How to increase your brand exposure in Hong Kong & China

If you

- already have a brand presence in New Zealand and

- are now wanting to expand your organisation into Hong Kong, Macau and China

then

- advertise in Connectionz

Connectionz is the leading business chamber publication in Hong Kong promoting trade between New Zealand and Southern China.

The next publication of Connectionz is coming out in March 2010 to coincide with the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement signing between Hong Kong and New Zealand. So this edition will receive a great deal of media and market attention.

Contact me today (mpearse@coordinate4u.co.nz definitely before mid-Feb 2010) to find out about this great opportunity for your company to expand it presence in the ever expanding China market.

Merrin

A Kiwi based in Hong Kong

Environmental Films

I am sure you are one of the thousands of people who have watched the Al Gore film, An Inconvenient Truth (http://www.climatecrisis.net/an-inconvenient-truth.php). If not check out the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAK8Cd4t0WA



It is movies like “An Inconvenient Truth” that get people excited and probably scared. Scared to a point of not being able to see how they can take action that will make a difference.

So I was really excited when friends started saying to me that I must watch the movie Home. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/user/homeproject as it has some superb scenery.



Though when I was half way through the movie I got this concern that the movie was going to leave me once again in a place of being paralysed to take action. Thank goodness it did finish with some positive news and ways people are making a difference. However, after the 1h30m I was left thinking what are really positive movies I could be sharing with people to give them the courage and inspiration to know that we all can make a real positive difference to our climate.

Well a good friend of mine said check out the 22 minute film called “Hope in a changing climate” (http://hopeinachangingclimate.org/). Well I did and I was very impressed. It is about ecological restoration projects of huge scale happening across China and Africa that are producing superb results for their communities in terms of food and water security.

If you are looking for a boost on what you can do then I do encourage you to watch this short movie at http://hopeinachangingclimate.org/.


The programme documents the remarkably successful efforts of local people to restore denuded, degraded ecosystems – transforming them into verdant, life-sustaining environments which enable people to break free from entrenched poverty. The film contains breathtaking before and after footage of large-scale restoration projects. Presented by John D. Liu, founder of the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP) and creator of the film Lessons of the Loess Plateau, the new programme is directed by Jeremy Bristow from the BBC, the award-winning producer of the acclaimed David Attenborough series The Truth about Climate Change.

The area of restoration on the Loess Plateau in China is the size of Belgium and thousands of years of subsistence farming had made it barren and unfertile. In 1995 The Chinese Government, with support from The World Bank, took drastic action to rehabilitate the plateau, and local people – seen as both perpetuators and victims of the devastation – became part of the solution.

Looking forward to hearing about similar films that give us solutions not just problems.

Grow well
Dr Merrin

Climate Change and Blogging

I love communicating with people especially when it involves great ways to help us all understand better the sustainability of the human population on planet earth.

I am regularly involved with community awareness raising projects whether they be online using social media or personal events where people really get their “hands dirty” by being connected. Whether that is planting trees, making compost or picking vegetables at places like Ark Eden (www.arkedenonlantau.com) on Lantau Island or a beach clean up with say DB Green in Discovery Bay (www.dbgreen.org). Hong Kong has amazing choices.

To me taking action is far more important than talking about it. However communicating the message so that more people become aware of the issues is really an important step so hence I am involved with groups such as Green Drinks (www.greendrinks.org), Earth Champions (www.earthchampions.org) and Clean Air Network Hong Kong (www.hongkongcan.org) which give people the ideas and support to take the action they are most comfortable with. A superb format for getting to know what issues you are passionate about is the Pachamama Alliances – Awakening the Dreamer Symposium. Check out where a symposium is near you at www.awakeningthedreamer.org

Now that you are sitting in front of your computer reading this, how about responding to this blog with your thoughts or start your own blog and help more people understand what climate change means to us all.

I wrote this posting on Blog Action Day ’09 Climate Change (www.blogactionday.org). Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. I hope my contribution to Blog Action Day 2009 will help it be one of the largest-ever social change events on the web.

