Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation

The member of Tzu Chi Collegiate Association in Taiwan and Malaysia launched a campaign to encourage people to live a frugal life and help to save the earth. They received an encouraging response from the public.

At the end of 2012, Taiwan's Collegiate Team launched a project named, "Give Me 5 - Seize the Day and Save the Earth". This project encourages more people to live a simple, frugal and low-carbon lifestyle through the 5Rs Campaign.

Each participant was given a "5Rs Passport" to record their accomplishments of the 5Rs.

On March 23, 2013, Earth Hour day, member of Tzu Chi Collegiate Association in Melaka followed suit and held a "5Rs Campaign" in front of A’Famosa, a famous tourist attraction.

In the early morning of that day, about 120 Collegiate Youth members and friends from the University of Multimedia and the University of Technical Malaysia Melaka gathered at A’Famosa, a famous historical spot in Melaka, to promote the "5Rs Campaign" to the public, to coincide with Earth Hour.

5Rs Passport

"Come on everybody, please support 5Rs and give me 5."
"Do you know what the 5Rs mean?"
"It means reduce the usage of water, electricity and gasoline and reduce time wastage and unnecessary expenditure."

Holding up the posters they had made for the campaign, the Collegiate members earnestly urged tourists to "Seize the day and save the Earth" together.

"Today is Earth Hour day, so shall we do the '5Rs' together? You can reduce water usage by re-using the water you used to wash rice to water the plants. And to reduce electricity usage, you can switch off the power supply to unused electrical appliances..."

Many tourists were happy to show their support by putting their thumbs up on the "like" buttons of the posters.

"This is a meaningful activity," said Mr Sun Zhi-guo from Shandong, China, who said he supported the campaign and pledged to reduce electricity whenever possible.

Another tourist, Huang Chun-yan, also agreed that everyone should take measures to protect the environment and reduce wastage of resources.

After listening to the many tips given by the Collegiate members, many said they must reduce unnecessary expenditure and that it is very important to decrease water and electricity usage. The Collegiate Youth members also reminded all to support the Earth Hour campaign that night.

Activity Coordinator Lim Siew-chinn said: "it is everyone's responsibility to love and care for the Earth." Siew-chinn is not only doing recycling, but is also actively inviting more of her peers to do it together.

One will grow into an infinite number

MMU's student Ilavarasi does not understand Chinese, but she seized the opportunity to join the activity, which she enjoyed greatly. She hopes to work harder on "reducing time wastage" by sleeping early and getting up early, instead of her usual wake-up time of 10 a.m., so that she can exercise and appreciate nature.

Cheng Kar-lok, a cadre member of Collegiate Association, was working hard to explain the "5Rs" campaign to tourists, as well as assisting the newcomers.

After joining Tzu Chi and learning about the importance of environmental protection, Jia Le started to conserve paper, water, electricity and gasoline. Recently, she even decided to stop using the washing machine and water heater.

Jia Le believes that, if we want others to follow us, we must lead by example. She hopes to see that henceforth fellow Collegiate Youth members will practice the "5Rs" diligently for the Earth.

By Yong Siew Lee, Melaka
Translated by Hew Kwee Heon