Clean Air Network

“Fresh Air”, CAN’s mock infomercial starring Daniel Wu

cleanairnetwork — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:19:24 +0000

This summer, CAN brings you a brand new public service announcement featuring popular Hong Kong movie star, Daniel Wu. The video is an ironic 1980s-style infomercial flogging a fake brand of canned air called “Fresh Air.” The Cantonese version of the video has already been viewed 140,000 times on YouTube. Here are both versions:

English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmH3xCpOSW8

Chinese: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KB9-LzALPk

Please view and SHARE it.

At the encouragement of CAN’s pro bono advertising agency, DDB, CAN decided to adopt a different approach from its previous series of dead serious public service announcements about the health dangers of air pollution. Instead of frightening viewers, CAN seeks to enlighten viewers by taking an absurdist, sarcastic approach to the issue of health, lifestyle and air pollution.

The overarching implication of the video — imagine pollution so bad you have to purchase canned air to perform even the most trivial, everyday functions. In one line, Daniel Wu, says, “Blow out your birthday candles with confidence!” And, as if to underscore how clean air is something most people take for granted (in developed nations, at least), he quips, “For only $2 a can, you can breathe fresh air, like they do for free in other countries.”

“Clean Air Network is thrilled that Daniel Wu has decided to get publicly involved in championing clean air for Hong Kong. His personal leadership will undoubtedly influence the minds of many young people,” said Joanne Ooi, CAN’s CEO. Said Wu, “I wanted to do my part to raise awareness about how air pollution is affecting everyone in Hong Kong. It is, after all, the city’s #1 public health problem.” Other celebrities appearing in the infomercial include Ana R., Cara G., and Simon Yin. Hot young director, Shern Sharma, was responsible for the kitschy 1980s styling, slapstick gags and all-around ingenious execution. Finally, ex-CAN intern, Denise Hofmann, wrote the fittingly cheesy soundtrack.

The video began screening on August 26th in locations all over Hong Kong. As the primary sponsor of the video’s production costs, Diesel is featuring the video in the front window of its Central flagship on Queen’s Road Central. In addition, The Grand, Golden Harvest and Broadway Circuit cinemas are screening the film in their lobbies. Finally, alivenotdead.com is promoting the video in a major online campaign on its home page.

CAN and Ben & Jerry’s kick off “Art for Air”, an online drawing competition with ice cream prizes

cleanairnetwork — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:37:44 +0000

Art For Air from Clean Air Network and Ben & Jerry’s

日期: 2010年8月9日 – 2010年9月17日

Dates: August 9th – September 17th, 2010

是次比賽的勝出者與首200名的參加者可以獲得由美國冰淇淋品牌 Ben & Jerry’s所送出的冰淇淋獎品！

The winner and first 200 entrants of the Art for Air drawing competition about Hong Kong air pollution will receive special ice cream prizes from
Ben & Jerry’s!

登入CAN Facebook 群組並點撃活動一欄
http://www.facebook.com/cleanairnetwork

Visit the CAN Fan Page on Facebook and check
the Events tab

This summer, Clean Air Network is partnering with Ben & Jerry’s to promote clean air awareness! This event is a chance for children to learn about air pollution while expressing their creativity by drawing their artistic impressions of Hong Kong’s air. The winner will receive a fantastic one-of-a-kind ice cream party from Ben & Jerry’s.

While we see this as a chance to stimulate creativity, this is, more importantly, an opportunity to educate children about the hazardous air pollution conditions in Hong Kong. Through these impressions we seek to better understand the younger generation’s views on how air pollution impacts their community.

There are only a few requirements to participate:

- the contestant should be 18 or younger

- the drawing must be A4 size, hand-drawn and have the Clean Air Network logo on it

- the drawing should demonstrate an understanding of Hong Kong’s air pollution situation

- the drawing must be uploaded online via our new Facebook application.

The Facebook application can be accessed at this link http://apps.facebook.com/contestshq/contests/42435 (All information and guidelines can also be found there.)

Once it has been submitted online, contestants can vote for their favorite drawings and ask their family and friends to vote too. A winner will be selected by a panel of judges from the drawings with the most votes and selected entries will be displayed at the Ben & Jerry’s Cochrane Street store from September 2010 to April 2011.

