launching this blog....

today marks my first day blogging for clean air network, http://www.hongkongcan.org/, considering that we're building what i hope will become the premier cause-related social media marketing platform in hong kong, it's become obvious that a personal, idiosyncratic voice can only help build the audience. our facebook group, at 7000 pax, http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/cleanairnetwork?ref=ts is becoming a major force, but it does tend to be a bit dry and corporatized because of size limitations. i'm going to use my blog to give a bit more flavor to what CAN is doing, replete with personal observations.

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last week, i attended blogfest asia, http://www.blogfest.asia/, and was touched by the green bloggers i spoke alongside: two of them were involved with the spontaneous creation of SMM platforms which replaced the official media in taiwan and the philippines as sources of emergency information for millions of people during the recent typhoon catastrophes. it was such an honor to even sit next to such people. being an SMM neophyte and blog-virgin, i learned a lot from just listening to their ppt presentations! when it comes to SMM, it pays to have humility and ask those, "duh, what's that?" questions. i also met a bunch of charles mok's (young) friends who, to my surprise and delight, were enthusiastic about helping me spread the word about air pollution on facebook, plurk, internet radio, all over. it's at times like those that my core belief in the power of the individual is rejuvenated. so many hong kongers are cynical and disaffected when it comes to issues falling outside their personal obsessions. aside from the blogging, blogfest was inspiring because everyone in that room was a champion of democracy and believes in the power of the lone individual. it's another reason i started blogging today.

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today, i have to moderate a climate change lunch for intelligence squared asia, http://www.intelligencesquared.asia/, with 4 of the world's top environmentalists, sunita narain, eric bettelheim, gwyn prins and christine loh. i'm not an expert on climate change, only air pollution, so i've had to get up to speed in the past two days. thank GOD for wikipedia! and, even then, i'm hanging on to the topic by my fingernails. on the other hand, i let my friend press me into service for this lunch precisely because i wanted to (be forced to) read more about this crucial topic. for that matter, it's the same reason i decided to become ceo of CAN -- it forces me to master air pollution, smm, ngo politics and everything in between - all on the fly.

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i have no idea if i'm going to blog every day, but i'm certainly going to try.