On Pollution

I volunteered for the Civic Exchange for the first time today. I first went to their office in Central, where I was greeted by a few friendly staff. Everyone was busy doing some last minute coordination for the press release on an air pollution management plan in the afternoon. I helped out by calling the list of news media reporters to confirm their attendance, though a lot of the calls were unanswered as it was Sunday today. We then headed off to the FCC which I'm not sure what it stood for. :P It was a nice place with some great food. :P There, I met more scientists affiliated with the Civic Exchange and other volunteers. I also met Christine Loh who was quite nice, and Bill Barron, my Environmental Economics professor at HKU.

Among the different forms of pollution, air pollution is probably one that is most talked about these days and is most concerned by the general public. The reasons are simple. Air pollution is most easily recognized, especially on those days with the mystifying haze when you can't even make out Tsim Sha Tsui from Central. It is also the form of pollution that no one can escape from, unless you breathe from an oxygen tank.

When I was still in the Environmental Management program, I never appreciated the Environmental Economics course that Bill Barron taught. I felt he was materializing nature. During today's press conference, I finally understood how important this subject was. Listening to the questions asked by the reporters, I managed to realize that people essentially try to quantify environmental impacts. Without being able to take external costs into account, it would be impossible to convince the general public the importance of sustaining the environment due to the way the current accounting system works. Unless you tell people the costs of NOT treating pollution, you are a lot less likely to be able to catch people's attention. You also have to tell them the direct impact on their health as a consequence of the various forms of pollution to get people to feel a direct relation to themselves. Scientists are good at telling you the facts. The economists tell you the numbers that start to become personal.

(Civic Exchange is a charitable think tank for environmental policies and other issues, led by Christine Loh and backed by various academics and scientists from the Hong Kong universities, especially the HKUST.)