Caring for the environment is in his nature

Martin Williams talks at a lick, so it’s hard to keep up. It’s because the British science writer, Cheung Chau resident, photographer, nature website creator and environmentalist has a lot of topics he’d like to cover.

This includes the current issue over ivory tusks: Hong Kong, among a number of territories and countries, has a stockpile, so the debate rages over whether to burn them but run the risk that ivory tusk hoarders could come into a windfall when elephants eventually become extinct.

There’s also the issue of shark fin. Following on from a video posted on YouTube of a female passenger having a tantrum in front of Cathay Pacific staff, Williams asked an actress friend to record a spoof clip about a woman unable to get shark’s fin soup at a Cheung Chau seafood restaurant. The actress recorded herself screaming and lashing out at people, before throwing herself to the floor. The clip went viral and has so far clocked up 1.4 million hits.

“I had no idea it was going to be so popular,” says Williams, who has been recognised as an “Outstanding Earth Champion” by the Earth Champions Foundation, and has other plans to create videos that target environmental issues.

Then there’s the issue of bird flu, when wild birds were sometimes blamed for outbreaks of bird flu and the Mai Po nature reserve was temporarily closed. That’s one that really vexes Williams, a keen birdwatcher since a friend who was an enthusiast persuaded him to try it out.

“Initially I thought it was a bit girly to watch birds,” says Williams, who is from Scarborough in northeast England. However he soon caught the bug, even once driving from Scarborough to south Wales to find a bird he hadn’t yet spotted.