.png)
LIFEmagazine Aug 2021 Issue 1
Envivor
11 August 2021
Environmental education in our time: A new dawn
Content Page
Article 1 - Environmental Education in Hong Kong School / Chiu Yu Hang & Timothy Lee Tin Yau
Article 2 - Green Living Tips / Tse Yi Yan
Article 3 - The Story of Lung Mei Beach: Before, Now and the Future / Cheung Shuk Kwan
Article 4 - Look at This! Sick! World! / Cheung Shuk Kwan
Article 7 - Documentary Recommendation / Tse Yi Yan
Editor's Note
Normally, an editor's note should be written and signed by one person. I thought about it deliberately and finally decided to put “we” instead of “I” as this note is the collaborative work of Envivor though I am still the only person summing up the ideas and jotting them down. I apologize for this and please forgive me for this abnormality. This year, we struggled a lot in deciding the theme of the LIFEmagazine as there are quite a few topics Envivor would like to touch on. At last, we came up with this topic -- environmental education. As an academic and green Society of the university, we bear the responsibility to promote environmental education and make good use of our influence on our members, HKU students, and the public. Education is the most direct and long-term activity to change lifestyles or mindsets. We believe the well-being of our mother nature is the basis for development in the ecology and biodiversity field.
In this magazine, we would like to start with the importance of environmental education, demonstrated by comparing global and local education received and their efficiency. Following up will be our interviews with the founders of two green educational organizations--Outdoor Wildlife Learning Hong Kong (OWLHK) and Little Woods Nature Education, as well as Dr. Benoit from the Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum regarding this theme and how they worked on it. We would also like to introduce you to some simple life hacks to protect the environment in daily life! Also, we would like to talk about some current issues that seriously and adversely impacted the environment in Hong Kong and globally.
"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school."--Albert Einstein.
We sincerely hope you take something away after reading this LIFEmagazine or even get inspired from any of the below articles. Through the education opportunities and resources provided herein by the University of Hong Kong, please do us a small favor to contribute to environmental education or protection.
Tse Yi Yan
Article 1 - Environmental Education in Hong Kong School
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) states that environmental education (EE) is vital in imparting an inherent respect for nature among society and in enhancing public environmental awareness, and emphasizes the role of EE in safeguarding future global developments of societal quality of life, through the protection of the environment, eradication of poverty, minimization of inequalities, and insurance of sustainable development. As the world suffers more and more from the effects of climate change, the need for advancements in EE increases. With many claiming that there is little to no time left to make a change for the better, how is Hong Kong EE in school now?
The Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department Advisory Council on the environment recommends a cross-curricular approach which aims at producing in pupils a lifelong and forward-looking concern for the environment, to prepare them for making well-informed, justifiable, and practical decisions regarding the conservation of the environment and to enable them to live as useful and responsible citizens[1]. Issued to all local schools in 1992, the Guidelines on EE in Schools was established at a similar time where the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change[2] was signed. The Education Bureau’s plan for education for sustainable development (ESD) focuses on three major aspects: awareness, action, and attitudes. EE has nearly 30 years of history locally. However, many students seem to still be stuck on basic steps of reduce, reuse, and recycle, with many more not even caring about “reducing” at all. Though the “3Rs” is not a bad start, concepts like biodiversity and sustainability are lost in many teenagers and adults since few have come across them in school. This is not a local issue, but an international one. UNESCO found that more than half make no reference to climate change, while only 19% speak about biodiversity[3]. Simply having a page or two about the importance of ecology in secondary school biology textbooks is insufficient for the sake of a sustainable future. With no clear inclusion of related topics in HKDSE, it would be hard to encourage students in Hong Kong to spend their time exploring biodiversity. Especially when they already have countless study materials for other subjects seemingly unrelated to the environment.
Instead of introducing an individual subject on EE, the EDB chose to gradually incorporate the elements of sustainable development and EE into different subjects. In particular, Liberal Studies (LS) goes a bit beyond the usual scope of science subjects, where the actual effectiveness and implementation of environment-oriented policies are discussed. Sustainable development is a focus within the subject, “Energy Technology and the Environment” being a module to be studied. I am not saying that Biology and other science subjects make no mention of the nuances of EE, but LS manages to bring daily lives into the equation. Making students feel more in touch with what they study is a good place to start. Although The EDB states that Liberal Studies is not designed to promote EE, according to a survey conducted among 458 secondary schools, most students agreed that Liberal Studies was able to “enhance students" understanding of themselves, their society, their nation, the human world, and the physical environment.” Also, most of the Liberal Studies Panel Heads agreed that the subject can “help students develop positive values and attitudes towards life, so that they can become informed and responsible citizens of society, the country, and the world[4].” Nevertheless, that might change in the near future as LS seems to be considered quite a controversial subject by the Education Bureau.