In addition, the first 200 entrants will receive a coupon for a free scoop of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, so there is really no time to lose! Participate today!

We look forward to receiving your child’s drawing.

Thank you for your kind attention!

This week’s bad pollution – a sign of what’s to come this autumn?

cleanairnetwork — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:59:38 +0000

This week’s API exceedances bode ill for this autumn

Two days ago, there was an API exceedance at Tap Mun, indicating increasing emissions from the mainland. (“API” is the Hong Kong government’s official ”Air Pollution Index”.) Tap Mun is a rural area close to the Chinese border, with virtually no roadside emissions, meaning that, when an exceedance occurs, the exceedance is due to mainland ambient, rather than local, pollution. The exceedance at Tap Mun was followed, yesterday, by three exceedances, at Hong Kong’s 3 roadside stations, Central, Mongkok and Causeway Bay. Then, today, early this morning, the roadside pollution at Central caused the API to go over 100. On top of that, there are high levels of pollution, right now, at all three roadside locations plus Tap Mun, Shamshuipo, Tung Chung and Yuen Long. (You can easily check this information at any time by visiting our home page, which prominently features all 14 monitors’ real-time readings at the top of the home page. You can also sign up for our email air pollution alerts so that you can be aware of API exceedances as they occur in real time.)

Air Pollution at 5:30pm today

Considering that our air has always been cleanest during the month of August, due to seasonal wind patterns, this week’s air pollution incidents bode ill for the autumn.

This unseasonably dirty air is probably attributable to high levels of pollution in mainland China. In fact, the Chinese government reported this past week that air pollution in mainland China has worsened for the first time since 2005 due to increased economic and industrial activity. This is an alarming development which affects Hong Kong obviously. Quite possibly, the pollution this year will be even worse than this past year’s, which already experienced the worst 2 quarters ever (Bloomberg).

This bleak prognosis means that we must strive to mitigate local pollution urgently, beginning with the idling law, then getting our oldest commercial diesel vehicles off the road. Roadside nitrogen dioxide has been increasing steadily over the past three years. On top of even worse ambient pollution this fall, the combination will be deadly for HK’s pedestrians and outdoor workers.

Audrey Eu: We cannot wait for untested technologies like Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) retrofits to clean up our bus fleet

In RTHK’s recent Letter to Hong Kong program, leading Civic Party legislator, Audrey Eu, made it clear that the government must not depend on SCR retrofits to franchised buses to tackle Hong Kong’s roadside pollution problem. The SCR trial alone will not be completed for 18 months. In the meantime, how many more people will suffer or die from air pollution? It is therefore incumbent on the government to take immediate steps, such as passing a subsidy to purchase cleaner replacement buses, to abate roadside emission.

Where we stand on the anti-idling ordinance

cleanairnetwork — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:16:43 +0000

Annelise O’Connell of Mini Spotters recently penned an op-ed piece to the SCMP objecting to my editorial, “Idling while air pollution goes through the roof”. In her SCMP piece, Annelise stated emphatically that, “the Legislative Council needs to pass this [anti-idling] bill without exemptions.”

Annelise’s point of view is certainly understandable (and, indeed, commendable). Indeed, her editorial presents a timely opportunity to clarify CAN’s position on the anti-idling bill.

Of course, CAN supports the idling bill. In fact, CAN is one of the EPD’s first allies when it comes to rallying public support and media attention in favor of the bill. Only last week, for example, we accompanied Edward Yau on his tour around Hong Kong to experience taxi and bus drivers’ queuing without the benefit of air conditioning. Moreover, we issued a joint press release with Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth on that day highlighting the dangers to pedestrians and outdoor workers of roadside emissions. And, as you know, we requested prominent organizations and schools to make deputations in LegCo to support of the bill.

The main point of my editorial piece was to decry the hysteria and massive waste of political capital surrounding the efforts to both win and defeat the bill. The fact is, even if the bill passed without exemptions today, the old, very polluting state of our commercial diesel fleet would make any improvements in roadside emissions de minimis. We have far too many old, filthy vehicles on the road. Idling or not, they are a huge problem. Every minute that a pre-Euro vehicle is running on the road, it is polluting the air 34 more times than a Euro V vehicle.

