Very few people know this: the idea of Kebun Kota really sprouted back in 2006. And yes â it was when Al Goreâs An Inconvenient Truth was first released, which earned an Oscar award a year later.
In the film, Gore presented the frightening consequences of man-induced climate change, shocking the audience on the severity back then by illustrating how much was at stake. Wittily, he then added, âAs many know, the Chinese expression for âcrisisâ (ć±æ©), consists of two characters side by side. The first is the symbol for âdangerâ, the second the symbol for âopportunityâ.â Motivated, our founders, Mukhlis Chua and his family saw a gap for solid actions.
At that time, Kebun Kota was still a depleted quarry, once operated as a mining ground of granite and iron ore in the 70s. Two years later â in 2008, with newfound passion for urban farming and particularly aquaponics, they began the groundwork of transforming the brownfield into a greenfield.
In simpler words, a brownfield is any previously developed land that is not in use. Itâs not productive, which essentially makes it a wasteland. A greenfield, on the other hand, refers to undeveloped land in the city transformed into useful urban lungs such as a farm â hence âKebun Kotaâ (which translates into âCity Farmâ in Malay).
This is especially important at a time when sustainable consumption is never more urgent. In National Geographicâs Before the Flood, Leonardo DiCaprio romantically pointed out that we are right now, in fact, on the second frame of a five-century-old painting once hung on the wall of his childhood home â Hieronymus Boschâs Garden of Earthly Delights.
Look closely enough at the middle frame, youâll be able to notice Boschâs detailed and vivid reflection on the frailties of humankind. And in the years following the first and second Industrial Revolutions, the continuity of our greed, complacence, and political realities had culminated in what scientists desperately wanted us to realize â that weâre well into the next mass extinction event (implied in the paintingâs third frame) if we choose to idle around or just complain behind our screens.
So, where are we now between apocalypse and what most of humanity today perceives as a salvageable planet? Our collective aspirations as the supposed steward of our biosphere only seem to always face resistance, in varying forms â whether itâs special interests and lobbyists influencing political narratives, or bureaucracies within and among governments impeding crucial policies such as climate financing.
The answer for most seems to be this: awareness. Every now and then, we jump from one discourse about climate change to the next, and occasionally we find a sense of activism and inspiration in sustainability conferences. But beyond the resistance to some plastic bags, and in spite of our best intentions, we are still not moving fast enough.
What needs to be sustainable is no longer just our individual living routines, but much more importantly, the way we as a society, a species, function. In simpler words, our collective behaviors in production and consumption need to change. But this concept of change isnât new. Every other UN climate conferences, you see activists staging one demonstration after another demonizing corporate greed â they call it âbusiness as usualâ. Yet, hereâs what we donât say enough: shouting manifestos is one thing, shifting our current business landscape is quite the other.
More than activists, we need entrepreneurs now. While the mission to challenge the status quo is not for the faint-hearted, it still has to be done. Like it or not, our largely capitalistic global economy runs its gears upon the production and consumption of our everyday goods. And as of today, this âeconomic softwareâ is mostly linear â we take whatever resources we need from the planet, make them into products, and everything thatâs not used or consumed gets turned into waste.
Understanding how the circular economy works is only the first step (you can read about it here). Doing what needs to be done to transition our societies quickly enough from linear to circular is next. Yes, itâs urgent and needs to be quick. And for it to be quick, focusing on changing the consumers is simply the wrong strategy.
Hereâs where disruption comes in. It is impractical to expect a 50-year-old multi-billion-dollar MNC to want to make the switch (such is the law of inertia). But when younger, informed small-timers â not one, not two, but hundreds of us â start off with the right reasons, models, and partnerships, change is imminent.
When hundreds of young FMCG businesses ditch single-use packaging, or when new manufacturers decide to go transparent with their procurement ethics, consumers are given more and better options. It changes perception and educates the public, gradually shifting purchasing and market practices. This in turn compels industries to adapt to the new way of doing business.
Having said enough, we know just how hard it is to pioneer change. While this works in theory, we believe there are many out there â young and eager, but lack the resources and avenues to actualize their good-willed business plans.
With the education we have today, and our increasingly digitized (and globalized) society, it is difficult not to wonder just why our market is not already full of businesses that base their cases on the wellbeing of people and the planet. Instead, even today real social enterprises either struggle with bad margins or have to risk competing with giants â often causing aspiring entrepreneurs to tread too carefully when marketing their products.
And perhaps the most crucial â the very idea of entrepreneurship is something our education system still struggles to inculcate. As much as we do talk about it to the youth in universities and colleges here in Malaysia, our reality never seems to be able to catch up with it. It sounds awesome and appeals to my young sense of social responsibility, but where do I find genuine investors and a coach? Is there a market here that will appreciate my company values? How do I go about all the nitty-gritty of company administration and financing? And above all, what do I do if I fail? Where do I find support and partners?
We are here to help. A decade and running, Kebun Kota has since 2018 found its new calling â to bring together young individuals and startups that want nothing but the circular economy to be our new reality. Today, already more than 10 of such bright minds are utilizing our entrepreneurship training platform to grow and manage multiple business projects with influences across Southeast Asia.
To change the narrative, you first change its characters. To change the economy, you change its players â or better, be the players.
Written by: Kelvin, April 2019
