Small gestures can make big changes in attitude
When the lights are out it generally means no one is at home or they are all asleep. That was far from the case at 8 o'clock last night when the lights were turned out for three minutes in many homes and offices across Hong Kong. People were wide awake to the opportunity to send a symbolic environmental message about saving energy and cutting air pollution.
The organisers of Lights Out Hong Kong may not have been awake to the timing of the exercise, just minutes before the beginning of the two-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics - at 8.08pm on the eighth day of the eighth month.
Ingenuous or not, the timing was not the reason given by the chief executive for refusing to join last night's big turn-off. Donald Tsang Yam-kuen told organisers the campaign 'could give adverse publicity to Hong Kong as an international metropolis and major tourist attraction'. Surely it is air pollution - visible again yesterday - that causes the kind of unwanted publicity we should be worried about.
It is true the lights-out campaign drew attention to a major cause of air pollution without achieving anything more concrete. But that does not detract from the symbolic value of a practical show of community support for the campaign to clean up Hong Kong's air - a campaign that the government itself is backing with increasing energy and commitment.
Indeed, Mr Tsang won praise recently for shedding his jacket and trademark bow tie except on formal occasions in a government campaign to persuade people to set air-conditioning at a higher temperature and save energy.
These gestures will not magically trigger the changes in the way we work and live that are needed to clear the air of serious pollution. Since Hong Kong says it is responsible for just 20 per cent of the delta region's smog, it will require considerable political will in both Hong Kong and Guangdong to clear the air. As we were reminded by the very modest progress at last week's cross-border talks, there is a long way to go. It will take much more than symbolic gestures. But the cumulative effect of such efforts to increase public awareness is not to be dismissed. Governments do not develop the political will to take decisions that have far-reaching consequences unless they are persuaded they have strong public support.
A British policy think-tank has identified three typical reactions to the threat of climate change posed by air pollution: pessimism (there is not much we can do about it); blithe optimism (the world will muddle through somehow) and pragmatic optimism (things will turn out all right - so long as we do something).
Happily, Mr Tsang's example of shedding his jacket and tie and turning up the thermostat falls into the third category, as does the lights-out campaign. Symbolic gestures like these are to be welcomed. They help keep the focus on a quality-of-life issue that affects us all.