So, while we do support the idling bill, let’s not lose the forest for the trees. Given the current very polluting state of our commercial diesel fleet, ANY end-of-tailpipe solution will be insufficient to significantly mitigate our roadside pollution problem.

That is not to say, of course, that the anti-idling bill is unimportant. Rather, the anti-idling bill simply needs to be considered for what it is: first and foremost, it is a crucial step to changing attitudes in society at large towards air pollution. (It goes without saying that, in our crusade for clean air, our primary interest is protecting pedestrians and outdoor workers from roadside emissions always.)

That said, I do want to say how grateful CAN is to organizations and individuals, especially schools and medical associations, who have spoken out in support of the anti-idling ordinance. Their vocal and conspicuous support has been indispensable to raising the profile of the issue among the general public and heartening others to express their support of clean air publicly.

Joanne Ooi

CEO, Clean Air Network

Legco Recap: The Sub-committee on Improving Air Quality meeting, 27 July, 2010

cleanairnetwork — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:09:03 +0000

There are two main focuses in the meeting and some other minor discussion. The two major points are the new Air Pollution Index (API) and the new arrangement about the replacement of old buses.

The new API

The most important news from the meeting is that EPD and 3 universities were working together on research about new API, and there is hope that the new API will be formulated within this year. The new API will be use the Canadian system as a reference, which is a combination of health impacts and air pollutants.

The research is led by Professor Wong Tze Wai from Chinese University of Hong Kong, Professor Alexis K H Lau from HKUST is also assisting with the research. The research aims at comparing different API systems in different countries and seeks to choose the best one for Hong Kong. The professors believe that the Canadian system is the one most suited for Hong Kong, as the API there considers the relationship between hospital days and air pollution. It shows that the government pays attention to how air pollution affects people’s health.

Hopefully the research report will be finished within this year. Cyd Ho thinks that the EPD should show the report to the public, and the report should be comparable with the WHO guidelines. Also clear instructions should be made under different warnings, for example, the guideline to asking students to halt school activities or asking workers to stop outdoor work.

The SCR system on old buses

The second main focus of the meeting is about the replacement of old buses. The EPD suggested that it is not an easy task for the bus companies to replace all the dirty buses on the road. As there will only be 2,100 EURO II buses on the road (all pre-EURO and EURO I buses will be retired before 2015), the government suggested using PM filters and an SCR system in EURO II and EURO III buses instead of replacing them. The government suggested that an SCR system and PM filter can reduce the emission levels of EURO II buses to the level of EURO IV buses.

Experts in SCR technology will visit Hong Kong and conduct a meeting with officials in September 2010; they think that the trial for SCRs in buses can be started next year (2011).

Other measures

The third point is about a different environmental protection measure. Lau Kin Yee visited Jiangsu months ago and she was impressed by the green construction going on there. Many buildings in Jiangsu are facilitated with solar energy devices, even the street lamps. Lau suggested the government do the same in Hong Kong and introduce more green technology to the city.

Besides that, the amount of emissions from the electric power generation plants in Hong Kong is large. Therefore the councilor is concerned about fuel use in those plants. Carlson Chan stated that there is underutilization of natural gas electricity generators. This is because Hong Kong lacks a source of natural gas. However, the construction of channels of natural gas will be finished in 2013, and the channels can bring along the natural gas coming from Mainland China. It can increase the electricity generated by natural gas from 20% to 50%.

Electricity vehicles were also another point of discussion. The councilors questioned the passion and commitment of the government to promoting electricity vehicles/motorbikes. They urged the government to do more on that end.

Conclusion

We cannot comment on the new API at this moment, as we have no idea of how it is being calculated. However, we are looking forward to this index as it is related to health standard.

However we are not satisfied with the bus replacement measure. We think that SCR system is not good enough to reduce pollutants. According to bus manufacture, if the EURO II engine with additional device is as good as EURO IV engine, then it is meaningless to do research on a new engine. Therefore we still support the replacement of the old buses with EURO IV standard or even replacing the old buses with hybrid buses.

