This winter I have developed a nasty cough and a sore throat. But every time I was away from Beijing for holiday, they would be gone within hours. They would return without fail, though, after I came back.
I knew it was the air. Unfortunately, both my workplace and downtown apartment are close to coal-burning boiler plants that produce sulfur dioxide as well as heating. Sometimes, when I look out at those tall smokestacks spewing out white puffs of pollutants that harm my health, I miss the sunshine and beach of the place I came from and wonder if my attachment for the city would survive the unpleasant smell and suspended particles in the air during the long, harsh winter.
I wish the Olympics would come sooner, to motivate the government to clean up the air even faster, despite the fact that Beijing has set an ambitious 245-day "blue sky" target for this year, four days more than last year, and also stricter exhaust emission standards for automobiles.
However, I reckoned there wouldn't be much that I could do about it, except driving less to help reduce exhaust fumes, another main source of Beijng's polluted air. But I seriously doubted such sporadic individual efforts would make much difference, as many cars on the road are owned by the government.
A recent national survey says while most Chinese think environmental pollution has had a negative impact on their health, they are apathetic about, and seldom take part in, environmentalist activities. Unfortunately, that was me.
So I was amazed to learn that some residents have been up in arms, and resorting to unusual measures to fight pollution.
In the past year, people with cameras and DVs have recorded and reported 1,708 diesel trucks with excessive exhaust emissions and black smoke, 556 dusty construction sites and 38 smokestacks spewing out black clouds in the city, according to the local medial reports.
The city's environmental hotline - 12369 - takes the reports from residents and publicizes the government's actions on its website after environmental officers investigate complaints.
In a people's campaign against pollution, residents also report their neighbors for polluting behavior. In the first half of January 2007, the local government had acted on 17 such complaints by residents, covering 10 air pollution cases caused by restaurant kitchens or seafood markets; five cases of noise nuisance and two cases of discharging industrial waste.
For the informants, the government environmental office offered token cash rewards totaling 58,900 yuan ($7,650), or 26 yuan per tip, in the past year. In 2005, a whistle-blower received more than 10,000 yuan for reporting 18 black-smoke chimneys and other cases of pollution. He lost to a retired Mr. Wang in 2006, though, who came up with tips worth more than 16,000 yuan ($2,050), the Chinese media reported.
Can I report my neighbors with those ugly smokestacks belching out pollutants? The last time I checked, I learned the authorities will only crack down on black-smoke ones at present, allowing more time for lesser polluters to switch to cleaner energy and give up the use of coal.
This couldn't happen if people didn't cooperate.
On an early morning on the expressway to the airport, when I lamented the clouds of pollutants from the smokestacks that looked thick and black against the sky, the cabbie told me: "That's from the heating centers for the local folks. We may have to live with it."
I was not sure if he was an "informant" or "apathetic" type. Somehow I would be glad if he thought I was whining about pollution.
