A Breath of Fresh Air

Thomas Friedman calls for a green revolution in America. In Hong Kong, a comical ad promotes the same idea.

No wonder. Pollution is a perpetual bane in Hong Kong — because of both roadside pollution and fumes produced by factories across the border, in mainland Chinese cities like Shenzhen. The Clean Air Network estimates that the city’s air is three times more polluted than New York’s and more than twice as bad as London’s.

The commercial advertises "Fresh Air", a canister that allows citizens of Hong Kong to "breath as the rest of the world does". Airing just before Autumn, a season where pollution skyrockets, this ad came just in time. Most people don't even realize the repercussions of their pollution and how big of an impact they have on the environment. In Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Friedman provides a stat which saying that while driving a car, one throws a one pound bag of trash out the window every mile. People don't realize this occurs because it is not something people do consciously or even something we can see. Instead, the trash is in the form of carbon dioxide released to the air. This is a sobering thought, one that calls into question the American way of living without a thought to what will become of us in the future. Every action has its reaction and this ad makes people realize that.