Road to 5**﹕A greener Mid-Autumn Festival

[2018.09.17] 發表

【明報專訊】◆Source A

Mountains of rubbish are everywhere after the Mid-Autumn Festival, as moon-watchers left behind 55 tonnes of garbage at parks and beaches on the night of the festival. Despite environmental groups' calls, many people continued to celebrate the festival with glow sticks.

As witnessed by some netizens, some people in Yiu On Estate Park, Ma On Shan bended glow sticks into rings and threw them into trees. There were at least 50 such rings hanging on the branches. Others on the internet pointed out that glow sticks contained toxic chemicals which made them unsuitable for reusing and recycling, while others added that they had seen huge garbage bags on the street filled with used glow sticks.

Hahn Chu, Director of Environmental Advocacy of The Green Earth, said that as a bag of colourful glow sticks cost just dozens of dollars, many citizens had no qualms about indulging in them on the pretext that the Mid-Autumn Festival was a "once-in-a-year" occasion. This showed that citizens cared too little about the environmental consequences. Chu hoped that Hong Kongers would have the environment in mind even when celebrating festivals.

Source：Ming Pao，2017.10.06

◆Source B

# I say no to glow sticks. (See picture)

■Questions and answering guidelines

1. What are the negative effects on society when people use so many glow sticks on the Mid-Autumn Festival? (6 marks)

?Aggravating the problem of refuse

According to Source A, citizens left behind 55 tonnes of garbage, much of which was disposable glow sticks. It is obvious that the heightened use of glow sticks is putting a strain on Hong Kong's landfills.

?Polluting the environment and ruining the cityscape

According to Source A, people threw a huge number of glow sticks into trees. This could have put a burden on trees and affected their growth. Furthermore, glow sticks contain materials that can harm the environment.

?A waste of useable resources

Glow sticks, which are manufactured with a large amount of plastic, are intended for citizens to buy and use on the Mid-Autumn Festival only. They are a colossal waste of resources, since they have little value and are disposed of after the festival.

?A waste of governmental resources

The government needs to mobilise additional human resources to remove garbage at parks and beaches after festivals. The use and disposal of so many glow sticks is a waste of governmental resources, which can otherwise be used on other aspects of society.

2. In what ways are Chinese traditional festivals environmentally unfriendly?

Give your opinions based on the above sources and your own knowledge. (8 marks)

?The emphasis on pomp and extravagance in Chinese traditional festivals easily gives rise to over-spending and generates waste. Since Chinese people prefer a lively, festive atmosphere, they celebrate festivals such as Chinese New Year in a lavish manner, and some of the decorations they use(such as Fai Chuns and objects used in ceremonies) are often disposed of after the festivals, thus aggravating the problem of refuse.

?Chinese people's hospitality often means that a large amount of food is left uneaten. To celebrate festivals, they like to invite their family and friends for meals. When entertaining guests, the Chinese people tend to think that to display generosity, it is necessary to prepare a large amount of food. A lot of leftovers are often created.

?Chinese people do a lot of shopping to celebrate festivals. Chinese New Year, for example, has an emphasis on "ringing in the new year by discarding old things", during which Chinese people buy a lot of new clothes and items or dispose of a lot of useable things, creating waste.

?Chinese people have a habit of giving each other gifts during festivals, such as food products for celebrating new year and mooncakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival. Sometimes there are more gifts than needed, which have to be thrown away.

Text: 劉俊偉, liberal studies teacher at Po Leung Kuk Yao Ling Sun College

Translation: Terence Yip

[通通識第529期]