While many Chinese cities have been blanketed by smog for many years, public awareness of the dangers of pollution had remained low until recently. The new Environmental Protection Law went into effect on January 1. On February 27, the new environmental protection minister was appointed. Smog has become a hot topic among lawmakers and political advisers, as well as on social media. The great deal of public attention that has been paid to pollution issues recently has laid a foundation for more effective law enforcement, according to NGOs that have been campaigning for action on pollution for many years.

China is the world's largest coal consumer and 65 percent of its power comes from burning coal, which is considered a major contributor to smog. (Photo source: Chinanews)

Despite China's chronic pollution problems, public awareness of the dangers of pollution has remained low. Following the introduction of the "strictest ever" new Environmental Protection Law, the recent appointment of a new Environmental Protection Minister and the ongoing efforts of campaigning NGOs, pollution has become a bigger issue than ever in China.

Environmental protection has been further highlighted during the ongoing two sessions.

During a meeting with National People's Congress (NPC) deputies from Jiangxi Province on March 6, President Xi Jinping asked them to protect and treat the environment like "their own eyes and lives."

In the government work report given during the two sessions, Premier Li Keqiang vowed a "harsh strike" against illicit polluters and to impose a "strict penalty" on government officials who assist offenders.

Both Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the third session of the 12th NPC, and Chen Jining, Minister of Environmental Protection, stressed at press conferences that the new environmental protection law "has teeth."

Several provincial and municipal governors from Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong and Zhejiang have pledged to enhance their pollution controls, including measures such as increasing their usage of clean energy and shutting down polluting plants.

This has coincided with an increasing presence of discussions about the issue on social media.

Public awareness about the need for greater environmental protection has been raised and many have started to take some kind of action to fight pollution and its effects. These efforts range from tipping off the authorities about polluters, volunteering with NGOs or simply buying air purifiers for their home or workplace.

In response to the growing public interest in these issues, NGOs are busy raising funds and encouraging volunteers to help them, ready to turn this interest into concrete change.

"The [pollution] situation is not helpless or hopeless. The widespread discussion works as a great call to action, which is vital to the country's crackdown on pollution in next 10 years," Ma Jun, the director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (PEA), told the Global Times.

Vital volunteers

The PEA, a non-profit environmental protection organization based in Beijing, has created a pollution map so people can see how clean the air is in their area and take the necessary precautions.

Through the app, which offers real-time emissions monitoring data from 190 cities across the country, in addition to monitoring the emissions of hundreds of businesses, users can alert authorities of problems at any time.

The app experienced technical problems at the end of February. "The number of people downloading the app soared suddenly and the growth was beyond our capacity. Too many users opened the app at once and caused traffic congestion," Ma said.

What surprised him more was that many users left messages expressing their support and said that they were happy to wait for the app to be improved, instead of complaining. Several leading Internet firms like Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent offered to help with software and hardware support, Ma said.

The app came back online after its capacity was expanded the following day, and the app was downloaded 1.7 million times in recent week according to Ma.

The website of Friends of Nature, another environmental protection NGO, was also overloaded due to the number of people visiting the site. Friends of Nature produced a short animated film to demonstrate how PM 2.5 particles enter the body and harm the organs.

Zhang Boju, secretary-general of the Beijing-based Friends of Nature, told the Global Times that a couple of IT engineers called them to offer technical help and several lawyers approached the NGO offering to help it file public interest litigation.

"Suddenly, more public attention was brought to environmental protection NGOs and people's passion to participate our activities was ignited," Zhang said.

Several NGOs have said that many more people have reached out to them recently and offered to volunteer, fund-raising has become easier and the environmental protection authorities have become more open to cooperation.

But some conservationists have expressed worries that enthusiasm is already cooling. Feng Yongfeng, head of the environmental organization Nature University, said on his WeChat social media account that the pace of online donations has already slowed down. "Is it because people think the smog has become a thing of the past?" he asked.