In 46 of the UNESCO Member States, 45% of national education documents studied made little to no reference to environmental themes[3]. Though many are aware of the challenges we face, e.g. biodiversity loss and climate change, not enough people are taking action to combat those issues. With only superficial teachings about the above concepts in school, it is important for students to participate in activities beyond formal education to learn about the environment. Considering how Liberal Studies may resemble EE more than science subjects, the local school syllabus is due for a revamp. Subjects viewed as most likely to include environment-related content were biology, science, and geography, as described in UNESCO’s report. However, the inclusion of EE in all subjects would undoubtedly be more effective--as the environment is all around us.
[1] Environmental Protection Department, retrieved from https://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/boards/advisory_council/ace_paper9903.html
[2] UNFCCC, https://unfccc.int/
[3] UNESCO(2021), Learn for our planet: a global review of how environmental issues are integrated in education, retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377362
[4] Chiu (2016), Environmental Education in the Liberal Studies Curriculum in Hong Kong, retrieved from http://www.encyclopediaesd.com/blog-1/2016/5/31/environmental-education-in-the-liberal-studies-curriculum-in-hong-kong
Chiu Yu Hang
Timothy Lee Tin Yau
Article 2 - Green Living Tips
Below are 5 daily life tips that are less common but useful in daily life to save the planet!
1. Hygiene products nowadays became our focus in our daily life. Of course, the most sustainable way is to use towels, but it is understandable to use disposable tissue paper rather than a towel to keep yourself clean. To solve this, how about replacing tissue paper with bamboo tissue paper? Bamboo grows much faster and needs fewer resources than trees and the technology for making fine tissue paper from bamboo is now mature, so there are various choices in the market. Therefore it is way greener and more sustainable to use bamboo paper. Do check them out in some local pharmacies or green stores and try them out!
Local store: https://www.purebamboo.com.hk/
2. Do you know you can save ink from printers? Yes, you can! If you are a paperwork person, you could try changing the typeset to font Century Gothic or Ecofont Vera Sans. You can find Ecofont in the TrueType font family which is a Windows application program developed by SPRANQ in the Netherlands. The principle behind this is that each character contains tiny holes to reduce ink consumption when printing.
Information from https://www.ecofont.com/
photo from Quora
3. I guess all of you would have seen the silica packets when buying food or certain products. If you have studied chemistry, you will know what these are for (although their function is listed on the packet)---a desiccant, drying agent to keep moisture away from tight spaces. Next time, do not throw them away! Try to clean the surface and reuse them in places such as the wardrobe or shoe cabinet, especially the high humidity in Hong Kong’s Spring and Summer!
Information from https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/59451/9-easy-lifehacks-going-green
photo from IStock
4. Razors are good old friends to men, but I bet you have no idea how to sharpen the old blades instead of throwing them away! It is so easy as long as you have a pair of old jeans. As simple as holding the handle of razors and scraping the razor blade on the jean, bloggers claimed that the denim that dyed the color of the jeans could help sharpen the blades. Most importantly, many proved that it works! Why not try it out before throwing it away and creating another waste in the landfill?
Information from https://www.ambientbp.com/blog/12-simple-green-living-life-hacks
photo captured from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_av9i7sPpg&t=24s
5. Next one, rather than a life hack, is a kind reminder as you may have probably heard before, which is to eat less meat. You can gradually consume less bit by bit or go vegetarian regularly. For example, set up a green Monday and do it with your family or friends to boost your motivation! An alternative method is to eat seasonal vegetables or fruits since extra energy is used to maintain favourable conditions for growing crops, such as keeping the temperature or humidity. If you cannot live without meat, then avoid wasting food. On the other hand, under globalization, all kinds of products come from worldwide, either taking airplanes or other vehicles. They produce tons of greenhouse gases and add up to the carbon footprint, so you should also consume more locally-produced products.
