If China decides to combat Climate Change, it will get done

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.).) He gave up his lucrative ad agency, and instead worked for Suntech Solar Power. (See Post 6.) 

But even that was not enough. Over the past year,Wei-Tai has focused the bulk of his time on Al Gore’s non-profit Climate Reality Project. This project, funded initially by Al Gore with proceeds from the movie and subsequent book, aims to empower volunteers to go educate people around the world about climate issues, and turn this awareness into action. Today the group consists of more than 20,000 trained volunteers, including scientists, cultural leaders, activists, and concerned citizens, committed to building a sustainable future together.

Al Gore awards the Climate Reality Project's highest honor, the Green Ring Award, to Wei-Tai, 2018

“I really feel that we’ve entered a window of time where the public is much more aware of the climate crisis, where stakes are extremely high and people recognize it, and want to take action. They don’t just want to be educated, they really want to know, ‘What can I do?’ I want to galvanize that interest and set it in motion.  Here in the Bay Area I want to try to bring as much change as quickly as possible. “

Wei-Tai works towards encouraging policymakers to take action: to understand that solar and wind are viable technologies, and that zero emission electric cars are 70% cheaper to drive than gas cars. Despite this reality, “Only 1% of cars are electric vehicles.  Less than 5% of American homes are being powered by solar.  We’ve got to hurry up and get more people on board.”  

Wei-Tai believes the world can change, and that China and America (who have the heaviest carbon footprints) must take the lead.

When he visited China for the first time, the focus was on modernization.  “They did an amazing job to modernize their country, and rocket ahead. Certainly, compared to other less-developed countries, they’ve done the best job of it in the last 20 or 30 years. They’ve lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, and they’ve created much more—well, I don’t want to say ‘freedom.’ But, people can pick their jobs. They can leave their jobs.  In the past you were assigned your job, and if you were a janitor in a certain danwei, (unit), you were in that danwei forever.  So things have gotten so much better for people. There’s so much more individual freedom and choice and marketplace selection.

“What that brings with it is uncertainty, because you don’t have that iron rice bowl underneath you anymore…(In addition,) in some ways Chinese have become very individualistic. Everyone is looking out for themselves. It’s like they’re going through adolescence. 

“There’s been a tremendous amount of economic growth at the expense of heavy pollution of their air, their water, their land. The food safety is questionable—can you really eat a tomato or an apple or anything? What is in that?  How was itgrown?  It’s just frightening the environmental damage this country has suffered in this growth spurt.”

Wei-Tai was pleased to see that recently China has begun focusing on environmental issues. And when China decides to do something, it gets done. “They are closing down the dirtiest polluters, because people don’t want to walk around with masks around their faces, coughing all the time. Now that they’ve gotten their other freedoms, they value quality of life, and the quality of the food, water, and air. So, people are speaking up and forcing change.

“For a poor country in 40 years to do what China has done for their people -- they have growing stature in the world, they’re a peaceful country, they’re not an aggressor, they’re not out there causing trouble--I think they’re a positive model. The world should welcome them, and engage with China, and work with China.  China will continue to pass through adolescence and continue on into adulthood and maturity . They are, and will even be more of, a global leader. 
(To be continued. Next: Hopeful We Can Change.)