After last year’s success, “The Airmazing Race” returns! Take part in this scavenger hunt for clean air that’s full of adventure and excitement! Participants must crack clues to find hidden locations and complete a series of challenges. To get from place to place, participants must use modes of transport that emit no roadside pollution (e.g. MTR, tram, etc.). The teams who finish the quickest will win!

Deadline for application: Friday, June 8th 2012

Participants should be in teams of two. Each participant must fill out their own application form.

Click here to apply via The Airmazing Race Facebook page and receive Race tips! Or fill out the application form below.

Volunteers are also welcome! Click here to join our volunteer team. Hours for OLE or CAS are offered for both racers and volunteers.

For more information, visit The Airmazing Race Facebook page or contact us at info@hongkongcan.org / 3971-0106

If you would like to download the application form, please click here ***

中文版

A BRIEF INTRO TO BE ADDED if appropriate:

「索氣大作戰 2」比上年有更多困難關卡，更豐富的獎品，當然，有一樣的樂趣及學習意義。請繼續瀏覽並報名參加！

各位可到「索氣大作戰 2」的Facebook (to be changed to www.facebook.com/theairmazingrace) 專頁，就會知道上年的比賽有幾刺激，而且我們會提供比賽資料、定期更新、甚至有小貼士!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/%E7%B4%A2%E6%B0%A3%E5%A4%A7%E4%BD%9C%E6%88%B0-The-Airmazing-Race/385453164830989

This event will be an exciting and educational activity for youth (13 – 18 yrs.), involving challenges ranging from the serious – participants have to find and photograph a roadside monitoring station – to the silly – participants have to remove a dark, sticky substance (the “pollutant”) from a red-colored sheet of clear acrylic (the “blood”), as pollution can increase the stickiness of blood to unhealthy levels.

Please click here or fill out the volunteer registration form at the bottom of the page.

Requirement

Aged 15 or above
Able to communicate in English or Cantonese
(Volunteer may choose the district and time to select.)

Duties of volunteers
‧隊伍登記
‧人流管理 Crowd management
‧駐守不同關卡
‧其他行政事務

我們希望於六月十五日前召集足夠的義工，並於活動開始前與每位義工作充分溝通。

如你有興趣支持這項活動，請即填妥以下簡單表格。如有任何問題，歡迎各位於（一）此Facebook 索氣大作戰專頁、（二）電郵 tiffany@hongkongcan.org或（三）於辦公時間內致電 3971 0106 Tiffany Leung查詢。

中文版

The Report shows that, last year, the annual average NO2 concentration in the PRD region decreased by 13%, compared to concentration levels in 2006; however, CAN found that NO2 levels in Hong Kong increased by 3% at general stations and 28% at roadside stations from 2006 to 2011. In fact, last year, roadside NO2 levels reached record highs (123µg/m3).  In addition, the PRD region’s recorded levels of SO2 and PM10 last year were 49% and 14% lower, respectively, compared to levels recorded in 2006. In comparison, the decrease for the same two pollutants were only 40% and 10% for Hong Kong.

The General Manager of CAN, Helen Choy, says, “The continuing improvement of regional air quality highlights the fact that most of Hong Kong’s air pollution comes from local sources. Apart from collaborating with the Guangdong government to reduce regional air pollution, the Hong Kong Government should put more effort into improving local air quality, particularly with regards to speeding up the pace to phase out old and dirty buses and commercial diesel vehicles, which are the primary sources of roadside pollution in our city.”

Table 1. Annual average concentration of regional air pollution (µg/ m3)

Table 2. Annual average concentration of Hong Kong air pollution (µg/ m³)

21-3-2012

The third runway at the Hong Kong International Airport is set for take off after the Executive Council approved the project in principle. Three hurdles are still to be overcome before work actually gets underway, said the government. Still ahead are the statutory environmental impact assessment (EIA), capital financing and public consultation.

Capital costs are estimated at HK$86.2 billion in 2010. Taking increasing cost of materials and inflation into account, the price is expected to soar to HK$136.2 billion in money-of-the-day terms at the time of completion in 2023.

The Airport Authority will provide detailed design and capital finance options to the government for final approval.

Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng said on Tuesday that the third runwaynot only will serve tourists but also promote economic development in the areas of financial, professional, exhibition services, tourism and value-added industries, etc.

The fact that in 2011 the airport reached its handling capacity two years ahead of expectations suggests the expansion of the airport could not be more urgent, she told a press conference.

Cheng attached great importance to the EIA with reference to the marine ecology, airquality and pollution and mitigating measures. “We will handle this with great care and in the most professional manner,” she said.

She estimated the EIA will take about two years and will be completed by the end of 2014 before a final decision by the government in 2015. Given the complexity, the project, which comprises reclamation, and construction of a passenger service building along with mass transit will take eight years after approval until completion in 2023.

It is premature to talk about the method of capital finance until a more accurate cost estimate, be it loans, bonds, government injection or a combination, she said.

The Clean Air Network, a green group, criticized the Airport Authority for not disclosing the initial EIA, thus making it hard for the public to evaluate the impacts on air pollution and public health. It called for more aggressive emission reduction measures.

