Bad news outweighs the good as 'environmental deficit' grows
Electricity consumption, pollution and waste-generation have surged since the handover, contributing to Hong Kong's growing 'environmental deficit', Friends of the Earth says.
Though harbour water was cleaner and the rate of recycling had increased dramatically, the good news was outweighed by the bad, the environmental group said.
If Hongkongers did not adopt more sustainable lifestyles, pollution would worsen and more land in country parks would be sacrificed to waste dumps, Friends of the Earth said. The group found the amount of solid waste generated per person had risen by a quarter, to 2.47kg a day.
Edwin Lau Che-feng, Friends of the Earth's acting director, said the city needed to tackle the sources of environmental problems, not just the consequences.
'The government tends to deal with the problem by employing technology. But the best means is to change people's mindsets so that they can treasure natural resources and lead a simple life,' he said.
Mr Lau said the city relied too much on consumption to drive economic growth.
'If we don't act now, we might never see our blue skies restored, while the landfills will eat up our beautiful country parks. When our children can't tell what colour the sky should be, it will be too late to reverse course,' he said.
A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department did not directly respond to Mr Lau's comments. But he cited a number of programmes the department had put in place to improve air quality, boost waste reduction, enhance energy efficiency and clean up harbour water.
