Honour and respect the labour of local environmentalists (#2)
This World Environment Day, I urge brands, organizations, corporations to support your local environmental movement by honouring their labour.
In this piece I cover three grounds - how brands can work better with the local community, folks in the local community to check out, and bonus #WorldEnvironment Day content that is really worth spending your weekend swiping and watching.
Brands and organizations that want to be sustainable should support the local environmental movement - here’s how.
As sustainability becomes mainstream, organizations and brands are jumping onboard the train to want to spark conversations, contribute to discourse and do good - even if its just for a day. There are so many ‘green’ days, and their histories are often rooted in social movements, community organizing and grassroots activism. But now, it could be co-opted into marketing - enter greenwashing.
While well-intentioned, some of these efforts fall into the disingenuous trap and end up making big empty claims, hurting the environmental movement in many ways. If you’re only doing green on one day, or to launch one additional revenue-generating product line, are you really sustainable? Are you contributing to the local environmental movement or is this just marketing?
I have heard of horror stories where large public organizations asking activists to promote a campaign for free, or to give free input in documentaries produced by big media firms or events with big budgets, or even just to be featured in a brand campaign and be given exposure in return. While green groups may do this voluntarily, it doesn’t mean you should exploit their goodwill and expect free work! There’s also a difference for enterprises run environmental businesses. I’ve heard stories of MNCs asking for free work when they should be paying for consultation and their expertise. If we can pay lawyers, accountants, engineerings for their time, surely we should be doing the same for environmentalists. The climate cause isn’t just passion, its also technical expertise and we need to treat it as that. But this could also be due to ignorance and honestly, not knowing how else to engage local environmental groups - and that’s fair!
It shouldn’t happen but it does, but you can begin by commiting to find ways to engage environmental businesses and groups fairly. If you’re an organization that is looking to spark meaningful conversations, contribute to the local environmental movement and community, Kate Yeo (the amazing human behind @byobottlesg) and I penned a little something on Instagram with action steps on how brands/organizations can meaningfully support the environmental movement - and when you fail, apologise and try again but better.
A summary here:
commit to working with local environmental group
set aside budget to work with environmentalists
donate to environmental groups
support environmentalists by working with them on meaningful projects
pay for services from local environmental enterprises
buy from local environmental businesses and their services
pay environmentalists for their time and labour
provide resources that can enable their work - materials, finances, equipment, a fair platform, expertise, skills
push for long-term sustainability commitments
commit to working with local environmental organizations, businesses and individuals fairly
share their work on your socials and give them due credit
do not exploit passion!
I’ll be happy to also chat (for free - limited time only!) more to brands that want to support the movement, DM on Instagram or email at wooq.97@gmail.com.
Local environmentalists, enterprises and organizations to support.
*This list is non-exhaustive, and I’d love to add those that I miss - please let me know. If i got your deets wrong, please also let me know.*
Environmentalists
Kate Yeo - youth environmental activist @byobottlesg
Charlotte Mei - nutritionist, host and environmentalist @thecharlottemei
Khat - advocate, model, producer, host @skinnykatwoman
Sam Thian - sustainable packaging, beach clean ups @seastainable.co
Audrey Tan - journalist, environmental and science correspondent @audreytrp
Audrey Yang - artist, designer, advocate @thisisaudsomee
Susannah Jaffer - sustainable fashion, entrepreneur @susannahjaffer
Elliott - videographer, biodiversity @hiddenwilds
Shiva - herpetologist, photographer, biodiversity @abrownrecluse
Xingyun - sustainable fashion advocate @noordinaryprotest
Jayaprakash @jayaprakash_bojan and Dan @lifewithdan - videographers, photographers, biodiversity
Shihui - advocate @tabaogirl
Just Keep Thinking team - wildlife content and explainers
Back to Ground Zero - a group of passionate environmental folks @backtogroundzero
Melissa Low - energy expert, also runs @booksandbeersg
