Emily D'AthEmily D'Ath - working, living, breathing sustainability

The Green in Weh Yeoh

Emily D'Ath — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 05:12:42 +0000

‘The Green in…‘ Is a series of interviews with people who are nurturing green ideas within their daily lives, without giving up their day jobs.

The Green in Weh Yeoh - Q&A

What’s your personal elevator pitch/introduction?

I work as an advisor to disability NGOs currently in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. My background is in physiotherapy and development, which means that I have a combination of technical skills and broad development knowledge. I’m also one of the co-founders of WhyDev, an online place that seeks to stimulate discussion and improve collaboration around aid, development and global issues.

How are you green in your daily life?

I grew up in Australia, but have recently moved around from country to country, where I think it is often more difficult to make green choices in your life. Firstly, the infrastructure that we take for granted in places like Australia does not exist – recycling for example, is more difficult to find. Secondly, there is less of a financial incentive to make choices that are better for the environment in places like Cambodia. A good example of this is eating out at restaurants, which often involves a lot of food waste, compared to cooking and eating at home. Meals in restaurants are so cheap here, so the incentive to make the effort to cook is lower. Finally, when others around you are making less green choices, you are also likely to slip into these habits.

All in all I have learnt though, that regardless of where you live, and the challenges that you face, you can make incremental changes in your life to look after the world better.

Food choices is a good example. Even though being vegetarian is difficult in some places in Cambodia, it can be done. Our household has also recently signed up to an organic fruit and vegetable delivery service, from products that are sourced close to the city we live in. This is a great thing for us, because it forces us to cook at home more often, and the incentive to not waste the produce is very high. We have also set up compost bins on our balcony for the leftover fruit and vegetable waste.

With transport options, I try and ride my bicycle, despite the (at times) oppressive heat. I’ve just come to the conclusion that I will be sweaty when I get to meetings, and it’s unfortunate for other people, but they’ll just have to put up with it! Despite the lure of $1 motorbike taxis, and almost as cheap tuk tuk rides, I try and power my transport with my legs alone.

With purchasing things, I try and buy as much stuff second hand as possible, even though it is tempting to get new stuff that is pumped out of Chinese factories for not much more. Still, it is possible.

I am far from perfect. I still fly much more than I like, usually to visit family and friends. Within the country, I do travel around quite a lot for my work. If I had to weigh up my lifestyle back in Australia with my lifestyle here, I am sure my footprint would be smaller back there.

However, in life we have to make choices and there is never a perfect solution. It is often about making the most you can in any given situation, and striving harder every day to be that little bit better.

This quote, from Jessie Taylor, in the brilliant documentary Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, really resonates:

“I think it’s important to do what you can to improve your own little corner of the world. But it can be pretty hard. Sometimes, regardless of how much you care or what lengths you go to, you’ve got no control over the lives and destinies of people you care about. That sense of helplessness can be crippling….but it’s not reason not to try.”

Who inspires the green in you?

I can’t say that anyone in particular inspires me to be green. I’m inspired by good people, full stop. By anybody who makes ethical decisions in their own lives, regardless of whether they are for environmental reasons, or humanitarian reasons. I think that if we do not devote time and energy to individually making the world just that little bit better, then there is almost no point in living whatsoever. For me, this gives me both inspiration and meaning.

How often do you think about green issues?

I think about it every day. I think that’s the only way to remind yourself that you can make decisions for the better on a daily basis. Thinking about it this way is empowering, because you discard the feeling of helplessness that you can feel when you arrive in a new location and the choices which you had available to yourself have disappeared. I think it’s a wonderful realisation to know that you can make good decisions regardless of your own personal situation.

Green Articles, blogs or books you recommend…

I’m a big fan of anything written by George Monbiot or Peter Singer, who challenge me to see the world a little differently. This article is not about being green per se, but it’s a wonderful reminder of one person’s love for nature, and, just as importantly, running.

Read other Green in interviews here.

