Striving for a better environment

Wang Tao, 50, has been a "green woodpecker "for the city of Beijing for 16 years. By adopting the moniker, he's referring to the volunteer-based environmental protection work done by the Beijing Green Woodpecker Association, an organization he founded in 2006.

He views the volunteers as guardians of the city's environment, in the same way that woodpeckers usually are for the forest.

Wang started by admonishing people who spat on the ground, a deed he initially felt shy to speak out about, but he was determined and, over the years, has persisted in doing so. He started doing it out of a personal aversion to such impolite and unhygienic behavior, and an impulse to contribute further to society.

Previous media reports had him recall an incident in May 2006, when he was lingering in Tian'anmen Square, with a pack of tissues in hand, and observing the visitors. It was his first-time acting as a self-appointed volunteer.

Upon spotting a young postcard vendor clearing his throat and spitting, he rushed up and handed over a tissue, asking the man to wipe the phlegm up off the floor.

The young man squinted at him: "Who are you? And who sent you here?"

"I'm a volunteer and I'm here of my own volition," Wang said and tried to reason with him about how spitting was a bad influence on Beijing's image, especially as, at the time, the city was busy preparing for the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

When the young man hesitated, neighboring vendors joined in, helping to persuade the man, who bent over and cleaned the floor.

Wang left rest of the tissues with him and suggested that next time, he should spit into one of them instead.

In the years since, frequent scolding, contemptuous looks and being ignored hasn't held Wang back, and his contribution being covered by media has resulted in more volunteers joining his cause.

The association now has over 6,000 members nationwide, he said at an online sharing session during the Beijing Ecology and Environment Week, which ran through June 1 to 7.

Now the members also hold events promoting waste reduction and garbage sorting, as well protecting drinking water resources.

With one long-term project, they invite parents and children to work with river keepers to check the waterways and clean garbage by the riverbanks around the Miyun Reservoir in suburban Beijing.

Wang discovered that, for many of the city's children, it was through these practices that they learned where their water comes from.

During the sharing session, Dong Yan, a high school geography teacher in Beijing, talked about how she has integrated cultivation of environmental awareness into her lessons since 1993. It was driven by the idea she learned in college that people should think globally and act locally toward environmental issues.

She's now promoting the habit of replacing disposable tissues with cloth handkerchiefs among her students, by encouraging them to check how many tissues they use, and look into the consumption of water and waste caused in tissue production.

The Beijing Ecology and Environment Week, with 12 online livestreaming events and tours, exhibitions and sharing sessions, featured publicity for ecology improvement and environmental protection movements in Beijing. It is the ninth year that the city has held such themed activities.

The daily operation of the megacity and the lives of its more than 20 million residents account for a large amount of pollution, said Zhang Lixin, director of the Beijing environmental protection publicity center.

"Prevention and control of pollution and the reduction of carbon emissions demand the deep involvement of the whole of society," he added.

A survey of around 6,500 people has proved the public's growing awareness of the environment and the practices through which they can protect it. The survey's results were released as part of the weeklong activities.

Around 70 percent of the respondents recognize the improvement in air quality compared to the year before, 80 percent see cleaner rivers, and 90 percent applaud achievements in dust control.

The majority of the respondents view the responsibility of improving the environment as a joined effort of the government, corporate enterprises, the public, NGOs and the media.