How to right a wrong?How to convince other people to accept your viewpoint?
A group of Beijing students wrote to the Mayor and suggested him to consider banning the use of drinking water for car washing.The Mayor accepted.How did the young people managed to convince a Mayor?With good reason and genuine concern for a water shortage crisis, the young students monitored and produced a study report on the car washing habit of average motorists on the streets of Beijing.They timed and calculated the amount of water used per washing.They multiplied it by the total number of public and private cars in the Capital city.In their report to the Mayor, they asked very fundamental questions: should precious water resources be used to wash dirty cars?Why not use recycled water?Both Mayor and city residents applauded.
A group of German youth made a bet with their government.That they could meet a carbon emission target within seven months as opposed to seven years predicted by the German government in order to comply with the Kyoto Protocol target of reduction.They mobilized all schools, students, teachers and parents within their community to save energy by switching off, by bicycling to school instead of driving, by reducing food and water wastage which used energy to produce, by installing solar energy and sunshades and by planting trees.Together they have managed to reduce their community’s energy consumption substantially.With courage and determination, these German youth have passed the energy test.They won the bet.They succeeded to wake up fellow compatriots that with a change of lifestyle and habits, it is possible to avert the climate crisis.
In Hong Kong, young campaigners from the Green Student Council, a group of student environmental volunteers, called for a ban on plastic bags.They spent months and months to dialogue with stakeholders including the supermarkets, retailers and shop owners to convince them to support the ban.Undeterred by initial apathy and negative response, the young student campaigners persisted.
They changed strategy.Instead of urging the public to kick the plastic bag addiction for good, they appealed for a one-day avoidance.They announced a No Plastic Bay Day on April 15.Fingers crossed as media reported comments of objectors and doubters.Are Hong Kong people too spoiled to tolerate one day of inconvenience?Surprise, surprise, the No Plastic Bag Day campaign was a success.Plastic bag became the talk of the town.The secret of success: Big deed starts with small steps.One bite at a time.
Leaders are not content to be just spectators.They are committed to make real differences.By putting themselves to test through a critical thinking process and putting other people to test through a solution-based challenge, leaders are ready to think differently and to do things differently.
Did you ever wonder where your used computers ended up? Did you bother to find out what happened to your used batteries?Would you tell someone not to litter or to idle its car engine?Would you check the air-con thermostat before you complaint about the room temperature being too hot or too cold?Do you check product labels before you buy one?Would you refuse taking junk mail handouts?
Do you try to avoid disposables in coffee shops?Do you understand electricity bills?Do you ever question advertisements?
Have you ever attended a public hearing?Do you bother to read public consultation papers about building a new road in your neighborhood?
Dared to be different?Dared to “test” your power to change?I did it 16 years ago when I joined Friends of the Earth (HK) as an environmental volunteer and eventually became its leader.
My green long march has taken me from meeting rooms to pollution hotspots, from protest podiums to legislative chambers, from recycling sweatshops to landfills, from congested streets to country parks, from consumer wasteland to green homes, from kindergartens to university lecture halls, from freezing air-conditioned offices to wind farms in Southern China, from urbanized Hong Kong to 15 provinces in developing China.
I have re-written my life story.You can too.Are you ready?
End.
Mission Possible |
Mrs. Mei Ng |
UN Global 500 Laureate |
Director, Friends of the Earth(HK) |
May, 2006 |
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