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Ordinary folk doing their bit to protect the environment
By Xiao Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-05 08:10
 Each day, before Gu Qingyu takes her 5-month-old daughter out for a stroll in the morning, this stay-at-home mom checks the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau website for its daily air quality report. Su Wei, a stylish youngster working for an entertainment company in Beijing, carries a "green" bag designed by her fashion icon, the Chinese Kate Moss -- Lin Chi-Ling. Zhou Jingyi, a 5-year-old girl of Hepingmen Kindergarten, always asked her parents to collect used bottles so that she could make toys with them. It was part of her school curriculum. During the Earth Hour on March 28, Li Wei, a resident of Tiantongyuan, Beijing's largest residential area, switched off all lights at his home and had a romantic candle light dinner with his wife. In fact, tens of thousands of Chinese did the same thing that day to support energy-saving efforts. About 30 years ago, protecting the environment was not a personal or government priority in China, but now, an increasing number of citizens have become concerned about the environment, a survey conducted by the China Environment Culture Promotion Association (CECPA) has revealed. The survey, done on 10,000 respondents in 31 provinces, showed that around 37.7 percent paid close attention to environmental protection in 2008. In fact, the issue received the most public attention, next only to rising prices and food security. Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), said: "Only when more and more ordinary people participate in the national environmental campaign will the country's efforts (in this direction) finally bear fruit." Environment Minister Zhou Shengxian had said earlier that public awareness about the environment had improved tremendously and citizens were becoming more actively involved in environmental supervision. If they were to be properly guided, it would become a key force in the country's environmental protection campaign, he said. However, Huang Zhaojing, project manager of China Environmental Awareness Program (CEAP), told China Daily: "There is an asymmetry in the environmental education campaign targeted at well-educated people and people without much education." Yang Sujuan, professor of the China University of Political Science and Law, said there was a perception that people in the economically developed regions paid more attention to environmental protection. Yang said China needed to create more channels for promoting environmental protection, especially for people in the under-developed regions and rural areas. Huang said: "China needs a systematized program of environmental education for people of different ages, and environmental publicity and education needs further legislation." Besides, Huang said that the most important thing was to set up a professional and comprehensive public environmental awareness index, in a bid to clearly understand what environmental information or knowledge people possessed, what their real demands were, and their most desired way of getting information about the environment. Huang said: "In the past, environmental NGOs played a significant role in educating people and also bringing some new concepts to China through their networks." The environmental awareness among the people has been strengthened thanks to the efforts of environmental NGOs in China. Fourteen years have passed since the first Chinese environmental NGO, Friend of Nature, was set up in 1994. There are 3,539 environmental NGOs fighting for bluer skies, cleaner water and a better life for every Chinese. (China Daily 06/05/2009 page13) |