The group said there should be an evaluation of traffic flow and emissions in the airport’s surrounding area, with an additional prohibition against vehicles below the Euro IV emission standard from coming into the airport area.

Jeffrey Lam, chairman of the Legislative Council Panel on Economic Development, supported the third runway, saying it will promote economic development and enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness. He did object to the high cost, however.

“The government must exercise strict cost and expenditure controls,” he said. “The fourth or fifth runways are being built in neighbouring cities,” he added.

Raymond So, dean of the School of Business of Heng Seng Management College, said the third runway is a “do or die” project for Hong Kong, cautioning that the city’s competitiveness will lag without it.

“The cost is inevitably high if it is built in an environmentally-friendly way,” he commented. “As to capital finance, loans with government guarantees or government injections may be necessary, given the huge amount involved.”

[Photo by Tan Daming/China News Service]

The highest 24-hr average PM2.5 concentration was recorded at Tai Po (76 µg/m3), which not only exceeded the WHO 24-hr guideline (25 µg/m3) 2 times, but also the proposed Hong Kong Air Quality Objectives (AQOs) (75 µg/m3).  The 24-hr average PM2.5 concentration in Tai Po was even worse when compared to readings recorded at urban monitoring stations in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Gongguan, and Zhuhai (Table 2).

Causeway Bay and Tung Chung also recorded the second and third highest 24-hr PM2.5 concentrations (69 µg/m3 and 67 µg/m3 respectively). This is against the common perception that air pollution was recorded higher at roadside stations than general stations (Taipo and Tung Chung are general stations while Causeway Bay is a roadside station). This is because major sources of PM2.5 are not limited to roadside emissions, and general stations measure broader ambient level pollutants, including ship pollution, power plant emissions, etc. Indeed, marine vessels have become the largest local source of particulate emissions, as cited by Edward Yau, Secretary for the Environment, in a government’s press release dated on March 5^th 2012. This also echoes the fact that Tai Po and Tung Chung have been notoriously known as two major marine emission hotspots.

Meanwhile, alarming PM2.5 levels are also observed throughout the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. According to the Guangdong Environmental Information Issuing Platform, half of the PRD areas were covered in orange color (Appendix 1), indicating PM2.5 levels in these areas have exceeded the China’s National Air Quality Standard of 75 µg/m3.

Helen Choy, General Manager of Clean Air Network (CAN) said, ‘Today is a perfect example of Hong Kong’s proposed AQOs does not give any implications to public health. The new PM2.5 standard is so loose that only a really polluting day like today would exceed the AQOs, and by then it would mean the whole territory has been choking in health-damaging air for more than 24 hours.”

Table 1. PM2.5 data from Hong Kong’s Air Quality Monitoring Stations

Data source: EPD

Table 2: PM2.5 data from PRD Regional Air Quality Monitoring Stations

Data source: EPD, Guangdong Environmental Information Issuing Platform

Appendix 1.  PM2.5 concentrations in the PRD region (11am, March 14^th, 2012)

CAN would like to extend a warm thank you to all the people who have sent us their data! The more we know, the better we can protect ourselves!

March 6 2012
Data courtesy of William Tayson

February 28 2012

Data courtesy of Helen Choy

February 27 2012

Data courtesy of Patrick Fung

February 23 2012

Data courtesy of Steve Holmes

Clean Air Network (CAN) welcomes the Environmental Protection Department’s (EPD) announcement today about the long-awaited release of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) figures. Starting today, the EPD will begin providing real-time updates of PM2.5 concentrations to the public on the hour. However, the pollutant data will be gathered from only fourteen monitoring stations – eleven general and three roadside – coverage which is far from adequate in reflecting territory-wide levels of pollution. With all of the general monitoring stations located five meters above ground, rather than on the street, where the public walks and breathes every day, the collected figures will not provide a clear picture of the PM2.5 threat facing pedestrians.

CAN recommends the Government install additional monitoring stations at street level, in order to bring to light Hong Kong’s true levels of PM2.5, a pollutant that poses a severe hazard to public health. Prior to this announcement, CAN had already questioned the Government’s decision to hold back from sharing their PM2.5 figures until March 2012, despite repeated requests to act sooner. CAN posits that one possible explanation for this move was a desire to keep the public in the dark about the high levels of PM2.5 during the past particularly polluted winter months. CAN found that, in January 2012, PM2.5 levels at all of the monitoring stations across Hong Kong exceeded the World Health Organization’s (WHO) air quality recommended guidelines.

According to the EPD’s newest 24-hour average PM2.5 concentration data (Table 1.), in the past twenty four hours, the levels of PM2.5 at six monitoring stations exceeded the WHO’s recommended guideline of 25 micrograms per cubic meter, three of which were roadside stations. However, none of the figures exceeded the Government’s new proposed PM2.5 standard, as outlined by the recently announced Air Quality Objectives, of 75 micrograms per cubic meter.

CAN’s General Manager Helen Choy points out, “This new standard may as well be non-existent, because even if the air quality worsens to dangerous levels, an exceedance will not be shown, leading the public to believe that the air is safe to breathe!”

