'Lehe' way to sustainable living

Goh Sui Noi, Straits Times 19 May 10;

THE first time I came across the term Lohas was on a magazine cover in a Taipei bookstore two years ago.

Lohas, or lifestyles of health and sustainability, is a term coined in the West. And the Chinese-language magazine had adopted the acronym as part of its name - My Lohas. In the articles the magazine carried, Lohas was translated as lehuo, 'happy life'.

The magazine, which was printed on recycled, uncoated paper with soya-based ink, was clearly pitched at the middle class. Articles included interviews with a psychologist who made lamps out of driftwood in his spare time, a former newscaster and her husband who made documentaries on the environment, two women who cycled round Taiwan; tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint; and suggestions of where to go for an eco-holiday.

My Lohas reflects the movement that began in the United States to provide goods and services focused on health, the environment, social justice, personal development and sustainable living, aimed largely at the middle-class consumer who is relatively health conscious and socially and environmentally aware.

Thus there are (more expensive) fair trade coffee, hybrid cars, organic food - products calculated to make the consumer feel good about having done his or her bit for society and the environment.

The second time I encountered the term Lohas, or rather the Chinese version of it, was last week in a news feature of the Beijing News, a daily tabloid. It was about a green project in an old part of Beijing, in the Dongsi area where old low-rises and courtyard houses are progressively being replaced by office towers and high-rise residential blocks.

This project of the environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO) Global Village of Beijing has brought the concept of Lohas to the grassroots level, and given it a new twist. Instead of lehuo, the Chinese have chosen to use the term lehe. It is shorthand for ledaoshanghe, roughly, 'enjoy the way of nature and esteem harmony'. This term is derived from the Dao De Jing, the Daoist classic.

As explained by Ms Sheri Liao, founder of Global Village, lehe goes beyond the concept of green living of lehuo or Lohas, to emphasise that man and nature are one. Put simply, it is about deriving happiness and good health from living in harmony with nature, a traditional Daoist concept which is now coming back into vogue in China.

One could argue that lehe is a reaction to China's rapid development in the past 30 years, which has led to serious pollution and resource depletion. This has led to the Chinese government looking for more sustainable ways of growth, and some segments of society for less profligate consumption and more healthy lifestyles.

In practical terms, lehe is about sustainable ways of living. Individual projects in the eight mainly lower-middle income neighbourhoods range from walking exercises to water-saving measures, to waste reduction and recycling, to improving air quality of the neighbourhoods through cultivation of herbs and vegetables.

The project in Dongsi began last September with funding of one million yuan (S$205,000) from a foundation and cooperation of the Dongsi street committee (much like our residents' committees). It is expected to run for two years, with some projects expected to be self-sustaining and even money-making, such as using reusable waste to make products such as bags, coasters, hats and souvenirs.

Organisers admitted that the project was slow to start because the residents, many of them middle-aged folk or retirees, found it difficult to take to. They had to rope in friends and Communist Party cadres to begin with. But more people are coming forward to take part of their own volition. For example, membership of the easy-e daily taiji, a simple exercise regime incorporating some taiji moves, has grown from 50 to over 300.

Some have taken so much to urban farming that they are going beyond just growing vegetables and herbs. Madam Liu Lanhui, 67, has applied for permission to cultivate worms, to which she expects to feed kitchen waste. She will then harvest worm waste as organic fertiliser. As for Madam Hao Yufang, 77, and her husband, there was nothing like the joy of eating the celery they planted themselves. They had their first harvest recently, after switching from growing ornamental plants to vegetables.

Then there is Madam Li Shiping, 68, who started exercising with a walking group last October. She now advocates vegetarianism, makes fresh fruit juices for her family, and grinds five kinds of grains to make into a healthy porridge. She collects spent batteries from her neighbours for recycling.

The project targets mainly women because they hold the household purse strings, said Ms Li Junling of Global Village, who works full time at the Dongsi project. They reduce household expenses through low-carbon strategies like waste reduction, recycling, as well as organising flea markets.

Change is slow to come, noted Ms Li. 'It is hard for people to change habits of a lifetime in just six months,' she told The Straits Times. But it is happening as people see the benefits of the activities they take part in. The challenge now is getting younger, working people to participate.

What is noteworthy is that Global Village is taking an essentially middle-class lifestyle movement - and of a small segment of the middle class at that - and trying to universalise it by taking it to the grassroots. It is also taking the movement into the countryside, to an area of Sichuan hit by the 2008 earthquake, with a focus on organic farming. After all, any sustainable living movement must encompass all segments of society if it is to be successful.

Here in Singapore, there are many green community activities, but nothing concerted enough to broaden awareness of what low-carbon living entails to everyone. There is not enough information and facilitation of green living.

For example, Singaporeans are great consumers of IT products, but there is not enough ready information on the disposal of e-waste or collection points for such waste.

For example, I don't know how I can dispose of spent batteries if I don't want to just chuck them in the waste-bin. If I have used clothing that is not fit for the Salvation Army, there is no recycle bin I can put it in. And if one wants to grow herbs in the kitchen of an HDB flat, where does one go for help?

Perhaps our NGOs could take a leaf from China's Global Village of Beijing and universalise the concept of low-carbon, healthy living here by taking it to the heartland.