Use a Carbon footprint calculator to help you: https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
Article 3 - The Story of Lung Mei Beach: Before, Now and the Future
Today, we would like to tell you the story of Lung Mei Beach. Located in Tai Po District in New Territories, Lung Mei Beach was a mudflat and had diverse organisms living there. However, it has recently become an artificial bathing beach and has opened for use since 23rd June 2021 and controversies rose up in the public as the local ecosystem and biodiversity have been destroyed.
Lung Mei Beach is near the Ma Shi Chau Special Area and Ting Kok mangrove, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Therefore, it had the prerequisite to nurturing different mangrove fauna. For example, in the continuous field surveys done by HKWildlife.net, more than 300 species have been recorded in Lung Mei Shore since 2008. Many of them are endangered, threatened and rare species. Some species, especially the Spotted Seahorse (IUCN: Vulnerable), breed on the shore[1].
However, in 2012, the Home Affairs Bureau applied the plan to the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to build a man-made beach on Lung Mei Beach. Although many environmental protection organizations had voiced their objections, the project continued. The government claimed to allocate organisms from Lung Mei Beach to adjacent areas in order to allow them to survive.
Yet, evidence has shown that it is not suitable for public use. Urchins have washed ashore and many visitors have been injured by urchins since the opening of the beach. According to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, it received 90 injury reports in 5 days since the beach opened[2]. Also, black sand which is natural for an anoxic layer is discovered on the beach recently. It could contain harmful bacteria that affect the health of tourists. Moreover, the Environmental Protection Department has downgraded the water quality at Lung Mei Beach from “good” to “fair” since July 21[3]. All the evidence shows that that area is not a suitable beach site.
We are still not sure of the long term impact of building a man-made beach in Lung Mei Beach. However, some ill effects have been presented. We cannot undo the trauma dealt to Lung Mei but we can voice out on other related environmental issues and do our best to protect the environment and organisms. Supporting environmental protection organizations and the events held by them are also a way to protect our environment, where our little power can gather together to become a great force.
[1] Hong Kong Biodiversity Information System, Lung Mei Shore, retrieved from http://www.nature.edu.hk/field_sites/lung-mei
[2] The Standard (2021, June 29), Unionists believe more people injured by urchins at Lung Mei Beach, retrieved from https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/175681/Unionists-believe-more-people-injured-by-urchins-at-Lung-Mei-Beach
[3] RTHK.HK (2021, August 10), Don't touch black sand on Lung Mei Beach, says expert, retrieved from https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1605245-20210810.htm
Cheung Shuk Kwan
Article 4 - Look at This! Sick! World!
When the area of human activities increases, the area for wildlife is decreased. More and more wildlife habitats have been destroyed worldwide in recent years. And this affects the organisms living in the habitats. In general, climate change, oil, plastic, logging, and pollutions are factors that destroy habitats such as polar regions, forests and oceans.
Three of the well-known destroyed habitats are the polar regions, Antarctica and Arctic. The Arctic has suffered from pollution and development by the oil and gas industry. Nevertheless, the climate change caused by people from miles away affects both the Arctic and Antarctica and all the places worldwide. Glaciers melt at an abnormally rapid rate and ice-free days increase. Polar bears, walruses and other organisms are therefore affected as they fail to adapt to the constantly changing environment. For example, polar bears rely on sea ice for hunting prey but the decreasing area and size of ice make them harder to catch prey. Eventually they would starve until death and that is the main reason of the dropping number of polar bears.
Another worldwide habitat destruction is forests. The forest areas were converted into agricultural land, residential houses, roads, pipelines and the other hallmarks of industrial development. Around half of the world's original forests have vanished, and they are continually being cut down at a rate 10 times faster than any regeneration rate. Once the forests are destroyed, hundreds to thousands of species that are unique to that particular environment conditions will become extinct. Tropical forests are home to at least half of the world's species, the annual loss of 17 million hectares of forests is significantly harmful to biodiversity[1].
Marine lives are also destroyed by humans. We often hear that large amounts of rubbish, mainly plastic, are found in the stomachs of marine organisms. Global warming, specifically speaking the increase amount of carbon dioxide causes coral bleaching happen more frequently. Coral reefs, which are also known as the marine rainforests were lost. Meanwhile, phytoplankton--the major producer of oxygen in oceans will die when ocean acidity increases. As a result, marine lives diversity may be greatly reduced as some fishes specifically rely on coral reefs to obtain food or protect themselves away from predators.
