The woman who believes in change – one at a time
“Female entrepreneurs are resilient. We need to form a network to support one another.”
Helen Ni Huan, GGEF 2018 Eco Innovator Award Winner
Founder, Green Light Year
Mahatma Gandhi once said “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Indeed, our Eco Innovator Award winner 2018, Ms Helen Ni Huan has embodied the change that she wants to see – particularly the change to our lifestyles. She has shown how technology can be harnessed even on a small scale to minimize the impact individual homes have on the environment.
Her home houses a thin film civil use solar plant, outdoor aquaponics system for vegetable cultivation and a vertical farm that uses kitchen waste as compost supplemented with a dripping irrigation system. She also has a shared charging station for her electric car. How cool is that!
In 2016, Ni Huan founded ‘Shanghai Green Light-year Environmental Service Center’, an environmental NGO that promotes sustainable living. She conducts her trademark “Low Carbon Tours” where she introduces the environmentally friendly features of her home and low-carbon technologies on display at Shanghai Jiaotong University. Zero waste DIY air purifiers, DIY upcycling courses and public library quizzes on animals are also part of her efforts to inspire change in the community.
Her work has been endorsed by multiple agencies such as the Shanghai municipal government and the British Council. Ni Huan has also featured in the 2017 edition of Greenpeace magazine
Ni Huan has certainly not only won the judges over but also the hearts of the people around her when it comes to saving the Earth. In a post-awards interview, a beaming Ni Huan has stated how she will continue her passion for educating communities about saving the environment.
She believes that change will come with education, especially in the young. It is therefore important to influence them to reflect on their roles on climate change and how they can change to lead a sustainable lifestyle.
