I can’t wait to share something with you. Last year we were shooting video to promote a plastic- free life. You know more than 1,000 films are made every year in Taiwan. The production crew needs to eat and drink and a lot of this is packed in disposable plastic. You can imagine the mountain of plastic waste that is generated for each film.

So, we asked staff to ensure no food or drink for our team was packaged in single-use plastic. We were a bit concerned about not respecting local habits, but we wanted to walk the talk. But when they saw the lunch boxes, they were so excited because they hadn’t used steel lunchboxes for many years. They said they’d continue to use the boxes in the future. For me, I’m happy that we may have changed the habits of some of Taiwan’s film production teams!

— Yves Chiu, Senior Video Producer

I believe in the saying that 'if you want to change others, you must first change yourself.'

Last year, the Feel More project team held a series of events, hoping to inspire people to get creative and transform old stuff into something new. I’m not good at making things, but apart from doing a lot of the organizing, I also tried making a kitten badge – It took me five hours to finish it. What do you think?

Maybe it’s not that beautiful but the satisfaction from making something was priceless. Now I wear the embroidered kitten badge on the purple bag I use everyday and every time I see it, I feel really good.

— Walton Li, Campaigner from the Feel More Project Team

Last year we collected data on the surface water quality of rivers from 31 province-level environmental protection bureaus in China for 2011-2015. What did we find out? Almost half of them did not meet improvement targets. And so we sent our report to those 15 provinces.

We waited anxiously for one week and then started receiving feedback via phone or letter. Some of them provided us with more detailed data on river and lake quality; others said they accepted our recommendations; and some of them even invited us to meetings. The fact that we got such a good response shows that good scientific research can push governments to take action for the environment.

— Deng Tingting, Toxics Campaigner

When we launched our Detox the Outdoors campaign in 2015, we found ourselves in a dilemma - the waterproof jackets worn by our street fundraising teams were not PFC free.

That’s not acceptable and so we got together with the German office and spent six months hunting down suppliers and fabrics that were totally PFC free. We tested them to see if our standards were met and bought them for our Greenpeace offices.

We had to wait two and a half years until they finally arrived at our offices in Hong Kong at the end of last year! This doesn’t only represent our pledge to the environment but also represents that solutions do exist, we only need to keep our resolve.

— Pinky Tse, Regional Coordinator of Fundraising & Engagement Department

Our roots are in the rainforest. That’s what I realized when I took part in our rainforest campaign in Indonesia last year to help push banks to stop funding deforestation. One of Greenpeace's core values is bearing witness, so, last summer, I decided to take a holiday in Tanjung Puting National Park in central Kalimantan which has been badly hit by illegal logging.

During my trip I visited a centre that rescues orphaned or injured orangutans and rehabilitates them before they release them back into the national park.

You don't have to do the same thing as me and travel to Indonesia – just become aware of what is happening and the threats – that's the first step to change.

— Katherine Ma, Senior Campaigner

In our search for food safety we created our very own coalition! Our Food & Agriculture team has started a completely new way of campaigning in China, called Food Camp, China’s first ecological agricultural coalition.

Although the eco-farming sector has only taken baby steps so far, some conscientious farmers are sticking with it and are growing good, healthy and environmentally friendly crops. And so we are linking eco farmers to essential resources and making it cheaper and easier for them to farm successfully and environmentally.

Not only do we uncover food safety issues at Greenpeace – such as pesticide residues on food in our supermarkets – but we’ve pledged to put everything into helping China's agriculture move to an ecological model.

— Chang Wanting, Food & Agriculture Campaigner