So what can we do to save this sick world? How can we slow down the rate of climate change? Support international treaties that monitor or promote the conservation of habitats! For example, in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), establishing marine and coastal protested areas is one of the main tenets of the agreement. More than 145 countries have now joined the convention! Our planet needs you too!
[1] WWF, retrieved from https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/wildlife_practice/problems/habitat_loss_degradation/
Cheung Shuk Kwan
Article 5 - New Beginning I - Interview with Little Woods Nature Education & OWLHK
In recent years, there are some startups of NGOs and profit-making corporations that aim at environmental education. What are the challenges faced by them? Anything that they can learn from the pre-existing corporations? We are very happy to have interviewed the founders of Little Woods Nature Education, which is a newly set up profit-making corporation aimed at environmental education, and Outdoor Wildlife Learning Hong Kong (OWLHK), a successful NGO aimed at promoting the importance of environmental and biodiversity conservation.
About Little Woods Nature Education--Education in the environment
Little Woods Nature Education Limited was founded and established in early June. With its aim in promoting the public’s self-discovery of the urban ecosystem, they have designed the “Little Wood’s Discovery Notebook” and planned to organize different parent-child activities and workshops to let participants relax while learning more about the relationship between the environment and our daily life.
Objectives:
-
To let children relax and foster parent-child relationships.
-
To encourage participants to give more attention to nature, to improve environmental literacy in society.
Our Interview with Betty Woo and Melody Kong, founders of Little Woods Nature Education
Q: Can you briefly introduce the Little Woods Nature Education?
A: Our organization plans to organize different activities and workshops for parents and children to join and allow them to enjoy the beauty of nature while having a fun family day. Like one of our objectives, to allow children to relax and foster parent-child relationships while getting to have a better understanding of the environment.
Q: How can parents interact with the children while the children are discovering nature with the “Little Woods Discovery Notebook”?
A: We aim to allow parents and children to learn and play using the book and the website we invented. We now have 6 games designed in 3 parks. Each park includes 7-8 targeted plant species with the addition of 18 birds or butterfly species in total for children to learn, while each park contains different adventurous stories. We have included around 60 species while designing our game. We will also include answers in our app, website, and discovery notebook so parents can explain to their children.
Q: What are the challenges you faced while setting up a private limited company?
A: It is a big step for us when setting up the Little Woods. First of all, we still have not graduated from our university so we cannot put all of our time into planning the activities or running the company. Secondly, we lack money and resources. We would like to run Little Woods as a profit-making company, but not a non-profit organization. However, our vision with the other non-profit making NGOs is similar: to try our best to provide the best environmental learning experience to our children.
Q: What are you planning on Little Woods shortly?
A: In the future, we are planning to continue targeting family-based environmental education, including organizing different activities for both parents and children to play and learn. Then, we would like to take these opportunities to ask them to take action in their daily life to protect the environment, i.e. education for the environment. We would also hope to include cooperation with different primary schools to reach out to more youngsters to expand our environmental education to children with different age groups. But we will continue to provide parents-children activities as we think that family-based education might be more effective to achieve “education for the environment” because children and parents will influence each other, and of course it will be much easier to take action when the whole family works together.
Q: Is there anything you would like to say to the readers of the LIFEmagazine?
A: We would like to say that I don't think majoring in HKU Ecology & Biodiversity would have a limited career pathway like doing research, serving different NGOs, or being an environmental consultant. Many other industries require knowledge of ecology and biodiversity. Try to think out of the box and explore different opportunities!
About Outdoor Wildlife Learning HK (OWLHK)
Vision:
To contribute to and promote ecological conservation and environmental education in Hong Kong with our passion, expertise, and ambitions.
Mission:
-
To promote the use of diverse, interactive, and high-effectiveness outdoor education approaches in environmental education.
-
To establish a holistic understanding of Hong Kong’s ecology and biodiversity among the public.
-
To promote love for nature and encourage public participation in environmental protection.
-
To advance and integrate local ecological research and environmental education.
Our Interview with Dr. Xoni Ma--Founder and Education Director of OWLHK
Q: What is your future vision of environmental education?
A: There are three essential elements about environmental education, namely: Education about the environment, Education in the environment, and education for the environment.
