For Earth Day 2023, Tatler talks to Gen.T honouree Natalie Chung about her Antarctica expedition and her new plans to save Asia’s oceans
Natalie Chung, a 26-year-old climate advocate and founder of low-carbon tourism company V’Air, recently went on an exciting adventure to the edge of the planet: Antarctica.
In February this year, Chung joined the Dr Sylvia Earle Antarctic Climate Expedition as a representative from Hong Kong. The expedition team was made of international researchers, scientists, artists and politicians interested in finding out more about Antarctica’s current conditions, and fighting climate change through ocean conservation. And before that, in December of 2022, Chung visited Angkor Wat in Cambodia with National Geographic Explorer and Arctic Institute president Dr Victoria Herrmann, who was working on a conservation project to protect nine heritage sites around the world from climate change.
While both trips made an impact on the activist, what Chung found in Antarctica shook her and forced her to realise that the climate threats faced by this distant land might very well find their way to Hong Kong earlier than we might think.
To mark Earth Day on April 22, Tatler had a chat with Chung who shared with us what she discovered on her trips, and what she thinks our city should do to turn the tide.
Don't miss: A Malaysian climate activist’s journey to Antarctica
Climate disasters aren’t new, but has the world evolved its ways to tackle climate change?
The main difference has been in how these climate disasters are being communicated. In the past decade, it was in a doomsday tone saying that the sea level was rising and that all the icebergs were melting. The disaster narrative was useful in urging people to act and governments to channel fundings to mitigate these issues—such as by using renewable energy to reduce carbon emission. [However, that was back when] there was still a window for us to turn the tide.
Now we know the world temperature has already risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius since 1880 and we’re destined to [see that temperature increase by] 1.5 degrees Celsius by the 2030s. This means that 80 per cent of the world’s coral will be wiped out and a lot of coastal communities will be flooded. In recent years, it feels like the tone has changed to [embrace] adaptation instead. [Many places and companies] feel that efforts to adapt can potentially generate marketing value and financial benefits. It’s a growing field, and I think it is essential that we pay even more attention to it.