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...Read more

THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL

A poll conducted by the DAB majority political party this week showed the following results.

N.B. though the survey's 553 respondents were supposedly drawn from a representative sampling of the population, 52.8% of them were 51 years or older. (Does this demographic skewing throw up a red flag?)

Since the survey was in chinese, i have restated the results here:

Do you feel that air pollution has improved in recent years?

Improved (7.2%) Same (40.9%) Worse than before (47.2%) No comment (4.7%)<...Read more

ON BEING A PREACHER (and wearing the right clothes)

last night, i gave a talk at box thai, which was hugely inspiring for me, because it was the first time that i spoke to the general public, instead of a group convened specifically to hear about air pollution.

it was a chance to actually touch the minds of everyone in the audience and to galvanize them into action through the delivery of some simple wake-up call facts -- the same ones printed on the back of my business card - air pollution kills 3 people a day, only 41 days are healthy to breathe, ...Read more

testing (again)

can you see this post on my personal twitter account?

RESPONDING TO NAYSAYERS....

just after i emailed my friends to share CAN's first animated video, yesterday,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE_QaOjOHzw

i received the following skeptical response from one of hk's most famous and vocal opinion leaders.... the entire thread with my response is below. the first email in the thread is at the very bottom.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Joanne Ooi Date: Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 9:05 PM

AIR POLLUTION IS VERY MUCH ABOUT SOCIAL JUSTICE

NOTES FROM THE GRASSROOTS: THE DOUBLE BURDEN OF AIR POLLUTION IN THE NEW TERRITORIES

Some comments from a DC member in the New Territories --

"On solving the air pollution problem, many people in the New Territories believe that the government and Legco have favored the interests of people living in city districts (mostly wealthy people) over the interests of those living in the New Territories. The government built and Legco supported the government offices, Legco building, public infras...Read more

thick fuels, thick minds

i just attended a breakfast about marine pollution sponsored by amcham this morning. to quickly sketch the backdrop of the issue: marine fuel is several THOUSAND TIMES higher in sulphur content than vehicle diesel. to quote one of the lead participants, arthur bowring, the head of the hk shipowners association: marine fuel is so viscous that if you turned the jar of bunker fuel he keeps in his office upside down, the fuel wouldn't actually move. basically, it's about as thick as asphalt!

bowring said it many times o...Read more

the pros and cons of impecunious marketing

today was a crucial day in our campaign. our pro bono partners, ddb and hill & knowlton, came over to advise us on how to move our chess pieces around the board. (ddb is one of the world's top advertising agencies, whereas hill & knowlton is one of the world's top pr agencies.) now, mind you, it's those chess pieces i've been creating from dust, spit, and sweat since i came on board on 1 october. by "chess pieces", i mean the advertisements, celebrities, visuals, viral content, pr e...Read more

Gallup wallops HK in just-announced Potential Net Migration Index

don't be deceived by the cool weather!

i still haven't managed to blog from my bkberry yet. waiting for the right, long cab ride. so, this is yet another backward-looking post...

...

yesterday, one of hk's top movie stars wrote me that he wants to do "anything he can" to help CAN! that kind of made my day. other news: we will be holding an online sticker competition for kids sponsored by the SCMP Young Post in December; CUHK students will help us to do a sign-up on campus for three days next week; our first GUY started ...Read more