Waste Production

Daily Waste Production:

Napkin : 6 pieces
Water: 50 Gallons of Water (bathroom and kitchen use)
Food Package: about 3 boxes
Plastic Bag: 2
Water Bottles: 2
Lighting and Electricity: 4 hours

Annual Production:

Napkin: 2190 pieces
Water: 18250 gallons
Food Package: 1095 boxes
Plastic Bag: 730
Water Bottles: 730
Lighting and Electricity: 1460 hours

Generally, I think I am wasteful in water use because I am a very clean person. I like doing cleaning and washing frequently even though it is not very dirty. Maybe I should reuse some portion of water to save it.
But i do have a recycle habit for bottles and paper. And I always switch off  lights and appliances when I leave home.

Fact Sheet - Zinc Metal

Sources:

1. http://www.webelements.com/zinc/

2. http://www.zinc.org/basics/zinc_production

Value of Money

 (photo credit: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9r8LN0bdj51MxeddmXZxtq8mrQr8mS7T7_O1ikvJiHrZ8VJQ2zlB9IyTnbNxeB9vIxHTeToYH5AfDn8nfYOMAYtYdmjGwoETAWlMNMfJ0EKQWLaRHW94f63cDB7-n9qpfivOjnqVBuw/s1600/ChangeCongress-FollowTheMoney696.png)


Money, seems the unbeatable desire for most of us. Having enough money, we can not only satisfy our basic needs, but also fulfill our extra material wants. Whenever we are asked to consider our career prospect, we compromise with the salary, the money we are paid. Dream jobs are always far from dream salary. We cannot but choose the jobs with decent salary for the sake of a comfortable life. Money is what we are living for. Even if you won't consider money as the first place, you love your family and you realize your kids need money to buy textbooks and your parents need money to pay for their health care service. So, you still have to depend on it.

If we consider the money itself, it is just made of paper. But it can go far beyond the paper value.With the prevalence of electronic currency, like visa cards and all kinds of checks, we don't even need paper. It is a game of number. As the movie mentioned, monetary system is a slavery system through debt. We do not realize and are willing to be a slave. As an ordinary citizen, we can only follow the big established rules ruling the world, doing literally nothing to help release ourselves from the system. We work for the bank and are never debt-free. The corporatocrocies involve in manipulation, currency devaluation, privatization, trade liberalization....... all types of money modification benefiting themselves.

As a matter of fact, we can only obey the rules if we want to survive in the society. Sometimes, knowing less is better than knowing more.

Unbelievable Change in Hong Kong

Whenever people mention Hong Kong (HK), what will come up to your mind? It will probably be the amazing skyline, the financial center or food paradise, right? The city seems to be a very decent and dynamic city to accommodate. In fact, its population tripled during 1950-2001, increasing from 2.2 million to 6.7 million over the period. There are now seven million people sharing the city with a mass of 1,104 km².

What a highly populated city! Have you ever thought of the origin of Hong Kong? Can you imagine that it actually transformed from a fishing village in the past? How it developed into a cosmopolitan city nowadays? Here is the story:

Origin of the Name

The term "Hong Kong" literally refers to "fragrant harbour". The reference may due to the harbour waters sweetened by the fresh water from influx of Pearl River or the incense from factories lining the coast there in the old days.

When East Meets West

HK is located in the Southern coast of China. It was once an ordinary fishing village without any spotlight. In 1800s, due to the British victory over China in the First Opium War, HK became one of the British colonies with the advantage of the good geographical and natural virtues. This is the period when east meets west. The territory transitioned in the aspect of commerce, education and industry.

Japanese Occupation Era

However, HK continued to be a vulnerable place of war occupation thanks to the fall of the Qing Dynasty, occupied by Imperial Japan for 3 years and 8 months. This was a halt to the development of HK. Many people were deported to the famine and disease-ridden areas in the Mainland. Yet, mainland residents kept fleeing to HK owing to the terror of the second Sino-Japanese war in Mainland China. Finally, HK was liberated by joint British and Chinese troops in 1945. At this time, HK’s population shrunk to 1.6 million as a result of starvation and emigration.

Population Boom

Population boom starts off in 1949 as a consequence of the political instability of Mainland China, including Communist Revolution, Japan’s invasion, World War II, China’s civil war and the formation of Communist Party. Thousands and thousands of refugees fled to HK. At that time, Imperial Britain still kept HK for political reason.

