Footprints – Green thoughts
January 20, 2010
Each week Cameron will be writing his thoughts on a hot environmental issue. You can share your comments and ask Cameron questions on this post.
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Young Post 
Re: Food for thought
By Wilson Wong Lap-ming
The “Food for thought” article mentions the dolphin-killing practice in Taiji, Japan. The writer raised questions about eating dolphin meat but did not explain why eating it is wrong.
It has been a tradition for fishermen in Taiji to hunt dolphins and sell their meat to Japanese consumers. They don’t really kill that many each year. And if they do not kill dolphins for sale, their economy will suffer.
I have two questions:
First, what is the difference between eating chicken meat and eating dolphin meat?
Second, when traditional cultural practices such as dolphin hunting clash with social values like environmental protection, how should that be tackled?
Thank you for your questions, Wilson, part of that issue is tackled on the Op-ed page today. As the world becomes more globalised it is inevitable that there will be clashes of culture. It poses a big problem, as animal lovers feel that they should protect animals – across the globe, while culturalists feel it is their right to do what they like within their own countries.
In an ideal world, no animals would be abused, or, indeed, even eaten. But the world we live in is far from ideal. In an ideal world it would be down to personal beliefs, but in a real world one people’s personal beliefs can clash quite lethally with others’.
To answer your question about the difference between eating dolphin and chicken: Many dolphins are apex predators. Chickens, on the other hand, are prey. Because dolphins are at this point in the food chain, they do not produce many young during their lifetime and run the risk of becoming endangered – although they clearly are not. From a purely health point of view, eating marine predators is a bad idea. As we already know, fish that eat fish accumulate their poisons in their own meat. And it is the same with dolphins.
Susan, Editor
By Bonnie Choy Ting Fong, Christian Alliance S.C. Chan Memorial College
The increase of human activities is causing many environmental problems. Global warming is a one of them.
Recently, I have read some newspapers and articles from the internet.
I found that there is a lot of thick ice melting. I also know that some
Polar bear died because of that. The temperature rises and they can’t adapt to the environment.
Global warming affects sea levels. Some countries will face a huge crisis if they are submerged.
It seems that we can’t do anything to improve the environment. But we can. If each one of us do something, we can make a difference.
We can try to use our own bags to carry our merchandises to reduce the use of plastic. We can recycle paper….
But I think the most efficient and valid way is to save energy. We should have a shower instead of taking a bath. We should shut off all electronic appliances when we don’t use them. We can lessen the use of private cars and travel by public transport.
All people want to offer a comfortable and great place to the next generation, but why don’t we care about Mr. Earth and protect the environment? We must act immediately and instantly!
By Chan Ka -yin, Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu Memorial College
Now, the most important thing that we face is global warming.It affects us variously.For example,the weather become hotter,the temperature rises rapidly,it makes the glaciers in north pole and south pole melts,polar bear have nowhere to live,no foods to eat and their number are decreasing.Global warming also cause flooding,drought etc..They threaten our life and we will lose our homes.
There haves countless problems that we are facing in the world.We must take action now!Protect our earth,create a lovely wounderland.
It is a bad sight if the rich people and courtries don’t give their hand to the the poorer! This action is nongenerous. Why don’t they are happy to buy the car but unhappy to help some lonely, helpness people? It’s alaways a big question for me. Also, about the international, the USA president have to think other solutions to solve this problem.I’m sure that in 2060, the Earth will increase 2-4 degree C and some of the animals will turn to death by not enough food and human are over hunted. Manage this point seriously!
It is a great chance for me to read this article. The garbage we made is huge. The fish and bird are killed by us. The sailers are very awful because the fish are turely decreased. We have to face this problem. Don’t waste food, Don’t pollut many plastic……It is the things that we should do for the earth. I think the government have to save the terrible sight. A lot of sailers are waiting it.
To read this week’s topic: Rich should pay their bill, log on to http://yp.scmp.com and go to ‘News’, ‘International’ or click here: http://www.yp.scmp.com/home/website/Article.aspx?id=1496