Olivia - urban gardener, advocate @tendergardener
Dorcas - environmental artist @earthtodorcas and @ourclimatestory
Xiaoyun - writer, researcher, volunteers at many diff places @eyes.uncloundedd
(myself!) Qiyun - sustainability professional, creator and communicator @theweirdandwild (If you’d like to support my work, you can buy me a coffee here *shameless plug*)
Support researchers
Dr Neo Mei Lin - @clamscientist
Dr Andie Ang - @andieang
Sabrina Jabbar - @primatemia
Dr Winston Chow - @winstontlchow
Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions - @nuscncs
Enterprises
Climate Commons (which I run!) - creative communications platform for climate issues
Zerrin - sustainable fashion enterprise
Green Nudge - environmental social enterprise
Stridy - litter pick-up app
Susgain - environmental-focussed rewards app
Abillion - digital platform for plant-based living
The Green Collective - collective of sustainable brands and community
Interseed - supports Southeast Asian impact start-ups
Thryft - secondhand bookstore and platform
The Sustainability Project - sustainable living enterprise
ClientEarth - environmental charity that uses law for change
Muuse - smart zero-waste takeaway system
Package Pals - circular packaging initiative
UglyFood - your ‘ugly’ food grocer
Just Dabao - enterprise for unsold food and beverages
Zero Waste Singapore - charity and NGO
ACRES - wildife protection and rescues
Sustainable Living Lab - SDG innovation programme
The Fashion Pulpit - fashion swapping retail and platform
Treedots - food supplier redistributor
Young Nautilus - education enrichment partner
Untamed Paths - nature and wildlife outdoor experiences
Ground Up Initiative - environmental social enterprise and space
Swapaholic - fashion swapping online platform
Bamboostrawgirl - sustainable living products
Happy Earth Farm - farm-to-face products
Edible Garden City - urban farming enterprise
Crunch Cutlery - sustainable cutlery
Green Monday - plant-based lifestyle platform & Omnimeat creators
Oasis - low-waste vegan skincare
Barepack - sustainable food delivery system
Organizations
Green Swan Initiative - non-profit project on sustainable finance
Foodscape Collective - fair and inclusive circular food
Soil Regeneration Project - building seed capacity for communities
PM Haze - non-profit working on preventing haze
LepakinSG - informal environmental group + lists environmental events
Singapore Youth for Climate Action - youth environmental organization
Eco Youth Collective - SG youth environmental collective
Green Fitree - muslim-run environmental group
Herpetological Society Singapore - herpetology community and reptile/amphibian conservation
SG Food Rescue - food waste reduction community
Singapore Youth Voices for Biodiversity - youth-focussed biodiversity group
Our Singapore Reefs - diver community for marine conservation
Climate Conversations - climate community to encourage discourse and change
Green Collar - job portal for green jobs
Creation Care SG - christian-run creation care initiative
Speak for Climate - initiative for greater transparency and collaboration
Project Become - youth-run sustainability group (zero waste initiatives!)
SG Climate Rally - environmental group and community
Other folks that I’ve worked with that you need to check out
Kontinentalist - data-driven storytelling, includes sustainability news!
Serial Co. - inter-media creative agency, includes sustainability projects!
An ode to Singapore’s environmental community - and bonus content to check out this #WorldEnvironmentDay
To environmentalists reading this - I thank you for the constant labour, solidarity and care. We are all not self-made, we are embedded within societies in which we’ve had relationships that built us up, got us through and get us here (our work rests on the work of past activists!). The movement is centred on these relationships and connections to each other as human beings and communities. We act as individuals, in a collective. Whether you’re someone running an initiative, an Instagram advocacy page, an individual, a person working in a large unforgiving organization, your labour is valued and lets work together to keep our energies safe and abundant. In this way, we keep our work regenerative and sustainable. Props to that! Some releases today:
Zerrin #Down4Earth campaign - make your pledge and share your story (campaign)
Straits Times’ carbon trading primer is SO GOOD (read)
Her World Environment Issue - Bertrand and I wrote a piece on inequality, accessibility and sustainable living!
This is Scope - going behind the scenes for animal rescues in Singapore
Rice Media - After Dover Forest, will Clementi Forest be next on the chopping block? (article)
Degrowth Singapore community event (link)
(You can check out LepakinSG’s calendar of events for more!)
Happy World Environment Day!
x
Qiyun