The Green in Hayley Ward

Emily D'Ath — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 22:19:08 +0000

‘The Green in…‘ Is a series of interviews with people who are nurturing green ideas within their daily lives, without giving up their day jobs.

The Green in Hayley Ward - Q&A

What’s your personal elevator pitch/introduction?

I am obsessed with Australia-China relations, the arts, cultural diplomacy, and nature. I’m currently based in Melbourne and will be moving back to China later this year.

Tell me about an interesting green initiative you’ve heard about or worked on.

My most enduring inspiration of late has been the open digital sourcebook Tokyo DIY Gardening. With the aim of “celebrating ordinary and extraordinary efforts to bring nature into the world’s largest city”, the project invites and encourages everyone to experiment with nature and gardening regardless of how little soil, space, budget or experience they have. This project resonates with me because it shares my philosophy for embracing the green in everyday life, and my belief that environmental consciousness and behavioural change must necessarily begin with people falling back in love with nature on an intimate, personal level. I’m hoping to initiate a similar community-based project in China, as it seems a beautiful way of combining my favourite pastimes of city strolling, photography, observing nature and community building.

How often do you think about green issues?

I think about the potentials for intersection between nature and urban living a lot. My tiny Melbourne apartment is overflowing with plants and I love helping friends with their own urban gardens. These small-scale personal exchanges can act as a catalyst for discussion or mobilisation to action towards bigger environmental issues. Being a China obsessive, I also pay close concern to environmental issues there. The challenges in China can seem overwhelming and difficult to overcome. People can feel like it’s too hard to know where to start, or they don’t believe that their own personal everyday green efforts might have an impact. But imagine if every person in China started their own urban garden? From my position of amateur, I propose that people falling in love with nature through small-scale personal experience holds greater potential for inspiring sustainable environmental change than terrifying, guilt-inducing environmental scare campaigns.

Who inspires the green in you?

My mum, gardeners everywhere, and Bree from Mr Kitly in Melbourne.

Green Articles, blogs or books you recommend…

I’m slowly working my way through the fascinating ‘Rambunctious Garden‘ by Emma Marris. The book essentially asks the question, what is more ecologically valuable – national parks, median strips or vacant lots? She challenges the ideal notion of nature as a pristine, pre-human, untouched wilderness, and proposes instead that we embrace the concept of a wild global garden, a hybrid of nature and human management. There’s a great interview with the author on the book here.

My two favourite green publications are Wilder Quarterly and The Plant Journal. They’re both doing a great job not just in their design aesthetic and philosophy, but also their work leading cool digital projects like this collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Ma Jun’s China Dialogue keeps me up-to-date with the complex environmental issues in China.

Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank in London is a vitally important and impressive project.

Read other Green in interviews here.

LandfillHarmonic: upcycling at its best

Emily D'Ath — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 04:29:27 +0000

This project takes the concept of upcycling to a whole new level. If you’re short of time make sure you watch the first minute. The sound of the cello, made from an oil can and wood that was thrown away in the garbage, is incredible. I’ll definitely be supporting this project and looking forward to the final documentary.

About Landfill Harmonic:

Landfill Harmonic is an upcoming feature-length documentary about a remarkable musical orchestra in Paraguay, where the musicians play instruments made from trash. Cateura, Paraguay is a town essentially built on top of a landfill. Garbage collectors browse the trash for sellable goods, and children are often at risk of getting involved with drugs and gangs. When music teacher Fabio set up a music program for the kids of Cateura, they soon have more students than they have instruments.

That changed when Szaran and Fabio were brought something they had never seen before: a violin made out of garbage. Today, there’s an entire orchestra of assembled instruments, now called The Recycled Orchestra.

Landfill Harmonic Facebook

Landfill Harmonic Website

Is translation worth it? 是的！

Emily D'Ath — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 05:32:00 +0000

Although the answer to the question in the title seems obvious, in practice there’s not a lot of multilingual content out there when it comes to environmental and social issues/campaigns. Unless you are an international NGO with local offices scattered around the world your organisation is probably functioning in one language.

