Our Uncle is sick. He needs you. Please help him! (Reloaded!)

"Mommie Mommie," said eight-year old Ron in bewilderment, "this lady on the television says that forest area of about the size of Ireland is cut down every year for trees. Is Ireland a very small nation, Mom?" Ron's mom was baffled. She did not know what to tell her child. She questioned herself, "Is Ireland THAT small?" While she was still thinking on this issue Ron interrupted her stream of thoughts, "Oh Mom! How many trees do you plant every year? This TV lady says it is good for the health of Uncle Earth! Uncle Earth is ill right now. I hope it gets well soon! I do not want it to die! It...” just as he was about to complete his sentence tears started to roll down. He began to cry hysterically. Ron's mom did not know how to handle this situation. She felt uneasy- not only for Ron but also for his Uncle Earth. Her Uncle Earth. Our own Uncle Earth. This uneasiness was nothing but her 'green guilt.'

Ron’s Mom is not the only one who is guilty. There are innumerable people suffering from the green guilt. Did you know that a Catholic priest Dom Anthony Sutch, the Benedictine monk in England takes green confessions at environmental festivals? (Gledhill, The Times). They are the global warming sinners who want to get rid of their guilt through the action of catharsis. Even though the Pope has now set up his own airline but the Vatican plants trees every time it flies. If you thought that sounded a bit weird then take this: a website called “True Green Confessions” recently sprouted solely for the purpose of letting the green guilty confess — anonymously. DO you find a pattern here?

Uncle Earth needs us!

This might seem as a fictitious story for you all but this is not fiction. It is a fact. Our Uncle Earth is sick and we all need to save him before he passes away forever and fades out somewhere in the huge galaxy. We don't want it to disappear, do we? We all can contribute our bit towards saving this pretty planet. Every drop makes an ocean and when all of us stand united to help our Uncle then we bet no one can harm him. Never say “Why should I?” because it will not lead you anywhere. Always think “Why not I?” This is best described in Westley, Zimmerman and Patton’s great book Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed, “Emergent systems thrive on interdependencies. Moreover, what may appear at a particular moment as a defeat can, from a systems perspective, attract needed energy to support unexpected realignments and new synergies…This is all part of the inherent uncertainty that characterizes complex dynamics.”(Lacroix, The Charity Village)

FSC is a part of one such system that enables us to fight the feeling of defeat and uncertainty. They are the ray of light at the end of the tunnel of darkness. Who are they? Spies? Policemen? Watch guards? Political figures? Read on to find it out!

What is FSC?

-Are they bunch of good guys trying to stop the bad guys by giving medicine to Uncle Earth?

Being environmentally friendly has become a popular and a fancy trend in most of the developed cities. FSC is one of the means of using ecologically friendly products. FSC is an abbreviation for the logo Forest Steward Council that was founded in 1993. It is a unique charitable organization which manages the forests irrespective of the locations, sizes and ownerships of the forests.

FSC has brought significant changes to the environment by doing its own bit. People who are well educated and can afford to go green by using the products having this logo. The use of FSC certified products immensely reduces the possible damage to the environment caused by non-FSC products. You must be wondering how? Well, FSC logo can be obtained by companies, organizations as well as communities who are interested in responsible forestry. It provides a trademark assurance to them and aims to reduce the destruction caused by people using forest without showing any concern to the environment and its adverse impact on our Uncle. However, if you are one of the cynics who believe that they might be fake, let us inform you that FSC is an independent, non-government, not-for-profit organization that is committed to improve the conditions of the forest.

As the education level is increasing, people are becoming more aware of the environmental problems caused by rapid industrial and economic growth. Some people are already determined to change their consumption pattern from traditional to environmental friendly. FSC helps people to know that the products which they buy have been produced in an eco-friendly way. This was from the consumer’s viewpoint; how about the manufacturer? We know what you are thinking! It should be noted that there are numerous companies hoping to develop a green image to win market shares and work in a socially responsible manner by conserving the limited resources of the world. Now, FSC works for both these group of people. It bridges them by using a logo: combined with a tick and a tree denoting that we need to use trees correctly.

