Letter from the Editor

Tseung Kwan O Government Secondary School Address: 2 King Yin Lane, Tseung Kwan O Tel: (852) 2704 0051 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.tkogss.edu.hk July 2013 Letter From The Editor What is being done to improve the air pollution problem? What more can be done? What about water pollution and the rubbish in the ocean that affects marine and bird life? Shark Finning! Is that to be encouraged? Should the landfill in Tseung Kwan O be expanded or not? Should a new landfill be built? The 4 R’s…Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, Replace? Is this happening to assist the huge waste problem? What can be done to stop the enormous problem involving plastic? Not a day goes past when there is not an item of news in the newspaper or on the radio about these social issues. As such, our students carried out a survey to find out their fellow students’ opinions about these issues, what they see as priorities and what they are personally doing to improve the situation. In this newsletter, there are also articles written by the students that are excellent reading. We were fortunate to have Tracey Read, founder of ‘Plasticfreeseas’ speak to all the students about the ‘plastic’ problem. The students’ responses are contained within as well as pictures which ‘can say more than a thousand words’. I hope you find this ‘TKO Express’ to be informative, interesting as well as educational. As many students state here – we can all make a difference. List of Contributors: Editor: Ms Ann Miles Assistant Editor: Ms Tam Kin Fai Contributors: Au Yeung Kwok Iu, Gloria 4D Lee Pui Yi, Koby 4D Luk Tsz Kwan, Natalie 4D Hui Fuk Yuen, William 4D Chan Ka Yee, Karen 4D Wong Chi Hong, Ken 4D Chan Chi Wing, Susan 4D Lai Hiu Man, Rebecca 4D Tam Nga Ting, Tanya 4D Leung Hoi Yan, Cindy 4D Yeung Ka Ho, Cynthia 4D Chau Hoi Yan, Katherine 5E Tsang Hiu Tung, Hazel 5E Lam Yeuk Yu, Pansy 6D Wong Wai Shan, Dora 6D Wong Yan Yan, Lesley 6D 1 Our schoolmates’ concerns about the environmental issues in Hong Kong 5E Chau Hoi Yan We interviewed 186 students from S4-5 about the environmental issues in Hong Kong. Here are the results of the interviews. The pie chart shows that most of the students (64%) are concerned because the problems will affect our health. The pie chart shows that air pollution (40%), rubbish disposal (13%) and water pollution (12%) are the three areas of the environment in Hong Kong that concern our schoolmates the most. The pie chart shows that the majority of the students (73%) think the recent policies set up to tackle the environmental problems in Hong The pie chart shows that almost half of the students (49%) think that Kong are not enough. by setting up laws it will help to improve the environmental situation in Hong Kong. The pie chart shows that most of the students (70%) sometimes take The pie chart shows how the majority of the students protect the action to protect the environment but only 20% of the students always environment: 22% use less plastic bags, 21% do not throw rubbish take action to protect the environment. onto the ground and into the sea and 21% turn off lights when not using them. 2 Reflections about Ms Tracey Read’s Speech 5E Tsang Hiu Tung, Hazel On 9th May, Tracey Read from Plastic Free Seas (PFS), a Non-Governmental Organization, was invited to our school to give us a speech about the environment. It was our pleasure to listen to her. With the rising awareness and education in schools, we realize that the environmental situation in Hong Kong is deteriorating. Air pollution is bad, but apart from that, plastic pollution is a major concern too. From the photos taken by the members of PFS, we could see lots of rubbish along the beaches including plastic bags, water bottles, cigarette butts, lighters, etc. It is really a tragedy. On the other hand, I feel consoled that some people volunteered to help with cleaning up the beaches and giving a hand to save our oceans and the environment. If we really want to save the oceans, our legislators should not only focus on land use, but should also show some respect for the environment. We as individuals must play our part too. If you want to show your concern about our environmental situation, you can ‘like’ the website of PFS on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlasticDisasterHongKong. Please give a hand to protect our oceans! 