This year, I’ve been expanding content produced for the Antarctic Ocean Alliance to include Chinese, as much as possible anyway. It’s easy to become complacent and only use English for digital content, especially when you’re a boutique outfit operating internationally. We’re all too busy, it’s too expensive and translation takes too long! All these points are true, but in a world increasingly focused on Asia and the well known BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India & China), English just isn’t enough. Especially when a lot of the environmental and social issues we are focusing on are global. My rule of thumb: if your content isn’t translated, assume it’s falling on deaf ears and blind eyes internationally. Next year I’m aiming for Russian, Chinese, Spanish and English, I’ll let you know how I go…

Here is an example of one of the infographics in both Chinese and English:

Reporting Poverty: What stops people turning off?

Emily D'Ath — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 00:16:07 +0000

BBC documentary “Poor Reporting”, is a must listen. Reporter NIck Fraser discusses the difficult questions related to engaging the media with the story of global poverty. What does it take to get people in the rich world engaged in the issue of global poverty? How can you avoid cliché, sentimentality and callousness? What stops people turning off?” Is the issue of poverty too complex? Is it too boring? Has it been done too many times? None of these questions are new but they’re still extremely relevant and worth contemplation.

Listen here.

Image source

Turning corporate philanthropy into effective community investment

Emily D'Ath — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 13:38:21 +0000

Anyone following the rise of philanthropy in China over the past five years will agree that it has been nothing short of extraordinary. The Hurun Philanthropy List, that ranks China’s top 100 philanthropists, reported the average donation in 2011 at US$18.5 million. With this rise in philanthropy there has also been a steady increase in the number of corporate foundations as companies begin to formalise how they give back to the community.

However, turning this wealth of donation into community investment initiatives (community development) that benefit those most in need has not been as successful as many had hoped. In fact scandals over the past year have led the sector into an industry defined ‘credibility crisis’.

Recent research I conducted with CSR Asia’s Beijing office – a leading consulting firm for sustainable business practices in Asia – looked at the challenges corporate foundations face in China. Based on 17 interviews with corporate foundations in China and the UK, seven main challenges were identified and five recommendations made to address these challenges. Three of these challenges that are particularly interesting and illustrate why community investment has struggled to be effective in China. These challenges are not unique to corporate foundations and similar issues are found throughout the NGO sector in China.

Lack of capacity

The first of these is the lack of organisational capacity of corporate foundations and NGOs to support and implement community investment. This manifests in two main ways, firstly there is a limited number of staff to implement and support community investment. Secondly staff have a limited capacity to deliver complex programs due to a lack of knowledge and experience in the area of community investment. As one interviewee put it:

“If an organisation does not have talented staff, it cannot get resources in the field. If this field does not have enough resources, it cannot attract talented people. It is a cyclical problem.”

Government regulations

One explanation for the lack of organisational capacity can be found in the government regulations that exist for corporate foundations. This leads to a second challenge identified in the research ‘difficulty navigating government regulations’. Government regulations for corporate foundations in China are extremely complicated. This often inhibits smaller foundations without significant resources or government connections from functioning effectively.

The “Regulations on Management of Foundations” imposes a cap on expenditure by foundations on salaries. In fact a foundation cannot allocate more than 10 per cent of its total expenditure on wages, overheads and other benefits.

Furthermore, for a corporate foundation to be eligible for a tax exemption certificate (which allows donors to be provided with a tax invoice), its total wages expenditure must be no more than twice the average salary of the province in which the corporate foundation is registered. For example, if a corporate foundation is registered in Shanxi Province where the average annual salary might be CNY 40 000, and the corporate foundation employs 10 people, then the annual lump sum allocated for salaries can be no more than CNY 800 000 (40 000 x 2 x 10 employees). All employee salaries including executive and senior management must be paid from this lump sum. These two regulations relating to staff salaries have two significant implications for corporate foundations:

• a foundation is restricted in the number of employees it can hire because the amount of money used for staff wages is capped;
• if a foundation wants to pay one of its employees more to attract skilled staff then it has to pay other employees less.

