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Steven R Wemple
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From Kooks to Cool
e d i t o r ’ s n o t e b o o k
It is heartening to see more and more people and companies jumping on the ‘green’ and
‘sustainability’ bandwagon. It will take a critical mass of people living their lives and doing
their jobs in a manner where sustainability is at the core of their thinking to make the essential
difference to a deteriorating environment.
One of the tipping points that heightened awareness in the general public was Al Gore’s film An
Inconvenient Truth. The real significance of the film is that it made environmentalists mainstream
— even cool. The film made people realise that the damage that we are doing to the environment is
everyone’s problem and it is going to hit us all if it goes on unabated. Gore’s film gained respectability
for the green movement that it should always have had, but didn’t.
In the 1950s and 60s if you were an environmentalist you were seen as a kook, an outsider, a
trouble maker or a hippy. The problems with the environment didn’t go away, and neither did the
people who supported the cause. They got more organised and they became political.
Initially, Green political parties were marginalised. They were seen as representing too narrow a
view and voters did not believe they were capable of handling all the issues faced by governments.
But even in opposition, even as small voices, they began to be heard, they began to have an influence
to the point where mainstream political parties started adopting their policies. The degradation of
the environment became more evident and the sense of urgency felt by some began to filter through
society.
Through the 80s and 90s, the hard work of dedicated people began to make an impact in terms
of laws and regulations. More people in many walks of life saw that protecting the environment
was essential and part of a complete life — not a adjunct to it to make yourself feel good. Gore was
an environmentalist long before he produced an Inconvenient Truth. In the US Senate and as Vice
President in the Clinton administration he was an environmental leader.
Even with environmentalists no longer viewed as socially unacceptable there are certainly different
levels of commitment to the cause.
Anthony Wong, who is profiled in this issue, is one of those people whose commitment runs deep
and runs long. From the time he was a young tadpole he has seen the beauty of the environment and
understood the need to protect it.
Anthony gets full marks because he not only encourages and educates others he puts his money and
resources into supporting the issues he believes in. Having worked with this, and other publications
that focus on environmental issues, I have seen many companies that talk a good story about their
environmental record, but won’t support the media that supports them.
When I was interviewing Anthony I got the feeling that he thinks of lile else than how he can
do more. How he can get laws in his native Malaysia passed and enforced. How he can make people
more aware. He looks for places to speak, he organises forums for the discussion of various aspects
of sustainability. It is his life.
Another person who has my admiration for her commitment to the Green cause is one of our
columnists Irene Millar. Irene and her fiancé Rahim are people who get it. They know that all of us as
individuals have to actively live a life that not simply does lile harm to the environment, but is one
that seeks to clean up the mess we have created. You have to admire someone who will get up early on
a Saturday morning to start cleaning up the beaches at 7:00 am. Now that is commitment.
Irene makes her life Green and sustainable in every way that she can. It is not simply a choice it
is the knowledge that if you believe in something you have to work at it. You have to make it show
in all that you do.
There are people who get involved in Green causes because they think it is the right thing to do,
but they really don’t get it. They get involved because it is the cool thing to do, because everyone
else is doing it.
There are many good people who don’t get involved with environmental issues, not because they
are less aware, or less intelligent or less anything — they are simply absorbed in other things — or
just busy trying to survive economically.
I am oen impressed at how people find solutions. It is exciting to see people doing things that are
truly revolutionary. Who are these people? Some are working for themselves, some for small NGOs,
making no money, while others are working for multinational corporations making huge salaries
and are a part of big bureaucracies.
Today’s environmentalists can and do live worlds apart. But they are not worlds apart. We all live
in the same world and want the same thing — a beautiful healthy clean planet.
Malaysia:
Celine Lim
celine@roofandfacade.com
Zahidah Ismail
Zahida@roofandfacade.com
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G+ magazine is owned and published by Roof & Facade Pte Ltd.
G+ magazine is a unique business magazine for corporate leaders
with a focus on sustainability, news and views, bringing together
market and business intelligence on Green issues pertaining to
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Its scope includes editorial themes related to the journey towards
Natural Capitalism, which involves four major shifts in business
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to accept any liability for errors or omissions that may occur. Further, the
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does not constitute an endorsement by the Publisher and Editor of G+ of
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