Foxymoron

Hong Kong and the inconvenient truth

An Inconvenient Truth, featuring (the former next president of the United States) Al Gore, is no longer news to most people who read this blog. You've probably watched it already and know the world is coming to an end if we continue our environmentally damaging ways. But for those in Hong Kong, where the film was just released, you probably haven't. Last night, I watched it in a theatre with a handful of other people. The staff outnumbered the number of viewers and although it was a Wednesday, there were surely more people watching The Departed or even, The Devil Wears Prada (a film which has been in theatres for a month).

It is unfortunate that the average Hong Kong person cares so little about environmental issues. This is of course, my personal opinion which I'm open to changing. But while the government and public embrace the minimization of plastic bags (and really, charging for plastic bags one day of the month is minimum minimization), why are we so reluctant to reduce harmful emissions from vehicles and factories?

Hong Kongers like to point the finger at factories north of the border in mainland China. Over there, they say, they are the biggest polluters. That's true but there are always going to be other people to blame and this is something we're all responsible for. Another truth is one of Gore's most dramatic points in the film and that is If Greenland melts as it continues to do, sea levels around the world will rise 20 ft. If that doesn't concern every single person in Hong Kong, then maybe we deserve drowning.

mp3: Tegan and Sara - Underwater

Yesterday, chief executive Donald Tsang made his second policy address. Despite some environmental steps forward, he did little in terms of concrete measures to reduce emissions right now. Reduction on registration tax for low-emission, high fuel-efficient vehicles is great but the fact that he pledged to continuing consulting the public on whether to legislate against idling engines enrages me. This government has had no problem doing things without public consent, why stop now?

mp3: Elbow - Leaders of the Free World

The argument against legislating an anti-idling law is that the public doesn't like the idea of turning off its car in hot weather because they are uncomfortable without their air-conditioning. At this point, I think it's the government's responsibility to educate drivers and show them that they are responsible for this part of a vicious cycle. The heat is due to the increase of CO2 gases. Your car is part the reason it's so hot and unfortunately, it will continue to get hotter if we continue on this path. Something's got to give.

One last point I will make is about the environmental business. Hong Kong is a wonderful place for businesses, but this doesn't mean it can't be an environmentally friendly place at the same time. The government's environmental policies shouldn't just be about limiting things, it should also be about creating and nurturing green industries. There are some fascinating things going on with green technologies around the world and I think Hong Kong can be a place of innovation. We have the resources, now we just need the will power.

mp3: Hot Hot Heat - Save Us S.O.S.

"It's Great To Be Alive"

Canadian James Loney was rescued from captivity in Iraq last week. He arrived back home this weekend and at Toronto's Pearson International Airport made, a touching statement. The Star has the aduio version. Here's the full text, via Maggie:

I heard there might be some interest in my arrival so I wrote down a couple thoughts. I’ll just read it so I can get through. During my captivity I sometimes entertained myself by imagining this day. Sometimes I despaired of ever seeing it. Always I ached for it. And so, here we are.

For 118 days I disappeared into a black hole and somehow, by God’s grace, I was spit out again. My head is swirling and there are times when I can hardly believe it’s true. We had to wear flak jackets during our helicopter transfer from the international zone to the Baghdad airport and I had to keep knocking on the body armour I was wearing to reassure myself this is all really happening.

It was a terrifying, profound, powerful, transformative and excruciatingly boring experience. Since my release, my rescue from captivity, I have been in a constant state of wonder, bewilderment, surprise, as I slowly discover the magnitude of the efforts to secure our lives and freedom: Tom Fox, Norman Kember, Harmeet Sooden and myself. A great of hand of solidarity reached out for us; a hand that included the hands of Palestinian children holding pictures of us and the hands of the British soldier who cut our chains with a bolt cutter. That great hand was able to deliver the three of us from the shadow of death. I am grateful in a way that can never be adequately expressed in words.

Better safe than sorry

Diseases. Animals. Death. Etc. I can't seem to get away from it.

Last week I wrote about avian flu and Streptococcus suis (aka pig disease). No one outside of the region is really worried about pig disease but of course everyone is on high alert for H5N1 to jump to humans anytime now. Everyone's waiting for SARS version 2.0 that is even more deadly and experts say has the potential to kill 360 million people worldwide. I hope the hype and the fear will lead to all the drama that Y2K resulted in. Talk about anti-climactic. Still, it's better to be safe than sorry.

At the moment, I live in Kowloon Bay in a housing estate that shares the same block as Amoy Gardens. Amoy Gardens is still, to this day, dubbed the epicentre of SARS here in Hong Kong. SARS infected 329 of the residents who lived in Amoy Gardens, and of the 299 Hong Kong people who died of the diease, 42 died lived at the estate. Everytime I walk by, see its name on a sign or hear the name, I can't shake the images of masked people and the fear that the person walking towards me might sneeze in my direction.

