pollution

Photo appeared in 1968 HK Standard newspaper. Received by email.

A few weeks back I asked if our air pollution is getting better or worse, then answered myself: worse over the last 18 years, but possibly getting better slowly in the last one or two years.

Then I went looking for some more numbers to back this up, but found that ... well, see if you find them as surprising as I did.

You don't need a chemistry degree or expensive monitoring equipment to tell when the pollution is bad. When the view from the window shows the harbour shrouded in a smoggy haze, you know that whatever is in the air can't be good for us.

But how do you tell if it is getting better or worse?

The idea behind the Batgung Smog Index (BSI) is to give a simple measure of whether air pollution in Hong Kong is getting better or worse over time.

It's based on the observation that when the air is smoggy, visibility is low and pollution levels are high.

Last month saw several articles in the media with headlines like:

Hong Kong producing most of its own pollution (AFP)

Local sources blamed for most air pollution woes (HK Standard)

If they are true, were earlier claims about regional pollution affecting us just a smokescreen? We’d certainly need to focus our efforts on reducing local sources of pollution, instead of those over the border. But if they’re wrong, we risk diverting people’s attention from the real source of the problem.

Unfortunately, they’re wrong.

We're moving to HK for the 2nd time, but this time with 2 small children (3 and 4.5 years). Lived in Midlevels (western) before, now, where to go now that apparently the pollution has become much much worse! Is South side better? Any tips? Will be working in Central and don't want to commute too much. I've read all the pollution indexes and it seems to boil down to central or western with the lowest average score ... If I want the kids to start learning Mandarin will an Int'l school suffice or will it have to be a local school?

Question: I've heard that Hong Kong is really, really crowded and polluted. Will I be able to stand it?

Mr T replies: You may find the pollution distressing at times, but there are also many parts of HK that are amazingly unaffected.