what a lot of greenhouse gas

I was asked the other day to confirm the figure that around 12% of Hong Kong’s greenhouse gas emissions are caused by methane (which is principally generated in landfills from rotting food). It’s important because the bokashi composting system we have been introducing in schools does not generate methane, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

I’d come across the 12% figure many times, but rather than quoting it again, I went back to the government’s own figures. These can be found on the EPD website http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/air/data/files/GHG_Inventory_Table_1990_2006.pdf . The second table contains the greenhouse gas contribution from methane taking into account that it is around 21 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. In the last two years, around 5200 kilotonnes of CO2 equivalent were emitted as methane, close to 12% of Hong Kong’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

Food waste is a problem in Hong Kong as it makes up around 30% of the total amount of waste going to landfill. The problem appeared as a CNN article last year. http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/09/24/food.leftovers/index.html

Road rage

It’s been some time since I last wrote the blog. A combination of things including a lot of work and the absence of sharks conspired to the silence. Anyway it feels nice to get back into it and hopefully there will be a regular entry from now on.

Walking through my home town Sai Kung the other day (the holiday Monday for the Dragon Boat festival), we were stopped by some people with clipboards looking for signatures to oppose the plan for the doubling up of the road from Ho Chung village to Sai Kung. According to the government, the road has too much traffic and therefore needs to be made into a dual carriageway. The Friends of Sai Kung however maintain that the work will mark the beginning of the end for Sai Kung, leading to development out of character with the area and even more strain on the environment. Sai Kung is often regarded as a good example of unspoilt nature in Hong Kong and of course it is the gateway to the huge Sai Kung Country Park.

A few days later, I was thinking about the issue on the 101 minibus back to Sai Kung from Hang Hau. It struck me that a park and ride at Ho Chung would help to reduce much of the weekend traffic. Of course when I checked their website, the Friends of Sai Kung had undertaken a far more detailed analysis as well as digging up the history of the development planning (www.friendsofsaikung.org), and they had made the same simple suggestion for a park and ride. Sometimes, ideas look less attractive after a little consideration, but this idea has not developed any serious setbacks I can think of yet. Of course the people of Ho Chung are the ones to judge, but on the face of it there are plenty of derelict buildings (hence space to redevelop) and a park and ride would allow plenty of opportunities for local employment, perhaps a few supplies stores for vegetables grown locally, snacks etc. The shuttle bus service to Sai Kung should be frequent and no charge, in addition to free parking if an onwards journey to Sai Kung is made using Octopus. This would be quite an incentive for people to use it rather than paying for parking in Sai Kung. The costs of the operation could probably be met for many years by the savings from not constructing the dual carriageway.

Whatever your thoughts about Sai Kung, the environment or public works, do take a moment to consider the problem and if you have strong feelings get in touch with Friends of Sai Kung.

Nobel prizes and practical actions

Whatever the praise or criticism for Al Gore and his now famous powerpoint presentation that is the basis of the film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, his award of a Nobel prize has propelled awareness of environmental issues to new heights. As a scientist, this is good news as it has the effect of applying a little warming to the debate: science thrives where debate is encouraged, and results and conclusions questioned. On the other hand, we all have the responsibility to think of practical actions and follow up. The ideal is to think of practical actions that generate positive benefits in other areas, such as providing real incomes for the poor. Such actions would then satisfy Bjorn Lomborg’s criticism that our primary focus should be to tackle pressing problems in society such as disease and malnutrition.

There are many great examples of how local actions can generate environmental benefits and generate wealth that can tackle other problems (I like the charcoal from leaves solution developed by ARTI in India that won an Ashden Award: http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/arti). It was great to see another great idea come out last month: James Lovelock’s scheme for placing pipes in the ocean to generate more plankton growth and remove some CO2 from the atmosphere (see http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article3001626.ece ). Whether it works as well as hoped is not the point; the bottom line is to create ideas that may work, test them properly and select and promote those that really do produce win-win benefits. That way society and the environment can both benefit.

Creative thinking

It’s been a while since there has been a chance to update the blog, and over that time there was something of a discussion in the letters page of the South China Morning Post responding to Eric Bohm of WWF who lamented the death of one of the sharks. The discussion focused on the efficacy of the park and the rights of indigenous fishers. I think that Hong Kong can move forward from here in a positive way if we recognize the opportunities brought to us all by events such as the arrival of the sharks. Instead of scare stories in the press, the banning of water sports and angry confrontations, we could have had an illuminating and engaging TV documentary on Hong Kong’s celebrity sharks. It could have served as a celebration of the partial success of Hong Kong’s Marine Parks programme (now over 11 years old) and it would have started the process of education about sharks, the need for marine parks and wider conservation issues. The word ‘celebration’ is very appropriate here: whilst much needs to be done, we should also take opportunities to congratulate the government and NGOs like WWF on what has been achieved so far in marine conservation. The sharks could have served as a living focal point of issues that need airing and discussion, not just in the letters page of an English language newspaper, but in the wider public arena. It may be too late to grab this opportunity, but let's all try to take advantage of the next one that comes along.

A sad ending

For those of you not in the know, one of the real sharks was trapped in a fisherman’s net in Hoi Ha Wan on August 30th. I read the news with great sadness as I feel I have almost formed a bond with these marvelous creatures by writing the tales of the celebrity sharks over the past few weeks. Of course fishermen catch and kill fish every day, however it doesn’t seem unreasonable to wish for a marine park to be a safe haven for marine life. Unfortunately in Hong Kong, even the tiny so-called marine protected area of the marine parks does not seem to be protected after all: fishermen still fish in the parks with nets and therefore the marine life cannot really flourish. Of course the fishermen claim it is their right as indigenous people to continue fishing and they have a point, but when interests such as these collide with the interests of the general public, negotiated solutions can be found. The question that needs to be asked here is why the government of Hong Kong has still not found a negotiated solution to this problem some ten years after the creation of the marine parks ordinance. At least we finally know the type of shark that has caused such disturbance, albeit to a small group of people. A blacktip reefshark is no man-eating monster endangering the public, particularly a juvenile of this size. Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park should have been the proud residence of a couple of real celebrity sharks, but with one down and little chance of the other surviving the ensnaring nets for much longer, it would seem that this is a forlorn hope.

The real reason the sharks went

What is the real reason for the departure of the celebrity sharks from the marine park? Following a tip off from a source in the Hoi Ha bay area, we paid a call to an investment manager in a dingy little office in Kowloon Bay. Speaking on terms of anonymity, the manager told us that one of his clients did indeed sign off on the name C. Shark and that this client had bought heavily into the Algal Boom hedge fund and had a large number of shares of the Prime Sub mortgage company. It seems that in recent weeks the Prime Sub company has been letting in water where it should have been liquidity, and that the total value of the two investments could not be accurately counted because the financial papers were wet. “To be honest, we’ve moved office a few times,” said the manager, “well, how would you like to be hunted by a couple of unhappy sharks?” On further prodding, the manager told us that the sharks had been aiming to cash in their portfolio for “a few million” so that they could buy a debenture for themselves at an international school. A spokesman at the school told us that it was school policy not to comment on individual cases.

sharks spotted

Sai Kung resident and part time paparazzi, Mr John Martin just sent us these pictures of the missing celebrity sharks at a quiet private pool. No wonder they couldn’t be seen in Hoi Ha Wan over the last few days! John noticed that the kids seemed unafraid so he approached the sharks for a little poolside chat about the price of fish, only to find himself escorted smartly away from the scene by a couple of large gentlemen wearing suits and sunglasses. Fortunately he had the camera hidden away by then.