Serving under the environmental division at YTL, Ruth Yeoh is currently striving to integrate sustainable tourism and coral reef protection to help facilitate sustainable business practices at YTL Resorts. Recently, she received the honour of being elected as the youngest Board Member of Rare Conservation, which inspires communities to act on global conservation. They have successfully raised more than RM700,000 in support of three local environmental organisations through Climate Change Week 2008, an educational campaign running for its 2nd consecutive year. For this issue of D2Y2, we have caught up with Ruth for an interview about her cause.
D2Y2: Why do you do what you do? What compels you to want to protect the environment?
Ruth: One of my earliest memories is planting trees and shrubs with my father on our private island estate at Pangkor Laut Resort. My father ta ught me about conservation at a very young age to build arou nd nature instead of over it. He knows vario us species of plants and trees, which he’d sometimes test our (my siblings and myself) knowledge on, as children. And my father continues to be a huge influence in my life as I’ve inherited his love for nature and preservation of God’s creation in all its glory. After all, he taught me about God and a Christian, there is a passage in the Bible that sums up why I love doing the work that I do. I am reminded of God’s love and beauty of His creations constantly, given the nature of my work (pun intended): “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” (Psalm 24:1)
It seems to some that Christians are more interested in saving people than saving the earth. What are your thoughts?
I don’t think that there should be a schism between environmentalism and evangelism. In fact, both are correlated. As God’s children, protecting and preserving the earth is our ultimate responsibility, looking at the state the world is in today. We cannot say we are preaching the good news if we are not doing any good to the world by damaging it. If you look carefully at the Bible, it started in Genesis with God creating the world, and for He so loved the world, He gave His only begotten son, Jesus, to die for all our sins. We are the reason why He created the world and as His children, I believe we should all be responsible for looking after this world He created for us, as stewards of His wealth and creation.
Where do you see yourself in the equilibrium?
I am only God’s messenger and am continuously guided by Him to do the right thing: to protect the earth, the environment and His creation the best I can. The beauty of my job is that I am reminded of God’s beautiful creations and the greatness of His creations each day. And for this, I feel truly blessed. And as my father has reminded me, to whom much is given, much is expected. I believe that as a global citizen of this one home we call earth, I have a duty and therefore have decided that I would like to do more -- environmentally and socially.
There’s a saying that goes, “to hurt the earth is to hurt the poor.” Is there truth or reality in this statement?
Yes, there is truth in that statement. Due to the rise in global average temperatures, sea levels will rise along with irregular weather patterns, such as we have already seen with stronger hurricanes, floods and disintegrating ice sheets. The damage of climate change is mercilessly severe. Overall biodiversity will also decline with the increase of global climate and this means serious implications for agriculture and food security, in which as little as one degree Celsius of global warming could produce a 161 kilometer shift in temperature zones. People living in impoverished areas who literally feed off the land will be greatly affected by the escalating food scarcity. Because the ocean is getting warmer, tropical storms can pick up in intensity and can become far more powerful. The loss of human lives will be felt most significantly in least developed areas.
You are clearly very much concerned about changing the way we leave our footprint on earth (in legacy as opposed to carbon footprints) and given the pulpit, what would you address the Christian community in Malaysia regarding the environment?
Caring for the earth is not an option, it’s a mandate. How we look after our world today has significant impact on how our future generations will live and bec ause God’s glory can be seen in His creation, we are glory ing God whenever we take actions to preserve the earth. This, kee pin g in mind that I would potentially raise a family of my own one day and would love to welcome my children to earth as I know it to be, still with trees and greenery.
Of all the things we could do to minimize our carbon footprint, where should one start?
We have already started leveraging on the resources and technology we have on this planet. By that, we could start living with respect to all God has given us, taking nothing for granted. Finishing up our meals is a good place to start as we dispose around one-fifth of the fruits and vegetables we buy over a year. If we finished all our food, lower market demand would reduce production and transport related CO2 emissions. So don’t buy more perishables than you can eat in a week. Recalling one of our campaign lines from YTL’s Climate Change Week, as mum says, “Finish all your veggies.”
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