BY KELLY TEY

(From left) EcoKnights president Yasmin Rasyid, Cheah and Sunway Property deputy managing director for Malaysia and Singapore Tan Wee Bee flagging off the participants of Discovery Walk 2.0 at Sunway South Quay, Petaling Jaya. —Photos: LOW LAY PHON/The Star

WALKING the talk is key to making any good cause a successful one, and Sunway Property’s Discovery Walk 2.0 strived to do exactly that.

To drive awareness in sustainability and environmental concerns, the developer held a fun run in cooperation with EcoKnights and Malaysian Environmental NGOs (MENGO) to mark World Environment Day celebration observed globally on June 5.

The Discovery Walk was the second of its kind to be held at Sunway South Quay, Petaling Jaya.

This year, it was themed “Race for a Better Planet”, with the aim to inform and instil in each participant the good practices on how to better protect Mother Nature.

Sunway Property managing director for Malaysia and Singapore Sarena Cheah said the walk sought to bring friends and family together for a good day out while promoting activities that would make people more conscious of the environment.

“Today, we read headlines from across the world about climate change and sustainability problems; everyone has a part to play to help the situation, no matter how small the effort,” said Cheah.

“Environmental initiatives are no longer just a choice, but a necessity.”

The fifth checkpoint’s task sees teams combine their efforts to help one member in slack lining.

Cheah emphasised that ecological initiatives are something the company holds dear to.

“It starts with what we can do, like integrating environmentally-conscious elements into landscaping and building features in our developments.

“But what we hope to achieve now is getting through to the people, ultimately making the good practices a part of their lifestyle,” she said, adding that this could be achieved with the support of NGOs, people who are experts and passionate in their field. Through the Discovery Walk, the developer and participating NGOs hope to remind people of the things they can do to help the environment, by incorporating nuggets of information into the fun activities in between.

“The more we are exposed to environmentally-conscious ways, the more likely it is for us to carry it out. It’ll eventually become less of a chore and more of a habit, almost like second nature,” said Cheah, adding that she too had inculcated recycling as part of her own lifestyle.

Cheah highlighted that having waste separation systems or recycling bins at home was one of the ideas which could get children involved from a young age.

“That is why this walk is family-friendly, so that participants of all ages can come to enjoy, be healthy and learn something from it,” she added.

Participants putting their wit and might together to swiftly build a large Jenga-type block in 30 seconds for the task at the fourth checkpoint.

For the race, each team consisting of three to four members, took on a 5km walk that had eight checkpoints where they had to answer questions and complete tasks relevant to ecological issues and practices.

With each mission completed at the checkpoint, the teams earned stamps and points that were subsequently recorded in their “green passport”.

At every point, each team got to collect a mystery item, with which they had to form a terrarium for the final task.

Four teams with the complete stamps and highest points won the top prizes.

The first prize went to Tan Yi Hua and team, who won a stay at the Water Villa in The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat, Ipoh; second place went to Awatif Abdul Ghapar and team who won a stay in a Superior Room at Sunway Pyramid Hotel West, Petaling Jaya; third place went to Ng Wei Fu and team who bagged a Deluxe Room stay at Sunway Putra Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, while Tan Menh Chooi and team placed fourth and won a stay at the Classical Room at Sunway Lost World Hotel in Ipoh.

The top four teams also won RM50 preloaded Sunway Pals points each.

Discovery Walk 2.0 was the finale for the developer’s World Environment Day string of events this year, which included three other cities namely Ipoh, Penang and Johor Baru.

Prior to the event in Petaling Jaya, Ipoh held a treasure hunt at Sunway City Ipoh and Johor Baru held a cycling event at Sunway Iskandar on May 28, while a hiking event took place at Sunway Valley City, Penang, on May 29.

“This is our third year organising this environment event and second for the walk. Every year, we hope to reach out to even more people.

“We had some 2,000 participants across four locations and it was an encouraging number.

“It was heartening to see some people even from the central region taking part in the events at our northern and southern locations,” Cheah shared.

The walk alone garnered participation from some 114 teams, where families with toddlers and young children also joined in.

Besides the walk, the event also hosted activities such as the Eco Enzyme workshop, DIY Seedball Making and Composting workshops, pop-up stores as well as lucky draw sessions.