"Nice day isn't it?" "Beautiful." That was how everyone in our community greeted each other everyday back in the good old days when I was working toward my doctorate in the UK.

Three decades down the road, there is no reason to believe that these obligatory, automatic pleasantries are no longer exchanged, even in disregard to the rising sea levels, the searing heat of the Sun, drought, killer storms and pestilence. Today however these routine exchanges through which people acknowledge and validate each other are becoming increasingly difficult to utter with conviction.

Fast forward from those days of yore back in Britain, to July 7, 2009, Hong Kong, where the legislation for the 50 cent plastic bag levy is newly being enforced; and where government posters encourage people to "think green." Environmental protection has become a fashion, a "new religion", a new must-do. Yet how much of this is still lip service?

What are we doing while our planet is on fire?

In this context I cannot wait to recommend a book which I discovered while browsing in a second hand bookstore: Global Warming Survival Handbook (Melcher Media 2007). While there are no earth-shattering revelations, green campaigner David de Rothschild nevertheless, presents a lucid and calm discourse that may be most effective in transforming people's lives in the midst of global warming.

After offering "77 essential skills to stop climate change -or live through it", as promised in the subtitle, the founder of the green education group Adventure Ecology concludes by stating the naked truth: the best way to survive climate change is to prevent it.

Small steps to put out the fire

World class psychologists hired by PR companies remind us that it typically takes five to 10 repetitions to drive home a message so that people will remember it. Therefore, I do not hesitate to reiterate certain practical suggestions. Here is Rothchild's list of "ten easy steps to fight global warming" (slightly edited to suit local context):

1. Turn down your air conditioning by 2 degrees Celsius, which means the room temperature should be 2 degrees higher. A 2-degree difference saves about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from pouring into the atmosphere each year.

2. Replace all conventional light bulbs with energy-saving ones. The energy-saving kind can last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, use two-thirds less energy, and give off 70 percent less heat.

3. Stop electrical appliances from standing by. This includes your computer and your mobile phone at night.

4. BYOB - Say no to plastic bags.

5. Shop locally, patronize wet markets. Flying cheese in from Europe and bananas from the Caribbean is a waste of fuel.

6. Bring your own mug-avoid disposable cups, plates and cutlery, anywhere.

7. One man's trash is another person's treasure. Barter unwanted items with friends and strangers. The Internet makes this very easy nowadays.

8. Use public transport. Avoid unnecessary airplane travel.

9. Say yes to short showers, and turn down the heat on your washing machine. Even changing your setting on the washing machine from hot to warm can save over 500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year in many households.

10. Plant something - edible, if possible. Plants are a great way of reducing carbon dioxide in the air and organic farming is a way to connect back to Nature.

Long-term big steps

Even if all of us do all these, there is no guarantee the catastrophe can be avoided. To restore global ecological order and sustainability, we need nothing less than a much greener universal political and economic order, resulting from humanity's total mindset and lifestyle transformation.

Here are some much more thorough changes you can make in your lifestyle to effect change. Obviously, it is much simpler to turn off the lights and turn down the air-conditioner, but here are some much more fundamental commitments you can make to the planet, and your own holistic health.

* Consider going vegetarian. This is the single most effective thing anyone can do to reduce their own carbon footprint.

* Invest green. Put your saving in banks and funds that help to save rather than destroy our planet.

* Turn your back to consumerism. Buy less. Avoid temptations by minimizing window shopping, TV viewing and use of credit cards, for example. Simplify your life.

* Less commuting. When considering a career change, consider working at home if you are able.

* Audit your garbage. "Meditate" on your carbon account, and realize what else you can do to cut down carbon footprints. Act accordingly.

Dr Chau chairs the Green Living Education Foundation. He can be contacted at Simon@Simonchau.hk.

(HK Edition 07/11/2009 page7)