.
