POLLUTION IN HK- Have you had enough??!!

B

bekyboo44

Registered User
Hi,

Some of the members on geobaby.com have decided that we can't merely sit by as Hong Kong's pollution worsens. As Mothers, Mothers to be etc. we are all deeply concerned about the worsening pollution and the effect it may/is having on the health and lives of our families!

If it's ok (Rani?) I'd like to use this post to collect YOUR views on the pollution, how do you feel about it?

- How does the air pollution in HK compare to the air quality in your home country?
- Is leaving Hong Kong an option for you because of the pollution?
- Do you worry about the pollution and its effect on your child's health, and as a result are there days when you just don't take your child/children outside?
- Has the air quality in Hong Kong aggravated any condition your child may have, e.g. asthma?

We'd like you collect YOUR thoughts with the ultimate goal of forming them into an open letter to the following- Donald Tsang, SCMP, Standard etc.

We could sign it, 'Mothers of Hong Kong, and then follow it with our signatures (obviously the more the better)!

I know we all feel powerless at times, especially when it comes to such a huge political issue as air pollution, but I think it's time we at least had our voices heard! It's time we stopped talking and took action. The more we talk, the more will join us, and the louder our voices will become, eventually someone will have to stop and listen to us!
 
I hope that I won't get shot down when I write this. I have to admit that I don't have a kid and hopefully by next year, we'll have our adopted child. When we moved to HK last year, we were fully aware of the pollution in HK. We knew what we were getting into. We had people advising us not to move because of the pollution, and stuff like that. But we bit the bullet and we made the move. Having said that, there are times of the year that the pollution can be extremely bad but I'm not going around grumbling because I knew what I was going to get myself and my husband into.

I come from Singapore where the haze comes by at certain times of the year and it has become a part of our lives that we're used to it when we were living in Spore. We decided to move here because of money and also for career advancements. But if the pollution does get really bad to the point that we can't take it anymore, we may one day move back.

My point is that, if the pollution is really that bad, then do something like move back to your home country or something like that. From the reports that I've been reading from papers, the blame of the bad pollution is on China and other issues. I wonder, honestly, what can Donald Tsang do? Go across the border and ask them to shut down the factories? Maybe you are right, it takes someone to have the guts to do it. But at the end of the day, what are your expectations from the government? There are companies that have moved their headquarters to Singapore because of these issues and SCMP had it in their headlines, what realistically, what will the government do?

Sorry, enough of my ranting....my point is, if families came to HK with the lure of money and knowing fully and not being deceived about the pollution, then don't complain and make noises. To me it's like, ya, we know will earn good money and we know of the pollution and we'll come and grumble and complain. But if you're being deceived into coming then by all means go rant, rave, complain and do whatever you want. And know what you want and expect from the government.
 
As a mother of a 11 month old child, I feel that the pollution levels in HK has deteriorated very fast in last few years. I came to HK in 2000 and things have gone downhill since then. My husband has been living in HK for the past 14 years and he did get asthma attacks from 1997 but since 2001 his attacks got worse to the extend that since 2006 he has to use a steroid inhaler twice a day to prevent asthma attacks. We as parents can deal with our own ill health but the fear of that affecting our son doesn't sit well with us.

Over the years Govt has made certain superficial attempts in cleaning up the pollution , but more needs to be done, Weather it is having certain days as no car days, odd/even no days, Talking to Guangdong province officials about their pollution levels, Contacting HK Owners of ftys in China to have certain off days and not running ftys 7 days a week. Having Solar pannels on top of High rises to use solar energy, using our surplus budget to find alternative energies. I am sure there are more ideas that can help us fight pollution.

On days when the pollution levels are very high we don't take our son out to Central, Causewaybay, we try to organize indoor activities for him , but we cant do that for the rest of his life, he needs open green spaces to go play and feel fresh and energetic.

Hong Kong is home for us and we are not going to leave Hong Kong anytime soon, but as residents we would like the Govt to take concrete steps in tackling this problem,

A Concerned Mother and A Concerned Resident
 
Neha said:
sunniefaith dont worry u wont get shot down because u were honest about your reasons
Click to expand...

Thanks....phew....was thinking of getting vest:redface: But I have to say, sometimes it gets to me that people know what they are getting into and they turn around and grumble.
 
I mentioned most everything in the other pollution thread but here's a little bit more...

We arrived in HK in 2003, not by our own choice but because my husband's firm transferred him out here. We are from Southern California and obviously the pollution here is much, much worse in HK than San Diego. We spend about half the year in HK and half in CA thankfully. So I feel better about my daughter getting clean air at least half the year otherwise I'd force my husband to transfer to Singapore, which is an option for us. We like HK better and it's closer to home. Anyway, it seemed that when we got here in 2003, the pollution wasn't nearly as bad. Meaning, I knew that some days it was there but it didn't bother my husband or me at the time and I don't remember thinking it would be a reason to leave. Kind of reminded me of the same levels of pollution in Los Angeles which I'm a little bit used to. I think back then almost every time we took visitors to the peak we could more or less clearly see the harbour. Now it seems that going to the peak on most days is a waste of time.