Education about the environment is about the knowledge of the public. We should have learned a lot about our nature (biologically, geographically, and environmentally) since our primary school. However, action is always better than words. People always realize the importance of protecting the environment without taking any action. However, the two other important elements of environmental education: Education in the environment and education for the environment are not enough in HK’s education system.
The ultimate goals of environmental education are about changing the public’s lifestyle, which needs to be achieved by education in the environment and education for the environment. Having the action of protecting the environment spontaneously requires the public’s sense of the peace and comfort of the environment on their own. They will then consider increasing the sense of environmental protection when making different decisions in their daily life, which is what we call education for the environment. So it is foreseeable that education in the environment and education for the environment are the two most important directions in environmental education shortly.
Q: What are the challenges that OWLHK faced when expanding its scale?
A: Well, of course, more and more decisions have to be made. Moreover, with the expansion of its scale, the lack of money and resources are also one of our concerns. However, gaining the largest amount of money is not our main goal. The most important consideration should be that the activity can provide the best experience to our participants to encourage environmental conservation, which somehow needs extra costs and needs to forego some profits. Although more considerations have to be made, we will still uphold the value: to promote the most effective and useful event on environmental conservation.
Q: Anything you would like to say to Little Woods? Or to the other new NGOs?
A: I would say that I appreciate their effort and courage since they have not yet graduated and I know setting up Little Woods is a very big step for them. Hope they can overcome different difficulties shortly. I would also wish they can keep their passion and enthusiasm for environmental education even though they might face different challenges and continue to chase dreams. I would also like to take a chance now to encourage all the fresh graduates, explore more different opportunities, and not be afraid of failing because it is only just a beginning that I believe you will succeed if you keep trying and never give up. I Wish Little Woods and the new NGOs all the best and always remember the passion of environmental education. Good luck!
Chang Wing Tung
Lai Odelia
Article 6 - New Beginning II - Interview with the Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum
About the Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum
Vision:
The Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum should provide a science hub dedicated to nature for citizens and researchers to increase awareness and knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystems.
Mission:
To increase knowledge, education, and preservation of biodiversity in Hong Kong and Asia.
Goals:
1. Research (The Bridge)
To develop and support scientific research on biodiversity; facilitate collaborations between local and international researchers; and offer local non-professional researchers, students, and NGOs opportunities to access resources, facilities, and professional expertise that could guide and support their projects.
2. Education (The Window)
To enhance the public’s knowledge on environmental protection, raise appreciation on the organisms that compose ecosystems, and the importance of their conservation for humanity.
3. Preservation (The Vault)
To develop a biobank allowing the preservation of the biological heritage of Hong Kong through specimens’ collection and curation to ensure their availability and access to the current and future generations of researchers in Hong Kong and beyond.
Background information
The Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum (HKBM) is the first museum in Hong Kong that is dedicated to biodiversity. It strives to be a natural history museum promoting environmental education and appreciation of biodiversity, fostering its preservation as a part of mankind’s natural heritage, and supporting scientific research on biodiversity. The role of the HKBM is crucial for the understanding and conservation of local and regional biodiversity, especially under the framework of the Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan by the HKSAR government and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets globally.
About Dr. Benoit Guénard, Director of HKBM
| Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, HKU |
| Director of Biodiversity Museum |
In 2014, after joining HKU then as an Assistant Professor, Dr. Benoit Guénard volunteered to curate the existing collection and to develop it to serve various roles in education, research and to revitalize the depository of specimens functions that characterize museums. He then consolidated the collection by gathering the various scattered specimens into a single location, started reorganizing the collection, and developed collaborations with colleagues within the School of Biological Sciences, including Prof. Yvonne Sadovy and Dr. Billy Hau, and beyond.
Over the past few years, a dusty set of specimens has been turned into a rejuvenated collection, enriched by contributions from several donors to make the Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum a novel institution within Hong Kong.
Our Interview with Dr. Guénard
Q: How did you come up with the idea of setting up the first biodiversity-themed museum in Hong Kong?
A: When I first came to HKU in 2014, I happened to see the room where the museum is located now. Many specimens were stored there already, but I was then told that no one was taking care of them! Obviously, the room was left quite unattended for some time, and I thought it would be a good idea to explore it further. It turned out that there were many specimens all across the Building (Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building), just sitting there unattended. It is then when the idea of establishing a museum started to form. For several years I worked on consolidating the collection while organising tours for prospective students, secondary schools and other people. Each time, I could perceive the excitement and the “Woah” of people entering the room and journeying within the collection. I then realized that many in Hong Kong had never been exposed to such a collection, and that a real need for establishing a place like this was here.
