(15th May 2020) This epidemic has taught humanity a grave lesson; while humans have slow down or stopped polluting activities, mother Earth finally got a rare holiday. Momentarily returning to blue skies and seas.
As we know the current economic development model and the way we live are unsustainable, will we continue our previous high-carbon path and keep destroying the natural habitats? Hong Kong has recovered, in terms of economy, from SARS partly due to the high influx of visitors from the Mainland, but this has created some other side effects. Will this epidemic bring us an opportunity for rethinking on a new model of sustainable development, which will be beneficial to mother Earth and humankind?
Hence, The Green Earth and Greenpeace jointly invite the public to brainstorm to give the city some practical suggestions
We are not alone:
1.Last month, 17 European climate and environmental ministers have published an open letter, emphasizing that the recovery plan must include elements of the Green Deal (better to include the green deal link here). In addition, to scale up investments, notably in the fields of sustainable mobility, renewable energy, building renovations, research and innovation, the recovery of biodiversity and the circular economy.
2. The C40 mayors have issued a statement in May, emphasizing the road to recovery should not be a return to ‘normal’, but to build a better, more sustainable, more resilient and fairer society.
3.The Secretary for the Environment Mr KS Wong has said on Facebook: “Actively planning a new environmental protection plan and conceive a Green Recovery. Which includes local ecotourism, reducing carbon emissions and waste production etc. creates healthier citizens and environment.”
4. From our neighbour, Taiwan, more than 20 environmental groups have put forward the reforming direction focusing on low carbon lifestyle, “We should take this opportunity while oil prices are low to promote reforming fossil fuel subsidy. No longer using the government budget to encourage gasoline, diesel and electrical consumption. This also aligns with the UN sustainable development goals.”
5. Articles by The Green Earth:
視訊經濟崛起 疫市環保新大潮?
綠色復甦之路 不要浪費「好危機」
6. Articles by Greenpeace:
疫情後單車城市或成減碳新方向
We sincerely invite you to participate and express your views about recovering Hong Kong from the epidemic:
You can express your view and suggestion of green recovery via articles (Doesn’t have to be long, suggested word count to be 600-1500 words). Should the discussion be heated, we will use different methods such as forums or seminars to sustain the debates. The main point is to let the government and society hear and know that SUSTAINABILITY should not be absent from the economic recovery journey.
The epidemic in Hong Kong is getting to stabilize, hence we need to race against time and make suggestions as soon as possible. If you could, please offer your views by sending us an email to the following email address: [email protected] or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/greenearthhk/. Thank You.
The Green Earth X Greenpeace