SCMP
K.Y. Cheng
A truck covered in black balloons was driven through Hong Kong Island and Kowloon yesterday to highlight lung damage caused by air pollution. It is part of a campaign by Clean Air Network, which claims more than 5,500 people have died as a result of air pollution in the past five years. The organisation has received 25,000 emails calling on the government to improve air quality. …
Hong Kong parents extremely dissatisfied and concerned about Hong Kong air pollution
CAN released the results of its parent survey last week at a press conference led by Dr. Alfred Tam, Chairman of the Hong Kong Asthma Society. For the first time, Chinese media wrote about air pollution as a health problem – a genuine breakthrough in the dialogue about this problem. Some of the damning con …
The Standard
Mary Ann Benitez
One of Hong Kong’s leading authorities on air quality and public health is leaving the SAR to avoid its polluted air and help his respiratory problems.
Anthony Hedley, the chair professor of community medicine at the University of Hong Kong since 1988, has lived in the territory for more than 22 years. …
SCMP
Peter Kammerer
Life has not been the same since my meeting on Friday with indoor air consultant George Woo. I had always thought of air pollution in terms of grey skies, cross-harbour visibility and diesel fumes. The roadside readings are bad today, so I must stay off the streets as much as possible, my subconscious would tell me. Horror of horrors: I just learned that sitting at an …
BBC
Annemarie Evans
More than 200 companies in Hong Kong have launched the first business-led petition to urge the government to combat worsening air pollution. …
Classified Post
Singapore-born Joanne Ooi took a degree at the University of Pennsylvania’s law school before learning the garment business in China and becoming sales and marketing director for a French shoe designer. She later launched her own upmarket fashion boutiques in Hong Kong. She now runs a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to improving air quality. …
SCMP
Christine Loh
If Hong Kong doesn’t get the “carrots and sticks” formula right, it will continue to be hard to replace the old and highly
polluting commercial diesel bus and truck fleet. There is no doubt about the harm these vehicles cause. Government data
shows they are the principal emitters of roadside pollution, accounting for 88 per cent of the highly health-damaging
particulates and …
SCMP
Editorial
Few things are more important than the community’s health. Yet the government seems to be more concerned with business reaction than with our well-being when it comes to roadside air pollution. It’s a problem that should be easy to tackle: it simply has to get off the streets the old commercial diesel buses and trucks that are mostly the reason for the poor readings. With yet anot …
Use your mobile to sign The Petition for Clean Air during March
If you are a CSL subscriber, you can sign The Petition for Clean Air via SMS for free this month. Just reply “YES” to the CAN SMS or SMS “YES” to 5036901. Yes, that number only has 7 digits.
CAN delivered an oral deputation regarding Early Replacement of Commercial Diesel Vehicles in LegCo today
You can access our deputation here. We argued for both bigger carrots AND sticks. And underscored that public health must be the predominating concern. You can read a fuller exposition of our views later this week on our blog. …
On Wednesday, 10 March, CAN made a deputation stating its position on the Government’s proposed $540 million subsidy to encourage replacement of Euro II vehicles. Note that this scheme will follow on the heels of a subsidy for Euro I and pre-Euro vehicle owners, still in effect, which will expire on 31 March. The current subsidy, because of its low up-take, has been widely regarded by virtually al …