Snowstorms, Plastic Bags, and the Beijing Olympics
China just came back to work after the celebration of a two-week long Lunar New Year. Yet people are still talking about the big snow storm that hit Southern China before the holidays. It was the coldest winter over the past 50 years for this region. Snow storm wreaked havoc on the nation, bringing transportation to a virtual standstill. Thousands were stranded during the busiest travel season of the year, unable to go home for family reunions. Millions were unplugged because of power cut and dozens of people lost their lives.
While the nation is still pining over the huge loss, economists and environmentalists have started to reflect over the cause of this tragedy. In its editorial, Caijin Magazine, an influential local business publication, says though it is still too early to pin down the exact cause of this snow storm, it is not too far-fetching to correlate the increasing number of extreme weather incidents with global warning. This snowstorm brought the inconvenient truth to the world’s largest population. For a long time, most people in China have been apathetic to environmental issues. I don’t want to blame it on people’s ignorance as I understand how hard it is to care about the environment when you have to survive on a dollar per day. Yet, thanks to this storm, ordinary Chinese people have finally realized how urgent and daunting this task is.
Fortunately, the Chinese government has already put environmental protection on its top agenda as Beijing is gearing up for this year’s Olympics. It just announced a plan to reduce its emission of sulphur dioxide by 6 percent from the 2005 levels by closing many small coal-fired power plants. Earlier this year, China banned business from giving away free plastic shopping bags. It caused a lot of debate initially and businesses were worried about losing customers. Yet more people started to agree with the government and learned to adapt to this change by using bio-degradable recycled bags.
Thanks to the Olympics, the nation is pulling all its strengths to make Beijing a better place to live. Every day I can feel the changes in air, water and green space. Yet changes are happening to not only the environment, but also people’s mindset. More and more people are telling me how they think environmental protection is such a cool idea and a great lifestyle.
We Chinese people are known for our hospitality. We want to give the best to Olympic guests — green grass, fresh air and clean water. But for an ordinary Beijing citizen like me, I also want to enjoy these things after the Olympics when all the guests are gone. And I want to my kids and grand-kids to be able to enjoy them too. That’s why we are protecting the environment–for ourselves, not for showcase. That’s what Green really means to me.
