Han and Tibetan a team to keep Lhasa clean

Chinadaily.com
September 7, 2015
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Photo taken on Aug 13, 2015 shows the night view of Lhasa, capital of Southwest China’s Tibet autonomous region. Lhasa, one of the highest cities in the world, has a history of more than 1,300 years.[Photo/Xinhua]

Although called “Green Dawa” for more than five years, Dawa still feels embarrassed but somehow proud of his nickname.

He was so dubbed thanks to his environmental protection work in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, for about eight years.

“Since the first train entered in 2006, I assumed that a large number of tourists would flock to Tibet. That’s why we started to advocate anti-plastic pollution and environmental protection,” said Dawa, adding that increasing numbers of tourists are more likely to cause white pollution.

“I am a native of Lhasa and love my hometown. I assume people who visit Lhasa are also ones who love the city. We hope to maintain a clean and green Lhasa without pollution,” the 46-year-old said.

He and a friend, Cai Jinping, who is also an enthusiast on environmental protection, founded non-profit organization “I Love Green Lhasa”, promoting environmental protection in Lhasa and the region.

“The essence of environmental protection is to promote people’s awareness. It is not only the business of government,” Dawa said, adding that the organization has been working on running activities to raise people’s environmental protection awareness.

One activity is to employ disabled people to persuade shoppers and customers to stop using plastic bags in farmer’s markets.

The organization also frequently holds diverse activities, including enlisting volunteers to pick up trash in the Lhasa River and conducting environmental protection training.

Dawa is also a butterfly researcher at the region’s plateau biology academy.

He was paying attention to the environment long before the establishment of his organization.

As a biologist, he often needs to work in fields and Cai has donated much time, money and energy to environmental protection.

The Han and Tibetan make a team to keep Lhasa clean.

“The latest activity is to provide environmental protection training at schools, including protecting plants, recycling trash and banning plastics. We hope students adopt the awareness of environmental protection. Once these students enter society, it will become habit and common sense to protect the environment,” Cai said, adding that a trial started in June in a vocational school in Lhasa and will be applied to other schools if successful.

As a native of Anhui province, 50-year-old Cai has lived in Lhasa for more than 20 years and sees the city as another hometown.

Cai runs a factory producing environmental protection bags.

“When I was kid, the environment in my hometown was great. But now it is no longer good. I gained direct experience of the importance of environmental protection in Tibet,” Cai said.

“If Tibet’s environment is a piece of white paper, once it has become dirty, it is extremely hard to turn it clean again,” he said. “It is not only a business, but a career”.