Your Voice: Innocent suffer in war in Gaza Strip; Hong Kong’s plastic tableware ban won’t solve all pollution problems (long letters)

On October 7, Palestinian Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented attack in Israel. Thus, the latest war between Israel and Hamas began.

More than 1,400 Israelis were killed in the attack, and the resulting war has quickly become the deadliest conflict fought between them since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Israeli troops have vowed to retaliate against Hamas to destroy its capabilities. As of November 3, more than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, and the death toll is only expected to rise.

“Wars can’t end wars”, as all of us learned from WWI and WWII, some of the deadliest military conflicts in history. Although the war looks like two countries fighting against each other, it is actually a much larger global conflict. Western powers are fighting against other powerful countries in the Middle East, and Israelis and Palestinians are “representatives” of this battle. Any victory will not be permanent, and it is impossible to solve a conflict that started so many years ago.

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Innocent citizens are losing their lives and families, and they can’t live normally since the agricultural cycle, living spaces, and daily activities are often disturbed.

According to the UN, since the war started in October, more than one million people in Gaza have lost their homes, and other sources have reported that over 3,000 people have been displaced from Israel. It isn’t fair for civilians who have done nothing wrong to suffer. Living in an atmosphere filled with hatred hugely affects a person’s safety and happiness, and people will live with the consequences of this conflict for years.

In my opinion, history is just repeating itself. Writer Peter Frankopan wrote about the time around the First Crusade to capture Jerusalem in 1099 in his book The Silk Roads, detailing scenes from the wars launched by European powers. He includes descriptions like: “Many of those who set out never made it to the Holy City, killed in battle, dead from disease or hunger, or taken into captivity,” and “Jerusalem was soon filled with dead bodies, corpses pilled up on mounds as big as city gates.”

These brutal battles happened over a thousand years ago. There have also been several conflicts over the years, with the modern one going back to the establishment of Israel as a country in 1948. These wars have killed an untold number of people and shaped global politics since the end of WWII. The region is important to Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Though it is impossible to force everyone in one territory to believe in the same religion, constant wars are unnecessary and damaging.

The war will not come to an end if we don’t try our best to maintain peace. As time passes, weapons and technology will only get more advanced, making war worse every time it happens. In addition, the more wars there are, the deeper the conflicts will become, bringing no benefit to the world as a whole.

Overall, it is extremely unfortunate that citizens of Israel and the Gaza Strip have to suffer through their countries frequently getting involved in wars. They need to see their homes getting destroyed, their community disbanded, and their ordinary lives getting disrupted.

I sincerely hope that the war will end as soon as possible and such tragic news can be demolished from the world, providing every global citizen the life they wish to live in peace.

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Lo Wing-lam, Tsuen Wan Government Secondary School

Many people are concerned about throwaway plastic tableware because of the serious pollution problems associated with plastic. When plastic is discarded and ends up in the sea, it harms marine life. Incinerating plastic waste releases toxic gases, contributing to air pollution. Additionally, plastic waste takes hundreds of years to decompose, taking up valuable landfill space.

To address this issue and reduce plastic waste at its source, the government will ban throwaway plastic tableware in restaurants starting from April 22 next year. They will also halt the production and sale of certain other disposable plastic products.

While this seems like positive news for the environment, there are some challenges to consider. Firstly, these regulations will have a significant impact on society, particularly the catering industry.

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Businesses will need to reassess their supply and operating costs, which requires time and careful study. Plastic products are inexpensive, and it will be difficult for small businesses to adapt to the higher costs associated with alternatives, like stainless steel or paper straws.

Moreover, if companies choose to use reusable tableware, cleaning costs will increase. Additionally, when chain restaurants switch to a specific type of tableware, such as wooden utensils, other restaurants may struggle to find a sufficient supply.

There is also an ongoing debate regarding whether environmentally friendly, disposable tableware options actually exist. For example, McDonald’s has admitted that although paper straws are recyclable, they are often too thick and challenging to recycle effectively. According to a BBC report from January 2019, producing paper bags consumes four times more energy than producing plastic bags. Additionally, paper is heavier than plastic, requiring more resources for transport. Moreover, if disposable plastic tableware is still available for purchase at the retail level, it seems unfair to ban its use in restaurants.

Disposable plastic tableware is not solely to blame for plastic pollution. The fundamental issue lies in two deeply ingrained habits of human beings: the ability to throw something away and a desire for convenience. Blaming plastic alone overlooks the fact that we are the ones who use it.

To solve this problem, the government should consider regulations that can change these habits or make them less feasible, such as promoting a community-based system for lending and returning reusable tableware and supporting the local recycling industry. The recycling industry should be capable of handling many different materials, and it is crucial to ensure that recycled items do not end up in landfills due to compatibility issues with the system.