2019.11.18 / Viewpoint

Digression about Entering the Expo

Recently, two things have intertwined, making people both anxious and excited! The first thing is that the expected Expo has finally arrived, and the other thing happened during the time waiting for the Expo.

The first thing: the head-to-head expo

The second China Import Expo is in full swing on November 5th, and the whole team is looking forward to participating in the world's largest business event.

The second thing: accelerated changes in the global climate

At the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York, the United States on September 23, 2019, Greta Thunberg, a "environmentalist girl" from Sweden, delivered a speech for 4 minutes.Thunberg, who is only 16 years old, has received attention because of her commitment to global climate change issues. Not only was she selected by TIME as one of the 25 most influential young people, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. This speech at the United Nations Climate Summit directly accused leaders of various countries of ignoring global climate and environmental issues. She spoke with tearful eyes firmly, and a clanging "How dare you" strongly expressed her indignance at the indifference of governments to global climate issues.

US media CNN reported on the latest issue of BioScience on November 6th, which published a joint signed report of 11,258 scientists from 153 countries in multiple fields across the world. The text echoes the words of "Environmental Girl" Greta Thunberg, and strongly criticizes policy makers for not taking the action they deserve. The report pointed out that despite 40 years of global climate consultations, politicians and legislators have focus on economic development and not taken enough steps for environmental protection. Life goes on as usual, and at the same time, the rate of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions far exceeds the expected growth, the acceleration of the harmful environment, and the planet facing a "climatic emergency" make scientists no longer indifferent. We stand up and scream that we must quickly and significantly improve our efforts to improve and protect the earth, otherwise humanity will soon face "" countless suffering "!

It is the rise of earth's temperature that has caused the melting of large areas of icebergs and glaciers, leading to sea level rise, global climate anomalies, the extinction of a large number of animals and plants, etc. The report even lists countries already in "climate change emergencies"-such as the United Kingdom, Scotland and Ireland, and more than 1,000 areas worldwide.

After reading this report, it is easy to cause anxiety, will the plot in disaster movies soon become a reality?

With anxiety and excitement, I walked into the Expo and saw various new technologies and products in the venue that were dazzling. On one hand, I was excited about the variety of innovative products that will improve our lives. I can't help but think of what is pointed out in the report of the Journal of Biological Science - Today's climate crisis is closely related to human "over-consumption and affluent lifestyle". So in a venue full of commodities from all over the world, you will feel that you are also one of the accomplices who killed the polar bear.

This was a heartbreaking scene, shot by National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen on Baffin Island (part of the Canadian Arctic Islands). A hungry skinny polar bear broke into the living area of humans, rummaging through several barrels, trying to find food in order to survive. "We stood there crying, and weeping tears." Photographer Paul recalled that he had seen more than 3,000 wild polar bears, but this time he was left with the deepest impression. Afterwards, Paul posted this video on the internet, hoping that the bear would not die in vain, and hope that people understand how climate change has serious consequences.

While strolling into the Expo venues, I saw that many companies demonstrated their efforts to implement "sustainable development" and told of how they implemented such ideas into products and services. I felt that the world still has some hope. When surrounded by so many innovative technologies and products, I especially want to applauce the designers, because the people who can make good designs are full of enthusiasm for life and ideals for making the world a better place.

Design is a big push for business. Solving problems through design and communicating the business core value to users are the key principles that our team has been assisting clients in building the brand experience. By going to the Expo, I not only witnessed China on opening the door to world trade, I once again felt deeply the importance of "design", and it also made the team more determined to continue to move forward on this "design" route together.

When the global communication is more frequent and more open, people's cognitive boundaries will be more widened and improved, and they will no longer feel that it is irrelevant to environmental issues because everyone is a citizen of the world. The United Nations published the "Sustainable Development Goals" (SDGs) in September 2015, proposing the global challenges we face which include poverty, inequality, climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice etc. I hope that all countries can work together to solve the social, economic and environmental development issues in an integrated manner.

Development and environmental protection have always been a long-running conflict, and no country can promise economic development without sacrificing the environment. However, we should at least reduce the environmental damage as much as possible, use our best efforts to improve the effective use of resources, and reduce carbon emissions. From a business perspective, perhaps many people think that if they pay attention to environmental protection, they will sacrifice development and efficiency. At the Expo, many successful companies have vigorously promoted sustainable development goals, which just released a message that they really care about the society. People-oriented companies can make people produce a closer value recognition of their brands, and ultimately will bring considerable profit returns for the long-term development of the company.

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires the joint efforts of the government, private enterprises, civil organizations, and all of the rest of us. Only this way will we enjoy the convenience of life through technology and economic development in the future instead of a devastating environmental disaster.

I sincerely hope that our descendants will not see polar bears only in Coca-Cola advertisements and textbooks.