Can you paint with all the colours of the wind? Every day we consume energy and fail to recognize how we should do it in a more environmentally friendly way. Little do people know the story behind energy and how it is connected to the quality of our liv

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Can We Paint With All the Colours of the Wind?

Some may think that we own the earth and we can do whatever we want to it.   Most of the time, we are more concerned about making our lives more comfortable even though we are already living in a modern city like Hong Kong.  Every day we consume energy and fail to recognize how we should do it in a more environmentally friendly way.  Little do people know the story behind energy and how it is connected to the quality of our lives and our planet.  

Where does energy come from?  It comes from burning fossil fuels.  From heating our homes, to fuelling our cars, and to manufacturing our MP3 players, energy is produced and consumed naturally.  Fossil fuels are either burned directly or burned in power stations to drive turbines which generate electricity. Every time we burn fossil fuels such as natural gas or oil, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. In a natural carbon cycle, carbon dioxide is re-absorbed by plants and trees. However, the rate we are producing carbon dioxide is so quick that plants and trees have no chance of absorbing it. These extra carbon emissions are affecting our earth’s atmosphere.  Therefore, to maintain a better future, we ought to reduce our carbon emission.

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In addition, all this extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere changes the overall temperature of the planet.  It is rising, causing what is known as global warming.  According to a report presented by the UK Government in 2006, there is a 50% risk that unless rising global temperatures is acknowledged and addressed, it could increase by more than 5 degrees by 2100.  It is naïve of us to think that global warming will not affect us even in Hong Kong.  According to the Hong Kong Observatory, local temperatures have been rising more rapidly than the global average, and they ...

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