CAN joined hands with Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth to show support for the anti-idling bill on Monday

cleanairnetwork — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:22:30 +0000

On Monday, CAN showed up with fellow environmental groups to give support to Secretary of the Environment, Edward Yau, during his visits to taxi and bus queues throughout Hong Kong. Under pressure from taxi drivers and bus companies, Yau made appearances in Central, Mongkok, Causeway Bay, Hung Hom and Lam Tin to experience first-hand the “plight” of professional drivers forced to shut off their engines during hot weather. In anticipation of protests from professional drivers at these locations, the EPD canvassed the concerned locations beforehand to ask shop owners and residents along the polluted streets to express their support for the anti-idling bill to the media during Yau’s visit. These voices provided an important counterpoint to the opposition of the transport industry in the resulting media coverage. We hope that more balanced coverage by the media signals a turning point for the bill, which enjoys widespread support among a majority of Hong Kongers.

CAN and other environmental groups accept that the idling bill must contain some exemptions if it is to be a humane bill. But these exemptions render the bill far from perfect, throwing into starker and more urgent focus the need to clean-up roadside emissions from the dirtiest sources — Hong Kong’s commercial diesel vehicles. Read the SCMP’s coverage of Monday’s events here (subscription-only).

Idling while air pollution goes through the roof

cleanairnetwork — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:37:47 +0000

Op-ed by CAN CEO, Joanne Ooi: “Idling while air pollution goes through the roof“

In light of the furore triggered by the anti-idling bill, CAN CEO Joanne Ooi points out how the EPD and Environment Secretary Edward Yau Tang-wah are depleting valuable political capital to win passage for a bill with hard-to-measure public health benefits. She urges the government to refocus its efforts, attention and energy on the main task at hand: cleaning up our commercial diesel fleet. Read the full SCMP piece here.

DOCTORS MAKE UNIFIED CALL FOR MORE DECISIVE ACTION ON HONG KONG AIR POLLUTION

This week, the Hong Kong medical profession issued a bold and unprecedented letter to the Government, calling for immediate protection of public health against air pollution. Signatory organizations included the Hong Kong Doctors Union, Hong Kong Paediatric Society, Hong Kong Geriatric Society and Hong Kong Asthma Society. This unusually outspoken message fills a crucial void: Since the Department of Health is not formally involved in air quality policy or warnings, Hong Kong’s biggest public health crisis has been allowed to persist far longer than would have been allowed under the vigilant gaze of medical professionals. You can read the full letter here.

Doctors Make Unified Call For More Decisive Action on Hong Kong Air Pollution

cleanairnetwork — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:36:16 +0000

For immediate release

20 July, 2010

Today, the Hong Kong medical profession
(The Hong Kong Paediatric Society, The Hong Kong Geriatric Society,
The Hong Kong Asthma Society, The Hong Kong Society of Paediatric Respirology, The Hong Kong Paediatric Nurses Association and Hong Kong Doctors Union)
issued a bold and unprecedented letter to the Government, calling for immediate protection of public health against air pollution.

With tomorrow’s LegCo session on the anti-idling bill being the occasion for the issuance of the letter, the letter pointed out that even though the idling bill is NOT the answer to our pollution problem, it is an “important initial step”. Moreover, “any excessive exemption or delay would just prolong the exposure our people to the health risk caused by vehicular emission.”

In closing, the letter exhorts the government (and all of us) to stop wasting time, “We believe it is time for Legislative Council, the Government and all sectors of the community to show commitment to move on with this legislation and to act on all other pollution combating measures urgently and simultaneously. Our public, adult and children alike, deserve no less.”

Joanne Ooi, CEO of Clean Air Network, said, “We applaud the medical community for raising its voice finally on the air pollution issue. After all, air pollution is more a public health, rather than environmental, crisis than anything else. Next, the outspoken response of the medical community fills a crucial void: Since the Department of Health is not formally involved in air quality policy or warnings, Hong Kong’s biggest public health crisis has been allowed to persist far longer than would have been allowed under the vigilant gaze of medical professionals. It is downright irresponsible that the Government has not called on medical professionals to weigh in on a public health problem which kills more than 1000 people a year.”

