DDay -23

Observation #9:  Let me first start by saying that Hong Kong and it's 263 outlying islands is a beautiful, lush, green mountainous country surrounded by the South China Sea.  On a clear June day, I can see at least eight of those islands from my apt window but most of the time, all I see is "cloud cover" (shhh...it's really pollution).  June, July and August are the prettiest, clearest months because the life giving rain washes away all of the nasty emissions to reveal a beautiful, blue, endless sky that merges effortlessly into the reflecting ocean.

It's too bad that Hong Kong and China are among the most polluted countries in the world with seemingly no desire to fix the major source of the problem...vehicle emissions.  For less than $100 USD per car, a hi-flow catalytic converter will vastly reduce emissions which will in turn improve air quality.  That takes care of the air, but what about the South China Sea?  Over 133,000 tonnes of sewage waste, heavy metals and gasoline are dumped into the Pearl River Delta by surrounding manufacturers each year.  Of course all of that pollution spreads to the beaches on the island.

We have a bird's eye view of the largest and most popular beach in Hong Kong and we can see the trash bags, gas slicks and other junk floating in the water right where people are swimming.  People can choose whether to go in the water or not (we choose not) but the poor pink dolphins of Hong Kong can't.  They are forced to ingest that nasty water and then female dolphins carry around the toxins in their maternal fat stores which in turn causes their first born babies to drink toxic milk and they die, nearly 100% of the time.  Subsequent babies fare better since the poor first born got the brunt of the toxins.

Humans are suffering, too.  Air pollution causes asthma, allergies, heart attack, stroke, lung conditions, chronic fatigue, respiratory distress, etc.  Prospective immigrants to HK cite the cost of living and pollution as the main reasons they decided not to move here.  They go to Singapore instead.  The US govt was so distraught about the pollution levels in China (which China states aren't that bad) that it began monitoring the pollution levels and then tweeting the results hourly.  Beijing just recently issued a warning to the US to stop meddling in their affairs.  We'll see what happens.  If history is anything to go by, probably nothing.