Check out this suggested list of Ways to get Involved from www.blogactionday.org

1. Sign the Tck Tck Tck campaign's "I am ready" pledge supporting an ambitious, fair and binding climate agreement in Copenhagen this fall: tcktcktck.org/people/i-am-ready
2. Register for the 350.org International Day of Climate Action October 24: www.350.org
3. Join the UK Government's "Act on Copenhagen" effort to promote a global deal on climate change: www.actoncopenhagen.decc.gov.uk/en
4. Learn and act with The Nature Conservancy's Planet Change site: change.nature.org
5. Watch and help promote Current TV's green-themed video journalism at: current.com/green
6. Support strong climate legislation in the US by making calls to your Senators with 1Sky: www.1sky.org/call
7. Put yourself on the Vote Earth map and upload your photos, pictures and weblinks to show the world future you want to see: www.earthhour.org/home
8. It was a repeat of Number 7 so I suggest you stop and take a break with either a nice fresh juice or an organic beer!
   
9. Join the Greenpeace cool IT challenge campaign to turn IT industry leaders into climate advocates and solution providers: www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change/cool-it-challenge
10. Add your personal story and tell the world what you will miss the most when you lose it to climate change with the United Nations Foundation Climate Board: www.unfoundation.org/global-issues/climate-and-energy/its-getting-personal
11. Find the latest and most popular climate change actions online at globalwarming.change.org
12. Join the Causecast community and find new ways to get involved with organizations working to end climate change. Watch videos, read news and support one of the many environmental nonprofits on Causcast. www.causecast.org/environment
13. Post to your blog or Twitter account about the impact of climate change on the world's poorest, and then take action with Oxfam International: www.oxfam.org.uk/climate

Enjoy your day of blogging and taking action on climate change everyday.

Grow well

Dr Merrin Pearse

P.S. who said blogging cannot take place with your mates!

Growing our ECOnomy

We all felt the chills of those winter days in late 2008 while the “financial storms” swept the world. Many people were locked inside their own business world just making sure they survived the impact of these financial storms on their business. In the middle of the storm the business reality set in and some people could not be supported any longer by their companies. As a result they were “put outside” to weather the storm themselves.

We are now able to look back over those wintry days from a place where we are beginning to feel the warmth of spring days. New ideas are emerging and many people are looking for new business seeds to grow, that will provide sufficient resources before the end of the next autumn, so as to ensure they are better prepared for the next winter cycle. Yes the business cycles keep happening just like the seasons.

Some parts of the world weathered the financial storm relatively better than others. For example Singapore and Hong Kong survived quite well (maybe like their weather the seasons are not too varied or perhaps they just were more prepared for the storms). Meanwhile the Banking and Automobile sectors in the USA were almost putout to weather the storms all by themselves. The most important factor in any cycle is to look for ways of developing and growing so as to be stronger and more effective in the future.

What has really been highlighted during this latest financial storm is the importance of business looking even more closely at its role in a truly global economy. By global economy, I mean the impact that people have on the sustainability of the planet. We have all heard the messages from the likes of Al Gore through the film “The Inconvenient Truth” however this latest storm shifted the way in which many organisations conduct their business.

Many businesses have changed, well it is actually the people operating those businesses that have changed. Though the real question is have enough people changed? Asking that in a more direct way, have you changed? The changes you may have made are to now look at your business choices by taking into account equally the considerations of:

• Is this a good choice for me (myself and my business),
• for you (my suppliers and customers) and
• the planet (my home)?

Lets look at each of these 3 questions in turn.

Is it good for me? Of course you need to look after yourself and your business. You need to consider both the short term and long term impacts of your decisions. For example, if you make a product by cutting costs and lowering the quality, then your brand may become know as an inferior one that does not last.

Is it good for you? Making products that may give you great financial short term gains while compromising the health or safety of your suppliers or customers is not likely to lead to them continuing to use your products. Think about the examples of the Melamine in Milk or the Lead in the paint of children’s toys.

Is it good for the planet? As you know, we only have one world to live on and keeping that healthy is important for us all. Using production processes that pollute the water we need to drink or the air we need to breathe can be a significant problem for all people and creatures. Look at the example of how plastic is not degrading in the environment, it is accumulating in our waterways and being ingested by fish and animals where it stays in their stomachs and eventually feeds back into our own food.

