Galvanized by a Movie

Yale-educated Wei-Tai Kwock surrendered his hard-won company and career to fight for our climate, working with Vice President Al Gore for the non-profit Climate Reality Project.  This wasn’t an obvious path. His grandfathers and father were into business and science. They had all fled China when the Communists took over in 1949, his parents coming to the U.S., his paternal grandparents going to the Philliipines . HIs grandparents never set foot in China again. (See Part 1 .)Wei-Tai's father did return, though, as soon as the country started ties with the U.S. (1979), and he took Wei-Tai with him. China was not as Wei-Tai's father remembered. Still, he was proud of the country's accomplishments, and eager to introduce other Americans to it. (See Part 2.) Wei-Tai also became enchanted with the idea of leading tour groups. (See Part 3.)Upon graduation, he decided to further his studies in China, attending Fudan University. He was one of many foreign students in what felt like a U.N. of sorts. After living and working in China for a bit, he got transferred to New York, and he quickly decided that city was not for him. He moved to California just in time for the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. ( See Part 4.) Wei-Tai worked for a nuclear energy company for a year. Then he was approached by friends who asked him to create multi-cultural advertisements. Although hesitant (as in, "No way!"), he soon not only joined Dae Advertising, but was in charge of it.  (See Post 5.)
In 2006, Wei-Tai was happily involved in Dae Advertising, when his wife, Violet, suggested they go see a movie called An Inconvenient Truth.The Oscar-and Nobel-Peace-Prize winning documentary, narrated by Al Gore, detailed the science behind Climate Change. Wei-Tai was so moved by what he learned that he did research to see if any of the government leaders were acting on this important issue. But they weren’t. George Bush did nothing. Obama did nothing during his first term.
“This made me really angry. If a regular person like me could understand the threat of climate change, why didn’t our experts and elected officials take action? I felt a sudden burden on my shoulders.  I knew I would have to be part of the solution.  But how?“
Figuring out how to be part of the solution was a daunting task—and days passed. At the end of each day he reflected, “’What did you do to become part of the solution?’ And every day it was the same answer: ‘I did nothing.’”  One day, he realized if he wasn’t acting to solve the problem, he WAS the problem.
“That’s what got me to quit my job at Dae and look for something else, And, the something else was solar energy. If I could help market solar panels, the more we sold, the less we’d need to rely on fossil fuels.  That would be my contribution. “

Wei-Tai Headed up global marketing for Wuxi-based Suntech Power, which became the world's #1 solar company.

Wei-Tai ended up joining Suntech, which at that time was the world’s second largest supplier of solar panels in the world.  The company, based out of China, was looking to grow their SF office. Being bilingual was an asset. The year was 2009, and not many Americans could say their employer was a company based in Mainland China.  “How unique an opportunity it was to work for one of the first world-class Chinese companies that was listed on the NY Stock Exchange.”

The founder of Suntech, Shi Zhengrong, was born and raised in China. In the late eighties, he went to Australia to get his Ph.D. He ended up staying there for another decade plus, and he worked for a local solar company. That’s when he got the idea that China could make this happen in a big way, and he returned to Wuxi to start Suntech Power. “He ran this Chinese company in more of a western fashion--twenty thousand employees—most of whom were Chinese. Among the top management, many were international business persons: German, Australian, American. Many Chinese companies in China are top-down. You listen to the boss.  Whatever the boss says, you do it. Suntech was more of a hybrid, which made it a very enjoyable place to work.”

Wei-Tai worked at Suntech from 2009 til it went bankrupt in 2013. “What happened was that it was so successful that many banks wanted to lend money to help us build more factories faster and faster at a time when the product was flying off the wall. Suntech couldn’t build factories fast enough.  They had borrowed billions of dollars. At one window of time—in 2012—the market slowed down and some banks were owed 450 million dollars that year in repayment. Instead of extending the loan, the banks wanted their money back. But, the company had only about 200 million dollars in cash and no way to pay it back. “

Lacking cash, Suntech offered the Western banks some cash and some stock. But, the banks insisted on a dollar-for-dollar return. 
‘The Chinese government is not going to let the world’s biggest solar company go bankrupt,’ the banks said.  

‘You don’t understand,’ Suntech replied. ‘The Chinese government doesn’t do that.  Not like the American government coming in to bail out Chrysler or AIG.’

The Western banks refused to compromise and, as a result, Suntech went into bankruptcy protection, and most of its 20,000 employees were laid off, including Wei-Tai. He continued to work in the solar business, though.

Wei-Tai and his boss Dr. Zhengrong Shi, CEO and Founder of Suntech, meet Al Gore in Miami, 2015

Wei-Tai  reflected that since he started working in solar, the price of solar panels has dropped 80%. So whereas solar used to be more expensive than coal, today it rivals the price of coal in many places in the world, and it continues to drop in cost. “Wind and solar power are now economically viable solutions to the climate crisis,” he said.

(To be continued. Next: If China decides to combat Climate Change, it will get done.)