Does this work? You bet! As Mitch Baranowski puts it, “Trustmarks help ensure companies follow best practices by setting clear and transparent standards. They serve as important proof points for overall brand messages and stories. And they can provide an objective, third-party stamp of approval that demonstrates how companies are following through on their social and environmental claims.” (GreenBiz Staff, Greener Computing). Doesn’t it make FSC the ‘good guys’? At least little Ron would think so :)

FSC- a possible cure for Uncle Earth’s illness?

FSC accredited certified products to use its logo. It implies that those products with the logo would not impose unnecessary or excessive amount of damage to our Uncle. Now, wouldn’t that make Ron a happy kid to realize that we can save our Uncle? There are a lot of companies that operate their business for the sake of profit figure with clear disregard to the potential harmful effect on earth. However, to get the FSC stamp they need to follow certain rules like:

a) Prohibition of conversion of forests or any other natural habitat

b) Prohibition of use of hazardous chemicals

c) Respect of Human Rights with particular attention to indigenous peoples

d) No corruption – follow all applicable laws

e) Identification and appropriate management of areas that need special protection (e.g. cultural or sacred sites, habitat of endangered animals or plants)

People pay more for the product with the FSC labeling. But the FSC label deserves what it has by differentiate from other ecological label. “For the industrial forestry company, the rationale is material reward: increasing price, greater market share, or easier access to markets.” (GreenerDesign Staff). The company with FSC label promises to respect international workers and other human rights with particular attention to indigenous peoples. It sets up a higher standard of certifying as a FSC labeling product if the company would like to impose the label on it.

FSC enjoys the most widespread credibility in the marketplace and enables the consumers to make purchase decisions that benefit people and the environment. The ideas of this label aim to persuade people to buy good wood and to promote environmental sustainability. Deforestation and forest degradation produce about 20% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions (Monga Bay). It shows that higher the exploitation of the forests, higher the pollution. Every family may not have a kid like Ron to remind them of Uncle Earth’s problems, so it is essential to educate people about the environmental sustainability and how the FSC could benefit the world ecology. We would be glad if all of you could spread the word around. This word-of-mouth publicity can snowball and lead to a very effective result.

Ron loves this video. Do you?

After his mom somehow managed to console him, Ron was composed. However, that did not stop him from asking his mother, “Mom, shouldn’t we do something? Can we? I like trees. They are my friends. They never ask anything from me and my teacher told me that we get oxyciogen from them. It is something very important for us!” With a smile on her face, his mom replied, “Son, it is OXYGEN. Yes, it is very important. And we can do something. All of us can. Remember what we had studied last night. Where there is a will, there is a way.”

With these thoughts, we would be glad if you could watch the following video. We hope that you can relate to it and understand our perspective. We would be glad to know your views on it as well:

Thank you for watching our video. You must be wondering what is FSC, right? But before moving on to that question let us explain a few details of our video. You would have noticed that the video was divided in two parts:

1) Negative

2) Positive

The script for both the parts was same. When you read the script from the top to the bottom it was understandable that the tone was negative and made the viewer think that it had an “I-don’t-care” attitude. However, reading the same script from the bottom to the top revealed a completely different meaning- it gives the viewer a sense of optimism and a ray of hope, thereby, illustrating the fact that things can be different. All we need to do is to change our perspective. Everything depends on our own outlook. Just as the clichéd saying goes, “the glass can be half-full or half-empty.” Our video tries to focus on the viewer’s emotional mindset and tries to convince them that “impossible is nothing”. Moreover, we wanted to have visual appeal as well so we used only three colours throughout the video- white, red and green. We believed that red signified ‘alertness’ while green symbolized ‘hope’ and that is why when we start to read from the bottom to the top, the colour of the font changes from red to green subtly hinting the viewer that he can indeed make a difference by using FSC. We deliberately refrained from using any pictures. This made our video more serious and thoughtful.

