Young 鈥楢irmen鈥 vow to bring back blue skies
Print Edition
A GROUP of young volunteers have been battling air pollution as grassroots inspectors.
They call themselves the 鈥淎irmen鈥 and vow to bring back blue skies.
Founded in 2014, Airman Environmental Technology Co is a non-profit social enterprise that carries out third-party monitoring and investigation of the industrial release of toxic pollutants.
It also actively assists government inspections and provides advice for the green transformation of industry.
In recent years, the team has conducted independent inspections in more than 90 Chinese cities, encouraging over 500 companies to rectify and reform their ways. According to Zhao Liang, co-founder and CEO of Airman Environmental Technology, the team first began with no more than 鈥渁 sense of smell, a pair of eyes and a cellphone with a real-time pollution detecting app installed.鈥
Gradually, they have mastered advanced technologies to measure contaminants by employing drones and data visualization.
The team has been regarded by local conservationists as one of the leading third-party air quality assessor-advisors of the country, or 鈥減ollution detectives.鈥
In 2017, Airmen joined a third-party expert team to look into an airborne sulfur dioxide pollution scandal in Linfen in north Shanxi Province. It provided an independent report on the hazardous contamination based on UAV aerial filming and data processing technologies.
The investigation led to officials in Linfen being summoned by the country鈥檚 top environmental body and approval of new projects in the city being suspended.
Linfen鈥檚 mayor apologized for the lethal pollution, saying he was 鈥渄eeply sorry鈥 and promised to take stricter action to reduce emissions.
In another case, the Airmen inspected and reported a steel plant in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, that had been releasing industrial waste into the air and Yangtze River. Under governmental and public pressure, the Jiujiang Ping Iron and Steel Co has changed.
Now it is working on building an 鈥渆cological forest factory鈥 and has applied to be an AAAA state-level tourist attraction.
While battling irresponsible polluters, the Airmen also work to raise public awareness of the consequences of air pollution and encourage more people to take part in surveillance.
Since 2017, the Airmen have been organizing a series of awareness campaigns, inviting every resident in China to take snapshots of the sky from where he or she is standing and share the image on social media networks. Galleries and exhibitions of these images are held across China, with the Airmen and local volunteers offering lectures and workshops on air pollution.
The expert team also works with other charities to promote green lifestyles including cycling, veganism and wildlife protection.
The volunteers are often invited to give talks or host events on campus, teaching young children to care for the environment as 鈥淎irkids.鈥
For 2019, the defenders of the blue sky have made ambitious plans to assist the central government in the new round of environmental inspections in the Fen-Wei mining region.
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