MIRACLE workshop (14th of Februrary)

On the 14th of February, an extremely significant date for couples around the world, interns of UPM's MIRACLE project who came from various parts of the world did something much more noble than making their significant others happy-they enlightened young minds belonging to members of our school's Toyota Eco Rangers club on the significance of saving the environment. Five young interns came to our school to give an interesting, informative and to a certain extent, humourous presentation which covered many aspects of saving the environment such as the current state of our environment, the implications of not saving our environment, and finally, the numerous ways we can save the environment which can be summed up into a simple acronym-the 5R's. The interns came from four different countries, which included Japan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and finally, Germany.

The 5R's representing Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, and Recycle is a very effective method of doing our part to save our environment. Rethink is the first of the five R's because we should all rethink before we opt for using or doing anything that could impact our environment negatively. Plastic bags which take generations to break down are a good example. If we do not need it, why should we use it? Reduce, which comes after Rethink, means that if we really do need to do or use anything detrimental to the environment, we should reduce doing so, to the best of our capabilities. Reuse simply means that instead of throwing away things that can be reused such as plastic bags and plastic bottles, we should maximize their usage by reusing them. Repair means that anything broken that can be repaired, such as broken furniture or simple electrical appliances should be repaired and reused to prevent the wastage of natural resources and the generating of completely unnecessary waste. The final step of the 5R's is Recycle. If all of the steps above fail, we should recycle what we can, because ultimately, recycling is the best way to save the environment.

After introducing the 5R's to us, the trainees then proceeded to show us the entire series of short clips created by Animal Planet entitled 'The Animals Save the Planet' which was humourous, creative and wildly original. Members who attended the workshop erupted into peals of laughter upon watching the clips, and it was apparent that the clips were a good, interesting way of educating the masses on the various ways they could save the environment.

After showing the short clips to us, the trainees then proceeded to divide attendants of the workshop into five groups who were pitted against each other in the game we played. Each group was given a list of things, such as 'paper' and 'broken furniture' and asked to classify each item on the list according to the 5R's. The Purple team emerged victors of the game, and were presented with a bag of sweets as a reward.

Following the interesting game, each of the trainees then proceeded to introduce each of their respective countries to us by showing us Powerpoint presentations bearing interesting information about their country to us. Each country was different and unique, in its own way.

The MIRACLE workshop came to an end after each trainee has introduced their respective countries. After our school presented the trainees with a token of our appreciation, attendants of the workshop took a group photo with the trainees, before everyone parted ways. It was en interesting, enlightening experience for all members of the Toyota Eco Rangers club and if I were to be given the opportunity of attending a MIRACLE workshop once again in the near future, I would definitely agree to do so.