While human civilisation is developing rapidly, the earth's resources are not inexhaustible for such development, and the environment cannot withstand the consequential damages. Therefore, in recent years, governments and civil societies around the globe have been studying how to strike a balance between environmental protection and economic development, and how to create a sustainable development model that is eco-friendly. As a result, there is an increasing demand for talents with knowledge of environmental studies.
Chris Chan Chi Wah has been a nature lover since he was a child. After graduation from secondary school, he decided to turn his interest into a career. He pursued environmental studies at the VTC. Thereafter, he joined a wholly-owned subsidiary of Veolia to manage a Sludge Treatment Facility, and specialised in environmental monitoring. Chris, who has been in the industry for nearly a couple of decades, hopes to leverage his knowledge and new technologies to promote a development model that pursues ecological equilibrium, and ultimately alleviates environmental pollutions.
Bring Strengths into Play According to Interests
Chris is lively and active, and has had keen interest in exploring nature during his childhood, since then he joined different uniform groups including the Scouts and Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps, where he learnt various skills, enjoyed outdoor activities, and cultivated his interest in environmental studies.
He said that his HKCEE results were not satisfactory. It was the late 1990s back then and Hong Kong was undergoing economic transformation, many factories moved to the mainland China, and the Asian Financial Crisis further undermined the popularity of business studies. In contrast, environmental science was becoming popular among students. Chris believed, “Whenever there was a dwelling, there would be environmental pollutions, giving rise to the need for environmental protection works, therefore the industry had better prospects than other industries.” Thus, according to his interest, he chose to enrol in the Diploma of Environmental Studies (Pollution) of Sha Tin Technical Institute (the precursor of IVE), laying a solid foundation for his future career.
In retrospect, Chris said that in addition to teaching general theories, such as knowledge relating to noise pollution, water pollution, industrial pollution, etc., the lecturers also arranged different experiments for the students, for example guiding the students to use monitoring equipment, "the most extraordinary thing was taking us to visit all kinds of environmental protection infrastructure such as landfills, water treatment plants, refuse transfer stations, etc. Before that, we didn’t have the opportunity to understand and explore these places, and didn’t know that simply throwing a piece of garbage or turning on the tap for drinking water involved such complicated processing procedures."
The Shing Mun River next to the Sha Tin Technical Institute became the base to do experiments for his final year project. He was responsible for monitoring the pollution of the Shing Mun River and its tributaries. “I found it very smelly whenever I passed by the river. When I went there from school carrying a monitoring instrument to record the data, I realized that the pollution situation could be quantified. It turned out the pollution was very serious."
Overcome Constraints for Lifelong Learning
Chris’ graduation in 1999 coincided with the expansion of railway infrastructure and the demand for environmental monitoring jobs on construction sites soared. He was referred by a VTC lecturer to join a consulting company and officially entered the industry. He reckoned that his theoretical knowledge was still inadequate, so he was determined to continue study. During the first ten years of his career, he used his spare time to study for the Higher Certificate in Environmental Technology at the VTC, and then completed the Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies at the Open University of Hong Kong (the precursor of Hong Kong Metropolitan University), and after that the Master of Science in Environmental Management and Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. "For six to seven years I had been studying unceasingly, and I acquired new academic qualifications every year, including completion of occupational health and safety courses, noise control courses, etc."
Chris explained, occupational safety and health seems to be unrelated to environmental management, but they both belong to the concept of sustainable development. In addition, construction sites and various large-scale facilities have to comply with legal requirements, such as obtaining environmental permits, etc. "You cannot survive in the industry by studying only environmental studies. Having taken courses of different subjects greatly enhances my competitiveness, allowing me to take up management jobs integrating ‘safety, health, and environmental protection’ in different organisations."
Chris, who holds multiple degrees, is still proactively taking different continuing professional development (CPD) courses to put lifelong learning into practice. Moreover, online seminars prevail in recent years, he said that he can get rid of the time, location and physical constraints to continually acquire new knowledge in the industry, "For example, different organisations update their environmental protection standards or air quality indicators every few years. If you don’t keep learning, you will be eliminated by the industry."
Be a Leader in the Industry for Environmental Protection Reform
Chris currently holds the position of Environmental Monitoring Manager in a Sludge Treatment Facility contracted by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Veolia. He stated that this project was a milestone in his career, because starting from the construction period until now when the facility has operated for a few years, Chris has been responsible for monitoring various data, ensuring that the facility’s various parameters and work environment comply with all the regulations of the Environmental Ordinances and the licenses granted to the facility. "I am very happy to be able to comprehensively apply the theories and knowledge that I have learnt in this job."
Environmental protection work involves challenges. Many people neglect environmental protection for the sake of convenience. But Chris integrates his environmental protection spirit into work projects and encourages others to reduce waste at source to improve the work environment. This not only changed the work attitude of the seniors in the industry, but also refutes the stereotype that construction sites are environmentally unfriendly.
Prior to the completion of the facility, in order to raise environmental protection awareness of the workers, Chris particularly arranged for relevant promotional clips to be continuously broadcasted in the canteen of the site. He also taught the workers how to sort the garbage, and provided them training on environmental protection projects. "At that time, we participated in the Considerate Contractors Site Award Scheme. A group of assessors came to inspect the site. Unanticipated at that moment, some workers approached the assessors. At first I thought they wanted to make complaints and was worried, but actually they just wanted to tell the assessors that it was the most environmentally friendly construction site that they had ever worked in. The assessors and I were surprised! In the end we won the gold award, but the sense of accomplishment to me was still not as great as successfully forming an environmentally friendly culture!"
Equip Himself to Accept Challenges
Having joined the Veolia Group for many years, Chris said that he has always been willing to recommend the company to hire VTC graduates. He has also collaborated with IVE (Tsing Yi) to provide students with internship opportunities. He advises VTC’s younger generations to continue their education and explore different interests and potentials.
As a senior member of the Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps, he quoted a Latin motto he learnt from the Government Flying Service: "Semper Paratus", which means "always ready." He encouraged the younger generations to always equip themselves at school or in the workplace, to seize every opportunity to acquire new knowledge, so that they are always ready to cope with challenges in life.