Although some people have learned their lessons from SARS, not everyone has and unfortunately, this affects all of us. Despite the horrible memory of disease, many people don't wash their hands with soap after using the toilet (gross). I've seen them! I've seen food hawkers in Causeway Bay hork (phlegmy goodness) into a can inches away from their food. And the washrooms, don't even get me started. The list goes on but you get the ugly picture. Yes, Hong Kong, is a potential epicentre for avian flu outbreak. But even those of you back home in Canada aren't safe. Remember Jan Wong's column about how SARS spread from China to Hong Kong and then Canada and the world? Even if you do, I suggest reading it for a recap (scroll to the bottom of page).

I know this may come across over-cautious but I will be stocking up on alcohol swabs, masks and all that stuff soon. I already wash my hands like a freak. Better safe than sorry!

The new H(omo) bomb

Back in 1984, the U.S. Military considered creating an "aphrodisiac" to make its enemies gay, leading to lowered morale. The proposal, which was part of a $7.5 million non-lethal chemical weapons initiative, was rejected, but let's just pause to imagine what could of been...

An aphrodisiac to turn heterosexuals into homosexuals? Isn't that exactly what every gay man and lesbian who has had a crush on a straight person wanted?

And to quote George Stroumboulopoulos on This Hour, "Lower morale? Have seen gay pride?!"

A Love Supreme

REMG and Emerge are putting together another fine tsunami relief concert for this month. On Thursday, Jan. 20th at the Opera House: Brassmunk, Saukrates, Ivana Santilli and the woman we thought would never return—Esthero. Yeah, That Girl. There will be more artists added to the bill and all proceeds go to UNICEF Indian Ocean Earthquake Emergency Appeal.

The concert is the first of two tsunami relief benefit events called "A Love Supreme." The second event is on the following evening, Friday, Jan. 21st at Roxy Blu with Aki, Dave Campbell, Circle Research, Fase, Rob Henderson, John Kong, Paul E Lopes, Nana, Nav, Jason Palma, Serious, Mike Tull, Starting from Scratch.

Tickets for both events are available at Soundscapes, Rotate This, Play de Record and that huge company I hate. $20 for the concert and $10 for the DJs at Roxy Blu.

Ticketbastard smells

This morning, tickets for the Broken Social Scene charity show at Lee's Palace went on sale and quickly sold out. We got our tickets from Ticketbastard because with the freezing rain, it was more convenient than going down to Rotate This or Soundscapes. So much more convenient that Ticketbastard charges an extra $4.50/ticket in convenience charges. While surfing the net and making a couple of calls, I was pleased that both indie record stores selling tickets, are kindly donating their service charges to relief charities. And Ticketbastard? Certainly a huge company such as Ticketbastard who charges an additional $3.25 (or more) to mail the tickets to you on top of the convenience charge will do something to help will help the relief efforts in Asia.

But nooooo...

"Unfortunately, we don't do that here," says the customer service agent. It's just another business day.

I guess I can't be really angry with Ticketbastards. It's a business and no one is really obligated to help the thousands of natural disaster victims. But I find it disgusting that a large company can make so much money off of a charity event. Smells a little like exploitation to me.

I hate those fuckers. Next time I'm going downtown.

More tsunami/earthquake-related content...

I watched CBC's coverage of the horrible disaster in Southeast Asia and I have never seen so many dead bodies in a half hour of television news as I did last night. If you haven't done so already, please donate some money to the relief effort. Make sure you are giving money to a reputable organization. Blogger, Benjamin Rosenbaum shares rating of the charities helping out in South East Asia (link via Torontoist). The information is taken from organizations like Charity Navigator and the American Institute of Philantropy which has a good page on how to give wisely and help the victims in Asia, including a list of top charities.

I'm surprised and a little dissapointed that businesses haven't made made more efforts to organize donations. Since it's post-Christmas, I want to see companies like HMV and Chapters encourage shoppers to donate their gift cards/certificates to the relief effort instead of buying more stuff.

Help.

If you're like me and watching the death toll in South East Asia rise in horror, please do what you can to help the relief efforts. On boxing day morning, I woke up to find out about the 9.0 earthquake that had killed 3,400. The latest newswires report a current death toll of over 24,000 victims and even more injured. This will only increase. Here are some organizations accepting donations for the relief efforts in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Somalia and other countries effected by the earthquake and tsunamis:

Canadian Red Cross: donate online or by phone (1-800-418-1111)

UNICEF Canada: donate online or by phone (1-800-567-4483)

OXFAM Canada: donate online or by phone (1-800-GO-OXFAM).

*You can also donate money with a cheque, please visit the sites for mail donation information