Difficulty: Challenger (Level 2)
Valentin Shen Yuxin enjoys taking pictures of Hong Kong’s wildlife. He remembers the joy of sharing his photos at an exhibition at the Maritime Museum two years ago.
“I used my photos of birds, amphibians, reptiles [and] insects to illustrate different aspects of wildlife in Hong Kong because I felt like a lot of people … don’t realise how much biodiversity we have,” he said.
“We have close to 600 species of birds and 6,000 species of marine organisms.”
The exhibition attracted 800 visitors. The teenager met locals as well as tourists who shared his passion for protecting wildlife.
“I’ve always wanted to make a change, impact people and raise awareness through my photos,” Shen said. He is now 18 and is studying ecology at the University of Hong Kong.
Shen’s exhibition happened because he met someone from the Maritime Museum while he was a Young Environment Ambassador. This annual programme is hosted by a local NGO, called Civic Exchange.
Need for climate education
Lawrence Iu Chun-yip is the executive director of Civic Exchange. He explained that the NGO started the Young Environment Ambassador (YEA) programme in 2020 to teach students about climate change.
During the summer programme, secondary school students meet people working on climate action in Hong Kong. They also go on field trips and work on a project.
Iu wants the ambassadors to bring their knowledge about the environment into any career they pursue.
‘We are the changemakers’
Charlie Yip Cheuk-yiu joined the YEA programme when she was in Form Four.
Now, the 19-year-old is studying environmental science and management. She is a student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Yip said the summer programme helped her learn about how climate change affects people.
“We are the changemakers. We cannot wait until we are 30 or 40 years old. We have to act now,” she said.
The experience also helped her decide what to study in university.
“I have a more all-rounded mindset on what I should do,” she said.
After the programme, Yip and Shen have stayed involved with Civic Exchange. Shen is an intern while Yip works there part-time.
Yip has helped with a report on climate and biodiversity education. She has also worked on the NGO’s insights from the 2024 UN Conference of the Parties, also known as Cop29.
For Shen, being an intern with Civic Exchange gave him the opportunity to conduct research when he was still a secondary school pupil.
He advised other young people to do all they could to make an impact.
“You can really do more than you think, but you have to put yourself out there,” he said.
