Quake-hit villagers rebuild their future with a green blueprint
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According to the plan, 35 local large and small companies will gradually transfer their energy supply from coal to natural gas, estimating the reduction of carbon dioxide to reach 1.23 million tons per year. By 2015, about 90 percent of local taxis and buses will also use gas instead of oil.
To increase carbon sink means to increase the forest coverage area to absorb more carbon dioxide. Guangyuan plans to increase the forest coverage rate from the current 48 percent to 53 percent by 2015. Its industry system will also be transformed to a low-carbon model with tourism, tea and electronics as its main industries.
The last day of December has been set aside as Guangyuan's first Low Carbon Day. "We chose this day because we want to tell the public it is a critical time to protect the environment and cope with climate change," Jiang says.
She believes that people's attitude and changing lifestyle are the most important factors in building an environmentally friendly society.
"In the past decade, living a frugal life sometimes has been regarded as poor, now frugality has become the fashion," says Jiang. "Local people are very happy to see the change and are proud of living a simple life again."
Just a few days ago, a group of young people rode bicycles instead of driving cars to get married in Guangyuan, which had caused quite a sensation, she adds.
At Daping Village in Sichuan's Tongji County, a place which was also heavily stricken by the earthquake last year, so-called "LOHO homes" are being jointly built by local residents and a non-governmental environmental protection group, the Global Village of Beijing.
The walls of a LOHO farmhouse are made of bamboo plywood and folded polystyrene board, keeping the temperature stable in the room and saving a lot of wood or bricks.
Experts and local villagers decided to develop eco-agriculture, eco-tourism and creative crafts to help recover the local economy after the earthquake, and have established connections with communities in big cities such as the provincial capital Chengdu.
According to Liao Xiaoyi, chief of the Global Village of Beijing, the hand-embroidered handkerchiefs by local women have entered the city's market and have been presented to international celebrities such as former United States president Bill Clinton as gifts.
As an environmentalist born in Sichuan, Liao thinks the living wisdom in China's traditional culture to respect the environment, treasure things, be in harmony with nature and live together peacefully offers a way to solve the current environmental crisis.
"The harmony of mind and body, individual and group, human beings and the environment is very important," Liao says. "I hope the LOHO home will not only benefit the earthquake-stricken areas and the villagers, but also provide a natural and spiritual home for people who want to return to innocence."
