These satellite images show the ebb and flow of plant life on earth over three years, taken by a NASA satellite called SeaWiFS. The blue areas are void of plants, the red spots indicate an overabundance, and the green areas show where plants are thriving. This is the earth breathing. The plants are taking up CO₂, and they’re breathing out oxygen. As suggested by oceanographers, almost half of that activity is going on underwater. The oceans are teeming with tiny microscopic plants called phytoplankton. They are at the bottom of the food chain, and they basically feed all sea life. Like all plants, phytoplankton absorbs CO₂ from the atmosphere. 

    These images show that phytoplankton boomed over the last three years. That’s one of the key benefits of these satellite images. Over time, scientists will use them to help predict how plants might respond as we burn more fossil fuels, and as global CO₂ levels rise. Many scientists think such greenhouse gasses will cause global warming. They suggest that it is related to recent climate change. However, what they don’t know is how life in the ocean will respond over the long haul if CO₂ levels keep rising.

        Hong Kong has lost its sky. The city is frequently 6 in a noxious smog, and many days the only place you can see a clear shot of the famously picturesque skyline is in ads for luxury apartments. Urban esthetics    7   , the damage to Hong Kong residents’ lungs may be worse. “The only safe conclusion is that air pollution is having a very serious   8   effect on the health of people of all ages,” says Dr. Anthony Hedley, chairman of the Department of Community Medicine at the University of Hong Kong. The only good news is that air pollution has become so severe that Hong Kongers are finally ready to force their leaders to act. And the city’s business community is pushing for solutions. The answers are out there: the government’s Council for Sustainable Development in early May 2006 released a number of smart anti-pollution   9   , such as restricting vehicle use on high-pollution days, and asking electricity producers to use only clean coal or low-polluting natural gas by 2010. 

        In the meantime, many experts doubt whether Hong Kong’s bureaucracy has the imagination or the will to implement those ideas. Christine Loh, CEO of the local think tank Civic Exchange, says that they just do not have the kind of political leadership now.