In the video, we try to develop a plot by moving chronologically, driven by a specific theme and using a range of emotional words like apathetic, foolish, stupid, etc. These negative words trigger the emotions of the viewers and make them realize the seriousness of this issue. Furthermore, we have repeated the phrase, “Save the world, save yourself,” a number of times to reinforce the whole idea that if we need our future generation to survive it is essential that we try to save the world by chipping in our bit.

Why should Hong Kong locals care about Uncle Earth?

HK is a metropolitan and affluent city in which we can hardly taste and experience the real impact of environmental problems caused by the globe. When asked about the attitude of Hong Kong locals towards world issues, Jason (name changed), one of the exchange students stated, “They seem to be materialistic and selfish individuals who only focus on their personal interest. They are very money-minded and greedy and they never want to sacrifice anything for the society. It doesn’t mean that they are bad. They do care about the people with whom they have some special relationships like friends, parents, relatives, et al. I guess they are strongly affected by the Americanization, culture of Japan and Taiwan. They also want to act like noble and upper-class, that’s why they will purchase a lot of luxury product to reflect their status.” These were the thoughts of a lot of exchange students. Not very kind, right? But hold on. Even the locals thought the same. Based on all this information we had made our video where we emphasized on the materialistic attitude of the people.

We believed that on of the best ways to make them understand the problem would be to shock them and take them on a guilt trip. As a result, we started our video by stating that, “I am a part of this materialistic and indifferent generation.” We also tried to state more serious things and use the ‘appeal to the authority’ method by stating what the experts thought along with the ‘appeal to the emotion’ method by talking about their children and their future. This, we believe, would have struck their emotional chords. Throughout the video we focused on the Aristotelian appeal of “ethos and pathos.” We thought that it would paint a more legitimate and moving picture of reality or illuminate the truth.

However, just talking about the problem isn’t an effective method to convince the future customers. So, we try to help them to alleviate their guilt by asking them to use FSC that would provide them with “positive utility”. The strategy of “penny-a-day” is very efficacious in this situation because it is too far-fetched to think that people would immediately donate all their life savings towards this noble cause. People in cities like Hong Kong hardly experience adverse impact of the damage to the environment because some of them are too rich to bother; many of them are middle-class and professional. The remaining are lower class people who are unable to contribute. The “penny-a-day” strategy would attract the middle and lower class people while the ‘foot-in-the-door’ strategy would attract the higher class locals who have a disciplined life style! This might be too difficult for Ron to understand but we hope that you were able to follow our thoughts!

What makes us believe that people would change their behaviour?

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” these were Mahatma Gandhi’s famous words that led to the peace movement in India which eventually resulted in India’s independence from the shackles of the British rule. In simple words, this philosophy of trying to be ‘good’ even to the one who hurts you would eventually change the person hurting you did work.

Now, this is very similar to the altruistic behaviour where people try to help others without looking for their own benefit. For instance, ever wondered why do you shell out your hard earned penny to the beggars? What makes you do that? Do you get nay benefit? No! “Positive relationships with others have always been a more natural basis for self esteem than either material objects or illusions about money or power.” (Altruism) When we behave in an altruistic fashion we do it for our own self esteem. It is this feel good factor that makes us do more philanthropy. It eggs us on to consistently continue to donate and care for the others. We try to use this philosophy in our video when we take the viewers on the guilt trip to make them realize there wrong doings and also give them some ways they can alleviate their guilt.

Why does Ron’s mother get a shock when Ron asks her about her contributions? Why can’t she reply? It is simply because it makes her guilty that when an eight-year old could understand the sensitivity of this issue, then how could she, a supposedly ‘knowledgeable’ woman, fail to realize this? We are sure that you would definitely not like to be in her position, would you? So, it becomes extremely essential for us to start doing our own bit so that you don’t feel the same guilt.

