In recent years, a large number of residents in Da Nang, especially pupils and students, have raised their awareness of the great significance of environmental protection through their active engagement in a serious of highly practical campaigns.

Greenie Environmental Club has been attracting a great deal of public participation thanks to its highly practical and effective activities

A writing contest about ‘Da Nang – the Environmentally-friendly City’, which was launched in the city between February and November last year, received high praise from the general public for its great significance.

Literature teacher Truong Thi Hong Tham from the Le Loi Junior High School highlighted the significance of the contest in helping local school pupils promote their writing skills and express their opinions about current environment-related issues. In addition, such a meaningful event indeed helped to change their own behaviour to increase environmental protection.

An entry, for example, conveyed a message that all of us should protect our living environment, especially the Son Tra Peninsula which is considered as a precious natural gift.

Ms Pham Thi Thuy Loan, Vice Rector of the Hai Chau District-based Nguyen Hue Junior School highlighted a must-do to raise pupils’ awareness of environmental protection through her school’s extracurricular educational activities. The intention is to provide pupils with necessary knowledge and skills to participate in ensuring the development of sustainable ecological society for both present and future generations.

To date, such practical and effective activities as the planting of green trees at the schoolyard, classroom cleanups, and ‘Green, Clean and Beautiful Sundays’ movements have been implemented effectively in the Nguyen Hue school.

During the ongoing 2018-2019 academic year, the municipal Department of Education and Training has opened a contest to seek initiatives for resolving environmental problems. Launched several months ago, the event has attracted the participation of a large number of junior and senior high school students across the city.

Many entries highlight energy saving and waste treatment models, biological solutions for use in environmental protection, and proposals to conserve biodiversity.

Greenie Environmental Club, which has been established by a group of pupils from the Le Quy Don Senior High School for the Gifted, has launched many highly practical activities for the sake of our living environment.

The operation of such a school-level specialised club aimed at conveying to the public a meaningful message: “Love the environment as much as we love ourselves”. No doubt many of the ways we harm our environment come back to haunt us in the form of sickness and death.

During their regular meetings, the club’s members always say no to the use of non-biodegradable items, including plastic bottles of waters, and straws. It is no denying that plastic products bring convenience, but also produce a huge disastrous thing called ‘white pollution’, which has become a major issue in today's world.

More recently, at the General Science Library, the club has opened the Environment Festival during which the participating youths were briefed on the exact amount of plastic glass used per day across the city, and introduced to video clips highlighting city-dwellers’ remarks about the negative impact of the use of plastic products in daily life.

In recent months, residents living nearby the Nguyen Tat Thanh Street are accustomed to the image of a group of young people partaking in environmental cleanups at sections of the coastal embankment system along this coastal route every Sunday morning. These volunteers are members of the Flywheel group which was formed early this year.

Flywheel members are seen picking up litter at sections of the coastal embankment system along coastal Nguyen Tat Thanh Street

Vo Hong Long, 24, the group leader, said he and other Flywheel members first met with one another early this year as they voluntarily collected litter at the New Year 2018 Countdown Party which took place at the 29 March Square on 2 September Street. It's by chance the energetic youths met, by choice they became friends, and took the initiative to establish a club specialising in environmental protection. 

Flywheel now boasts a total membership of more than 50, and many of its members are university students.

In the coming time, the group plans to launch environmental cleanups on the Son Tra Peninsula, especially such locations to which it is very tough to have access as deep cliffs and stone areas.