TTT started in 2012 when we renovated a run-down village house into our base to inspire young people to take action for sustainable development.
In Hong Kong, where hardly anyone has a balcony let alone a backyard, we wanted young people to get their hands dirty and their feet wet, exploring Tai Tam Tuk as if it was their own backyard. If we could get kids outdoors trying something fun, learning about this environment, we hoped they would take an interest and make changes at school and home.
We started off doing workshops about the biodiversity and water heritage of TTT. We got involved with drafting Hong Kong's biodiversity policy, and realised we needed to collaborate with like-minded groups.
We decided to scale up the impact by doing the first Hong Kong BioBlitz, then introducing smartphone apps and Hong Kong's City Nature Challenge, then a schools-based City Nature Challenge.
To widen our reach, we went younger, renovating the local heritage monument to pilot a green kindergarten, and more inclusive, building a Bamboo Biodiversity Jungle Gym to educate and engage through play.
We are honoured that our ideas are being taken on by The Harbour School and Lifewire's e.a.r.t.h. campus kindergarten, and WWF-HK's City Nature Challenge and Hong Kong Inter School City Nature Challenge programmes.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, COP 27, 2022:
We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator…Human activity is the cause of the climate problem. So human action must be the solution…
In 2019, a UN-backed study found that 1m species are at risk of extinction.
The evidence is crystal clear: Nature is in trouble. Therefore we are in trouble." Professor Sandra Diaz, Co-Chair, IPBES Global Assessment
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/ipbes-un-biodiversity-report-warns-one-million-species-at-risk
Now, there is no doubt about the global climate, and biodiversity, and inequality crisis.
In 2022, how can we talk about "take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints" when making and using a smartphone means hundreds of kgs of carbon, and making footprints means hundreds more kgs of carbon from transportation, not to mention toilets which may be dumped untreated into the ocean (https://www.aud.gov.hk/pdf_e/e67ch08sum.pdf), and trampling over sensitive habitat.
Greta Thunberg, 2019: I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.
William McDonough & Michael Braungart, The Upcycle : [Doing less bad is not the same as doing more good. What if you could design for abundance?
More than ever, we need to educate to inspire action for sustainable development. But we want to live by our values: by making our TTT house net carbon and biodiversity positive, developing new projects based on restoring our land and water habitats, and finding ways to invest in our community.
In short: earth care, people care, and fair share.
Like the sound of this? Get in touch, we'd love to hear from you.
*Tai Tam Harbour (Inner Bay) is Hong Kong's 5th designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1975.
**There are over 70 recorded mangrove ecosystems throughout HK including Deep Bay Ramsar wetland of international significance, however, TTT's is the only one on HK island.
Our Values
Have fun and be nice -> it's fun scheming and taking action to save the world together
Actions speak -> personal action community action civic action
World vision -> acting local but thinking global
Professionalism -> polished, high quality, consistent, timely, reliable, with integrity and accountability
Design and aesthetics -> design starts with intention and ours is a sustainable HK leading the world
Lighting fires -> good information is easy to find so how do we get people looking for themselves
Nerdy obsession with data/research-> measure to understand, discover effectiveness and persuade
Nerdy obsession with technology -> use best tools available to change the world and inspire
Diversity and inclusiveness -> different partners, teachers, students, visitors give us ideas, impact and resilience
Growth mindset -> it is proven that the more you learn the easier it is to learn
Interdisciplinary, cross-sector -> all knowledge is interrelated, there’s something for everyone
Plain English -> acronyms, academic/management jargon only where necessary