Small steps can spur major changes to make HK an environmentally friendly world city
Sponsored Feature
Working at a shared-bike company helped a student contribute to the green community.After graduating from the Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Global and Environmental Studies (GES) at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), I worked for the first shared-bike company in Hong Kong as a way of contributing to the green community.
Being an operations associate there was like playing Pokemon Go. You have a map showing bikes with problems and have to ride there and fix them with your toolkit. Finding permitted parking places for the bikes was another of our daily tasks. Sometimes, operations is about on-the-ground customer service and handling enquiries from members of the public.
This may sound tiring, especially when you’re working outdoors under the hot sun or when it’s raining, but the job enabled me to explore some of the secret places of Hong Kong by riding to different parts of the city and it taught me bike-fixing skills. Both these things were a source of great satisfaction for someone who has a passion for sports and likes to understand what’s happening in the local community.
Six months later, I became a community education officer in a “green station” overseen by the Environmental Protection Department. I was responsible for leading educational workshops and events to engage schools, residents of housing estates and commercial organisations. Through this outreach programme, we taught people to “up-cycle” products made of reusable materials and to develop their talents for making environment-friendly products. We also acted as a centre for reusable goods and redistributed them to local people in need.
From the GES programme, I learned about the importance of taking action to care for our environment and improving society through small daily acts. Even today, I cycle to work and bring a homemade lunch. Another part of my job’s mission is to empower neighbors and others by showing them they also have the ability to change things for the better environment. This has become something I really enjoy doing.
Hong Kong is always named as a city which is unfriendly to bikes and a place only making slow advances in environmental protection. But our daily actions can drive small changes, and doing that can gradually make Hong Kong one of the most sustainable cities in the world.
Find out more about the programmes on offer at www.eduhk.hk/degree