Her illustration depicting the SG Green Plan adorned pins that were handed out at the Singapore Pavilion at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Egypt, where she spoke on youth activism. While at the COP27, her daily updates, reels and comic-style storytelling ensured followers both at home and around the world felt part of the climate conversation.

“I want to create content that people enjoy engaging with — whether you care about sustainability or not. By doing so, I hope to nurture the right conditions to inspire action,” she says.

Interested in the intersection of tech, climate and art, Woo is also building Climate Commons, an interactive and exploratory creative platform dedicated to communicating climate science. A bank of content is expected to launch later this year. In addition, she co-hosts the podcast Climate Cheesecake with three friends, and is a sustainability consultant at Unravel Carbon, a Singapore-founded climate tech whose software-as-a-service helps companies track and reduce their carbon emissions.

While still in university, you became a science communicator. Is it hard for a young person to get people to listen?

Young advocates may be perceived as naive or inexperienced. We know that’s not always the case. Many young environmentalists are incredibly passionate, well-read, and driven to learn about the inner and outer workings of the space.

I like to think the content I create has scientific integrity and yet is accessible and entertaining for my audience. I find that what gets me listening to something is often an expert, but sometimes it’s people like me who know a little more than the average person, but are committed to learning more. I hope my audience knows I’m learning alongside them and that makes their sustainability journey less daunting.

Despite growing awareness about sustainability, there is still low literacy about the subject, and that’s not just because sustainability is such a broad and complex subject. Climate education, both formal and informal, is lacking.

Issues of sustainability have taken centre stage. Has it become a trending issue, or are conversations becoming more genuine?

It’s a trend that people want to get in on. As a result, greenwashing is inevitable, and it is often unintentional. Despite growing awareness about sustainability, there is still low literacy about the subject, and that’s not just because sustainability is such a broad and complex subject. Climate education, both formal and informal, is lacking.

Through courses and increased coverage by brilliant science journalists, much is happening to get everyone up to speed on climate knowledge. In addition to learning new science as the industry changes, I’m still learning a lot about the industry. It is also crucial that climate education be ingrained in our curriculum and that national consciousness goes beyond awareness. To effectively push for climate action, we must prioritise climate education and ensure that no one is left behind during this transformation. Perhaps we need to do what we did for Covid-19, where suddenly so many people can explain how mRNA vaccines work!

We often oversimplify climate issues because they are varied and complex. Is there a misconception that particularly bothers you?

This is the gap I hope The Weird and Wild, Climate Commons, and my new podcast, Climate Cheesecake, can fill. Oversimplifying a complex issue does us no justice. Being able to understand the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’ will enable us to take better actions that will lower our impact on Planet Earth.

My biggest pet peeve is when people ask, “what are some easy steps people can take to become more sustainable?”. There is no easy way to do this. In the supermarket, for example, fruit comes wrapped in plastic. Some things are within our control, and some are out of it. A sustainable lifestyle is similar to wanting to get fit. Committing to a healthy lifestyle requires sacrifices and changes to our schedule, diet, and habits. It requires that we create conditions that allow us to live on our terms and still achieve what we want.

This is not to say don’t do anything. Taking steps to reduce our impact on the planet is important, but living a low-impact lifestyle requires trial and error, wins and losses, and the persistence to find a rhythm that works for you and the planet. When we tell people something is easy to do and they realise that it isn’t, they stop trying.

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