Great - another massive pollution day in Hong Kong.
No need to look here to realize that today is another one of Hong Kong's many nasty pollution days. Just look out the window. That so-called 'haze' that limits visibility to a few hundred feet and causes a frustrating glare is a give-away, though perhaps you also felt it this morning when you woke up and took a deep breath.
If you're working or living in Central district, congratulations, you have a 'very high' reading mostly due to "respirable suspended particulates" that will wedge themself deep in your lung tissue and stay in there... for ever! A souvenier from Hong Kong's largest tycoons and corporates that own most of the pollution emitting factories and vehicles in Hong Kong and Guangdong province.
We should thank Hong Kong corporates and trade unions for doing nothing meaningful to aggressively reduce emissions. After all, they're the ones with the vote in Hong Kong's unique electoral system, where companies and trade bodies forming "electoral constituencies" vote on members of Legco and lobby on policy decisions.
We should also thank the Department of Health that is making a choice *not* to highlight pollution as a major health concern to the people of Hong Kong. Perhaps it is because the guideliens of the EPD are inadequate and it does not wish to get embroiled in the politics of changing these. Actually, by relatively stringent European and North American environmental standards, almost every day in Hong Kong should be a 'very high' pollution day. See the links on the right (GreenPeace and Clear The Air) for more.
Finally, in case you aren't convinced those particulates might kill you, read this link from MedPage about the effects of fine particulates on the elderly.
I'm dying to go on a run... but might actually try to postpone the run for a day or two...
1 comment:
Don't you think that when you're told not to worry about the haze by the authorities is when you should start worrying about it?
I woke up this morning with a sore throat, admittedly due to a slight infection, but I could feel the haze taking its toll as well. I sure hope that the wind predictions are true or there's another bout of sick people here. Its almost as bad as a bacterial epidemic- you know its there, you can't go out and worst of all, you can't do much about it unless you intend to leave the country.
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