Growing Influence of Earth Hour Celebrities Push for Environmental Protection, Seeking Greater Action on Climate Change
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18 Wednesday, April 4, 2018 YOUTH CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION Growing influence of Earth Hour Celebrities push for environmental protection, seeking greater action on climate change. Yan Dongjie reports. he Beijing National Stadium, or Bird’s Nest, switched off its lights on the evening on March 24, the first of more T It’s about lighting than 3,100 buildings in over 200 cities around China in up people’s support of Earth Hour, a glob al event started by the World awareness of Wide Fund for Nature. “It’s not only about switch environmental ing off the lights for one hour, it’s about lighting up people’s protection and awareness of environmental protection and calling on peo calling on people ple to shoulder their responsi bilities,” says Chinese film star to shoulder their Li Bingbing. responsibilities.” Li is one of the ambassadors for the event, adding that the Li Bingbing, actress annual event encourages indi viduals, communities, and businesses to turn off nones water and tableware. He sential electricity use for one brings his own slippers to hour. hotels to avoid using disposa According to the WWF, ble ones, and encourages more than 250 ambassadors Vanke employees to resist and influencers joined the using similar items. movement around the world He says that about 58 billion this year, including Li who has disposable cups are used also appeared in Hollywood around the world every year. movies such as 7 Guardians of These singleuse articles cost The Tomb and Transformers: about 3.2 million mature trees Age of Extinction. and 100 billion liters of puri She was joined by Wang fied water during their manu Junkai, a member of the popu facturing process. lar Chinese band TFBoys, and “Half of the plastics that we Zhang Zetian, JD founder Liu use are singleuse only, which Qiangdong’s wife who became is enjoyed by people for a short famous after a photo of her Chinese actress Li Bingbing (third from left) and Wang Shi (third from right), founder of China Vanke, unveil Earth China 2018 on March 24 at the National Stadium in period of time, but takes the holding a milk tea at high Beijing. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Earth hundreds of years to school went viral online, and digest,” he says. Wang Shi, founder of real In addition to the Bird’s estate giant China Vanke. years when helping to pro Organizers of Earth Hour mate Change to plant Nest, the Water Cube and the Thanks to the backing of mote the event during an say that while switching off a industrial crops in rural areas National Swimming Center, celebrities, Earth Hour was exclusive interview with Chi light for one hour would have that are better for the environ Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor observed worldwide, with na Daily. little impact on carbon emis ment and the lives of farmers. also turned dark on March 24. more than 17,900 landmarks “Some people don’t under sions, the fact that so many Her outfit also calls for the Known for its stunning night monuments switching off stand why we do this,” she people were taking part reduction in the use of paper time scenes, most of the their lights. says. “They ask, how much shows the interest and con napkins at restaurants and famous landmarks on both When it started in Sydney in energy can you save by turning cern over the current climate promotes green commuting, sides of Hong Kong harbor, 2007, about two million people off the lights for one hour? crisis. encouraging people to walk, including the International participated in the first Earth They think it’s not as much as “When I return to the Bird’s cycle or take buses to work Finance Center and Hong Hour event. The electricity the waste that promoting the Nest, where Earth Hour start instead of driving. Kong Convention and Exhibi saved then was enough to event causes.” ed in China (in 2009), pictures “More and more people tion Center, had turned their power 50,000 electrical cars Li says that she didn’t give of what we witnessed over the understand that we should all lights off. for one hour. the event much thought when past 10 years keep running in undertake environmental pro Global landmarks such as Eleven years later, hundreds she decided to join Earth Hour my head, and I feel empow tection work, and this is the the Gelora Bung Karno stadi of millions of people now in 2009, but she knew that ered to keep on going with it,” reason I promote these ideas um in Jakarta, the Acropolis in switch off their lights around environment and