Diverse, colorful activities were held in many cities across
China to mark the 33rd World Environmental Day, which fell on
Saturday.
In China's capital of Beijing, young people attended a ceremony
on environmental protection sponsored jointly by the Song
Ching-Ling Foundation and the State Environmental Protection
Administration.
The ceremony, with the theme of "I love China, I love Sea.", is
aimed at increasing young people's awareness of protecting marine
environment.
Yu Guilin, vice-chairman of the Song Ching-Ling Foundation, said
the education in marine protection should be conducted among
children and young people. And they should be aroused to contribute
their share to marine protection and exert an influence on other
social strata with their concrete deeds.
In Dalian, northeast China, approximately 1,000 environmental
protection volunteers held a rally at the Zhongshan Square to
observe the World Environmental Day. Students from a dozen of
colleges and universities gave performances and delivered speeches
on environmental protection at the square, which were bedecked with
picture boards and posters.
Under the slogan of "Public involvement in environmental
protection", leading officials of numerous city departments in
Dalian attended today's activities in the capacity of volunteers
instead of government officials.
Residents of Nanjing, the provincial capital and an ancient city
in east China's Jiangsu
Province, converged on Beijing Square Saturday to publicize the
concept of "leading a green life, and building an eco-environmental
homeland."
Though Nanjing is not seaside city, it is traversed by the
mighty Yangtze, China's longest river. He Jing, a representative of
the Xuanwu District, read out at the rally a proposal on half of
his fellow residents in the district, calling on all city residents
to treasure every drop of water and strive to alleviate water
pollution.
And in Beijing, an environmental protection group began to issue
one million pamphlets on conservation know-how to the public on
Saturday, which is World Environment Day (WED).
The pamphlets tell people simple methods to save water, recycle
resources and improve their environment at home and in office, like
reusing water after washing rice, chopsticks and bowls.
"Every one of us is changing the earth's environment with our
own consumption behavior and lifestyle," said an official with the
China Environmental Culture Promotion Agency.
"Cases listed in the pamphlets all look like trivial matters,
but they are the very basis for fostering environmentally-friendly
ways of life in the whole society," the official said.
He said that through promoting these small things, more people
will be attracted to the environmental protection ranks.
(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2004)