From the Editor

Oxford Dictionaries declared ‘climate emergency’ to be its word of the year for 2019, following a 10,796% surge in usage over the previous year. This reflects a shift in the way we talk about climate change. We finally seem to be recognizing the seriousness of the current situation and the need to address it urgently.

No matter how old we are, where we live, or what we do for a living, we are all affected by climate change in one way or another. Climate change is the single largest threat to our sustainability. We must urgently deal with it at all levels, through decarbonization policies, scientific innovations and individual climate action.

This issue of Oceans and Sky presents some interesting sustainability topics which are closely related to fixing climate change. Professor Amos Tai shares with us how his research on sustainable farming could help resolve the food crisis, one of the major climate change impacts, and bring about co-benefits that mitigate air pollution.

Waste is the third largest source of greenhouse emissions in Hong Kong. Check out the latest facts of waste in Hong Kong through our infographics and see what Big Waster has to say about cutting waste and carbon. You can find more on this subject in PB’s exclusive interview with Big Waster.

‘Do we really want to be remembered as the generation that buried its head in the sand, that fiddled while the planet burned?’ asked UN Secretary-General António Guterres in the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in December 2019. We must act urgently.

In 2020, let us take our climate action to a higher level, and spread the word to our colleagues, family and friends.