Whether you're doomscrolling on TikTok or catching up on the nightly news, chances are your feed is already filled with climate chaos. In recent months, the crises have grown more urgent: Tokyo was drenched by record rains, Sydney endured one of its wettest Augusts ever, and Bangkok's streets turned into rivers overnight. Each incident was a salient reminder that the weather is no longer just unpredictable, but extreme.
Then came Super Typhoon Fung-wong in November, which tore across the Philippines and forced the evacuation of more than a million people. The storm unleashed flash floods, landslides, and destructive storm surges, leaving communities reeling.
It was in Phuket, Thailand, at the annual PHIST (Phuket Hotels for Islands Sustaining Tourism) Forum where I met Maggie Ka Ka Lee - environmentalist and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International's Regional Head for Asia Pacific, Impact, Monitoring & Reporting.
For Hong Kong-born, Canada-educated, Singapore-based Lee, 42, the fight against climate change isn't just about charts and strategies. It's also about hearts and young minds. She's the author of two eco-ethics children's books: What Happened To The Fish In The Lake? (2023) and How Did All the Rubbish Get Here? (2024).
And she's quick to point out the often-overlooked role of women in shaping sustainability.
"We used to see a lot of white men as conservation directors. But now, more than ever, we see women of colour, of different ethnicities, stepping up as leaders," she said on a Zoom call from Bangkok a few weeks after PHIST.