There are six districts in Hong Kong which currently do not have any air quality monitoring stations (Southern District, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon City, Northern, Sai Kung and Tuen Mun). This results in a lack of any reliable air quality data in areas such as Lung Cheung Road, Castle Peak power plant and Black Point power plant, in Tuen Mun and Wong Tai Sin, as well as districts near the Pearl River Delta. Therefore, residents in these parts cannot take appropriate preventative measures to protect their health. CAN urges the Government to set up additional air quality monitoring stations in such places, and in the face of this information void, CAN has initiated a community air quality monitoring network. Members of the public can rent PM2.5 machines from CAN and conduct monitoring of the air quality in their own homes and neighbourhoods. The information can then be shared with the public via CAN’s social media platforms. Interested parties should contact CAN for details.

Environmental authorities of Guangdong province plan to start releasing PM2.5 readings on Thursday, an early-bird approach to meeting the stricter national air quality requirements.

The State Council announced last week that stricter standards would be adopted in cities, including readings for ozone and concentrations of PM2.5 – particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter – which is considered more hazardous to health than larger particles.

Guangdong’s initial readings will come from 17 monitoring stations in the Pearl River Delta.

Readings at other stations in the delta would be made public by June 5, with those from all stations in the province available in 2014, said Li Qing, director of the provincial environmental protection bureau, at a work conference on Monday.

Given the marked air pollution in the delta, the number of days with air quality that meet the standards in Guangdong will fall 10 to 30 percent after the new standards are adopted, Li said.

Authorities will tighten clean air legislation this year, strengthening the treatment of emissions from automobiles and coal-fired power plants. They will also phase out obsolete capacities in industries involving furnaces, paper making, printing and dyeing, chemicals, construction materials and cement.

An investment of 100 million yuan ($15.8 million) is needed to enable all 97 national monitoring stations in Guangdong to test the air for PM2.5, in addition to staff recruitment and training.

In Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, daily air quality reports in line with the new standards, including PM2.5 readings, will be issued on the websites of the environmental authorities starting Thursday.

To read the full article, click here.

After answering four questions from audience on green issues, former chief secretary gets just 2pc support, while Leung is clear winner followed by Ho on 23pc.

The three men vying to become Hong Kong’s next chief executive appeared together for the first time in a debate yesterday.

Tang, once regarded as favourite to take the city’s top job, registered just 2 per cent of the vote in a poll of the 500-strong audience, made up of the public and environmental campaigners, while the man who has been constantly ahead in the opinion polls, Leung Chun-ying, took 63 per cent of the votes, followed by Democratic Party hopeful Albert Ho Chun-yan with 23 per cent.

The forum gave the candidates an equal chance to respond to audience questions on four key environmental areas, though they were not allowed to direct questions at each other.

Tang was booed three times: when he insisted on pushing for waste incineration and on relying on public education and publicity to reduce waste. “I have worked in the government and I know zero waste is not likely,” he said. He further pledged not to expand the use of nuclear energy, a statement which does not appear in his manifesto.

Leung, a former convenor of the Executive Council, pledged to launch an immediate review of Hong Kong’s waste management policy, and the role of incineration in it, if he is elected. He also highlighted the need for a balance between reliable power supply, investment, cost, returns and service quality. “Low power tariffs are not necessarily conducive to environmental protection,” said Leung.

Ho, who stands almost no chance of winning, drew most applause when he said the first thing he would do to tackle cross-border pollution was to get himself a home return permit (the document Hongkongers need for travel to the mainland).

He described Leung and Tang as “brothers in despair” who had failed to promote green policies while they were on Exco and in government respectively.

To read the full article, click here.

By plotting the number of deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution in 2008 against the overall population of a country in 2008, the WHO gave the air pollution mortality rate for each country. Ukraine has the highest rate, with 67 people per 100,000 dying due to outdoor air pollution. China was ranked 12th, with a rate of 35 per 100,000 people. CAN, using data from the Hedley Environmental Index (http://hedleyindex.sph.hku.hk/) found that 3,000 people in Hong Kong died from air pollution in 2008, making the city’s air pollution mortality rate 43 per 100,0000 people (refer to Table 1).

Roadside pollution in Hong Kong continues to worsen day by day, making improving the situation increasingly critical. Today, for instance, measurements from the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) showed that particulate matter concentrations (PM10) exceeded the level considered “high” (100 micrograms/cubic meter). Today’s readings in multiple stations across Hong Kong were higher than the highest readings measured at the same stations during the whole of February of last year (refer to Table 2). Furthermore, accordingly to data collected by CAN from 10 to 11 AM, today’s hourly average levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), at 69-76 micrograms/cubic meter, are the highest yet since monitoring began in January 2012. CAN strongly recommends that on days like these, the public, particularly children and the elderly, should avoid outdoor situations. The Government should act with all haste to implement the new Air Quality Objectives in order to adequately protect public health.

Note: Hong Kong’s existing Air Quality Objectives for PM10 allows a 24-hour average of 180μg/m3. On January 17th 2012, the Government announced a new standard of 100μg/m3. . This is still twice the level of the recommended 24-hour average level of PM10 (50μg/m3).