The Dean's Advisory Committee on Sustainability (DACES) described the fifth-year medical student Dharshana Moodliar as an eco-champion for her active involvement in community service and sustainability projects at Tygerberg Campus, home of Stellenbosch University's (SU) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Moodliar, who joins a number of FMHS staff and students in the eco-champion ranks, became involved in the DACES as a student representative and has helped the committee place the inclusion of environmental stewardship as an FMHS MBChB graduate attribute squarely in the spotlight. In the new MBChB curriculum, environmental stewardship is a graduate attribute under the umbrella of leadership.
Moodliar says being involved in 'green' initiatives on Tygerberg Campus over the years inevitably assisted her in developing several of the FMHS' graduate attributes. “I have always had a passion for sustainability and environmental preservation. When I began studying at SU, I appreciated the balance of the earth and the importance of sustainable practices from a different perspective. As we studied the social determinants of health in Health in Context in our first year, I realised that the burden of infectious diseases could be greatly reduced if we altered the environments in which we reside."
She says once she commenced university, she really began to delve into sustainability initiatives. “I am a resident at Meerhoff Residence and in my first year, I was a member of its Green Committee. Through the activities we participated in – from beach clean-ups and planting in the garden crates to creating infographics about sustainable practices – I was astounded by the difference this committee could make within the residence space. I was eventually elected as the House Committee member for this portfolio and have managed the Tygerberg Student Representatives (TSR) sustainability portfolio over the past two years.
Moodliar's status as an eco-champion is a testimony to her enthusiastic and prominent involvement in various environmental awareness campaigns at the FMHS' Tygerberg Campus including Earth Week, Safe Mask Disposal and Eco-Brick initiatives.
She says the most heartening thing about being involved in this way was that it allowed her to research and implement various alternative methods of sustainable living and waste reduction in her own life and the FMHS student community. “In my time at the FMHS, there have been several highlights. In my second year, I loved the collaboration that DACES organised with Guerilla House to assist us in developing the campus vegetable garden. I especially enjoyed learning how to look after worm farms with DACES manager, Christine Groenewald."
She admits that getting her peers and fellow students involved has been challenging. “Over time, the buy-in among my peers and friends has improved substantially but that the number of students who actively choose to recycle or incorporate sustainable practices into their daily lives, is quite low. One of the major influences to this is that it takes a little more effort for one to be sustainable," she says.
Moodliar was part of the team that won the Green Cup for Meerhof Residence in 2018 has organised various sustainability-oriented activities for first-year students. “More recently the opening of the outdoor gym and the jam-packed sessions during Earth week this year, was really exciting. Working with phenomenal individuals from both the faculty and externally has taught me so much. I genuinely appreciate the way students are respected and able to engage with such knowledgeable individuals about sustainability matters."
Professor Bob Mash, the chairperson of the DACES says the links between public and planetary health are clear. “We encourage medicine and health sciences to understand the links between environmental determinants of health at a planetary scale, such as climate change and how it manifests in local communities and ultimately, individual patients."