As long as corporate foundations are restricted by such regulations it will be difficult to overcome the current lack of organisational capacity that is contributing to the lack of efficacy of community investment in China.

Finding partners

A third challenge corporate foundations are facing is to ‘build effective partnerships and sustainable community investment activities’. One of the main reasons why building partnerships is so difficult is related to a lack of adequate funding for partner NGOs due to the culture of only paying for project items (xiangmu – 项目), but not project administration/implementation. This culture of funding items but not accounting for the administration costs significantly reduces the effectiveness of community investment as it creates a situation where partner organisations/NGOs are not paid for the time and resources needed to implement projects. An example might be funding schools but not providing funds to administer the schools, support staff, source contractors or pay NGO staff wages.

The overarching issue for the philanthropy sector in China was concisely described by one of the interviewees:

“Many people still do not think of gongyi (community development) as a professionalised field. They think that one should simply do good, but overlook how to do good the best possible way.”

This is where Chinese corporate foundations can look to international best practice for ideas on how to turn the wealth of generosity in China into successful community investment. As China has done with the development of many other industries, there are significant opportunities to ‘leap frog’ years of trial and error and pick and choose aspects of best practice community investment and then mould it to the Chinese context.

As the philanthropy sector in China moves into a new phase of development, multiple challenges, including the ones mentioned here, will need to be overcome in order to ensure effective community investment. The key will be focusing on ‘how to do good the best possible way’ – not the why.

This article was also published in INSIGHT the AustCham Business Journal. The complete research paper can be found here.

Explaining development via video

Emily D'Ath — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 09:43:42 +0000

The guys over at WhyDev posted a tongue-in-cheek piece last week about 9 development terms they hate. It seemed to ruffle a few feathers, which highlights an ongoing frustration about terminology and language used when talking about development.

Reading their article got me thinking about how to explain terminology and ideas related to development that are actually really important. I was instantly reminded of an organisation called Mama Hope, whose slogan is “Stop the Pity: Unlock the Potential”. Mama Hope work with communities in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana and do some great communications work on breaking down stereotypes. From a distance, Mama Hope seem to have all the markings of an organisation that practice ‘participatory development’. One of the things I love about this organisation is their ability to successfully communicate aspects of this buzz term: ‘participatory development’. Even more impressive is their use of video to do so.

Watch these three videos (I’ve shared some before) that focus on breaking down stereotypes about Africa.

What are some key messages this video communicates about participatory development? Don’t forget it’s not the terms that are important it’s the actions behind them.

Video Animation: Why Protect Antarctica’s Ocean?

Emily D'Ath — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 01:38:37 +0000

Antarctic Ocean Alliance: Be Part of the Legacy from Antarctic Ocean Alliance on Vimeo.

Here is an animation I commissioned for Antarctic Ocean Alliance. It was produced by ElDavros & Projucer in Australia.

sustainability with a story

Emily D'Ath — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 04:05:56 +0000

My friend Michael, owner and founder of Walk the Plank who I interviewed for my Green in series, shared this Indigogo project by Aellon (a sustainable furniture company based in Brooklyn) and it instantly struck a cord. Here’s what I like about it:

It tells a story – so often these days you come across sustainable furniture but know nothing more than the fact it’s reused or recycled. The concept of using old fishing boats from Indonesia, really adds to the value of the pieces and makes it that little bit more special.

It’s affordable. I always have these experiences when I see a beautiful piece of sustainable furniture and it has a price tag in the high thousands. These guys have created a range of pieces from $150 to $1500, which is pretty awesome.

They get it – from watching this video and through hearing their story, it’s clear they understand the importance of genuine sustainability. Which is refreshing.

Enjoy this great little video and support this project, by heading to the Indigogo site.

Why Protect Antarctica’s Ocean?

Emily D'Ath — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 01:34:59 +0000

The first in a series of 3 infograhics highlighting why we must protect Antarctica’s Ocean. Head to AOA’s website for more information and to Join the Watch!