The government's Council for Sustainable Development has just issued an extremely important public consultation document called Making Choices for Our Future. It poses difficult questions about how we can make Hong Kong a less wasteful, cleaner and more pleasant place.
Actually, the questions do not seem particularly difficult when you first look at them. But they are not that simple. First, what should we do about solid waste, now our landfills are nearly full? A combination of recycling, reducing waste and adopting hi-tech disposal methods should do the trick. But there is a catch - people need incentives to change their behaviour, and those cost money.
You and your family will need to pay. Do you want to pay a flat rate per household, or per kilo of waste? Do you mind paying more to subsidise poorer families' charges? Do you want to pay deposits and taxes on goods that need to be recycled? Or would you prefer it if 'someone else' paid for the process through direct government payment to recyclers?
Second, should Hong Kong move towards cleaner, renewable sources of energy - making electricity from wind, sunlight and hi-tech waste incineration, rather than coal and gas? It sounds good. We would have cleaner air. But again, there is a catch. You might not like the other effects.
Do you mind having 4,000 hectares of Lantau covered with giant windmills? Do you mind government bureaucrats coming around telling you to put solar panels and water heaters on your building? Oh, and you do know that your electricity bills might go up, don't you?
Third, do we want to make our urban environment less crowded, less run-down and more attractive to look at? It sounds like a crazy question. Who does not? But, as you have probably guessed, there is a catch. In fact, there are major catches, because this means spending more on old neighbourhoods and making our new buildings shorter, further apart, and with more complex designs. Do you mind paying higher taxes to make up for the government's reduced land revenues? Do you mind paying more for your housing to cover higher construction costs? Do you mind covering much more of the New Territories with buildings?
