An interview with Lance Lau, youth climate activist and environmentalist, conducted by Finn West-Brownbill of IAR.
Finn West-Brownbill:
So we’re here with Lance, climate activist, environmentalist and one of our very first Guardians. And to begin with, we just want to get to know you and know what the spark for all of this was and what was the inspiration behind it all.
Lance Lau:
Yeah, So I started off just looking at a video of Greta Thunberg’s speech and her no-nonsense attitude really got to me. She’s laid bare the situation. And so I went home, I did some research and to 10 year old me. It was quite obvious that the situation was worse than what my textbook told me. The Earth was sick - it was very, very sick.
So I just started striking, like I saw Greta did. I took a sign out and I striked and I did not go to school for a day.
Finn West-Brownbill:
So how many weeks have you been doing it now?
Lance Lau:
Yeah. So I’ve changed myself quite a bit. I’m on around 185 weeks right now.
Finn West-Brownbill:
Coming up to 200, then!
Lance Lau:
Yeah! So I’ve been doing a lot of different activities, mainly kind of leafleting, talking to people about the climate crisis like I did. And I also do workshops. I pressure MPs, I speak at various companies and those are all kind of part of my weekly actions.
Finn West-Brownbill:
So, Lance, you’re 14 years old. What would you say to other students your age, or just anyone your age, about how they can get involved and make a difference?
Lance Lau:
Yeah, basically, anyone can have an impact. Anyone can have a difference. Even I just started off by taking a sign, skipping a day of school and just talking to people. And that’s what I’ve been doing every week. I’ve just been taking time, talking to people and spreading the message in whatever way I can. I’ve accepted every single offer to be able to speak and just to spread the message and raise awareness and tell people what they can.
And one of the main things to do, obviously, is finding your network, finding your tribe. And it’ll come naturally as long as you start acting. First of all, the people around you will see what you’re doing and that will have an impact on them. And then as long as you persist, as long as you keep going, you start meeting likeminded people, start finding and building up a network in your hometown and your city.
And you can also find and join networks. And one of them, one of the big ones would be Guardians of the Forest, finding a group of like minded people, finding group of people to share this discussion and share actions with.
Finn West-Brownbill:
What can world leaders of all countries and governments all over the world do to protect our biodiversity?
Lance Lau
I think the first and most major thing they can do is honor that 30 by 30 target that was recently established in Montreal. It’s good that it’s gone through, it’s good that nations have finally accepted that target. However, there are no legal repercussions and people need to go through with their words.
Finn West-Brownbill:
So we saw in Hong Kong you were doing lots of proactive climate action work like beach cleans and much more. Now that you’re you’re here in Brighton, what are you doing? How does it differ?
Lance Lau:
So back in Hong Kong I did beach cleans where I ended up taking massive Styrofoam drums that they would use on ships to prevent the ship from crashing into the dock. But after those got damaged, they would just lob them into the ocean.
They would end up washed up on the beach or in the mangrove. And Styrofoam is obviously extremely detrimental because it can split into millions of tiny little pieces and get eaten very quickly by the wildlife.
So over here, interestingly enough, we did try beach cleanup down Brighton Beach, but obviously it’s very touristy, so it’s actually kept quite clean down there. However, you do get some dirty water coming out from Southern Water and they actually dump a lot of raw sewage into the ocean, which is not great. However, here it’s very different because I have access to the British Climate Action Network and I’ve been able to start organizing my own protests. I organised two protests, one on the 12th November when on 3rd March and we had about 100 people in attendance at each and we marched through Brighton.
Finn West-Brownbill:
So we’ve seen that you’ve been advocating for lots of climate conscious decisions. What do you mean by that?
Lance Lau:
So basically every decision you make and every dollar you spend can have an impact on the earth. And that’s ranging from what you choose to eat. Are you going to buy new clothes or secondhand clothes? But crucially, crucially, it’s moving your money. It’s what are you investing in? Are you investing in BP, or are you investing in new solutions, new companies, green solutions? And crucially, it’s not just your own money. It’s challenging the people around you.
It’s challenging your company, your school. Where are you putting that money? Where are you putting your pension fund? Where is that being invested, for example?
Finn West-Brownbill:
So when it comes to the climate question, a lot of people are overwhelmed as a lot of doom and gloom out there. A lot of people think there’s nothing we can do. The solutions are too hard, so we might as well just ride the wave and give up. Clearly, that’s not what we want to do at Guardians and I’m sure that’s not what you want to do. But what would you say to people to stay positive? What is on the horizon that we can actually say, ‘Oh, it’s good news coming our way?’
Lance Lau:
I think one of the main things would just be once again, knowing that you can have an impact on people around you. As long as you persist, as long as you’re acting.
Even I actually by kind of doing what I’ve been doing, I ended up in a middle school resource booklet for teachers. And, you know, all I’ve been doing is I saw the climate crisis, I found the cause and I acted on that. ‘ve had an impact on the people around me, my parents, my family, my friends - they’ve all changed and become much more environmentally aware and they’ve done a lot to help.
Finn West-Brownbill:
Amazing. So that that booklet for the teachers, how was it received when you gave it to them?
Lance Lau:
It was interesting because I did hear about people in schools, people in other schools, having discussion about me in their schools.
Finn West-Brownbill:
That’s really interesting because but it shows how quickly it could spread!
Lance Lau:
Yeah, I really didn’t think I had that much of an impact. But as soon as that kind of went in and I also did an article for schools. It’s genuinely surprising what you can do - just take that first step.