Do you have defined systems in place to actually assess opportunities against these three questions? As you know having systems in place helps ensure consistency between different meetings and workshops. However, having the system in place is only one step. The second step is ensuring that the system is followed. Do you ensure your meeting and workshop facilitators know how your system works?

When facilitating workshops and meetings I like to remind people that it is the quality of the people’s input that creates great products, which in turn allows integrity of those products to have a great perception in the market place. This leads to your increased market share and hence increased profit. It does however not stop there. The way the company shares their profits creates even greater loyalty with people both inside the organisation and of course this also follows on to the wider community.

So how do you share your company’s profits with your suppliers, customers and the community? Are you creating a win-win-win situation in terms of the three areas of looking after me and you and the planet?

This leads companies to look at their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiatives and their Philanthropic Initiatives. No longer is just good enough to give away money to causes. Knowing those causes and actually participating with those causes through staff programmes is becoming the norm. Partnering with these causes gives a new meaning or purpose to making profits for the company.

Now where do you hold your team meetings and workshops? Are they always in the same meeting room? Why not vary the venue so you get to see different people shine. You could even use the venues that your CSR cause has available. I particularly like walking meetings in the outdoors. Have you tried a picnic at the botanic gardens, walking along the waterfront or heading out on a boat cruise? Naturally people will behave in different ways outside the meeting room and therefore their thinking will also change. When outside take note of what is going on with the different seasons and how the different plants and animals adapt. You may even see a natural example of an issue you are facing in your own business and can take that approach “back to work”. It may be to do with your waste products and you see that there is a natural way to decompose or reuse it as part of an additional product line. As you know, ideally in business (just as in nature) there should be no waste that can not be used by another business (organism) to support its niche in the market place (environment).

So rather than considering how you can grow your economy again with only a main stream approach why not start with an eco-logical perspective as you can not have an ECOnomy without an eco start!

Grow well
Dr Merrin

(written for http://www.walkyourtalk.asia/)

20 years of GPS for Dr Merrin

Wow,
I have been using GPS technology to support survey and mapping activities since 1989. How the technology has changed and the range of applications expanded!!!

During a meeting in Hong Kong with WONG Chung-hang (Deputy Director of Survey and Mapping Office), Gordon ANDREASSEND (Former Head of Survey and Mapping Office) and Simon Chi-wo KWOK (Chief Land Surveyor) on 29 July 2009 it came up in discussions that I had been using the GPS technology now for 20 years. I was amazed. So decided to write about it to capture some of those 20 years.

(Mr Kwok, Mr Wong, Mr Andreassend and Mr Pearse)

So, where has GPS taken me? Further than I ever thought.

Initially in New Zealand the technology took me via with the Government survey department (DOSLI) from one end of the country to the other teaching people to use the equipment and undertaking surveys. I either drove, walked, flew (yeah in helicopters) or sailed to forests, mountain tops, farms and to out to sea. Then into a research and application role which included:

• my PhD studies in Australia
• implementing the new geodetic datum in New Zealand (NZDG2000)
• investigating GPS height modelling with the use of geoid models, and
• undertaking audits of surveying and engineering consultancy firms.

Globally I have been involved in projects and events that utilise GPS technology in the following countries:

• Australia
• Fiji
• Iraq
• Kuwait
• Ethiopia
• Eritrea
• Nigeria
• Cameroon
• Canada
• Brazil and
• Antarctica

(South Pole Jan 2000 - fixing cables in -52DegC)

That is pretty amazing. Let me highlight these projects.

• Australia – Processing data to help establish the new Geocentric Datum of Australia (GDA)
• Fiji – Terrain surveys for a new coastal resort involving 4wd quad motorbikes and boats all mounted with GPS receivers
• Africa – Quality Assurance of boundary surveys between countries for the United Nations
• Brazil – Geoid modeling workshop with other global experts
• Antarctica – Tracking ice flows at South Pole and Earth Deformation Monitoring in Trans-Antarctic Mountains including the Dry Valleys.

What a journey so far! Now back to that meeting in Hong Kong, it finished with a tour of Hong Kong’s Satellite Positioning Reference Station Network Control Room. This is where they monitor via 12 GPS receivers the status of the GPS satellite signals in the Hong Kong region.


