Badge of honour: Laralyn posing with her award.
“ORDER à la carte or only what you are going to eat, cook just enough, accept imperfect items” – these are some of the actions Laralyn Geh Rui Ying hopes consumers will take to tackle food wastage.
To amplify her message, the 13-year-old created a short film urging everyone to “Do your part, now!”.
Entitled Stop Food Wastage! Let’s Create a Sustainable Environment, her eight-minute film recently earned her an honourable mention at the middle school level in the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest, which received 400 submissions from 55 countries.
Open to students aged eight to 25, the contest challenged participants to create a three- to eight-minute environmental film that inspires change or action.
A segment of Laralyn’s film was screened at the Young Filmmakers Contest Global Awards Celebration in Chicago, United States, on Sept 22. A full special virtual screening of her film was subsequently held on Nov 2.
Her recognition also saw the film selected for screening at the RE-Generation International Youth Film Festival in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct 19.
“We constantly hear about rising water levels, natural disasters claiming innocent lives, and plastic pollution in our oceans. These environmental problems inspired me to do my part to help our planet.
“I chose food wastage as my topic because it has often been discussed as a humanitarian issue, but I wanted people to know that it is also a hazardous environmental issue,” Laralyn told StarEdu.
She added that her interest in videography motivated her to join the competition.
“The three long weeks I spent making the film were worth it. Juggling schoolwork alongside filmmaking was challenging but it paid off,” said the Dwi Emas International School, Selangor, student.
This latest achievement is another feather in the cap for Laralyn, who emerged as second runner-up in a 2022 national short film competition.
She credited her school, which promotes environmental sustainability and encourages students to “go green”, for nurturing her passion for conservation.
Aspiring to pursue a career centred on environmental sustainability and governance, Laralyn said mitigating climate change is essential for humanity’s survival.
“Many people fail to realise that global warming is a man-made problem. Even something as seemingly small as wasting food, when replicated millions of times, can contribute significantly to climate change,” she said.
Besides raising awareness through filmmaking, Laralyn practises sustainability by adopting the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and making compost to fertilise her plants.
She is also involved in rehabilitating ocean corals through a coral reef adoption project at Pulau Perhentian.
“If we want to save the earth, we all need to work together. Small actions can go a long way,” she said.
Laralyn called on youths interested in sustainability to start with personal actions before striving for long-term impact. “You can begin by identifying an issue you are passionate about and finding ways to contribute,” she said.
Nieha, 21, a student in Melaka, is a participant of the BRATs Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) team. For updates on the BRATs programme, go to facebook.com/niebrats.
With the theme of the article in mind, carry out the following English language activities.
1 Imagine your friends have a habit of throwing away food they can’t finish. How would you persuade them to reduce food wastage? Role-play the conversation.
2 Play a storytelling game where every student in class contributes a sentence. Begin with the sentence: “Stop food wastage.” Work together to end the story with a positive message about sustainability. Have fun!
The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) programme promotes the use of English language in primary and secondary schools nationwide. For Star-NiE enquiries, email starnie@thestar.com.my.
