Ten-year-old Ma Ding got up early on this chilly Saturday
morning although he's just finished the final exams of this
semester.
Ma, with seven schoolmates from Beijing Ya'er Hutong Primary
School, went to Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, to offer
their ideas on energy saving. "If everyone in China pulls out the
plugs after using electrical appliances 18 billion kilowatt-hours
will be saved," he told the people who stopped to listen.
The activity he participated in was the opening ceremony of the
energy saving campaign "20 ways to 20%", launched by the World
Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) China in Beijing on
Saturday.
Dermot O'Gorman, WWF China representative, said the campaign
which will continue until 2008, is expected to engage the general
public in energy saving. This would contribute to the fulfillment
of China's goal to reduce its per-unit GDP energy consumption by 20
percent by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan.
"We're sending a clear message to the public that saving energy
is simple and as easy as child's play," he said. He added that the
WWF would also organize a competition to discover the "energy
saving heroes" among ordinary citizens.
"I'll pass the tips to my parents and friends making them
understand they can do a lot in their daily lives to save energy,"
Ma Ding said.
(Xinhua News Agency January 22, 2007)
