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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.