The full letter is below.
———————————————————————————————————————————————

Open Letter to the Legislative Council’s Bill Committee on Motor Vehicle Idling ( Fixed Penalty) Bill

20th July 2010

Dear Legislative Council Members,

As representatives of Hong Kong medical practitioners, we feel an imminent need to step up all measures that could bring about an immediate improvement to our air quality. We are worried that the hesitation shown in the recent debate on introducing the legislation to ban idling engine might cause further delay to the passage of this long awaited Bill which is needed to protect our people, be they elderly and children, pedestrians and drivers, from hazardous vehicular emission.

Hong Kong prides itself as a modern city with a reputable record of strong health and medical care. We see it part and parcel of our health care and environmental policy to ensure our people would not suffer from polluting emissions especially those that could have been avoided by progressive environmental policies and collective behavioral changes that commensurate with our state of economic development. Emission from idling engine is but one of these pollutants that could be eliminated if there are sufficient commitment from the Government, Legislative Council and support and consensus from the community at large.

Numerous studies and surveys including a well publicized one done by HKUST recently clearly demonstrated that a very high level of air pollution prevails in our densely populated urban areas where the bulk of our population patronize every day, as they work, live, learn and play. Our people, aged and young in particular, would have no choice but continue to inhale polluting air and are extensively exposed to an increasingly high risk of brain, respiratory and heart diseases as a result of deteriorating air quality.

While we continue to urge the Government to do its utmost in bringing about a full and comprehensive package of measures to further reduce all these pollution hazards from industry, energy and transportation sources, we consider the idling engine bill an important initial step to reduce emission that could have been substantially eliminated. Scientific overseas and Chinese studies have already confirmed traffic emission is a major cause of street level air pollution in busy cities (like Hong Kong). As young children are short and breathing at a lower level close to that of the vehicle exhaustion pipe, “Hong Kong Children”, would be the major victims of street level air pollution. We call for the society, including drivers and passengers, pedestrians and car users, to adopt the norm that vehicles should have their engine switched off when they wait idly on the street, save limited exemptions to suit very restrained operational requirements.

As medical practitioners, we seek to protect the health of all citizens including both people on the street and those behind the driving wheel. We firmly believe that emissions from idling engines are damaging the health of all street users both within and outside the vehicles.

We recognize that to make the scheme a success, we need to bring about collective behavioral changes and the introduction of the long debated Bill is just a small but crucial step towards this goal. Any excessive exemption or delay would just prolong the exposure our people to the health risk caused by vehicular emission.

We believe it is time for Legislative Council, the Government and all sectors of the community to show commitment to move on with this legislation and to act on all other pollution combating measures urgently and simultaneously. Our public, adult and children alike, deserve no less.

Yours faithfully,
The Hong Kong Paediatric Society
The Hong Kong Geriatric Society
The Hong Kong Asthma Society
The Hong Kong Society of Paediatric Respirology
The Hong Kong Paediatric Nurses Association
Hong Kong Doctors Union
Dr. Chan Yee Shing (Paediatrician, Vice-President, Hong Kong Medical Association)
Dr. Chow Chun Bong (Hong Kong Early Childhood Development Research Foundation)
Dr. Kong Ming Hei, Bernard (Geriatrician, President, Hong Kong Geriatric Society)
Dr. Tam, Alfred (Paediatrician, President, Hong Kong Asthma Society)
Dr. Yu Chak Man ( Paediatrician, Immediate past president, Hong Kong Paediatric Society)
Ms. Susanna Lee (President, The Hong Kong Paediatric Nurses Association)
Dr. Henry Yeung Chiu Fat (Paediatrician, President, Hong Kong Doctors Union)

Idling while air pollution goes through the roof

cleanairnetwork — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:19:01 +0000

SCMP
Joanne Ooi

The timing of the bill to ban idling engines could not be worse. In July last year, the Hong Kong government announced its intention to overhaul the city’s air quality objectives – non-binding caps on the levels of seven air pollutants. To meet the new targets, the government commissioned the engineering firm Arup to come up with a package of abatement measures. These 19 measures do not include the anti-idling ban. What they do include are suggestions to use more natural gas and less coal to generate our electricity, hasten the replacement of the city’s oldest commercial diesel vehicles and create low-emission zones.