There are lots of big natural history museums in different nations, such as Japan and European countries. It is a pity that Hong Kong doesn’t have something like this. Hong Kong has a rich biodiversity, so it is of ecological importance for Hong Kong to have a biodiversity museum. It can be used for education, research, and preservation for future uses, such as measuring DNA or morphological trait changes throughout evolution, doing taxonomy to catalogue Hong Kong diversity, et cetera. Education to the public is also very important. Once the public has a chance to explore and understand the beauty of nature, they may have behavioral changes in their daily life to be more environmentally friendly. We can see that we are making an impact on the public. For example, when we give pens and paper to children to draw their favorite specimens, they observe them in details, and they understand and appreciate them.
Apart from that, we want to be more inclusive. The museum acts as an access point for the public to explore different collections of species through observation. It provides them with a detailed understanding using microscopes. We want to integrate, support and work with people who are interested in nature and have unique skills and knowledge, even without a biology degree. As they also can have a tremendous contribution to our understanding of local biodiversity.
Q: How many specimens are there? Where do the specimens in the museum come from?
A: The museum has more than 10,000 specimens exposed, and another estimated 6000 specimens currently ongoing curation, which may represent the largest and most comprehensive biodiversity collection within Hong Kong. We are also working on adding plant and fungus specimens into the collection thanks to Dr. Hau and Prof. Richard Saunders. Many of the specimens on display were collected from the 1920s to the ’70s, unfortunately, we do not have the complete information of when and where some of them were from. Only about 45% of the specimens you can observe in the collection have known origins. Nearly 50% of those are from Hong Kong, 48% of them are from Asia and the remaining 3 % are from other continents such as Australia and Europe.
Q: What are the challenges faced before the opening? And how did COVID-19 affect the progress of preparation?
A: Financially, it is quite difficult to apply for funding as people may not understand the importance of this kind of museum and just give a small amount of sponsorship. We need time to gain trust from the public and prove it is necessary for Hong Kong. But money is not the biggest concern. The goal of the museum is to let others understand the importance of Hong Kong biodiversity, so insufficient space for display is a problem as well. So far we only have one room open for display, and that's all you can see in the museum for now. *Editor’s note: The displays in the museum are only part of the numerous specimens in the inventory of HKBM. Nevertheless, many other specimens are stored within a second room in the Building.* For COVID-19, I wouldn’t say it caused a delay in opening the museum, even if it forced us to limit the number of visitors initially. Since we do not have much space anyway, we can not allow a large flow of visitors as you may see in other museums around Hong Kong. However, with the pandemic, it has been quite a challenge to recruit specialists from other countries.
Q: How can the precious, vulnerable specimens be well preserved and protected when the museum is opened to the public?
A: The specimens are stored in cabinets and the glass windows are locked. Those prone to degradation are preserved in glycerol. We also remind visitors not to touch them. If the specimens are damaged, the only thing we can do is to replace them. Another thing is that we do not have any live specimens as they require extra care and more effort to maintain. If we display them to the public, visitors may want to keep similar species at home which is a bad practice. So, we tend not to promote biodiversity through live specimens.
Q: Have you considered charging the public for a visit to the museum in the future?
A: Currently the museum is free of charge, and it will remain free in the future. I believe learning about biodiversity should be free and accessible to all. The thing is, I think by taking transportation and traveling to HKU, most of the public is already paying to visit us. There is no need to add extra costs. Of course, because we are self-funded, we welcome any donations to help us continue our activities and develop new ones.
Q: Are there any events that will be held by HKBM for a more interactive learning experience?
A: We will hold some workshops in the future, but we don’t really have many concrete plans yet as funding is minimal. We do welcome student societies to hold events with us though, as long as they contact us early.
One thing to keep in mind is that the Museum is not a zoo, we do not promote keeping wild living things at home, and our events should show that. I believe education should not be like entertainment. For example, I feel like some museums have pushed too far into some kind of amusement parks where people are invited to press buttons. That does not align with my vision for the HKBM, I do not want it to be like a playground. I mean no offense to other museums, they do things their own way and they do it well. I may be old school but it is just not my philosophy, I prefer emphasizing on knowledge sharing rather than entertainment.
