Did you know it was World Environment Day on 5 June 2011?

Warning : This may be a longer than usual post, compared to my normal standards. Hehe. And yes, I know I've been slacking big time. Sudah kena 'sound' so I'm trying to make up for it. hehe. Sorry!

Thanks to RedRibbon Days, I now know that every 5th June of every year is World Environment Day (WED)! Yes, I was that ignorant. I think more people should create more awareness about this day because it's not only about conserving energy like the popular 'Earth Hour', but WED is about anything and everything that we can do to save our environment.

We were honoured to be given the opportunity to organise and execute events on behalf of our client to commemorate this day. We were not only excited and but also ecstatic that our client is supporting this day and engaged RedRibbon Days to help them spread the word to the public.

Theme of this year's WED is 'Forests : Nature at Your Service' so naturally, the main event we organised for our client was a tree planting initiative. To help us spread the word on a much bigger scale, not only were the staff invited to join in, but also local celebritiess and personalities such as Daphne Iking, Dato' Yasmin Yusuff, Lina Teoh, Jojo Struys, Hansen Lee, Amber Chia, Carmen Soo, Dennis Lau, Freda Liu and many more.

BUT, it was not only about the tree planting event on the 5th that we were excited about, but also about the pre-event initiative which we hoped will create more buzz and hype leading up to the actual day. RedRibbon Days came up with the idea of also creating awareness that everyone can play their part in helping the environment by Reducing Their Carbon Footprint.

OK, I have to admit, when I first heard that term brought up by Ming Ne and Sherin, I went like..'huh?'..then after they explained what it was all about...I was like...man..that's genius! Everyone should be aware of this and talk about it! So yeah...in my very own layman terms; Reducing Your Carbon Footprint is about things that you can do to reduce your Carbon Dioxide emissions, which we all know is BAD for the environment right? OK, even I knew that. So, i.e. instead of driving, ride a bicycle. But of course, we can't possibly revert back to our primitive ways right..so, what we can do is be a bit smart in our current lifestyle choices which is practical but at the same time help reduce our carbon footprint.

SO, the pre-event theme revolved around the concept of "Reduce Your Carbon Footprint - Experience It Locally" - meaning, you don't have to travel overseas to experience something amazing and unique because it's all here in our very own backyard. I bet you can ask any of your friends whether they are aware that you can actually be a Pilot for a Day, ride an ATV in a jungle, Bungy Jump, Paraglide, Segway Ride etc all here in our beautiful country - I can bet that most of them would say they would probably have to fly to some other country to experience it. So obviously, having to travel overseas would create a whole lot of carbon emissions like no one's business.

This is where we got the help of these celebrities to spread the word. Each of them did an amazing experience that they've never done before or weren't even aware that it was available here in our country, what more here in KL. It took us a whole month to gather and organise these experiences for everyone, but the outcome was just sooo satisfying that you just have to view the video clips to know what I mean.

Please do check out our YouTube page here to view each celebrities' experience. They're all funny and entertaining in their own way so it's really fun to watch!

Sooo..once the pre-event was over, then came the main event on the 5th. EVERYONE was chartered in what we call a 'Green Bus' with all the celebrities faces designed on the bus. How cool is that. Some of them were saying they felt like SJP in SATC's opening theme song. hehe. I thought the bus looked pretty cool, but what made it way cooler were the outriders escorting the bus all the way from our client's office to the tree planting venue at Taman Botani Shah Alam! I'm sure everyone felt like royalty being able to have outriders 'shoo' every vehicle in your way. hahaha.

Checkout the Green Bus!

Upon arrival, it was just plain fun all the way! Despite the slight rain drizzle scare early morning to the sudden scorching hot sun; everyone was such as good sport and looked like they had fun planting trees and plants for a good cause. It definitely was not your typical tree planting event where everyone plants a tree then goes home. I think each activity and detail played a significant part in the success of the event.

We had so many more highlights that I just have to list it out in point form here:

- an opening performance by No Noise Percussion; a group that performs using recycled items like pots, pans, rubbish bins etc
- After the tree planting session, the management and celebs got to have their hand print in cement at their plot of land
- A time capsule which we proposed to our client, where messages written by the management and celebrities were sealed in a time capsulee; and then there was a time capsule burying session at the end of the tree planting initiative
- a lovely lovely lunch
- photoboard signing session
- AND the GRAND FINALE - hop on back to the green bus to Fahrenheit 88 and Lot 10 for a Shout Out session! Everyone who joined held up banners spreading the word that it's WED and tips and environmental messages while the No Noise Percussion performed.

I have to say this was probably the first time I was shouting like a madwomn to a big crowd in the middle of KL city, prancing and dancing without any shame. I don't mind doing it again. haha

phew. all that in half a day. From 5am to 2pm. Kudos Sherin, Ming Ne and of course, the whole RedRibbon Days team - Shiva, Reza, Penny and Sophia. Best teamwork ever! So proud of everyone.

OK tired of typing. A picture says a thousand words, so technically, below are a few more thousand words. hehe :) But please do visit our Facebook Fan Page here to view the whole event! Enjoy!