The air that we breathe....
It seems that the results of the lights out campaign were disappointing....with most people pointing out the fact that in Central it was really only the Legco building that switched its lights off....
picture from the SCMP
however, it would be interesting to see pictures comparing DB, Lamma and Kowloon...
The govt. made its feelings known by not either cancelling or delaying the Symphony of Lights show;
saying such a move would send a "misleading message" to the public and create "adverse publicity" for the leading world city.. I would hate to be the one to break it to them, but the bad air is creating enough adverse publicity without the govt. adding to it by seemingly not doing too much about the problem.
According to the SCMP....Some restaurant-goers in Lan Kwai Fong said they chose to visit dining outlets that were joining in to support the campaign and did not mind having candles used for light bulbs for the 180 seconds.....wow, candle-light for a whole 180 seconds...!!!!
What ever the result, something really must be done to solve the pollution problem...when I was in HKG two weeks ago with colleagues from Manila, seeing the island from Kowloon became an excercise in incredibly good eye sight...instead of being able to point out specific buildings I pointed to a vague grey mass and said something to the effect of the island being 'over there'...I can tell you that it is embarassing to have to explain that Hong Kong (a supposedly first world city) has a hard time remembering what really clear blue skies look like and now has warnings to remind the sick, elderly and young children to stay indoors on certain days of the year.
On a personal note...my mother frequently suffers from chronic bronchitis as a result of her few years in HKG, I know that I start wheezing and coughing after a few hours back in town...and on a slightly less serious note....is it not strange that whilst living in Hong Kong Chairman Mao (one of my four legged furry fiends) has to have regular injections for bronchial asthma but whilst living in Jordan and Manila he is as fit as a fiddle....?
The HKG blogosphere is quiet so far....I shall look forward to seeing what pearls of wisdom they have to drop later on...particularly Hemlock who anticipated the three minutes of darkness like this...
In apartments from Happy Valley to Discovery Bay, families will dine in total darkness, painstakingly trying to convey their food from their plates into their mouths without dropping any into their laps, smearing it against their cheeks or stabbing their lips with their forks. In the bars of Lan Kwai Fong, Filipino waitresses carrying trays of drinks will emit high-pitched squeaks in order to find their way through the crowded blackness by sonar. In hospital operating theatres, surgeons will grope for scalpels and swabs while using sense of smell to locate and remove malignant organs. Pilots on their final approach to Chek Lap Kok, seeing the landing lights vanish, will depend on memory to find the runway – the moonlight, of course, being masked by the smog.
picture from the SCMP
however, it would be interesting to see pictures comparing DB, Lamma and Kowloon...
The govt. made its feelings known by not either cancelling or delaying the Symphony of Lights show;
saying such a move would send a "misleading message" to the public and create "adverse publicity" for the leading world city.. I would hate to be the one to break it to them, but the bad air is creating enough adverse publicity without the govt. adding to it by seemingly not doing too much about the problem.
According to the SCMP....Some restaurant-goers in Lan Kwai Fong said they chose to visit dining outlets that were joining in to support the campaign and did not mind having candles used for light bulbs for the 180 seconds.....wow, candle-light for a whole 180 seconds...!!!!
What ever the result, something really must be done to solve the pollution problem...when I was in HKG two weeks ago with colleagues from Manila, seeing the island from Kowloon became an excercise in incredibly good eye sight...instead of being able to point out specific buildings I pointed to a vague grey mass and said something to the effect of the island being 'over there'...I can tell you that it is embarassing to have to explain that Hong Kong (a supposedly first world city) has a hard time remembering what really clear blue skies look like and now has warnings to remind the sick, elderly and young children to stay indoors on certain days of the year.
On a personal note...my mother frequently suffers from chronic bronchitis as a result of her few years in HKG, I know that I start wheezing and coughing after a few hours back in town...and on a slightly less serious note....is it not strange that whilst living in Hong Kong Chairman Mao (one of my four legged furry fiends) has to have regular injections for bronchial asthma but whilst living in Jordan and Manila he is as fit as a fiddle....?
The HKG blogosphere is quiet so far....I shall look forward to seeing what pearls of wisdom they have to drop later on...particularly Hemlock who anticipated the three minutes of darkness like this...
In apartments from Happy Valley to Discovery Bay, families will dine in total darkness, painstakingly trying to convey their food from their plates into their mouths without dropping any into their laps, smearing it against their cheeks or stabbing their lips with their forks. In the bars of Lan Kwai Fong, Filipino waitresses carrying trays of drinks will emit high-pitched squeaks in order to find their way through the crowded blackness by sonar. In hospital operating theatres, surgeons will grope for scalpels and swabs while using sense of smell to locate and remove malignant organs. Pilots on their final approach to Chek Lap Kok, seeing the landing lights vanish, will depend on memory to find the runway – the moonlight, of course, being masked by the smog.
posted by Madame Chiang at 7:50 am
2 Comments:
There is an elephant in the lounge room of the HK pollution debate which the activiists refuse to acknowledge. It is called China...
This whole thing, while admirable in the getting attention of the voting public must fail. Even if Hong Kong shut down for several months, such as it did post Handover, this would do nothing to stop Shenzen, and in fact that entire noisome country, pumping out its foul unpoliced environmental excreta... Yeah, you say, but look at the booming economy!
LightsOut is merely political points-scoring and can have no effect on air-quality (right word?) in the once Fragrant Harbour. People who believe in it are wandering in the dark.
Other than that, no opinion.
I think they'd have better off asking the population of HK to converge on one point for 3 minutes. Say the corner of D'Aguilar and Queen's Road. Can you imagine the havoc of a spontanious and extremely short protest?
But I agree with expat@large, while HK may generate some pollution (probably mostly vehicular), it's China we face on this one.
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