Advertisement
Advertisement

Letters

Expansion of landfills will not solve waste disposal problems

I am opposed to proposals to expand the landfill at Tseung Kwan O.

Officials argue that it is the fastest and cheapest way to deal with the waste disposal problem. However, our main concern should be the environment.

This is a heavily-populated city and we only have limited space. Are there any locations where it would be appropriate to build [or extend] a large landfill? And where do we stop? In future, every time we run of space to put our waste we will have to expand another landfill.

The government needs to have more public consultation in an effort to come up with environmentally-friendly policies. Recycling is the only way solution. More recycling bins should be placed on our streets to make it easier for people to recycle.

Building incinerators can also help us avoid having to expand landfills. The government can carry out surveys to determine which districts generate the largest amount of waste. Citizens would be told that incinerators would be built in the district with the worst record. Knowing this could happen would encourage citizens to recycle more and discard fewer items. Also, it would be a fairer system.

Expanding landfills sends the wrong message to Hongkongers. It gives them the impression that they can still act with casual indifference.

Ng Hei-yu, Sham Shui Po

Educated and literate witnesses

Justin O'Brien ('Bible displays neither unity of style nor internal consistency', November 7) says that because people of the first century AD thought the earth was flat and were technologically backward, they simply cannot be trusted to provide a true record of what they experienced.

These folk were witnesses to a major turning point in human history. They were educated and literate, and they recorded the events with the means available to them. Their accounts have inspired millions of people for nearly 2,000 years.

When compared with most of the texts available for ancient Greece and Rome, the Gospels are vastly better attested. Internal consistency and unity of style are not the standard, and indeed in a multi-authored work spanning decades (like the New Testament) those aspects are sometimes taken as evidence of forgery.

I doubt readers want to get very deep into 'subjective higher criticism' for dating the Gospels. Suffice it to say that when everything is boiled away, one comes to a basic and very simple choice: either these texts were cooked up in an extensive and elaborate conspiracy, or they are what they purport to be.

Among the dozens of examples one could cite for dating, the single most obvious is John 5:2 which says: 'Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.' All translators agree that this sentence is clearly in the present tense. It could not have been written after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70, unless some subterfuge was involved.

But the most important example is an aspect of the prophecy about Jerusalem's ultimate demise.

It appears to be the only prophecy out of dozens in the entire New Testament that is not identified by any of the authors as having been fulfilled. If the text were written after AD70, this prophecy coming true would have been heralded, as indeed it was in some of the later 'gospels' that were rejected by the early church.

To deliberately avoid any mention of what was a catastrophic event for Israel would have been the height of clever subterfuge. Far too clever, methinks, for folk Mr O'Brien believes would be amazed by the technology of a wheelbarrow.

William Meacham, Happy Valley

Misinterpretation of Divine revelation

I commend the five Church of England bishops who are converting to Catholicism ('Anglican bishops to convert', November 9).

Radical Anglicans who support women bishops and homosexuality misinterpret the Bible and are guided by a false sense of freedom.

Sadly, some people want to measure the truth of the faith by modern society's standards. They mistakenly believe that Divine revelation must adapt itself to the current mentality in order to be credible, instead of the current mentality converting in the light that comes to us from on high.

The result is a stripping of the Redeemer of man of his radical uniqueness, and classifying him as someone who can be managed and domesticated.

Paul Kokoski, Hamilton Ontario, Canada

Follow example set by rugby union

Last month, Hong Kong played host to two of the best rugby teams in the world. Unfortunately a large part of the community felt the match was a failure. Too many people took the view that the glass was half empty rather than half full.

The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) has, over a short period of time, led the world in rugby innovation, starting with the Rugby Sevens which spawned similar events in Asia and around the world.

Thanks to the HKRFU the image of rugby has improved and we have seen the growth of similar organisations around the region. On Sunday, November 14, we were treated to the wonderful DeA Tigers' mini rugby event at King's Park, where hundreds of kids of different nationalities and races had a marvellous day of fun. It is a shame that the Hong Kong government does not make a real effort to get other sporting organisations to follow the management structure of the HKRFU. Instead, it continues to give support to what appear to be ineffectual management bodies.

If we want to host the Asian Games this is a state of affairs that must show improvement and the government must show more active support for the HKRFU.

Stephen Anderson, Macau

Celebrities must stay away from drugs

You keep reading about drugs scandals involving celebrities, such as models and singers.

I appreciate that these people are constantly in the spotlight and are therefore under a lot of pressure. They are sometimes unfairly victims of negative press repots. So it is reasonable that they should be allowed to relax after work. But taking drugs is not the answer. There is no excuse, no matter how much pressure they are under.

They must realise that they are idolised by teenagers and they must be responsible role models.

Phoebe Ho Sze-wing, To Kwa Wan

Teens at risk

Teenagers nowadays place too much emphasis on their looks and, in particular, their weight.

Some of them develop self-esteem problems and they are heavily influenced by slimming adverts, which give the mistaken impression that being sickly thin is to be beautiful.

Actresses and models show off their unrealistically 'perfect' figures. Also, people who are fat become the objects of humour. Many teenagers become obsessed with dieting and put their health at risk.

If their calorie intake is low they could become ill. Teenagers need calories to give them energy and help them grow.

It is up to the government, schools and parents to co-operate to instil the correct values in young people so they are put off diets that can be pointless and prove dangerous.

Erin Chan, Yau Tong

Post