Visions Of An Ideal World

We engage in spirited conversations with four people striving for their visions of an ideal world on what is needed to accelerate that journey

- Zara Zhuang

QIYUN WOO

A SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT AND THE DIGITAL CREATOR BEHIND THE WEIRD AND WILD, SHE TURNS COMPLEX CLIMATE SCIENCE INTO ACCESSIBLE EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL THROUGH COMICS, VISUALS, ART AND SOCIAL MEDIA

"To me, an ideal world would be one where our society lives in ways that respect the natural world, everyone is able to thrive while living within planetary limits, and we help each other thrive.

Our current society is obsessed with economic growth, and often at the cost of the planet. It scares me how that worldview remains so entrenched even as we 'green' our world. Our metrics of what success means as a society need to change in order for us to work towards a just and green future. To make that change, I think we need to be open to living differently. By that, I don't mean just switching from liquid soap to bar soap, or plastic straws to bamboo straws. It means reevaluating our value systems and readjusting our way of life away from one so focussed on convenience and economic growth, while making sure no one gets left behind in this effort.

It has been fascinating seeing the shift from people not really caring about the environment, to environmental issues being something that you can no longer ignore in the news. It is good knowing that something that I have believed in for so long is finally getting the recognition it deserves. But at the same time, shifting consumer interests also means dealing with greenwashing from institutions, brands and corporations. For me, as a communicator, that means having to sieve out the good info from the bad and making more effort to educate. I think there are still a lot of things that we need to do to move sustainability from a buzzword to real action.