Living in a Haze

This picture of Central was taking at 6pm with a very hazy skyline

For the past two weeks Hong Kong has been shrouded in haze. Even periodic heavy rainstorms can't wash the humid grayness away from the city.

It's pretty much unprecedented and today was particularly gray.

Air pollution levels were off the charts today in Hong Kong

Many of my colleagues remarked about the hazy weather and one was so mortified by the air pollution readings that he posted on our internal messaging system that the AQI or Air Quality Index was 175, deemed "Unhealthy" in red type.

Thanks for that, but what can we do?

It feels very humid outside, but the recent and current typhoons around the region have caused air movement to stagnate. It's particularly bad for children and the elderly as well as people who have asthma, and I've been trying to stay indoors as much as possible.

The Environmental Protection Department issued a warning, saying the air quality would remain bad until next week, as light winds were unable to disperse the pollutants in the air.

Pollution was made worse by people burning money tonight

Tonight when I was coming home, I saw people burning things on the street and lighting candles -- it's the eve of the Hungry Ghost Festival that starts tomorrow until September 9 this year. That means every evening people will be burning "hell money", creating even more air pollution.

I feel for the businesses that are near these people burning things, as the ashes end up blowing into their premises and they didn't ask for it, let alone breathing in the smoke.

While they are only burning money and incense in the evenings, creating less air pollution would help, especially when we're dealing with this terrible haze!