To a yoga practitioner, facilitates people to connect their body, mind, and soul might be a life-long mission. For Fion Lam, a yoga teacher and a green activist, she is definitely looking for more. “Protecting the environment is never a hobby or something to do only when you are free. It is a responsibility, an indispensable part of our life.” Let’s see how Fion embraces this spirit and makes responsible choices consistently while eating, working and in all parts of her life.
Being a vegan is about eating the best food
Fion becomes a vegan starting from 2013. It was the time when she joined in some green groups started by her friends and exposed to information about carbon emissions and human impacts on the environment. She then decided to adopt more environmentally friendly eating habits almost without hesitation. “It is not difficult at all. If you understand and believe in the value behind your action, you will not want to eat meat at all,” Fion said. She took half a year to gradually stop eating meat, seafood, then dairy products. “My husband is even faster. He decided to become a vegan, and boom! He is a vegan the next day.”
Some people think quitting meat and seafood means the end of the world. To Fion, it means giving your body the best food to eat. She reads from research papers and finds that when animals butchered, they carried a whole lot of negative emotions like anger and fear. The related hormones left in the animal bodies will enter human bodies through our diet, which may impact our emotions subsequently. “After I turned to the plant-based diet, my family noticed that I become calmer and healthier,” Fion added.
The positive impact of being a vegan to Fion is actually the best “marketing” to promote an environmentally friendly diet. “I used to be ‘hard-selling’, persuading people to stop eating meat because the related food supply chain is responsible for more carbon emission. It is not effective at all. Indeed, showing people the positive change on my body is a much better way,” she said. Fion continues to be herself, to eat healthily, goes jogging, biking as usual, which eventually inspired her family to try having a vegetarian meal on the recent Mother’s day!
Green mind, green action
Besides being a yoga teacher, Fion is an active volunteer in green groups such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace. She even started a group called ‘Friends of Green’ with other like-minded people, organized beach clean-up activities, “green” movie screening, etc. After she became a vegan, Fion further promotes a plant-based diet by running a group called ‘Veggie Youth’ with her working partner. Basically she is fully engaged in all kinds of green volunteer work outside her official working hours. “I am not doing all these blindly. I am fully aware that the Earth is in danger and being heavily polluted, and I want to help. I cannot make a big change by myself, but I can be part of the change,” Fion said.
After graduation, Fion started her career in a few companies related to engineering. She once worked for a company based at the Castle Peak power station. “I remembered seeing black smoke coming out from the chimney every day. Then I reflect, do I want a job that is polluting nature?” She made a career move in 2016 and became a yoga teacher ever since, and now joined a Yoga centre where all the trainers are vegan! Fion knows that yoga and “green jobs” will be her life-long career.
An activist that takes real action
Fion is a member of Greenpeace climbing team for a few years now. “I like to take direct action, participate in activities that are making real impacts. Greenpeace is addressing the environmental issue directly, and talk to people directly. This is what we need today.” When taking direct actions, there will be confrontations, where Fion thinks it is necessary. “Some environmental groups are too soft. When necessary, we need direct action to draw public attention on certain issues. This is why I admire Greenpeace, to advocate change through taking direct action.”
From being a vegan, an active volunteer to a Greenpeace’s activist, Fion lives up the green spirit in her work and in her life. She walks the talk and truly connects her love of nature with her body, mind and soul.
About “Let’s Talk about Climate Change” series
Climate change is not only here, but it has also evolved to “Climate Emergency”. As global citizens, we should not ignore the crisis we are in. Yet sometimes if not all, we might feel the issue is too big for us or too far away. We are inviting people in our local community, from all walks of life, to share with us how they connect to and make the effort to deal with climate change. Read More