8 weeks of clean living

I recently spent a week in Hong Kong and Macau visiting a friend (needless to say the flight over there wasn’t very clean living). China is not generally known for its forward thinking environmental policies and the same holds true for the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions. The air quality there was noticeably poorer than it is in San Diego, and Hong Kong’s intense consumer culture manages to make America’s look quaint by comparison.

While I was there I tried to keep my eye out for budding signs of environmentalism and green policy, as well as other environmentally salient parts of the Hong Kong landscape. Below is a collection of pictures representing that search. Most of them are of recycling bins that I found (which are few and very far between), but I have also included a picture of the coal-fired power plant on Lamma Island and some other notable images.

While much attention is lavished on air quality issues, the majority of our concern relates to pollutants found outdoors, such as exhaust from cars and industrial emissions. Indoor air quality is also important, especially given the amount of time that one spends indoors. Chemicals that cause allergies, asthma and headaches (among other symptoms) such as formaldehyde, benzene and acetone are often outgassed by common household products. One solution to this problem could be to go to Sharper Image and pick up an air purifier. These purifiers likely do a reasonable job of filtering the air, but they are fairly expensive and require a steady supply of electricity to function.

A little while ago, I visited a friend’s house and was immediately struck by the awesomely sweet smelling air that greeted me upon arrival. It turns out that his roommate is a landscape architect, and had filled the house chock full of plants, which were the source of the fresh air. When I moved down to San Diego, my mom bought me a great book called How to Grow Fresh Air by Dr. B.C. Wolverton. Dr. Wolverton covers 50 different houseplants and rates them all based on their efficacy in filtering chemicals such as those mentioned above. I bought five different plans that were recommended as easy to maintain, and so far none of them have died on me.

My favorite plant by far is the Dieffenbachia (or Dumb Cane, see below); it has grown rapidly, and has big broad appealing leaves. The only gotcha is that it is poisonous, so don’t let your kids or small house pets around it. I’m hoping to buy more plants over the coming months (I might even construct a plant tower using wire shelving), and maybe one day my house will smell as good as my friend’s.