Last year Kawee "Beam" Tanchararak invited Thais to vote yes or no on the constitution referendum and then convinced us to stub out those cancer sticks on World Anti-Smoking Day.

Now the former member of RS Public's popular trio D2B is an ambassador for the World Wildlife Fund (Thailand), and he's pleading with young people to take care of Mother Earth.

"My parents brought me up to have a sense of responsibility," says the 27-year-old, who's studying for an MBA at Chulalongkorn University.

"My responsibilities for the WWF are to increase environmental awareness and promote the organisation and its many campaigns.

"I'd like everybody to start protecting the environment now by turning off lights and electrical appliances when they're not in use, eating all their food - waste creates methane that eats away the ozone layer - and car pooling, which saves on petrol consumption."

The pop idol wants Bangkok residents to be part of the "Earth Hour" global campaign by turning off the electricity for one hour on March 29 at 8pm.

"It's the starting point to build up awareness about energy-saving," he says.

Beam shares his WWF ambassador's title with such luminaries as Prince Berhert of Switzerland, Britain's Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Haruhito of Japan.

"I can't be compared with those great people, but I will do my best," he says. I want to see more people get serious about environmental conservation.

"Campaigning for shoppers to use cloth bags instead of plastic ones has become trendy. But surprisingly I see many people toting plastic bags inside their cloth bags!

"For me, the most important step is to use petrol more sparingly. That helps conserve money in your pocket too."

By Kitchana Lersakvanitchakul

Sunday Xpress

the kid knows how to communicate

>> Kawee "Beam" Tanchararak is now pursuing a solo career and will soon be releasing his debut album.

He's appeared in several films, among them "Sex Phone Khluen Ngao Sao Khang Ban" and "Pong Lang Sading Lamsing  Sai Na", as well as in the TV dramas "Phoot Rak Na Mo" and "Khoo Pan Khoo Puan".

>> "He's friendly towards the environment and has a green approach to life," says Dr Robert Mather of the WWF's Kong River Project. "He's also keen to learn, and has great communication skills."

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