Earth Day, which takes place on 22nd April annually, is an event celebrated globally. Ma Man Kei and Lo Pak College (MLC) took this opportunity to take action to protect our planet Earth. MLC hosted  a series of activities to celebrate Earth Day Week action between 16th and 23rd April.

On 16th and 23rd April, 2021,  MLC kicked off the campaign by hosting two vegetarian High Table Dinners (HTDs), in honor of Earth Day and raising awareness about the relationship between food and the impact we make to the environment while consuming meat. Prof. Katrine Wong, Interim College Master, encouraged students to take simple steps to live sustainably, one of them being to incorperate a “meat-free day” in our diet at least once a week.

The Keynote speaker for both HTDs was Dr. Joe Chan,  Vice President of Green Future Macau. The title of his talk was “What is our greatest heritage?” he opened his talk by prompting students with questions: “can money buy happiness?”, “how one can achieve a happy life?” He talked about happiness as a state of being and this state would come from inner fulfillment and human connection. At the end of his talk, students passed a giant Earth balloon around the tables to symbolise that we are all connected to each other and to the earth.

Going “ meat-free” could be a daunting experience, thus, MLC has invited a vegan student, Oliver Hong, and MLC’s cooking interest group, to perform various ways to prepare mouthwatering vegetarian or vegan food at home.

Lastly, MLC’s House Association has organised a food fundraising event in the Dining Hall throughout the week, during which they also promote package-free shopping. In the end, they managed to raise over MOP1500, to be donated to Everyone Stray Dog Macau Volunteer Group.