Living Preferences

The majority of land area on earth is no longer green in colour. (Photo: image of the earth over North America in 2005)

Blue sky, white clouds, freah air and abundant food

Once upon a time, we had blue sky, white clouds, fresh air, clean water & abundant foods in the wild. But no longer now....

Mission of Mankind on Earth

Once upon a time, the land was green in colour. But not any more.... The land has been severely damaged.

Once upon a time, man was endowed with the mission of managing the land, the sea and the sky on earth. But mankind has collectively failed to keep our environment in a proper shape.

In the 21st century, we are plagued with a series of mishaps which are threatening the survival of many animals, plants and even mankind as a whole. These include:

	Serious air pollution, water pollution and soil contamination
	Food contamination by additives and pollutants, and food safety issues from genetic modification and genetic cloning
	Cruel rearing methods or treatment on animals, and exploitation of plants to increase yields
	Over reliance on medications and the development of super-germs
	Global warming with rise in temperature, increased floodings and droughts, rapid extinction of species, and severe impact on the survival of all organisms on earth.

Values Shaping the Behaviour of Man

Over the centuries, man has been taught to study hard, work hard, and make a good living. These values have fostered a lot of technological advancement, medical breakthroughs and material improvement of living conditions. But at the same time, they have shaped the behaviour of man that leads to our collective failure today in keeping the land green and the sky blue.

Something must be wrong. And it's time to re-visit our basic values and make changes before it is too late. We propose an adjustment of our living preferences towards a more sustainable and environmental friendly perspective. These include:

	Re-define Success and Blessings - Success means using the least resources to lead a decent life. Less is more. "Just Made" is the best.

	Re-define Costs and Values - Monetary costs are arbitrarily set, and have omitted environmental and health costs

	Re-define Ownership - Just own what you can manage

	Re-define Consumption - Only buy what you need, but not what you can afford

	Re-define Beauty - Beauty is what you see from the inside, not outside

	Re-define Leadership - To lead is to serve, not to be served

	Re-define Love - We love ourselves by protecting the environment from damage and contamination.

Succes is having just enough for you and your companions

Success is having just enough for you and your companions.

1. Re-define Success and Blessings - Less is more. "Just Made" is the best.

We were taught that blessing means having surplus, and success means having more than the others. Therefore man has been competing with each other to "win" as much resources as possible.

However, we have made a wrong assumption that the one "having more" is the winner. In nature, the rule of the game is different. Those species that can survive with the least resources are the winners. Using less means more blessings.

Everything in the nature will deteriorate and recycle by itself. Having too much means a waste of resources. The greatest skill of survival is having just enough for yourself and your companions. "Just made" is the best. We have to learn to leave more for the others, including people, animals and plants, so that the whole ecosystem is sustainable.

If you are having a lot of surplus, it is time to start changing your way of life. Just take what you need from the environment. And use your resources to help the others in need, as well as supporting initiatives in environmental protection, organic farming, and the clean up work of pollution.

Monetary costs are arbitrarily set, and have omitted environmental and health costs

2. Re-define Costs & Values - Include hidden costs on environment & health

In the current economic world, man has set an arbitrary value to every item. Quite often, a lot of environmental unfriendly items are given a very low price tag, e.g. plastic bag, disposable chopsticks, foam packaging etc. The high costs on health due to the leakage of chemicals into the food or soil from these products are not taken into account.

The incorrectly set monetary values have misled people to consume a lot of items very bad to themselves and to the environment. People selling those items get rich as a result. We probably need to adjust our perception of money and costs, and focus more on the health and environmental impacts of the products that we use.

If everybody on earth uses all the money reserves he or she has accumulated to buy something today, all the resources in nature would probably be depleted immediately. Our monetary system has created more money than the equivalent that our environment can provide. And something must be wrong.

Just own what you can manage.
(Photo: yellow-eared parrots)

3. Re-define Ownership - Just own what you can manage

In nature, all other animals and plants just occupy the territory they can manage. But man is enthusiastic in securing as much space as possible. We cut down the trees to build huge landmarks, sports ground and theme parks for entertainment, museums to remember the histories, zoos to lock up other animals to perform for our pleasure etc.

If all other animals have the intelligence (or, if looking from another angle, lacks the intelligence) as human beings to do the same things above, this world would have ended long time ago.

We believe that being able to manage one's belongings by oneself is one of the basic criteria of a successful life. The wealthier you are, the less likely you are able to score a high mark in this perspective.

Only buy what you need, not what you can afford.

4. Re-define Consumption - Only buy what you need, not what you can afford

The possession of wealth has misled a lot of people in buying more than they need, since they can afford it. Therefore a lot of people have clothes or shoes that they never wear, books they never read, furniture that they never use, and countless decoration ornaments or antiques at home that they never have time to take a look.

In addition, as the society gets wealthy, there comes the problem of obesity. Many people tend to eat more than their body can take, resulting in a whole series of related diseases.

All the goods we buy and the food we eat require a lot of resources from the environment to produce them, including water, electricity, raw materials, packaging etc. The more unnecessary items we consume, the more serious are the problems of pollution and depletion of resources in our environment. And it’s time for a change.

Beauty is what you see from the inside. (Photo: eel larva with transparent body)

5. Re-define Beauty - Beauty is what you see from the inside, not outside

Beauty is the qualities of life revealed from the inside. Beauty does not mean heavy make-up, permed hair, glittery jewelry, beautiful clothes and shinny shoes. People tend to put on a lot of harmful chemicals on themselves to make them look or smell nice. In order to be stylish and stand out, people tend to twist what they should naturally look.

Cosmetic surgeries, artificial breast enlargement, laser trimming of fats etc. are practiced by a lot of people who want to look nice on the outside. Their risks and bad effects on health are often ignored.

In nature, all other animals and plants exhibit their amazing beauty in natural form. Human beings is the only animal not contended with what they are and try obsessively to improve their beauty, unfortunately quite often by harmful means.

To lead is to serve, not to be served.

6. Re-define Leadership - To lead is to serve, not to be served

A leader should be a competent person with capability to help the others in need. However, in the modern society such as Hong Kong, a lot of competent people are suffering from the "Cinderella's Sister Syndrome". Instead of being the Cinderella they aspire, many people end up in reality being the two sisters of Cinderella, waiting to be served by Cinderella.

That's why so many people in Hong Kong have domestic maids at home. Once they climb up the social ladder, they would be served by the others in all their daily needs. They no longer have to take care of their own home, what they eat and what they wear.

With neither any exercise in doing housework, nor any physical work required to get food, many people end up being over-weight and obese. It is accompanied by a lot of related diseases in the heart, kidney and liver etc.

We love ourselves by protecting the environment from contamination and damage

7. Re-define Love - We love ourselves by protecting the environment from contamination and damage

We love ourselves by safeguarding the water sources and food supply to be free of contaminants. Good care for our environment means good care for us. Treating the poultries and animals properly equates to treating ourselves properly. Tinkering with the normal way that plants and crops grow is like playing with fire - one day there may be a backfire.

We are sharing this planet with many other organisms, which do not exist just for serving as food for us. In the 21st century, man dominates in number and occupies the majority of living space on earth. The balance of the ecosystem is seriously upset. All other animals and plants diminish in number and are threatened by extinction.

And if they die, we will also die. This is illustrated by the old Chinese saying of "If the lips die, the teeth will be chilled" (唇亡齒寒). We need to change before it's too late.