Choy So-Yuk has a long track record of environmental awareness raising and environmental policy advocacy in Hong Kong. As a Climateer she will be focusing on walking the talk -including commissioning a solar-panelled hybrid car from California. She tells us how her simple lifestyle and being in touch with nature makes her happy.
I have been working on environmental affairs and awareness-raising for a long while now but I have not claimed that I was a role model in terms of eco living. Now I realise I really ought to walk the talk.
This is a natural extension of my commitment to conserving the environment. I have started paying attention to this issue back in about 1995. What really pains me is that groups of innocent people in under-privileged places are going to suffer most for climate change. My visits to Tsinghai and Inner Mongolia the last couple of years showed me first hand how real and imminent this problem is.
I was not surprised to find that my car accounted for the biggest part of my footprint. Indeed the car is the area of living where my biggest emission cut can be achieved. I flew about 24 hours last year, all were for work.
I believe so. I live with my mother and both of us like simple, peaceful living. This lifestyle makes me happy. Perhaps this is related to my religion. As Buddhists, we are not taught to want to amass lots of objects. I do not compare myself with others. We are generous to others or in donations but we lead simple lives. We have vegetarian meals following the Buddhist calendar. Perhaps we are a minority in Hong Kong. I sometimes joke with my friends that if everybody lives like we do Hong Kong would not be a commercial city!
Apart from doing more work on promoting climate change awareness, I will be much more conscious about conserving energy. I think it'll be pretty painless. I almost never use the air-conditioner at home as I can tolerate hot weather quite well. I plan to avoid leaving appliances on standby. I will also take fewer journeys on taxi. I love the tram. My main problem is the car.
Yes, in fact I have commissioned service from California to convert a hybrid car to a solar-panelled hybrid for me. I'm told that I can run it fully on solar power in the future.
For the government, the first step should be to treat CO2 as a pollutant. The general public can start with conserving energy. It's the quickest, easiest win-win solution for the climate and for the people.
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