A group of junior middle school students in Beijing, who recently attracted nationwide publicity by appealing to the Chinese government for better environmental protection, called on the country's over 100 million fellow students today to do more for the environment of the country and the world as a whole.

In an eight-point proposal, these environmentally conscious students urged fellow students across China to pursue an environmentally friendly lifestyle.

On behalf of her classmates from the No. 2 Middle School attached to the North China Jiaotong University, Liang Sisi announced today the initiative to a group of correspondents from China's leading media organizations.

The proposal urges students not to litter and help keep the environment clean and save water and energy.

It also recommends not using eating utensils such as disposable chopstics and take-away styrofoam food boxes to reduce the consumption of wood and pollution.

The proposal calls on the students to spread an environmentally-friendly message and to encourage households to purchase environmentally-friendly products such as CFC-free refrigerators and phosphorus-free detergent.

Wang Yuqing, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration of China, welcomed the initiative. Wang said the administration, together with relevant ministries of the central government, are considering new policy initiatives aimed at preserving natural resources and protecting the environment, including banning the use of disposable chopsticks, as proposed by the students in their proposal and their September letter to Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji.

In the letter, the students also made an eight-point proposal calling for better public awareness of protecting the environment, new measures to protect forests, and more efficient use of the water and energy resources as well as more efforts to curb pollution in the country.

In his comments written on the letter on October 20, the premier said it is so moving that the kids are so concerned about protecting the environment.

Zhu's comments and the letter was widely quoted in leading newspapers around the country.