Our message is simple to all of our readers:

“Each one. Teach one.”

After all, we all love Uncle Earth! Hopes he gets well soon!

References:

· Gledhill, Ruth. "Priest offers festival-goers the chance to confess their green sins." The Times 30 August 2007. .

·Lacroix, Pattie. "Stories create the connections necessary for social innovation ." 17 March 2008. The Charity Village. .

· Forest Stewardship Council. .

·GreenBiz Staff, Most Green Labels Fail to Catch Shoppers' Eyes, Survey Finds . September 23, 2009 Greener Computing. .

· G· Greener Design Staff, Steelcase Earns Sustainable Forestry Certification, Pollution Prevention Award. October 08, 2008 Greener Design. .

· "Forest conservation can fight climate change and poverty ." Monga Bay 08 October 2008. .

·"Re-Establishing Altruism As A Viable Social Norm." Altruism- What is it?. .

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*Opinions Opinions*

Shania asked us about our penny-a-day strategy:

"Do you mean the HK local buy the qualified products with FSC label at higher price and divide their extra cost into daily basis in order to make it look small?"

However, we were glad that Robert took a note of her concern and replied to her query! As he had stated, penny-a-day may not necessarily mean paying a little amount of money to buy something, it might also be taken in terms of the psychology. We try to make people believe that everything is possible if we give our best shot to achieving certain goals in life. Every drop makes an ocean.

Moreover, you also wanted to know more about the products-

-"I can hardly imagine what kind of “forest products” I can consume except for 1-2 pencil (plus 10-20 throwaway chopsticks but they’re free) per semester."

-"Are there any examples of green products labeled FSC?"

-"can you give some more examples of the product with the FSC label besides the pencils, and show more photos to us?"

Again, FSC has not only pencils but also has cosmetics, wooden bowls, chopsticks, wooden planks, timber for show pieces, et al. You can find more information of their webpage: http://www.fsc.org. Here are some pictures of these products:

"What’s more, why not simply encourage people to use products made from other materials rather than wood in order to protect the forests? For example, use marbles instead of timber floor?"

Now, it is very easy to state that we should try and not use forests products at all. However, it is a human habit that makes it very difficult for one to change. For instance, we know that plastic is dangerous for the environment and that we should stop using it but how many of us have actually gotten rid of all the plastic bags we have. How many have stopped using plastic bag completely? None I believe. As they say, "HABIT is a difficult thing to get rid of. If you remove the 'h' A BIT remains. If you then remove the 'a' BIT remains. And if you remove the 'b' IT still remains!" As FSC understands this philosophy and human nature, they try to minimise the use of forest goods and ask manufacturers to get the FSC Logo to help the forests. When they cut a timber, it is ensure that two more timbers are planted. Now, doesn't that help? ;)

"Many famous Hong Kong entrepreneur donate billions of Hong Kong dollar to mainland China and Hong Kong people will donate a large amount of money. I think you evaluate Hong Kong people with biases. You only have some relationship with students in CityU, so you can not see the whole picture."

We believe you have already answered your question. You state that HK entrepreneur donate millions of dollars to China. Aren't they pat of the same country? Isn't HK a SAR of Mainland China? Other than the political bit, our research wasn't really limited to CityU, it was an exchange student's opinion that we stated. He provides us with another perspective. A perspective of an individual who doesn't even live here. We had also asked the locals and mainlanders about this and they ended up giving the same answers. Due to the need to keep the blog short and interesting we decided to state just one individual's views and not everyone's :)

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Thanks a lot once again to all the people who shared their views on our blog. We are glad that the number of visitors on our blog has soared to 1,150! This only encourages us to work harder! We are also getting people not only from Hong Kong but also all around the world who have been visiting and hopefully reading the blog as well :) Reading all your comments and views gives us immense satisfaction and we applaud all your efforts of reading and commenting. We hope that our final blog on *Ethics* would be liked by one and all! See you guys soon with our next blog :D