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Philanthropist and businesswoman Keilem Ng is helping poor Nepalese girls become athletes, and tackling tough environmental issues. Photo: Nora Tam

The eco-warriors waging war on plastic, helping save Chinese dolphins and sticking their neck out for giraffes

  • From actress Sharon Kwok to zero-waste Instagram influencer and a Hong Kong schoolgirl fund-raiser, the big environmental stories of the past 12 months
  • Turtles, dogs, dolphins and giraffes, the activists doing their bit for wildlife and animal welfare

From activists fighting to save rare green sea turtles to female eco-warriors helping to reduce waste, we look back at 10 stories from the past 12 months about the environment and people helping to spread the green message.

In early 2018 we featured six Hong Kong-based women campaigning to make the city greener by reducing individual waste and sending less to landfills.

Zero-waste Instagram influencer Hannah Chung. Photo: James Wendlinger

Art for earth’s sake

Eco-artists in Hong Kong wage war on plastic through works that raise awareness of issues both local and global. From Hong Kong’s ArtVplastic project to Disney characters in distress, we run our eye over the latest in eco-art.

From left: artist Martin Lever, Dana Winograd from the charity Plastic Free Seas and photographer William Furniss. Photo: Jonathan Wong

All for good causes

Hong Kong social entrepreneur Keilem Ng already ran a beach cleaning charity before joining a philanthropic network in 2017. Now she is helping poor Nepalese girls become athletes, tackling tough environmental issues and much more.

Philanthropist and businesswoman Keilem Ng. Photo: Nora Tam

Dolphin rescue

Schoolgirl Audrey Tam was so determined to help save Hong Kong’s Chinese white dolphins that she teamed up with WWF to crowdfund underwater microphones to collect data to bolster the case for limits on vessels that can hit and kill them.

Audrey Tam Ka-yu collected HK$33,265 for dolphin conservation by doing a piano recital and holding a photo exhibition. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Mary Jean Gaje gives food to Fifi, a stray dog, on an island near Sai Kung. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Isle of dogs

Pets dumped on uninhabited islands off the town of Sai Kung in Hong Kong’s New Territories face death from starvation, lack of water, disease or attacks by feral packs. But a group of volunteers is helping by feeding, trapping and neutering dogs.

In Vietnam, 30 million dogs are killed each year for food and demand is rising. Photo: AFP

Not a dog dinner

They are flayed and cooked alive, bludgeoned to death, or poisoned – 30 million dogs a year. Demand in Vietnam is growing so fast, smugglers are snatching pets for slaughter. One group is determined to put a stop to the trade.

Actress-turned-activist Sharon Kwok Sau-wan and Robert Lockyer at Turtle Beach, Lamma Island. Photo: Roy Issa

Turtle warriors

Sea turtle numbers are dropping globally due to pollution, plastic and rubbish in their egg-laying areas. Actress Sharon Kwok and fellow activists are calling on the Hong Kong government to protect the only regular nesting site in the city.

Doug Woodring, managing director at Ocean Recovery Alliance, wearing a suit made from recycled plastic bottles, from partner Waste2Wear. Photo: Antony Dickson

Reuse refuse

Doug Woodring says that while legislation is important, in Hong Kong we must start with our consumption habits, and that means getting businesses to ban or cut back on single-use plastic. We must all start seeing it as the contagious disease it has become, he says.

Julian Fennessy. Photo: courtesy of Fennessy, Giraffe Conservation Foundation

A tall order

Dr Julian Fennessy wants action taken urgently to stem a rapid decline in the population of giraffes in Africa after a 40 per cent drop in the past three decades. They are already extinct in seven countries.

Kevin Germanier.

Sustain momentum

The founder of sustainable fashion brand Germanier, with fans including Lady Gaga and Björk, had his eureka moment when he saw a man pouring imperfect fashion beads into a hole on a Hong Kong street.

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