Spitting on streets, littering, open-air barbecues and smoking
in public - these could soon be things of the past if Beijing
residents get their way.
(A cartoon selected and
edited from www.qianlong.com)
The city's authorities invited residents last month to list what
they felt were the worst habits in daily life that led to pollution
and suggest improvements, in a bid to spruce up the environment in
time for next year's Olympic Games.
The Beijing environmental protection bureau said that it
received close to 200,000 responses that listed the above habits as
the most pressing.
Popular suggestions for improving the environment also included
turning off vehicles' engines at red lights, wetting dusty streets
before sweeping them and using environment-friendly appliances at
home and at work.
"A city's image is reflected in its air quality," said bureau
official Zhang Baosen. "Improving Beijing's air quality for the
Olympics requires the combined efforts of the government and the
city's 17 million residents."
Measures to improve the capital's air quality have already been
taken since the start of the year.
In mid-August, about 1.3 million cars were successfully banned
from the city's roads to improve air quality.
Major air pollutants including nitrogen oxides and carbon
monoxide were reduced by about 20 percent, a report by the China
National Environmental Monitoring Center showed.
The municipal government has also taken steps for people to use
public transport instead of cars by cutting the metro ticket price
by more than 30 percent and giving discounts of up to 60 percent on
bus tickets early this year.
Meanwhile, leading steel manufacturer Shougang Group has pledged
to reduce emissions by more than 70 percent from next July to
September prior to the Games.
(China Daily October 31, 2007)