Unlike these 19 measures, the anti-idling bill will not appreciably reduce roadside pollution, while it asks for major sacrifices from the public. Despite its laudable goal of seeking to reform attitudes towards the environment, the anti-idling bill is quite possibly the weakest and most contentious piece of environmental legislation ever put forward by the government. Besides the humanitarian concerns of heat and extreme weather, underscored by the death of an 81-year-old minibus driver early this month, the bill fails to spell out its targets for major, quantifiable emissions reduction.

It is hardly surprising, then, that legislators are fighting the bill. In May, the Legislative Council unanimously passed a non-binding motion to improve air quality. The motion was notable for not including support for a ban on idling engines, bus route rationalisation or higher licence fees. Instead, the motion called for funding support to bus companies to replace or scrap those buses whose emissions were far in excess of European emission standards. Legislators also proposed using incentives – such as a subsidy – to get owners to scrap their pre-Euro, Euro I and Euro II vehicles rather than replace them with new ones.

In light of the motion and Legco’s history of approving subsidies, it’s reasonable to assume that transport subsidies to clean up the air would meet with the overwhelming approval of all political parties, including populist ones. If one thing is certain, it is that all parties seek to defray the cost of improved air through subsidies rather than increased fares for passengers and consumers. With Hong Kong’s fiscal reserves of half a trillion dollars, could a better use of money be imagined – especially since the worst victims of air pollution are the working poor?

But instead of introducing the measures most urgently needed, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and non-governmental organisations such as ours are dealing with the public relations catastrophe triggered by the anti-idling proposal. All the more is the pity since, in the wake of the dust storm in March, the public has been clamouring loudly for more decisive government action. A Gallup poll on air pollution that month found that, of residents surveyed in 153 cities around the globe, Hong Kong’s residents were the most dissatisfied with their air – 70 per cent of respondents. Given this unprecedented public support for clean air, it is almost painful to watch the EPD and Edward Yau Tang-wah, the environment secretary, deplete valuable political capital to win a pyrrhic victory for a bill with negligible public health benefits.

Roadside concentrations of nitrogen dioxide have steadily increased during the past three years. Each day of inaction costs us three more lives, according to the Hedley Environmental Index. We cannot allow the anti-idling bill to become a huge detour, when the path towards cleaner air is so well marked. The government needs to refocus its efforts, attention and energy on the main task at hand: cleaning up our commercial diesel fleet – urgently.

Joanne Ooi is chief executive officer of the Clean Air Network.

How can anything be more important than our children’s health?

cleanairnetwork — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:55:29 +0000

VIDEO: A must-watch for parents: Hedley talks about the long and short-term impacts of air pollution on child health

CAN interviewed Professor Hedley about child health before he departed Hong Kong. The result is a hard-hitting video about how damage to children’s lungs can result in a lifetime of permanently impaired health. Every parent should watch this.

VIDEO: Kids ask the Government to protect their health

On June 1st, a group of primary school kids showed their support for the anti-idling bill outside LegCo as Councillors heard arguments from the public for and against the bill. This video brings home the point that, as the most vulnerable members of society, children need adults and the government to protect them. Click here to see the video.

Please tell your kids: Enter CAN’s Art for Air drawing competition!

This summer, Clean Air Network is partnering up with Ben & Jerry’s to host a drawing competition for kids to promote clean air awareness. The winner and first 200 entrants of the competition will receive special ice cream prizes from Ben & Jerry’s! Read the competition guidelines here.

Clean Air Network

“Fresh Air”, CAN’s mock infomercial starring Daniel Wu

Related Posts

CAN and Ben & Jerry’s kick off “Art for Air”, an online drawing competition with ice cream prizes

Related Posts

This week’s bad pollution – a sign of what’s to come this autumn?

Related Posts

Where we stand on the anti-idling ordinance

Related Posts

Legco Recap: The Sub-committee on Improving Air Quality meeting, 27 July, 2010

Related Posts

CAN joined hands with Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth to show support for the anti-idling bill on Monday

Related Posts

Idling while air pollution goes through the roof

Related Posts

Doctors Make Unified Call For More Decisive Action on Hong Kong Air Pollution

Related Posts

Idling while air pollution goes through the roof

Related Posts

How can anything be more important than our children’s health?

Related Posts