As a mother of 3, a successful lawyer, legislator and the chairperson of the Legco Environmental Affairs Panel, Audrey Eu has been outspoken to push for more aggressive environmental policies, working on air and marine pollution as well as energy efficiency labelling of products. Now a Climateer, Audrey is keen to spread the word and to help reduce waste and conserve energy. Her husband will be her first Climateering target!
Hong Kong is is getting hotter and hotter. You read so much and hear so much about climate change these days that you know you must do something about it. Joining as a Climateer will help me put some pressure on myself to try harder. I believe healthy pressure is conducive to combating habits we've taken for granted.
I just think it is everyone's responsibility. No matter how little you can do, it is still positive change. And it is essential that everyone at least take some sort of action. We can't all just say that it's too difficult to change. Every little help counts, and is worth it.
Not really. This is like the concept of eco-footprint. We have been talking about civil rights and responsibilities for quite a long time. That's what we provide community members with leaflets to help them help them take action.
I tend to think so. While I do take public transport like the MTR, it is sometimes extremely difficult to make it to all the meetings you have to attend by public transport, when the schedule is really packed. And because listening to and meeting the people face to face is so important in community work, sometimes we just have to make the trips. So yes the nature of the job makes it more difficult to make sharp cuts in land transport.
This may sound funny but I have so much plastic sitting at home and in the office. It's all the souvenirs given to me when we attend ceremonies or do community service. They serve no practical purpose whatsoever and it is hard to refuse them or request something different. The whole mindset of the society needs to change. We need an social etiquette makeover!
All action should start at home so I'll start with the air-con-which implies working on my husband's habit to switch it on whenever he eats! Hopefully I won't have to divorce him to cut down on the air-con footprint ( :-) ). I will also reduce waste by using my lunch boxes more often when ordering take-away. Sad thing is not all restaurants accept bring-your-own-box due to food hygiene liability. We have taken up low-carbon actions like car-sharing, eating less meat and using low-flow showerheads for a long time. And I'll make pushing for a holistic energy policy my a major area of my work. We will press for legislation to control building energy.
I think it's all positive. It takes time for us to turn the tables on an ultra-consumerist culture-just look what happened to 'I'm not a Plastic Bag'! But I think overall people do want to do their bit. We juts need to give people more choices by working with suppliers.
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