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I started my rewarding, though at times frustrating, 36-year environmental journey in mid-1989. As not everyone cared about the environment back then, promoting environmental protection was like rowing a boat against the current.

Without any environment-related experience, I felt so fortunate to be offered a job at an environmental NGO. Its founder, Linda Siddall, kindly guided me right from the start of my exciting career.

Having launched many new initiatives and fought for environmental justice with the same NGO for 26 years, I received the award for My Favourite Environmentalist presented by U magazine in 2015. However, I had to leave the organisation the same year.

I didn’t think my environmental journey should end so abruptly. With the support of a former colleague, Hahn Chu, I, like an aged woman, gave birth to a newborn named The Green Earth in 2016, with the aim of continuing our environmental mission by persuading the public and businesses to act responsibly for the environment.

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Starting a new NGO was more challenging than I’d thought. I didn’t take any salary in the first year, while other colleagues took a reduced salary. By the end of the first financial year, we made ends meet, demonstrating the never-give-up spirit of Hongkongers.