When do you think about an Ultra Future World?

I guess that you often do.



I thought I did until I attended the Ultra Future Conference (http://www.ultrafutureworld.com/) at Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (http://www.hkstp.org/) on Sat 13 Dec.

Seeing presentations of:
- Energy Islands by David Harris of floating platforms that use the difference in sea water temperature, solar power and wave power generators to produce electricity, hydrogen and fresh water,
- new graphics for use in "chat rooms" where you change the shape of the Avatar's face that looked so real. Taehoon Kim had everyone amazed at the realistic facial expressions that this new product by Nurien was able to create,
- Web 3.0 by Adam Khemeri of NewsGroup247 demonstrating "chat rooms" with the great abilty to add in video clips and graphics from other website quickly to the chats, and
- James Law showing some of his latest Cybertecture designs (http://www.jameslawcybertecture.com/). As a surveyor I really was impressed on how James was modelling the real world to generate building designs that are basically whole cities in themselves.

Above you have seen a sketch of what James saw a key design components of Earth that he is replicating in his Technosphere. Below you can see that "progression" from looking at the Earth and creating the design.



One of the real interesting discussions was on how this modern technology that utilises the internet and computing power which is available to only 1/6th of the worlds population can be used to assist those without the technology. Suggestions were every time people by clothes for their Avatar they donate to a charity to provide real clothes to people who really need them. James spoke of how the external lighting on one of his building design would change based on the forecast for the upcoming weather. This way everyone who can see the building would know what the weather would.

Love to hear your Ultra World thoughts.

From my surveying and mapping experience I am amazed at what you can do with Google maps. Here is the location of some of the people I met at the conference.



Grow well
Dr Merrin

Hong Kong MC

The joy of sharing people stories with others is one of my major buzzes in life.

Through being a MC (Master of Ceremonies) at events, an interviewer on radio or an outdoors education facilitator I have had some amazing experiences and opportunities.

It was the other night at a Royal Geographical Society meeting when I was reminded of how you shine when you do what you enjoy. It all came about from a simple request by the Director of RGS in Hong Kong, Rupert McCowan, asking me to give the words of thanks to Professor Zhang Hemin, referred to as "China’s father of Giant Pandas". With the talk starting in 2 minutes time I said why did you ask me? Rupert replied I saw you on Sunday do a wonderful job of interviewing the Hong Kong Earth Champions during the community day at Cyberport. You were able to help them share their stories and I am sure you can do a superb job of thanking Prof Zhang. Wow I thought that is nice to hear as I was having fun that day. From the audience response at RGS I did provide suitable note of thanks to Prof Zhang.



On the ferry ride home that night I started to recall other times that I have had the opportunity to be a MC, Presenter or Interviewer. I started to list some of them down and they include:
- MC at the Earth Champions Celebration Event with over 200 guests, including Edward Yau (HK Secretary for the Environment), Sir Crispin Tickell (Climate Change Expert) and Christine Loh (CEO of Civic Exchange)
- MC at the farewell dinner for the Consul General Julian Ludbrook organised by the NZ Society of Hong Kong.
- Interviewing people for Radio
- Showing school children, their parents and helpers the wonders of nature on Lantau Island as a green guide
- MC at the 50^th Anniversary Ball for the New Zealand Society of Hong Kong



If you happen to know of someone needing a MC or speaker for an event then let them know that I am keen to help make their night a memorable one!

Grow well
Dr Merrin

P.S. Looking for a Keynote Speaker at your next event, then check out my Professional Speaker info at
http://asia-ecopreneur.blogspot.com/2009/07/professional-speaker.html

Looking forward to being part of your successful event.

Hong Kong Earth Champions 2008

As I spoke about in an earlier blog I came across a group called Earth Champions.

Well I became part of the local team running the Hong Kong Quest as the Project Manager. What an experience it was. It was certainly a great way to get to know so many exceptional people in Hong Kong.

Check out those people who were acknowledged as Earth Champions on the website http://www.earthchampions.com/.

You can also read an article originally printed in Positive News that has been reprinted on Holistic Asia's website.

Grow well
Dr Merrin

Free Electricity for Clean Air?

Have you ever had free Electricity for a year - I have not – and I certainly did not think it would happen in Hong Kong!

It has come true with our latest Electricity Power Bill.

For the last two months we used HK$250 and that is really cheap, being US$30 or US$15 for a month! Then we get a government subsidy as part of their initiative to help reduce inflationary pressures to households. The end result is that we do not have to pay for electricity for the last 2 months and are unlikely to have to pay for the rest of the year!

This all came about through the latest budget wanting to help low income households. Happy with that though all households get this subsidy at a time when the government and community is also running programmes to promote consuming less energy to help reduce the impacts of electricity generation on the environment, through the likes of burning coal which contributes to a significant portion of the HK generated air pollution.

Surely the subsidy for the heavier Electricity users could be going to the installation of better energy generation technology rather than the pockets of these people who will probably start to use more electricity and therefore just adding to the air quality issue

I must thank the HK Government for this subsidy as it does allow a number of people to use the subsidy to promote and take action in helping

You can read the Budget item at http://www.budget.gov.hk/2008/eng/budget65.html

And the implementation of the item at http://www.fstb.gov.hk/tb/eng/info/electricitychargesubsidy.html

Grow well
Dr Merrin

Cleaning the Beach

Well after a Sunday helping clean the Silvermine Beach in Mui Wo and the following Saturday morning cleaning the Nim Shue Wan Beach at Discovery Bay I thought I had seen rubbish on beaches.

Caught the ferry back from Discovery Bay to Mui Wo and could not believe what used to be lovely sandy beaches were now dumping grounds for polystyrene (that is the first thing you see as it is the lightest and so is on top) and everything else you can only just imagine.


This is the Wang Tong River though it gives you an idea of the other beaches.

No this was not directly put there by humans, rather it was Typhoon Hagiput showing us how much is floating around the Hong Kong waters. Hagiput on 23 September kindly delivered it to prominent beaches to remind us all that we should be looking after our waterways more than we are. It also reminded us of the power of the sea when combined with a high tide and a storm surge. Check out http://www.kinzie.com/renovations.htm for an idea.

So together with some Hong Kong XL Life Members and the dedicated team from DB Green (http://dbgreen.org/) Louise and I headed off to Nim Shue Wan Beach at Discovery Bay to take away another layer of rubbish.

There was everything from Fridges to Boats to Washing Machines to Shoes and of course other rubbish. It is incredible what has washed up and this is only one of Hong Kong’s beaches.





We even had the local Chinese lady directing us not to take things to the bin but instead to her place. What a laugh when she turned up with her sledge hammer and pliers to recover the best bits!!!


The photos tell the story and of course the cleanup ended with a snack at the beach.


Grow well
Dr Merrin

Global Warming - A great Animation on the topic

Here is a great 11 minute clip that I think outlines some of the major issues to consider around Global Warming. What are the options and what we can do to keep the tipping point beyond where we get to.

Also read the script at http://wakeupfreakout.org/wakeup.html and there are references to go even further.


Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.

Looking for Earth Champions in Hong Kong

As you know there are many great people in this world who are really making a difference to the environment.

I have come across an organisation called Earth Champions Foundation
(http://www.earthchampions.org/) who are helping communities to discover (or as I like to say - Unearth) their location environmental champions.

Nominate your Earth Champion or read about those from previous Quests online at http://www.earthchampions.org/

Grow well
Dr Merrin