Time to rethink our shopping habits and start buying only what we need, not what we want
Edwin Lau says the planet is suffering because of our throwaway society and everyone – from government planners to business leaders and consumers – must change course
Earth Day was launched in 1970, in the United States, as people began to realise that modern economic development coupled with their way of life had brought not just wealth but health hazards and illness.
Hong Kong must achieve carbon neutrality, says veteran environmental scientist
The movement aimed to make the US government legislate penalties for environmental damage, forcing industry to clean up its pollution and individuals to go green. It also highlighted how the human race had already done a lot of damage to the planet and that action was needed urgently.
Forty-six years on, humans still claim to “manage” the planet, yet we have done more harm to the environment than people of that era. Take atmospheric carbon dioxide. In 1979, it was about 325 parts per million (ppm). But, in line with the gross domestic product of many developed and developing nations, that figure has kept growing, and reached 404 ppm last month, a rise of 24 per cent in less than half a century.
This increase was despite more environmental legislation, more environmental technologies being invented and several multinational agreements to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
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Climate scientists predict that we have not reached peak atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. That means more severe weather conditions, putting humans and other species at risk.
Clearly everyone needs to rethink deeply what has gone wrong. Is it our economic development strategies? Our energy policies? Our consumer lifestyle? Most probably all three.
Watershed crisis: China’s cities tap into sea of polluted water
China has become one of the major manufacturing nations, which has made it wealthy. But, in the process, it has become environmentally impoverished. Its citizens endure alarmingly poor air quality, while drinking water is still drawn from rivers polluted by factories and farms.