KEY POINTS:
What do Bill Clinton, Jet Li and a New Zealand clothing company head have in common?
They all attended a world summit this month - and came out pledging to turn off the taps when they clean their teeth.
Untouched World founder Peri Drysdale won a place at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in Hong Kong after developing a rapport with the former US President at Apec in 1999.
She joined about 400 leaders, mostly from Asia, and Bill Clinton for two days to talk about ways to improve education, energy and climate change, and public health.
Speaking to the Herald when she arrived back last week, Ms Drysdale said the teeth-cleaning pledge might seem like a small commitment to come from a meeting of 400 powerful world and business leaders.
But it was an example of how much "low-hanging fruit" - environmental action that was easy to take yet many people did not take it - there was left.
Another example was overheated and over-cooled rooms, which if eliminated could save up to a third of the world's energy bills.
It's an issue Ms Drysdale, who was helped to attend the meeting by the Ministry for the Environment, plans to help address as part of a working group to find ways to make sustainability fashionable.
Ms Drysdale said the working group would encourage women to dress for the outside temperature - reducing the need for air conditioning.
She also agreed to run a programme through her charitable trust to teach young people about conserving water.
She said the meeting studied how to engage more people in environment and social issues. Experience showed young leaders would share their knowledge among their peers. "Once you've had your eyes opened you can't shut them again, and that's what we've found with these students."
World leaders at the meeting accompanied the teeth-brushing pledge with bigger commitments - such as not letting the financial crisis prevent action on climate change.
They were impressed by Untouched World because it showed you "did not have to be a multi-billionaire" to do your part, said Ms Drysdale. "The issues are too big for philanthropic billionaires and retired people alone.
"It's an ongoing thing throughout the life of the business."
While the meeting didn't get everything right - the hotel did not give guests a chance to conserve water, who also received thousands of unnecessary coloured bottles of water - Ms Drysdale said there was an urgency and energy about environmental issues she had not seen before.
She first met Clinton when she supplied luxury clothes for the then-United States President and other Apec leaders in 1999. Mr Clinton later braved driving Auckland rain without a jacket to show off the Untouched World logo on his shirt.