climate Li says. as an actress,” says Li, adding Athens, the Chain Bridge and the world from 8:30 to 9:30 change were important issues. While the numbers of cities that she felt encouraged by Royal Palace in Budapest, and pm local time on the last Sat Li Bingbing asks people to protect the environment and participate Buildings account for about and people participating in this. the Hassan II Mosque in Casa urday evening of March to in Earth Hour via China Daily’s app. YAN DONGJIE / CHINA DAILY onethird of the carbon emis Earth Hour has grown over Wang Shi, founder of China blanca had switched their show their commitment to sions that scientists say will the years, what has changed is Vanke, one of China’s major lights off to mark the Earth environmental protection and raise average global tempera Li’s life and career. real estate enterprises, also Hour event. urge greater action on climate tal issues. movement has progressed. tures by 1.4 degrees Celsius She started a philanthropic joined Earth Hour as an change. Earth Hour is consid As an Earth Hour ambassa She revealed some of the diffi and more this century, bring operation called LOVE, which ambassador. He says in a pro Contact the writer at ered to be the largest global dor for the past 10 years, Li culties and misunderstand ing floods and famines and cooperates with the Interna motional video that he has yandongjie@ event relating to environmen knows how gradually the ings she has faced over the putting millions of lives at risk. tional Organization for Cli quit using disposable bottled chinadaily.com.cn Garbage recycling picks up among students in Chengdu By CHINA DAILY 2,000 members, including students over their nineyear not only adults but also stu compulsory education, cover When Wang Jianchao was a dents from kindergartens, ing primary school and junior child, he used to pick up dis primary and secondary middle school. carded metal cans from the schools. The team is now working streets and sell them for mon Aobag established a rela on another plan so that the ey to buy snacks. His father, tionship with the Experimen university can afford the from time to time, then used tal Primary School of Sichuan price, says Wang Yueyue, a to caution him, saying: “You Normal University in Septem junior student at Sichuan need to study hard, or you will ber. University, who is also the be left with no choice but to Speaking about the link, leader of the project. pick up garbage when you Gao Tao, the school’s vice Besides students, Aobag is grow up.” principal, says: “Our commu also working with shopping Wang, born in 1980, then nities have not done well in malls in Chengdu. went on to become an engi garbage recycling, so, we The supermarket Ito Yoka neer working for Microsoft in hope that by teaching chil do is expected to open a recy 2005. But this did not prevent dren about this, we can make From left: Children at a kindergarten in Chengdu hand an Aobag bag to the company’s staff members who collect recyclable garbage every cling station at its mall where his father’s prophecy from a difference.” week; Wang Jianchao (left) and his colleagues sort out the garbage in the same city. PHOTOS BY ANDREW WONG / FOR CHINA DAILY people can buy Aobag bags coming true. According to a research by and hand in recyclable gar After quitting his job at the Shanghai Academy of bage. Microsoft five years later, Social Sciences from 2015, ble garbage. So far, the 2,500 students at used milk cartons, wash them Interestingly, an environ Cleaners at Ito Yokado have Wang started to deal with gar onethird of Chinese resi Each bag his company pro the school have made 16,500 clean and then airdry them mental protection project already started using such bage. dents do not separate recycla vides comes with a distinct yuan ($2,600) from 16,300 in their classrooms. known as the Sustainable bags for recyclable trash. And He launched a technology ble trash. Consequently, this QR code. And by scanning the kilograms of trash, mostly As for the other students, Urban System Program at they exchange the garbage for based garbage recycling unit leads to the low recycling of code, users can register for paper and plastic, according they influence their families. Sichuan University hopes money as individual users. called Aobag in March 2017 in municipal waste as garbage such an item on WeChat, a to Aobag. So, most of them bring that the money they collect Earlier this year, Aobag Chengdu, Southwest China’s companies have to burn or popular Chinese messaging Recycling this amount of paper boxes from home, from selling recyclable gar launched a branch office in Sichuan province, to encour bury recyclable garbage along app.