Zou Yi: An enthusiast of environmental protection who takes photos of the sky everyday

Zou Yi shows his photos of the Beijing sky taken in 2014. (Photo by zhhjw.org)

Jiankou, a section of the Great Wall located beside Xizhazi village, Huairou district of Beijing, is frequently visited by a group of outdoor sport fans on Saturday, who collect garbage with the white plastic bags tied to their camping bags. The visitors all come from a volunteer group named “Giant Gooo-go Great Wall.”

"I spotted this beautiful place when visiting the nearby Mutianyu sectionof the Great Wall several years ago," said Zou Yi, initiator of the volunteer group. The Jiankou Great Wall has seen more and more trash after it gained popularity, therefore Zou started collecting garbage with the volunteers since September 2013. By now, more than 3,200 volunteers have joined the campaign.

He was once asked during an environmental protection activity how he got to the event. After the activity was finished, he received a letter from the organizers which listed a record of the transportation energy they had consumed on the way. This made Zou realize that each social activity involves energy consumption and carbon emission. "Ever since, I have chosen a green lifestyle," Zou said.

In order to draw more public attention on air pollution control and a green lifestyle, Zou has posted photos of the sky taken by him in the same place every day on social media platforms.

"Although judging air quality by photos is not very scientific, the combination of a year's pictures is quite informative," Zou explained. By now, his pictures have been viewed for more than 50 million times.

Zou made his friends realize that environmental issues, such as smog, need joint efforts from both the governments and the public.

Such mindset shift was also echoed by a recent survey about public treatment of smog and environmental protection conducted by People's Daily. Thirty six percent of the respondents consider smog treatment to be an issue of the governments and polluting enterprises, while 64 percent believe that everyone is responsible for environmental protection.

"We should start from subtle things in our daily life and change the lifestyles that are unfriendly to the environment," Zou proposed, adding that choosing public transportation, reducing fireworks, as well as saving water and electricity will all contribute to the environment.

Though the subtle change made by each individual only has limited influence, it “will be a great power when united," Zou added.