By Rachel Laramee
On 24 June, the winners of the Low Carbon Hero Bingo challenge, organized by Future Energy Lions (FEL) Brunei, planted their commemorative trees beside the bike path near the bike shelter at BSP headquarters. Members of FEL were in attendance, along with their sponsor, BSP Commercial Director Farida Talib. Norismah Ismail, the highest scoring individual participant, planted a tamarind tree, and Winnie Khoo and Vanessa Khoo, the pair of sisters who won the team challenge, planted a rain tree.

FEL is a volunteer network that promotes sustainability and alternative energy solutions within the BSJV community. This is the second year they presented the Low Carbon Hero challenge, which aims to broaden awareness of the many things we as individuals can do to reduce our impact on the environment. There were changes this year to increase participation and make the initiative more fun. Most notably, the initiative took the form of a bingo challenge that encouraged participants to try new ways of reducing their carbon footprint and to share ideas for eco-friendly habits on social media.

A total of 17 teams and 27 individuals, mostly BSJV staff but also some family members and members of the public, joined this year. Participants earned points for making choices like refusing plastic bags while shopping and for cultivating habits like turning up their air conditioning temperature to reduce electricity use. They also scored points for recruiting new participants and for posting about their efforts on Instagram and Facebook to help spread awareness. The winners received prizes like recycling vouchers and sustainability kits, woven baskets filled with local products (coconut bowl, rice, tea, soaps), which FEL hopes to promote so people can reduce their carbon footprint while supporting local enterprises. Anyone who submitted their bingo cards received a mini succulent.

Each bingo card focused on a theme. The first theme was “Choices”, the second was “Habits” and the third was “Resources”. Norismah said the first two themes were fairly easy to complete, as they were things she was already doing or that required only small adjustments to her routine. However, the third theme, resources, was more difficult. She said that reducing her meat and energy consumption was a real challenge, as she loves to eat chicken and take hot showers.

Low Carbon Hero Bingo has been such a success that other Shell locations, like Nigeria, the U.S., India and the Netherlands, have undertaken similar initiatives. For next year, FEL Brunei aspires to introduce an app that will track performance, provide supporting information for tasks, and sync with social media. This should make participation even simpler and more fun.

Big thanks to Ramon van Dijk for spearheading the design of the bingo challenge, to David Liew Teck Voon for his marketing support, and to Salwa Khair Md Tarif and Chern-Ming Lim for running the event. Follow @fel.bn on Instagram for upcoming events including Plastic Free July.

To hear about upcoming FEL initiatives and events, follow FEL Brunei on Instagram (@fel_bn) and on Facebook (@Future Energy Lions Brunei).

 

Low Carbon Hero Bingo 2020
Individual Winners

• 1st place: Norismah Ismail
• 2nd place: Khairunnisa Muhammad Bazlee
• 3rd place: Clarence Er

Team Winners

• 1st place: VW KHOO (Winnie Khoo and
  Vanessa Khoo)
• 2nd place: EGLO Green Team (Jenna Anand,
  Mafe Oluwaseun, Nazri Ramli)
• 3rd place: Totoro (Kim Fah and family)

 

 

By Savannah Jung

During these unprecedented times, people have been looking to build new routines that can improve their overall health. Even with businesses slowly beginning to open, so much is still unknown and out of our control. Consequently, it makes sense that many of us are searching for ways to have productive routines while we adapt to this new way of operating in our day to day lives. While it is common to focus mainly on our  physical health, there is so much more to consider regarding your mental health as well. To simplify, let’s focus on just three categories of health that we can all work on improving: eating habits, activity levels and mental awareness.  

Eating habits 

There is a dizzying amount of diet styles and fads that can be effective or harmful depending on your body type and metabolic rate. Instead of focusing on “eat  only this” and “eat none of that”, take simple steps to improve your eating habits. 

• A specified schedule can be beneficial for curbing snacking and giving structure to your day. One Australian food blogger, Leah Itsines, follows a regimen of three meals and two snacks, but depending on your hunger levels and when you wake up and go to bed, this can be adjusted. 
• Meal prep has certainly become a fad, but outside all of the hype, it’s an effective way to keep you from searching through the fridge and pantry for your next snack. Predetermined snacks and meals take the stress out of planning and help you control what you put into the meal instead of eating mindlessly or overloading your plate.
• Focus on balanced meals that include lean proteins, whole grains and vegetables. This may sound like the foundation for boring meals, but there are many different ways to make each meal an adventure. Switching up the types of food you consume can make healthy eating fun instead of boring. Try to keep your plate as colourful as possible. Leah Itsines has a variety of recipes to help you feel like a master in the kitchen. 

For more information about healthy eating habits and nutrition, check out the CDC’s recommendations here. 

Activity levels 

• You don’t have to lift weights every day or train for a marathon to be considered “active”. Instead of thinking in extremes, focus on the small day to day activities that you can incorporate easily. 
• Take a walk with your family through your neighborhood or on the beach. 
• Go for a bike ride with your family. There are plenty  of great bike trails all around and through Panaga. All Trails is a website that reviews and lists multiple trails that are suitable for hiking, bike riding and other activities.  
• Play a game with your children outside. A quick game of badminton, tag or duck-duck-goose can get the blood pumping while putting a smile on your face. 
• Do an online fitness class or a HIIT workout from Pinterest with a friend. Plenty of fitness instructors, such as Kayla Itsines, Chontel Duncan or Kelsey Wells, are doing online classes that you can follow through Instagram Live videos. Here is their website if you want to join the community through member ship, or you can follow them on Instagram. Pinterest also has lists of quick 30-45 minute workouts that you can modify to suit you. 

Whatever you choose to do, do it with someone else. Having someone with you makes the activity fun instead of it feeling like a chore, plus you can hold each other accountable. The CDC also has recommendations on how to be physically active while social distancing.  

Mental health  

While things are slowly returning to normal, there is still a lot of change and uncertainty that comes with living in a post-coronavirus world. It is important to take time to focus on the one aspect of health that you can’t see when you look in a mirror: your mental health. It is normal to feel anxious, overwhelmed, stressed and even lost. Here are some tools that you can use to help ease your mental burden. 

• Journal: Writing down your thoughts onto paper is a great way to dive deeper into what you may be anxious about while also getting things off your chest. It can be used to document your day, be a way to focus on what you are happy about or a place to simply vent. Whatever you choose, it can be therapeutic and help you organize your  thoughts and feelings. 
• Meditate: Meditation doesn’t always mean sitting cross-legged repeating “OHM” over and over. It can mean sitting peacefully in silence for a few minutes on your porch or alone in your room. Or it could be just thinking about what you are grateful for or what makes you happy. Doing this daily either as a way to start or close out your day can help you feel centered even amidst the chaos. 
• Talk with loved ones: This is an exercise that works as a two-way street. Check in with your friends, family members and loved ones to see how they are holding up during these unprecedented times. In turn, this opens a pathway of communication for you to also get things off your chest or get a different perspective on some challenges you are facing.  

The CDC has many resources that discuss mental health issues and how to recognize and treat them, as well  as a page with resources for addressing mental health during COVID-19. If you are interested in learning more about how to prioritize your mental health  during this pandemic, check out their page and further information here.

The main thing to keep in mind is to check in with yourself. Whether it is daily, weekly or even monthly, take a minute to see how you are feeling and make a plan of action to continue your progress and make further improvements. Take things at your own pace and never force things that you don’t feel are working for you. We will get through these times together and come out the other side stronger than ever before.