The students were made up of Malaysian and international students from Taiwan, Nigeria, Indonesia and the much-affected Republic of the Maldives.
They joined citizens, scientists and world leaders in 177 countries who took to nearby streets, mountains, parks, and reefs on the same day to demand strong action on climate change, in what was the most participative day of environmental action in the planet’s history.
More than 4,400 rallies and events took place, all of them centred on the number 350, to draw attention to 350 parts per million (ppm), which an overwhelming number of scientists now insist is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
“We decided to soak in the pool and form the ‘350’ human formation after the call for action from the President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, who held an official cabinet meeting in an unusual location – underwater - on 17 October 2009” said organiser Simpson Khoo, Public Relations Executive who is also a youth climate activist from Malaysian Youth Climate Justice Network (www.mycjn.org)
Ahmed Muzhid, a Sunway Information Technology (Hons) degree student from the Maldives said “If we are still continuing and further damaging our planet, my country and other island countries will be affected. I will lose my country and home”.
Youth across Asia have taken up the 350 call and organised creative events across the region. In China, more than 300 events were planned across the entire country while Vietnam youth hosted a nationwide summit in Hanoi to learn about climate change. In the Philippines, students in Manila highlighted the recent damage caused by typhoons and in Cambodia youth rallied at Angkor Wat one of the most iconic sites in Asia.
“350 has become a symbol of this new youth climate movement here and around the world. I’m glad that Sunway University College is organising this great event and I hope there will be greater awareness among Sunway students and more participation from them” shared by Ubong Akpaso a Sunway MUFY student from Nigeria.
Sunway shared the videos and photographs they took immediately with the 350.org’s website and the 350.org organizer displayed them along with hundreds of other photos taken around the world on the giant advertising screens of Times Square before hand-delivering the shots to UN delegations.
“Sometimes our parents and politicians say youth just don’t worry that much about global warming,” said Don Lin, a Sunway VU student from Taiwan. “I think we’ve proven—around the world—that there’s no issue we care more about.” He added.
The pool party involved students making the 350 Pledge and learning the dance mob moves to the chant “I say-It’s hot in here” and a 350 formation.
About other Sunway CSR Initiatives
This event follows the WWF-Malaysia Earth Hour and “Egg=Life” campaign involving Sunway students earlier in 2009. Sunway strives to work towards disseminating good social values to students via its CSR involvements through environmental activities, community outreach and also in providing scholarships.
Scholarships are awarded through the Jeffery Cheah Foundation which has been recently converted from Sunway Education Trust Fund. The Trust has dispersed RM 50 million since it was incepted in 1997.
About 350.ORG
350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis—the solutions that science and justice demand. Their mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis—to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.
350 parts per million is what many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments are now saying is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere. Scientists have concluded that we are already above the safe zone at our current 390ppm, and that unless we are able to rapidly return to 350 ppm this century, we risk reaching tipping points and irreversible impacts such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt.
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