Tang Sin Ling, Geri (F.2C)

People celebrate festivals such as at Mid-Autumn Festival, Christmas or Chinese New Year. Although on the surface these are very happy scenes, there are worries we cannot avoid.

The Hong Kong government celebrates Chinese New Year with massive firework displays. It seems a very generous way to celebrate using that much money and manpower. But the truth is that these fireworks produce a large amount of polluted air like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and so on. Then, the air contains dusty and grey smoke which damage our blue sky and blue ocean.

After Mid-Autumn Festival, people get rid of their mooncake containers which are sent to the landfill causing it to be saturated. At Christmas we also produce lots of garbage like fake Christmas trees or gift wrapping. This leads to the same environmental problem as what we end up after any festivals like flowers and packaging of flowers on Valentine’s Day.

Hence, we should try our best to reduce pollutants in the air or rubbish caused by unnecessary packaging. We should not celebrate using too many firework chemicals. We can celebrate by travelling especially on eco-tours, having a picnic or going out for a nice dinner. These are also simple and easy ways to protect the environment. And if we finish the mooncakes, we should collect the containers for other uses like turning them into useful devices. Or we simply do not use too much packaging.

In conclusion, celebrating festivals is inevitable, but we should also do something to protect the environment.