Q: Do you have any future plans for the museum?
A: Many! We are working towards expanding the size of the museum, and ultimately what we hope is to develop a building dedicated to the HKBM so we can reach our objectives of education, preservation of biodiversity and research. This long term goal will allow us to develop the collections to add freshwater organisms, amphibians, insects, etc, and be fully representative of Hong Kong biodiversity and more broadly.
It is also important for us to expand our display to include groups like plants and fungi, which we hope to achieve in the coming months. We are working with different groups for the maintenance and storage of specimens, so the potential for the growth of the museum is foreseeable.
Moreover, we are developing collaborations with other institutions such as Lingnan University, which has a herpetological collection. We can exchange knowledge but also eventually some specimens either for education or research.
Over the past 6 months, it took tremendous efforts to catalogue, measure and barcode all the specimens that we have. We are now working on verifying the identity of our specimens, with some groups like birds or mollusks already completed, and ongoing efforts with fishes and crabs thanks to Prof. Sadovy and Dr. Stefano Cannicci. This takes a lot of time, but I believe that if you have to do it, do it well. This also allows us to progressively add more labels and specimens into the collection. We also work to add new physical and virtual information on some specimens for a more immersive experience for the public.
On a side note, a virtual tour of the museum is being conceptualized, but it takes a lot of time, effort, and of course money. I hope each specimen will have a QR code, linking to more text, images and videos to introduce them. So, the virtual tour is yet to be finished and is not a priority now, but people can follow our regular updates and stories on social media in which we highlight a particular species found in the museum weekly.
Q: Is there anything you want to say to the readers of LIFEmagazine?
A: Please come and enjoy the museum! Book a tour together with your friends and family, even if I know it is quite challenging to do so as the museum is very popular right now. Since we reside in urban areas, many of us are often disconnected from nature. If you have a passion for biodiversity and want to communicate with the public, we welcome you to write your stories and share your learnings on social media or other channels. We also welcome people interested in volunteering within the Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum either to work with the collection or to promote knowledge about biodiversity during our tours on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Chang Wing Tung
Lai Odelia
Ways to contact HKBM:
Website: https://www.hkbiodiversitymuseum.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hkbiodiversitymuseum/
Instagram: @hkbiodiversitymuseum
Email: hkbiodiversitymuseum@gmail.com
Address (Booking is required for visiting the museum):
Room 2S-18, 2/F, Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building,
The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong
(near Exit A1 of HKU MTR station)
Photo from the internet
Article 7 - Documentary Recommendation
Racing extinction (2015)--Directed by Louie Psihoyos
An IMDB 8.2/10 and award-winning documentary. This documentary demonstrated how human race, our activities are causing big threats to the environment--claiming to be the direct reason for mass extinction since dinosaur time 66 million years ago.
It touched on the topics of illegal wildlife trade, global climate change, over catching or overfishing and the reasons behind--overpopulation and globalization.
Here is a short example explaining how the human race is going to kill half of the species on this planet in the coming decade: Various human economic activities contribute to the increase of greenhouse gases, where carbon dioxide is one of the four major types of it. The acidity of oceans will increase when the amount of carbon dioxide goes up significantly. This will kill phytoplankton--the oxygen generator for half creatures in the planet and the key, bottom most role in marine trophic levels. You can foresee the collapse of the marine ecosystem without these little fellows as a result of the chain reaction in the whole ecosystem.
Although the situation stated in the documentary was not updated (6 years apart), the angle of perspective is quite all-rounded and complete when you also observe the effort of various parties spent on conservation of nature. I believe good documentaries will never be too late to watch as long as the message it would like to convey is strong and successful, I am sure it could bring you inspiration. As simple as learning what to find out and take a stance in any situations, not limited to environmental issues. High level documentaries promote the critical thinking of audiences.
Tse Yi Yan
Cabinet of 2020-2021
E n v i v o r
Chang Wing Tung
Chairman, acting Welfare Secretary
Timothy Lee Tin Yau
Internal Vice Chairman, acting Academic Secretary
Lai Odelia
External Vice Chairman, acting Marketing Secretary
Tse Yi Yan
General Secretary, acting Publication Secretary
Chiu Yu Hang
Financial Secretary, acting Social Secretary Secretary
Cheung Shuk Kwan
Current Affairs Secretary, acting Publicity Secretary