Archive for November, 2009

• POLITICS – HK Time Out Magazine – Column #16

  Date: 2009.11.25 | Category: Politics: All Posts | Response: 0

  I’m currently contributing a short, light-hearted political column to Hong Kong Time Out Magazine. Below is the uncut, original version of my latest piece…

  Electric Avenue
  What with our splendid public transport system and the high costs of parking, fuel, maintenance, licensing, insurance, registration and tolls, you’d think opting to drive would be the reserve of planet-loathing egomaniacs. And you’d not be wrong, as only 5.3% of Hong Kongers own a vehicle in this, a city built around the automobile.

  The outdated Capital Works Reserve Fund ensures there is always cash set aside for never-ending road building projects, yet environmental ruin awaits unless we stand up to the private car owning elite. Praise was heaped upon the city when it finally embraced the electric car this month but unfortunately, this flawed scheme will not lead us to any transport revolution.

  Firstly, electric cars will still receive their charge from our dirty coal power stations for decades to come, so they are not CO2 free, especially when manufacturing carbon costs are added. Also, the impractical 5-7 hours recharge time will put a strain on the grid and the driver’s patience. Betterplace.com has a solution whereby drivers do not own batteries but instead exchange dead ones at filling stations. Stations maintain battery banks connected to renewable sources and will have vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology installed to recycle unused power.

  This is a preview. Read the full post (340 words, 1 image)

• POLITICS – HK Time Out Magazine – Column #15

  Date: 2009.11.11 | Category: Politics: All Posts | Response: 0

  I’m currently contributing a short, light-hearted political column to Hong Kong Time Out Magazine. Below is the uncut, original version of my latest piece…

  Stopping the traffic
  Since the 1922 seamen strike, Hong Kongers have long expressed their grievances and achieved results through protest. Our lack of a voice at the ballot box means over 3,800 public rallies and protest meetings are held annually in the territory. This can make it difficult to catch the attention of the guilty parties being targeted, let alone the fickle mass media.

  With such competition, it pays to be imaginative or risk slipping under the radar ignored as yet another ‘McProtest’. The creative approach took on global proportions last month as locals joined the 360.org day of grassroots action ahead of December’s climate change meeting in Copenhagen. At 3:50pm on October 24th, hundreds of concerned flashmobbers descended on Central. Worried that Saturday shoppers already resembled a crazed flashmob, organisers secretly ensured that that activists halted traffic by suddenly flooding a crossing, before heading to Bauhinia Square to video-link with fellow campaigners around the world.

  This is a preview. Read the full post (349 words, 1 image)