My husband since then has developed a cough that does disappear if we're in California. He said that most of the men in his office have the same cough. They also don't smoke other than the occasional cigar. Fortunately, my husband has an indoor walk to work now and is only outside briefly every day. I will not take my daughter outside when I look out the window and see brown in the sky.

We will leave HK earlier than we'd planned because of the pollution and we're trying right now to figure out when that will be and where we'll go exactly. HK is very different than where we're from in So Cal and we actually enjoy going back and forth. HK is a cosmopolitan city and whereas our other house is in a laid back beach town, basically. It's nice to have both extremes. I will miss HK very much actually.

I read an article in either the Los Angeles times or the SCMP that mentioned that breathing the air in HK (and other major cities) was like smoking "x" number of cigarettes a day. I can't remember the number was in HK but it was very alarming. Maybe you can also talk with the Clear the Air organization here in HK and ask for some statistics.
 
Here are my feelings. Sunniefaith's theory that those of us that are unhappy with the pollution levels should have known better and shouldn't have come is unhelpful. Not all of us had a little 'look see' before we came and though we had heard about high levels of pollution I'm sure many of us would never have imagined that many days you can't see Kowloon from Central or that the pollution is often so bad that your eyes hurt and you can taste it in your throat. Many of us could never imagine pollution could get this bad in a place like Hong Kong.

The good news is that many foreigners are already protesting the pollution in a very meaningful way - yes, by leaving the country. That will do more to get the government to wake up than anything else we can do. When you have people like myself and Woodk6 who actually WANT to stay but won't because of our babies health it's a sad and sorry state of affairs.

Also, I wonder who's job it is to change things if it's not the government's as Sunniefaith writes?

Personally, I believe it is the government's job to take control of the situation. They have a massive budget surplus and could easily devote a good portion of it to reducing Hong Kong created pollution. Introduce congestion taxes, allow people to drive only on certain days as they have done in Naples for more than 15 years, make it more expensive to run a car, change buses over to LPG, outlaw the use of plastic bags, outlaw the use of incandescent light bulbs in two or five years not ten.

The answer to keeping Hong Kong an international powerhouse is not lowering tax one percent as they plan to do but improving the lifestyle of residents. That way the locals with options won't leave for greener pastures and the ex-pats won't continue to stay away or leave, as the case may be. In fact, I'm fairly certain that there aren't many cities in the world that could compete with Hong Kong in terms of lifestyle, location, opportunity if you take pollution out of the equation.
 
after reading woodk6 posting, i find it so alarming to know that breathing the air in HK was like smoking "x" number of cigarettes a day. we have been here in hong kong for a year, like aussie gal mentioned. yes, we are know the air in hk is polluted, but u will imagine the pollution to be so so so bad untill we moved here.

I came from singapore too. and i have to disagree with sunniefaith. there are things that hk govt can do. like wat Neha has mentioned. Same thing happen when there was fire in indonesia, the haze affected singapore as well. the singapore govt take steps to assist our neighbour country in putting up the fire and hence, helping to control the haze in spore.

Whereas to be a local or expat in hong kong, i think most of us treat hk like our home. We love this place and that y we are still staying here. If the air pollution can be minimised, wldnt it make hong kong a even better place for all of us.
 
I tried to google the article that mentioned how many cigarettes per day (didn't find it....though if it makes you feel any better I think living in Los Angeles was like 4 cigarettes per day) and I did find this interesting tidbit from the ecologist.org:

"Pollution is a major cause of illness in Hong Kong. Every year, pollution is the cause of around 1,600 deaths (four per day), 64,200 hospital admissions (176 per day) and 6,811,960 doctor visits (18,600 per day). These serious health effects result in annual community losses of over HK$2 billion (around US$255 million) in direct health care costs and productivity losses, and HK$19 billion (around US$2.5 billion) in further costs arising from pain, suffering and personal loss."

The entire article is interesting and is here: http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=790
 
This is a great start, and I hope to move forward with our idea of forming out ideas into a letter, that hopefully HK nespapers will publish....however we need more views and more names!

I have to disagree with a lot of what sunniefaith says....some of us came to HK before the pollution was so bad...and now some of us have no home but Hong Kong, and thus have nowhere to go back to. And we aren't doing this necessarily for thse expats that can come and go as we please, but for those of us who call HK home and who are raising children here- because we have nowhere else to do so!
 
My husband is from mainland China and I'm American and we planned to come here so that our children can have the "best of both worlds". We knew what we were getting into and we have no intention of leaving until the kids are grown (right now we only have one 22 month old, so that will be awhile). We did not come for a couple of years on company assignment and we certainly didn't come here for money.

Yes the pollution is bad here and I worry about our health. We've only been here 6 months so we have not yet had any obvious health effects except that I get headaches when I never did before.

Yes the government should be urged to do something but we all have the power to make a direct impact. It's usually the expats (with more disposable income) that pollute far more than the average local. We tend to have bigger flats which we aircondition 24/7, have more lights and electronic "stuff", we tend to own cars or use taxis instead of public transport like buses, we do more laundry, use more harmful cleaning supplies, and create more garbage, etc, etc.

