I spent a few days in Hongkong at a family reunion earlier this month, staying in a beach front hotel on Lantau Island.
Really enjoyed just piling into the back of those Toyota Crown Taxis (not driving for once) that are running on LPG.
There`s a small mountain to climb between the airport and hotel, near the ferry terminal at the other side of the island and the screaming max revs in second gear (obviously the norm) made me wonder how the engine survived one trip, when it had been doing this route for years.
Every morning we caught the slow or fast ferry to Hongkong Island and the Star ferries to Kowloon.
I can report that the (Christmas present) Casio Pathfinder PRG 80 watch tinyurl.com/2sjztf was able to display the Easterly direction (of the ferry) and also the barometric pressure, that remained relatively stable during our stay.
Pity about that stable barometer and the gentle breeze from the North, as despite efforts to decrease pollution in Hongong such as LPG, a petro chemical smog, cloaked all of the places we visited.
Pollution of course from the factories in mainland China and something not seen since a childhood in a coal burning, Lowrie like landscape, personalised by blackened shirt collars and raw sinuses.
I saw some very impressive looking Chinese cars, but due to circumstances was unable to examine them closely, other than they looked superficially first rate, several with cream leather and very well executed paint jobs.
I found a desire for less pollution amongst my local contacts, but also an amusement that the UK (TB mentioned) had been putting forward as allegedly "Taking the lead" on pollution from cars.
So, as we enter the surreal, (Please run the Outer Limits theme tune through your heads)
The camera zooms in.. we are a little way back in time.. a certain politician popularly caricatured with big ears and flashing teeth is seemingly grandstanding on the world stage about the UK taking the lead... Euro4..Euro5..bla bla..
more sound bites...
further back in time.."England Expects"...time moves on..british battle cruisers circle the world and gunships go up foreign rivers, cordite flashing in patriotic `spasm`.
In our 50`s classrooms a red world map.."the sun never sets on the British Empire"...
Then to 2008, the camera zooms out... sitting on the back of an asian elephant (strolling through the tea garden) is certain well worn flea (with `UK`stamped on its er, back) has the above sound bites running through its head, while it tries to reduce its carbon
footprint....
In Conclusion
On return, I`m still appreciating the clean air coming over the pennines from the Atlantic.
so I think its worth the effort locally (UK) and for our typically down wind EU `confederate` states.
Beyond that and the political perspective, just wait for something like a Chinese interpretation of a Jazz coming in for £4,000 and wiping the floor, as seen with British bikes in the 60`s.
What do you think?
Regards
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 25/03/2008 at 09:50
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any takers :(
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Anything we do will make diddly-squat difference on a global scale. But it does show willing and we may be able to develop technologies that we can sell elsewhere. But with China planning over 90 new airports by 2030, and many of them the size of Gatwick, plus a new coal-fired power station each week, plus predictions of a trebling of Chinese oil consuption in the next few years (which will then equal the output of Saudi), wearing hair shirts over another runway at Heathrow or plastic bags at supermarkets will make absolutely no difference. Politically we may need to do such things in order to keep some of the moral high ground when trying to persuade others to reduce emissions, but don't hold your breath.
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I picked up a very interesting edition of the Economist in Tampa airport last week.
Apparently the Chinese are realising that their explosive growth and explosive rise in pollution is unsustainable even in the short term. Losses due to health problems are already estimated by the Chinese Govt at 10% of GDP, and there were 60,000 protests about pollution in China last year (Govt figures).
It would appear that they are going to have to start putting their own house in order pretty soon. I'd recommend the edition to everyone on this forum that takes an interest in these things - I found it a fascinating read.
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Until the west realises china needs a hand to produce less emissions why not start making stuff over here again?
with our better control of emissions and environmental protection it would make sense. Oh and it might help the trade figures too!
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>>Until the west realises china needs a hand to produce less emissions why not start making stuff over here again?>>
The UK would be suffering double-digit inflation right now if it wasn't for cheap Chinese consumer goods flooding in. Brown is very unlikely to want to upset this happy equilibrium, especially if cheap cars are next what with an election to get through.
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The UK would be suffering double-digit inflation right now if it wasn't for cheap Chinese consumer goods
Unless we made our own of course !
All we are doing by importing so much is actually delaying inflation and making ourselves unable to afford to make anything !
I do accept its 20+ years too late now though :)
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"Unless we made our own of course !"
Indeed. Blair's legacy (and Thatcher's, come to that) may well be the removal of our means of economic survival. Years ago, governments (especially Labour ones) used to worry about the 'trade gap', being the difference between imports and exports, but some creative accounting (involving the squandering of North Sea oil revenue, followed by a lot of borrowing) laid that to rest, so we now rely almost entirely on 'invisible' exports, half of which is legalised money-laundering by bankers who are now so dodgy that they don't even trust each other to lend to!
It's little comfort that the Yanks got there first (and now have a deficit of $2bn per day to contend with), because they'll pull us down with them. I'm amazed that any of their presidential candidates actually wants the job, but that's their famous optimism for you.
Finally, (and a possible crumb of comfort) does anyone know where all the coal for these new Chinese power stations is coming from, or how long it will last?
Free Tibet!
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Finally (and a possible crumb of comfort) does anyone know where all the coal for these new Chinese power stations is coming from or how long it will last?
It's coming from China, which is probably the world's largest producer, and has enormous reserves. There's enough to last it around 100 years or so at current consumption.
Luckily, the Chinese seem to be researching a potentially most valuable method of nuclear power production.
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According to the Economist magazine, China is now a net importer of coal, primarily from Australia. They are having problems ramping up production from their own mines due to infrastructure problems and shortages of things like locomotives.
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Not been to HK since 2000. However, I have been to Greenwich and the pollution (from construction machinery and vehicles) that is going on around that area sent me back to Suffolk pretty quickly.
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