4D Tam Nga Ting, Tanya I really enjoyed the talk on the Assembly and in the classroom given by Tracey and Steve. It was about plastic pollution in the ocean and the disposal of it on the beaches of Hong Kong. Through the talk, I learned a lot of about plastic pollution. It is difficult to imagine that our facial or body scrubs are common plastic pollutants that end up in the ocean, because they contain polyethylene. Therefore, the talk reminded me to choose products carefully and reduce the use of plastic. Moreover, the powerpoint demonstration from the talk showed that the dead birds and fish were found with bellies full of plastic. It is cruel. They mistook the plastic which floated on the ocean for food. Indeed, we must take action to reduce the plastic in the ocean. Also, plastic fragments on the beaches in Hong Kong mix in with sand. Are you willing to play on a littered beach? Of course not. Tracey’s organization is willing to go there but not to play. They go there to recover the beauty of the beaches. They clean up the rubbish on the beaches. I remember that Tracey said that if one person joined the activity, one person would help reduce the pollution in the world. It encouraged me to reduce the plastic pollution. Therefore, I will take action to reduce plastic pollution! I will reduce using plastic products, especially the single-use plastic products! I will recycle plastic rubbish! I will also encourage my family and friends to reduce buying plastic products and reuse them when possible!! 4D Chan Chi Wing, Susan I really enjoyed Tracey’s talk because she told us a lot about the disadvantages of using plastic products. Plastic does not decompose within 200 years at least so the plastic waste stays on the Earth for a very long time. Tracey and Steve told us that there is a huge amount of plastic waste on Hong Kong’s beaches and also in the oceans all over the world. One of their jobs is the beach cleanup to remove what they can. Almost all the plastic waste easily gets into the seas, oceans and eventually into gyres - which is a circular ocean current moving in a spiral motion. The plastic waste will be broken down into many very small pieces because of the sunlight, then, some marine animals will be mistaken by those small plastic pieces and eat them and die. The sea birds that eat the plastic will die also. So, we can imagine how terrible the plastic is when it gets into our food chain. To protect the seas, oceans and the marine animals, we can start living a ‘green’ life from today. We can simply reduce the use of plastic products by bringing our own shopping bags, water bottles and cutlery. Or we can reuse the plastic products so as to reduce the amount of plastic waste. If we want to throw the plastic waste, we shouldn’t throw it into the seas and oceans, but separate it into different kinds of plastic and throw it into the recycling bins. Also, we can join some environmental protection campaigns such as the beach clean-ups to help protect the environment. 4D Lai Hiu Man, Rebecca In daily life, plastic products surround us because they are convenient and light. We can use them in many ways, however, they cause plastic waste which cannot be broken down easily. IThey cause pollution and threaten birds and animals’ lives. I enjoyed Ms Read’s speech because she brought the truths to us. She told us how serious this issue is. Before she came, I didn’t know our cleansing cream contains plastic. This is disgusting! Can you accept using plastic to wash your face every day? Moreover, these polyethylenes (the tiny plastic beads inside the facial or body scrubs) are washed away and go into the ocean through the drains. The marine animals eat these beads, and they cannot digest them. As a result, the plastic beads stay inside their bodies and finally take away their lives. I feel sorry for these animals because I have tried the product which contains micro beads; maybe there were some animals that died from my thoughtless action! Animals, birds, and marine life are the residents that live on this Earth, so we should respect them. Although plastic is convenient, it kills lives when we cannot place the plastic waste correctly. To reduce the waste, we can bring our own water bottle, so that we don’t need to buy a new water bottle every time. Moreover, if we can use our own shopping bags, it can reduce the plastic waste. There are many ways for us to reduce the waste. All we need to do is to try to apply them in our daily lives. When you want to buy something new, just ask yourself ‘Do I really need this?’ and decide what you should do.

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