I try to complain a "suitable" amount in hopes of fueling the winds of change, but mostly I try to reduce the pollution that I create and hope that contributes to the greater good. In the not so distant future you won't be able to run "home" to cleaner air, the haze of polution will be everywhere.
 
What a great thread - thanks bekyboo for getting us thinking about what we can do about this pollution.

I respectfully disagree with the argument that, as expats, we can't complain to the government because we came here for certain benefits and can just leave when we want to (although I appreciate the candor of this post). Even for those expats who can pack up and leave, shouldn't we be concerned as friends, colleagues and neighbors for local Hong Kongers who can't leave so easily? It is truly awful that their kids are going to grow up in this increasingly toxic environment. As expats, we came here to join a community - some for a short time and some for a long time - and IMO we thereby have a responsibility to act in HK's interests and not just our own.

Thank you to mommy sara for suggestions on how we can do more personally to improve the environment - quite right that I can do with a lot less airconditioning that I use at the moment! But I strongly agree that we also need to pressure the government for more concerted action at a wider level. Bekyboo, the proposed mothers' petition would be a great start!
 
So shall I try and write something? Or bring some ideas together, and then post it to see what everyone thinks and if they would like to sign it.....or if someone else would like to write it?????
Or edit it?
 
I just want to add that the peition is not a criticism of HK- the petition has arisen from our love for Hong Kong and a worry that the city we all know and love is under threat from its polluted skies!
 
So have written something, but feeling a little nervous about posting it on here...pleas be gentle and kind with the criticism! Am happy to change it in anyway, or to completely rewrite if someone would like to do that!
Thanks!


An Open Letter to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, President of the People’s Republic of China


It is no secret that Hong Kong air pollution has worsened in recent years. There have been too many days this year when our city has been shrouded in the haze of a polluted sky. And there have been many polluted days when many of us had made the decision to keep our babies and children inside, rather than expose them to the pollution.

Our concern is not just that we are unable to take our children out to play but that the current and future health of our children is under constant threat from the polluted air.

A large number of has have lived in Hong Kong for many years and call the city home. Worryingly we have seen the air quality worsen considerably in recent years and we are constantly asking ourselves- how bad is it going to be in two years time, in five years time, in ten years time? For many of us Hong Kong is home and we have nowhere else to go should we decide we can not bear the pollution anymore, which it is why, we feel, it is imperative that the government acts, and acts now!

Others of us will call Hong Kong for a much shorter time, and many of us are already considering a move back to cities and countries where the air is clean or at least cleaner due to the worsening air pollution. For many of us our expat packages do not compensate for the worsening air, and its potential and actual impact on our children’s health. If we go, we take with us the expert knowledge and skills we were recruited for in the first place and with it goes Hong Kong’s competitive edge and ‘international city’ status.

We are each trying to do our bit to lessen the impact of our own carbon footprints but we are also aware that this is a much bigger issue than we can deal with alone.

We are asking you, the government, to take decisive action in tacking Hong Kong’s worsening air quality. We make the plea not for ourselves but for our children- wouldn’t it be nice if the children who will one day run this city are able to grow up as children should grow up- happy and healthy without constant trips to the Doctors and hospitals; without the long term health effects the pollution brings.

There are countless statistics detailing the effects of Hong Kong’s air pollution on our city. Here are just a few,

"Pollution is a major cause of illness in Hong Kong. Every year, pollution is the cause of around 1,600 deaths (four per day), 64,200 hospital admissions (176 per day) and 6,811,960 doctor visits (18,600 per day). These serious health effects result in annual community losses of over HK$2 billion (around US$255 million) in direct health care costs and productivity losses, and HK$19 billion (around US$2.5 billion) in further costs arising from pain, suffering and personal loss."

We would like to know what it will take before the government will take action. Do people have to be dying from pollution related illnesses? But wait, they are already doing that. Do are children have to be suffering from pollution related illnesses? But wait, that is already happening. Does our pollution have to be forcing people to leave Hong Kong and preventing others from settling here? But wait, that is also already happening.

So what now? If the government is having a difficult time coming up with ways to combat the pollution, we have a few solutions for them,
- No car days, as is currently practiced in Manila and Naples as two examples
- A road tax, similar to that introduced in London which forces drivers wishing to enter the city centre with their cars to pay a high toll
- Working with Hong Kong owned factories in China to find ways for them to reduce the pollution they create, whether this means encouraging them to run less days a week, or to implement tested pollution reducing methods
- Making it more expensive to own and run a car in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has a public transport system that is the envy of cities around the world- it is cheap, convenient, reliable and fast. Hong Kong as a city does not need the number of car owners and drivers it currently has.
- Banning completely, or at least charging for plastic bags.
- Introducing the mandatory separation of waste at source into recyclables, biodegradable rubbish and rubbish.

We realize that the government is tacking several items on our list, but it is our belief that the issue is not being dealt with as urgently as it should. More needs to be done and faster.


Concerned Mothers of Hong Kong.
 
Thanks for the effort beckyboo. It's hard for us to get together to sign our names to a letter. Could you organise an online petition? I've recently signed one which I think you can print to attach to your letter once everyone who's onboard "signs".
 
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