Flash cards to be used to get message across to Hongkongers on sustainable consumption

Council for Sustainable Development hopes new engagement exercise can reach beyond policy-based approach to encourage people to see practical implications of excessive use of resources

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Professor Jonathan Wong (left) and designer Adrian So pose with flash cards on sustainable consumption. Photo: Bruce Yan

Published: 12:00am, 25 Aug 2016Updated: 11:46am, 25 Aug 2016

The team tasked with engaging the public on the sustainable consumption of resources – such as plants, animals, fish and timber – hopes concepts such as “biodiveristy” and “sustainability” will be less foreign to the public after the exercise.

It is trying to get the message across to youngsters with an unusual strategy – 16 flash cards, which include illustrations, definitions and examples of resource use spiced liberally with Cantonese colloquialisms, puns, jokes and slang.

Professor Jonathan Wong Woon-chung, who convenes the Council for Sustainable Development’s public engagement support group, said the consultation would actually help drive interest in and understanding of other more “theoretical” government policies.

This includes things like the recently concluded planning stage for the city’s first biodiversity strategy and action plan (BSAP). A consultation document on this was criticised by some experts as being too bland and uninspiring.

“They wanted to introduce the concept of biodiversity but such a concept is very difficult to bring out. People could not relate it to their everyday life,” Wong said. “Their approach wasn’t so close to home as a lot of their thinking was done from a policy perspective.”

With the help of a public relations firm, the council has launched a campaign to present sustainability-related terminology to youngsters by using the flash cards.