With the labor force and capital brought by the refugees, especially from Shanghai, HK experienced unprecedented economic growth. It transformed from the entrepot trade to manufacturing industry. There were large squatter camps set up to provide home for the large group of mainland immigrants at that time. The number of the factories skyrocketed from 3,000 to 10,000. Many foreign companies moved their office from the Mainland to HK. There was a huge demand for labour. The remarkable textile industry supported the boost of the economy.

Hangover

The migration from Mainland China to HK continued until 1980s. The immigrants often took great personal risk to reach HK, driven by the economic disparities between two places. In 1997, the United Kingdom transferred the sovereignty back to the Chinese government. The uncertainty among the living situation change prompted many HK natives to migrate to all over the world, with an estimation of a million. However, many of them returned in the late 1990s as the growing and brilliant economic prospects.

Mordern Hong Kong

Due to the opening of Mainland China market, the factories in HK moved to the north for a lower cost of production. HK is no longer a manufacturing society. It consolidates as a commercial and tourism center in the South-East Asia region. Now, high life expectancy, freedom, high per-capita income, low crime rates, safe food, low taxation. . . . . . all these are the factors that attract people to reside in HK.

Future Development

The population of HK is expected to grow by more than a million in the next 20 years. After that, the ageing population and low birth rate will make it a grave challenge in the future.

The main source of the growth will be the Mainland new arrivals through the OWP scheme (the One Way Permit), allowing the family members of permanent HK residents living in China to reunite in Hong Kong. This accounts for 11 % of the population from 1983 to 2001. However, the steady decline in fertility rate leaves it to be one of the lowest birthrate places in the world. The reasons include the lower marriage rates, higher education attainment, increased women workforce and higher divorce rate. The United nation estimates that 26% of the population will be over 65 by 2013. The government endeavours to set up new measures to encourage fertility, such as reducing the cost of education and child care facilities.

photo credit: http://holidaysinhongkong.com/lib/3228/dhd_2.jpg

Sources:

‒            Endacott, G. B (1964). An Eastern Entrepot;: A Collection of Documents Illustrating the History of Hong Kong. Her Majesty's Stationary Office. p. 293. ASIN B0007J07G6.

‒            Tsang, Steve (1995). Government and Politics: A Documentary History of Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press. p. 312. ISBN 962-209-392-2. 

‒            https://www.economy.com/dismal/article_free.asp?cid=237709&tid=ACB9CCCC-2B78-4852-AEC1-B8BAD5B597C9

‒            http://www.heritage.org/index/country/hongkong

‒            http://www.info.gov.hk/info/population/eng/pdf/chapter2_e.pdf

Communism Vs. Capitalism

In order to facilitate a sustainable future, communism will be a better approach.
Capitalism is based on the free market that everyone has his or her own desire in making the most profit. Poeple will tend to make improvements on their products and strive for excellence due to a larger incentive and high competence in the market. Then the resources will be exploited in a faster way. People would like to develop their own place of property.

For communism, people will put less effort in making improvements as everything is the same price and we all make the same amount of money. We become not as motivated as we are under capitalism. The resouces are controlled by our government and the distribution is up to the officials. So, based on the thought that the government would prefer to maintain a sustainable development for us and the next generations, communism is more appropriate for the sustainable future.

Rachel Carson

To me, Rachel Carson is the person that gives me the greatest impression because I learn about her from both the Environmental health class and sustainability classes.

She is a marine biologist, environmentalist and author. She is famous for advancing the environmental movement in the earlier years. Her well-known book "Silent Spring" provokes a lot of discussions and concern all around the U.S. She put forward the ban on DDT pesticide which was of the popular use before. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter.

Waste Disposal in Hong Kong

          Hong Kong is my hometown, where i was born and raised up. One of the characteristics of Hong Kong is highly populated, with seven million people sharing 1,104 km² land. With so many people living here, one of the pressing issues for us is how to deal with the waste generated every day.

         The main way of waste disposal in Hong Kong is landfill. In 2011,our landfill sites were receiving 13,458 tpd of waste every day(From the statistics done by HK government - https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en/materials/info/msw2011.pdf). And according to the government's estimation, they are going to be filled up in the coming several years. The government is prone to setting up new landfill sites in some areas. However, with the Not In My Backyard effect, all proposals were rejected. There is an article describing the situation
we are facing (http://paper.wenweipo.com/2013/09/03/ED1309030021.htm, sorry it is in Chinese because there is no English version, please use translators to read it)

         While the government is trying the best to modify the proposals in order to seek the support from the public, we still have to seek other methods to solve the problem to sustain our development in the future.