Reasons
to Care for our shared Environment
The head of the HK Observatory,
Lam Chiu-ying yesterday appealed to people to adopt a simple lifestyle,
as the city faces at least a 3.5°C rise in the annual mean
temperature by the end of the century. As a result of the change,
Hong Kong will record an overnight temperature of 28°C or
above 30 days a year. At present, there are only 8 such nights
annually.
"The climate has been always changing, but after the second
world war global temperatures rose rapidly because we were burning
much more fossil fuel and releasing huge increasing amounts of
carbon dioxide," Mr. Lam told a seminar organised by the
HKU.
"This is a change with a difference - caused only by one
single species on Earth and it is all about lifestyle, nothing
else." Mr. Lam said it was wrong for people to just depend
on the government to tackle climate change. "The government
can't do anything unless we do," he said.
Referring to the temperature prediction for the end of the century,
Mr. Lam said: "I believe this is underestimated, and there
is no way to predict temperature rise if human beings continue
[using energy wastefully]. "When I was young, the light bulb
in my room was 20 watts and the one in the toilet was just 5 watts,
but now light bulbs are 120 watts everywhere."
Based on current economic development,
the Observatory predicted Hong Kong's average temperature would
rise between 1.7°C and 5.6°C by 2099, in accordance with
global warming tendencies.
Statistics show that the city's
temperature rose by 1.2°C on average from 1885 to last year.
Mr. Lam said urbanisation was the biggest cause of such a sharp
rise with the concentration of population, high-rises and carbon
emissions in downtown areas.
He said the "wall effect"
caused by skyscrapers contributed to more hot nights in Hong Kong
when "concrete jungles" released heat absorbed during
the day.
"The chances for warm winters
such as this October and November are enhanced with the backdrop
of global warming," Mr. Lam said, noting that in recent years
these two months had been the hottest they had ever been.
Ding Yihui from the China Meteorological
Administration said southern China had high potential for developing
renewable energy sources such as wind energy and solar energy.
Mr. Lam said the impact of climate
change was not just centred on global warming, but also extreme
weather, ecological changes, crop losses, epidemics, economic
instability and social unrest.
(Source: HKU Seminar on
11.12.06 by HK Observatory Chief)
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