DISPARATE BUT CRUCIAL

lots of stuff learned in the last 72 hours... forgive me for the pinball-like concatenation of these observations. but there's no better way to map them out:
friday kicked off civic exchange's transport conference which was actually more of a conference about air pollution and urban planning. professor simon ng's presentation blew my mind with its thoughtful treatment of how society needs to balance considerations of efficiency and mobility against liveability and sustainability. it sounds like a truism to make this point. but so few hong kongers, today, would tolerate spending 5 more minutes getting from point A to B in order to preserve more liveable, green, public space for outdoor enjoyment. as christine loh pointed out, all too often, hong kong people simply don't think improvements in liveability are possible. the resounding implication: we're all too hell-bent on efficiency and speed to consider compromising -- even for the sake of healthier, greener lifestyles for ourselves and our family.

CRUCIALLY, it is NOT true that economic growth cannot be delinked from environmental degradation. cities in northern europe (amsterdam, berlin and copenhagen) have successfully managed to continue to grow gdp while reducing congestion and increasing use of public transport. these examples shine light on a possible way forward for hong kong. as simon pointed out, too many cities are being built for cars, not people. simon's entire presentation will be available on our website soon.

MORE ON THE TRANSPORT CONFERENCE:
in a break-out session themed "structural and systemic obstacles", professor anthony hedley of HKU, one of the WHO's leading advisors on air pollution, unleashed an invective against the deprofessionalization of hk's environmental protection department. since the epd's decisionmakers are politically appointed laypeople-administrators with zero background and scant formation in PUBLIC HEALTH, obviously, it's impossible for them to, say, issue a public advisory warning on air pollution. and that's just the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to tony's frustrations. seeing tony give such intense vent to his anger and pesssimism inspired me to film him. so, watch out for a new video from us soon. i plan to film him a week from today.

during the conference, i asked professor alexis lau of hkust to talk to teachers, students and school administrators at a presentation in yuen long organized by a DC member for december. being the unflagging, passionate activist that he is, alexis said, of course, but flagged the crucial importance of crafting a message targeted to the residents of THAT district. since the pollution in yuen long is mostly attributable to pollution coming in from china, we might encounter difficulty persuading yuen long residents to support us because, after all, nothing we do or accomplish can ameliorate their plight : ( 2 months into our grassroots mobilization focused on district councils, it's become obvious that we need to tailor our message to the problems existing in SPECIFIC DISTRICTS. if we're to win over more DC members, we must prove that there is political capital in working withs us on specific issues. thankfully, we have a think tank of experts, in both the law and public health, ready to hand to help us answer district councillors' questions as they arise.

ON FRIDAY:
one of hk's biggest movie stars agreed to star in our tvc campaign and publicly support us in all of our efforts. MORE SOON...

Saturday:
i attended the pollution conference in the morning and met Sarath Guttikunda, an air pollution activist from India. www.urbanemissions.info
he handed me his "primer on air quality management". it's an engagingly illustrated, downright CUTE manual and workbook dispensing the Basics of Air Pollution. [!!LIGHT BULB!!] within an hour, i assigned the task of storyboarding and copywriting a children's workbook to new volunteer, kaitlyn mac, who came to the conference to meet me for the first time.
unfortunately, i was unable to stay for the announcement of HKUST's mobile pollution monitoring van study results. eight newspapers covered the news yesterday and today! disturbingly, the report throws into question the accuracy of the government's monitoring network, with the study results showing actual pollution levels to be 2-4 times higher than those derived from the official monitoring network : (

it's time to quit today -- i have a headache -- from today's pollution, which is so thick you could cut it with a knife!