And to think that after 20 years I finally bought my own GPS receiver. Yeah, now I walk around with a GPS unit in my pocket disguised as a phone (Love my Nokia E71).

Grow well
Dr Merrin

Professional Speaker

Looking for a Professional Speaker that can motivate your staff and inspire them to perform nearer to their full potential, well there are many choices.

However, if you want to have an environmental and sustainability focus from someone that has been out there connecting with nature and the business community your options are more select.

This may be why you are looking at this site. Thanks for visiting. Here is a little more about myself, Dr Merrin Pearse, the Professional Speaker.

I specializes in connecting businesses with their environment, in particular the natural environment. As an Ecoprenuer, I am an ecologically-focused entrepreneur. Raised on a New Zealand dairy farm and with a PhD in Geodesy (read expert in GPS Technology and Mapping) my career has connected me with all the continents of the world, from surveying at the South Pole to nature conservation projects in the tropics. I have been recognised with the Award of Merit for my work on the International Border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, voted the best conference presentation (topic: quality assurance) and is active on numerous business sustainability committees.

Through my surveying experiences I have witnessed the destruction of unique natural environments which could have be avoided with more sustainable design and build options. These experiences have focused me on this journey of speaking to others about the beauty of nature and how we can all live and work in harmony with our natural environment. I have lived in New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong and travelled extensively. I have spoken with groups such as Land Surveyors, Property Owners/Developers, Rotarians, Entrepreneurs and School Classes.



If you are looking for a dynamic and passionate speaker that can bring together the realities of business with the desire for staff and colleagues to perform at their full potential then I am your speaker.

To find out if I am available then contact one of my preferred Speaker Bureaus:
- in Hong Kong - Speakers Connect http://www.speakersconnect.com
- in Singapore - SpeakerStation.asia http://www.speakerstation.asia

Of course once the date is confirmed we can discuss the format for the Keynote Presentation that will be serve your requirements and the audience. Here are some of my presentation topics:

• A Path Towards to Sustainability - An inspirational personal storey of my own journey from a land surveying career to being an Ecopreneur.
• Living with Eggs - Explores how people’s passions can be hidden within an organization and if not hatched then their full potential is not being utilized.
• GPS - Getting People Smiling - Delivered as Dr GPS the presentation provides people the chance to reveal their creative abilities while reducing their barriers to communication, resulting in stimulated and supportive staff.
• Awakening the Dreamer – Changing the Dream Symposium - A half-day guided interactive video workshop developed by the Pachamama Alliance (http://awakeningthedreamer.org/) designed to awaken and inspire people to take action in the pursuit of a fair, peaceful and sustainable future.

Looking forward to speaking to you soon!

Grow well
Dr Merrin

P.S. - I also provide MC services, check those out at
http://asia-ecopreneur.blogspot.com/2008/12/hong-kong-mc.html

I am ready to travel to your event!

An eco week in London

I have had a great time connecting with such inspiring people that are making an incredible difference to the way we are living on this planet. Thanks to you all so much for sharing your time.

I thought that it would be quite interesting to let you know who I have met up with as I am sure there are some exciting opportunities to work together.


So here is a list of the people I met in the order I caught up with them. Having said that I am going to start with one of the people that I did not catch up with though who was instrumental in my introductions to many people. Thanks Gina.

Gina Lazenby - http://ginalazenby.wordpress.com/ is inspiring women for success in business & at home.

Katie Young - www.katieyoungdesign.com is pioneering ethical and eco design & product development, and has recently produced stylish raincoats from fabric made from plastic bottles.

Chris Le Breton is part of a team of people promoting The Awakening the Dreamer Symposium in London. He is active with the Transition Towns initiative. He is also planning a bicycle tour from New Zealand to London via Asia in 2010.

Mike Southon - http://www.beermat.biz/mike_southon.php Thanks for sharing the wonderful space at the Adam Street Club and your wonderful insights into business via your knowledge of the Wealth Dynamics profiling. If you really want to experience the energy of Mike then check out Mike Fab-Gere (www.fabgere.com) and book him for an extremely entertaining and educational event.

