Who are China’s Environmental Activists?
Before 1994, China had no environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs). As of 2005, the number exploded to approximately 2,000 NGOs that were officially registered. The oldest registered environmental NGO, Friends of Nature, initiated its first annual report on China’s environment in 2006. Other groups like the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims have engaged in extremely complex public interest legal work. Yet, the grassroots movement in China is not solely thriving because of NGOs; there are a number of citizens who are taking small but equally significant steps. In Dalian, a city in Northeast China, a doctor feared that batteries in a local dump were leaking mercury into the soil, which would poison the fruits and vegetables consumed by her young daughter. Taking matters into her own hands, she was able to persuade local stores to accept batteries for recycling. Another example is the leading environmentalist, Ma Jun, who developed a sophisticated website mapping
