Budding love for nature

Photos and text by Kenji Kwok

FROM LEFT: Quynh Nguyen, Lim Tian Ning, Yau Tong Ngee, Choo Liang Feng Leon, Deborah Loke at the terrarium workshop at the School of Biological Sciences.

The simple glass bottle of the terrarium carries an often-overlooked message: the ecosystem which supports us is a precarious balancing act.

On 19th January, the Asian School of the Environment’s (ASE) Overseas Community Involvement Programme (OCIP) team organised a workshop to educate students about the environment and fund their OCIP conservation field trip. This will be the first OCIP by NTU students to incorporate environmental work beyond the usual scope of humanitarian projects.

The terrarium workshop was organised by the ASE OCIP committee on the College of Science Day. The undergraduate programme in environmental earth systems science was launched in 2014.

Choo Liang Feng Leon, 23, student organiser of this initiative, said: “Through the terrarium workshop, we wanted to show how growing plants is both a fun and creative process, and also a step to appreciating nature.”

The second-year student from the pioneer batch of ASE added that designing and maintaining a terrarium is very much like caring for the environment — an endeavour that requires careful thought and commitment.

Even though terrariums are known to be relatively hardy, Choo shared that after the workshop, some participants sent him photos wondering why their plants were wilting or growing mould.

Designing and maintaining a successful terrarium requires the careful selection of compatible plants.

Choo, who aspires to work in the climate engineering industry, hopes to eventually bring this initiative to primary schools.

In primary school, students get to grow bean sprouts on cotton wool and learn the different stages of plant growth, he said. But this exercise is insufficient to develop an appreciation of the ecosystem as bean sprouts are not meant to survive for more than a couple of days.

If we are trying to teach young students to be interested in the ecosystem, a terrarium would better emphasise that a love for the environment is a long but rewarding investment, he added.