In today’s world, pollution is discussed in terms like high or low, toxic or just unhealthy, almost accepting it as a part of everyday life and forgetting to ask the basic question: why do we have to live with it?
Tag: pollution
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as it should be~ New Zealand
Being in New Zealand feels as close as I can imagine a healthy planet to be. I visited and was enchanted with this beach at Karekare about 20 years ago and coming back to it now, it still is as clean, as unpolluted and as undeveloped as it was back then. What a stark contrast to the pollution we live through in a city like Shanghai, and how refreshing it is to find ourselves under big blue skies.
Merry Christmas to you all from warm and fresh New Zealand. Kiaora!
During the last few days, Shanghai was submerged in a large cloud of gray pollution that seemed to call over terms like ‘apocalypse’ and ‘end of days’ from many of its residents. A look of worry shrouded everyone’s face and all conversations centered around the same theme: the toxic smog. It felt so bizarre to walk around in a dark city with masked people and alarmed eyes everywhere you looked. The pollution was literally off the scales (over 500) and no comforting answers anywhere as to when and if it will end. Now, a few days later, it has dropped to 195, still an alarming number in any country, but here in Shanghai, it calls for a celebration. What kind of world are we bringing our children into? What levels of abuse are we subjecting our planet to in the name of progress, money and power?
We find ourselves in a world that has more and more toxic bodies of water every year. You see a river or a sea on a hot, humid day and your first instinct is to jump in and get refreshed, but doing so in most cities might just cost you your health, life or skin! And still we go on polluting…
photo taken: a ferry between Hong Kong island and Kowloon
This year Shanghai reached the highest level of pollution ever recorded in its history…
On days like this, the city looks surreal, almost like a futuristic movie, the kind that forecasts a not so bright future, where people have to move around with masks (as is actually the case here) and where the sky looks all kinds of murky colors. It is frightening really what we are doing to our planet, and how happily most of us seem to go about ignoring it. And Shanghai is only one of many polluted cities on our pretty blue (not so blue anymore thanks to us) globe.
Looking forward to some clean air in our the next month of travel! Greetings from Shanghai!
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Day Twenty Seven, February 18, 2011
Today I was very overwhelmed with the state of the world, wars, revolutions, poverty, instability, pollution, global warming, solar flares, and a general sense of unsettlement.
Then in the afternoon we had Lea’s twin friends over for a play date then sleep over and I watched them play, laugh, sing, dance and be in the moment without any worries, just as children need to be.
It then made me think about the world that we the responsible adults are leaving for them. What kind of future are we preparing them for?