Rebecca Lee Lok Sze, an adventurer from Hong Kong, who is the first Hong Kong person and the first woman to have visited the North Pole, South Pole and Qomolangma (known in the West as Mt Everest), gave a speech on Environmental Education and Polar Science at the Macao Polytechnic University (MPU) yesterday, with the aim of enhancing the understanding of Polar Science and environmental education for students in Macau.
The speech was attended by over 100 students and teachers from tertiary institutions as well as health care professionals.
MPU Acting President Lei Ngan Lin underlined that Lee is the first female explorer from Hong Kong to have travelled to all three poles in the world, having climbed Qomolangma (“Holy Mother” in Tibetan) four times and travelled to the North and South Poles 18 times.
Lee said in her speech she hopes to give new impetus to local university students and youths to learn how to influence other people’s lives with their own lives, and to cope with various environmental experiences through perseverance and endurance.
In her lecture, Lee also talked about the development of science, environmental protection and health, inspired by her exposure to the polar climate, sharing her testimony of the nation’s first Antarctic scientific research base set up in 1985.
According to an MPU statement, Lee became the first Chinese woman to arrive at the North Pole, and also was the first to fly the national flag at the North Pole.
Lee was awarded the 2009 Outstanding Chinese Award.
Lee also talked about the characteristics of the Antarctic climate, the structure and variability of the ecosystem, and the impact of the resource crisis on life on Earth. Lee encouraged her audience to respect nature and have a positive attitude towards life, and never to back down in the face of difficulties.
Lee said that in her work, she has been encouraging health care workers to pass on the positivity of life, joy and gratitude to the community, so that they can learn from the wisdom of life and pass on their passion.
Hong Kong adventurer Rebecca Lee Lok Sze gives a speech at the Macao Polytechnic University (MPU) yesterday. – Photo by MPU
