Learning About Sustainability From Ground Up

Date: 19 Apr 2022

News Type: Event Highlights

School/Dept: School of Business

^{SUSS Marketing students at the Ground-Up Initiative (GUI).}

The word ‘sustainability’ is often resonated with recycling. In truth, sustainability encompasses a lot more than recycling paper and plastic. One might ask, what exactly does sustainability involve? How can individuals and communities contribute to the sustainability goals in the SG Green Plan 2030? SUSS Marketing students from the MKT366 Sustainability Marketing course went beyond the classroom and headed to Ground-Up Initiative (GUI) for a field trip to learn more about sustainability and how it can be incorporated into their lives.

GUI, which sits on a 26,000 sqm land in Yishun, is a non-profit organisation that conducts various experiential programmes to educate the public about sustainability and farms a variety of vegetables and fruits, some of which are supplied to local restaurants.

^{The guide from GUI on the far right, explains to our students about the different vegetables that grow in their farm.}

Through the field trip, students not only learnt about what sustainability means and how to practise it, but they also had the opportunity to see how local produce is grown on the farm and even had a taste of it!

^{The students witnessed an interesting take on sustainability – growing plants in a PVC pipe!}

“This field trip had been a valuable experience. It was interesting to discover so many plants that can be eaten raw and easily grown in Singapore. As more Singaporeans are turning to sustainable living, GUI is a fantastic showcase of how we can achieve this goal as a community,” Erin Liew, SUSS Marketing student enthused.

Sharon Ong, SUSS Marketing student who also agreed that the experience was an eye-opener, added: “GUI produces their own washing liquid so that the water which flows down to the small lake can be used to water the plants. I also learnt how they decompose the skins of vegetables and fruits to be used as fertilisers for the plants.”