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March, 2010:

Air pollution level hits record high in Respirable Suspended Particulates

chinaairpollution-001preview1See the graph and real-time camera monitoring from the Hedley Environmental Index Air Pollution Tracker, Hong Kong’s  unofficial and  real air pollution index.

The toxic legacy of Texaco-Chevron in Ecuador – Sign the petition

ecuador-true-cost-of-chevron

Support justice for the rainforest communities of Ecuador!

Over three decades of oil drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Texaco (now Chevron) dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into the rainforest, creating an environmental tragedy experts call “the Amazon Chernobyl.” This systematic contamination has left tens of thousands of local indigenous people and campesinos suffering an epidemic of cancer, miscarriages, birth defects and other ailments. The residents of the rainforest region, known as the Oriente, have filed a monumental lawsuit to hold Chevron accountable, and an international solidarity campaign is supporting their demand for justice.

Help us pressure Chevron to do the right thing in Ecuador. For a good, informative background on the issue, watch this watch this 60 Minutes investigation called “Amazon Crude.” Then, join me by signing the petition to incoming CEO John Watson, urging him to do the right thing in the Ecuadorian Amazon by funding a full-scale environmental clean up.

You can also this recent article in influential Washington news outlet Politico, detailing the ways in which Chevron’s aggressive attempts to evade responsibility for its mess in the Amazon are increasingly backfiring.

The Clean Up Ecuador Campaign at Amazon Watch is working hard to secure justice for the rainforest communities of Ecuador. Check out ChevronToxico.com to learn more about how you can help.

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Old buses to be retired by 2019

old-busFirst published: March 17, 2010

Source: Hong Kong Government

Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau anticipated all pre-Euro and Euro I buses will be retired no later than 2012 and 2015, respectively, while Euro II buses will retire by 2019.

Mr Yau told lawmakers today if all pre-Euro, Euro I and Euro II commercial vehicles including franchised buses are retired, the economic benefit will be about $24.3 billion.
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LCQ15:Reduction in the emissions from franchised buses and the resultant pollution problems

Hong Kong busFirst published: March 17, 2010

Source: Hong Kong Government, via 7th Space

Following is a question by Hon Kam Nai-wai and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (March 17): Question: Regarding the reduction in the emissions from franchised buses and the resultant pollution problems, will the Government inform this Council: (a) of the current number of buses in each of the bus fleets of franchised bus companies, with a breakdown by the emission standard met by the buses; (b) of the number of old buses replaced by each franchised bus company in the past five years, the replacement cost per bus and the total replacement costs involved; how these figures compare with the corresponding estimated figures in the next five years; whether it knows if such companies have finalised their respective bus replacement timetables for the next five years; if the timetables have been finalised, of the details; if the timetables have not been finalised, the reasons for that; and (c) whether it has studied and estimated the losses suffered and social costs borne by Hong Kong as a result of the pollution problems caused by emissions from franchised buses; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and what solutions the Government has to reduce the losses and costs in this regard?

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U.N. to examine panel’s global-warming report

global-warming-orlyFirst published: March 15, 2010

Source: One News Now

The United Nations says it will initiate an investigation into the practices of its climate change panel.

The secretary general of the United Nations says the InterAcademy, a multinational organization of the world’s science academies, will pick a panel of experts to take a thorough look at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Several mistakes were found in the IPCC’s 2007 report, including an exaggerated account of how quickly the Himalayan glaciers are melting.
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IPCC likely to backtrack on claim that global warming will destroy rainforests

backpedalingFirst published: March 15, 2010

Source: The Times of India

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is the world’s leading climate change group, is expected to backtrack over its claims about how rainforests would be devastated by rising temperatures, as one of its own scientists has said that the claim is “totally wrong”.

According to a report in the Express, the latest embarrassment for the IPCC relates to a claim in a 2007 report that estimates up to 40 per cent of the Amazonian rainforest could be lost by even a “slight reduction” in rainfall.

But, a study of the region in 2005 when rainfall was at its lowest in living memory has contradicted the figures.
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Bad atmosphere

bad-airLast updated: March 16, 2010

Source: South China Morning Post

Life has not been the same since my meeting on Friday with indoor air consultant George Woo. I had always thought of air pollution in terms of grey skies, cross-harbour visibility and diesel fumes. The roadside readings are bad today, so I must stay off the streets as much as possible, my subconscious would tell me. Horror of horrors: I just learned that sitting at an office desk – what most of us do for our working day – can be as bad, perhaps worse, for our health.

Woo has been campaigning for five years to get people to think about pollution in this way. I phoned him after a friend, just diagnosed with allergic bronchitis, wondered whether his cough and itchy eyes could have something to do with the quality of air in his office on Hong Kong Island. The irritations seemed to be worse at peak traffic times. Then my friend smuggled the specialist, his assistant and two pieces of hand-held equipment into the building at 6.30pm for an hour of tests.
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Exhausting work

stick and carrot race

Last updated: March 12, 2010

Source: South China Morning Post

In a letter to the SCMP, Christine Loh Kung-wai,  chief executive of the think-tank Civic Exchange, had this to say:

If Hong Kong doesn’t get the “carrots and sticks” formula right, it will continue to be hard to replace the old and highly polluting commercial diesel bus and truck fleet. There is no doubt about the harm these vehicles cause. Government data shows they are the principal emitters of roadside pollution, accounting for 88 per cent of the highly health-damaging particulates and 76 per cent of nitrogen dioxide, another pollutant.

Overseas research shows that those living within 500 metres of busy and congested roads are the worst affected. Negative health impacts include asthma, allergies, impaired lung functions in children and cardiovascular problems for the elderly.
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Diesel Franchised buses in Hong Kong

polluting school buses

By the end 2009, the breakdown on the number of franchised buses by engine type is as follows:

Engine Type

KMB

CTB

NWFB

LW

NLB

Pre-Euro

300

40

30

less than 5

0

Euro I

940

310

80

0

0

Euro II

1490

530

480

130

35

Euro III

1100

10

70

20

50

Euro IV

50

30

40

10

15

Total

3880

920

700

160

100

Totals:

Engine Type

KMB

CTB

NWFB

LW

NLB

Total

Pre-Euro

300

40

30

less than 5

0

373

Euro I

940

310

80

0

0

1330

Euro II

1490

530

480

130

35

2665

Euro III

1100

10

70

20

50

1250

Euro IV

50

30

40

10

15

145

Total

3880

920

700

160

100

5760

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Higher fees eyed to drive polluting trucks off road

polluting truckLast updated: March 11 ,2010

Source: South China Morning Post

They dangled a carrot, but too few bit.

Now environment officials are considering wielding a stick to get heavily polluting old trucks off the city’s streets.

They have decided to resurrect as soon as possible a proposal to increase licence fees for trucks and vans 15 or more years old, to discourage people from keeping the vehicles.

Under the proposal, higher fees would apply to dirtier vehicles such as those made before the Euro 1 standard, which placed limits on emitted pollutants, took effect in 1995.

Those older vehicles could be as much as 20 times more polluting than those covered by the latest version of the standard, Euro 4, introduced in 2006.

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