Joining Mike and I at the Adam Street Club were:
- Shaylesh Patel - www.healthyplanet.org - Healthy Planet enables you to support conservation by adopting plots in protected parks throughout the world and helping to map the parks, monitor the parks and fund conservation actions in the parks.
- John Grant - http://greenormal.blogspot.com/ - is a green marketing expert.
- Al Tepper - http://www.linkedin.com/in/altepper - who is an integral part of Natural Collection (www.naturalcollection.com) the UK's leading green amazon.com type etailer
- Susan Mills and Adam Pattantyus who are driving forces in the Resilient Cities Initiative which is model for swift, aligned action for climate and other social issues. They are yet to have details online about this initiative. They both work for www.merrimackmanagementassociates.com

Catching up with Oliver Tickell was going to be in Oxford and then we discovered he was going to be in London at the Sustainable Development Commissions Break Through event. So as his Kyoto2 (www.kyoto2.org) proposal was one of the 20 projects being presented.

At the SDC event I got to meet the following great people
- Maria Adebowale from Capacity Global (www.capacity.org.uk) was talking about cultural diversity. Loved her approach. Their mission statement is "A fair and equitable society can only exist if everyone has a right to participate in the major decisions that affect their lives. Only with full public participation can effective strategies for social justice, eradication of poverty and a healthy environment be found."
- Lesley Lambert from Compassion in world farming (www.ciwf.org.uk) which certainly struck an accord with my upbringing on a farm and the various situations animals can be raised.
- Mark Shearer from ProjectDirt.com (www.ProjectDirt.com) who are providing a wonderful online platform for groups and business to let people know via maps where they are making a difference in their community.
- Duncan Kay from the Sustainable Development Commission (www.sd-commission.org.uk) where he is a Transport Policy Analyst. Duncan turned up at the conference wearing a suit and riding a bike! Sounds like my travel to work in HK.
- Chris Church from Mapping for Change (www.mappingforchange.org.uk) who specialise in providing participatory mapping services to communities, voluntary sector organisations, local authorities and developers using a suite of innovative tools for communication.

A day around Charing Cross was had meeting up with:
- Jon Ralls who is a leading part of the Be The Change Initiative (www.bethechange.org.uk). One of the components of the Be The Change Initiative is hosting the Pachamama Awakening the Dreamer Symposiums.
- Leon Aarts who is a Social Innovator and the founder of Extraordinary Ones (www.extraordinaryones.com) which is helping individuals make a difference with every purchase they make.
- Jeff and Julie Wicks who are superb couple that base themselves between Hong Kong and Australia (yes they were in London). They support a number of social causes as well as providing great mentoring.
- Ashley Blackmore who I had not seen since being in Bali together in 2005. Ashley provides guidance & stimulus to organisations with sustainable environment & healthy living agendas. http://www.ecademy.com/account.php?id=65773
- Cyrille Jegu from www.naturalstep.org. The Natural Step is an international not-for-profit organisation dedicated to education, advisory work and research in sustainable development.

The Triumphant Events Team - http://www.triumphantevents.co.uk/
Michael Clarke offered me the chance to crew at Topher Morrison (www.tophermorrison.com) The Winning the Game of Wealth 3 day seminar. What a great event and thanks to Daniel Priestley and the TE Team. Daniel looking forward to hosting your social media seminar in Hong Kong. For those of you in London check out when the next seminar is at http://www.triumphantevents.co.uk/events?access=social-media-affiliate-marketing

Other crew members at the TE Event were:
- Janay Alexander is doing wonderful work helping mothers to keep the child birthing process simple www.thebirthspecialists.com (The website should be active by the end of July)
- John Hancock is giving pets an eco bed option. Check out www.petlifeonline.co.uk
- Justine Clare is doing great things assisting people to utilize Social Media tools. For ideas head to http://Triumphantmedia.wordpress.com

Final thanks must go to Christine and Steve for allowing us the use of their car and house. The house did come with Christine’s mother and sister, which was superb. Thanks Kath and Katy for your hospitality. Katy is a UK immigration specialist and her company is www.definitive-is.com

So a superb week was had and I look forward to hearing the successes of your respective projects.

For those of you who have not met me you might like to check out the view from our place in Hong Kong at http://asia-ecopreneur.blogspot.com/2008/02/magic-of-mui-wo-lantau-island-hong-kong.html

Grow well
Dr Merrin