Ma Jun, literally "Horse Warrior," is the driving force behind the famous "Poison Apple" campaign that exposed toxic pollution from Apple Inc's supply chain in China and from many other foreign and domestic brands.

"So many people are holding these fashionable iPads and iPhones, but do they know the environmental costs behind them?" Ma said in a recent telephone interview with Shanghai Daily from his home in Beijing. The Chinese capital is also the location of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, which Ma founded in 2006 to spread information about pollution and make it accessible to everyone.

Ma along with his staff and volunteers established an unprecedented, easy-to-use database of 97,0000 cases of air, water and hazardous waste pollution, based on government data and reports (http://ipe.org.cn/en/).

The power of the Internet and the enthusiasm of a younger generation has been harnessed into a force for environmental change.

"If you want people to participate meaningfully in sustainability efforts, they need to have reliable information and know what is going on," Ma said. "With that in mind, we created the Water Pollution Map in 2006, so people can check the water pollution and water quality in their regions and know who the biggest polluters are."

Ma, 44, who studied Chinese and American environmental issues at Yale University in 2004, said Western methods of approaching polluting companies are ineffective in China.

In April, Ma won the prestigious Goldman Prize for Environmental Preservation, awarded since 1990 to grassroots environmental heroes.Widely known as the "Green Nobel Prize," it guarantees enormous international publicity and carries a US$150,000 cash award.

The Goldman jury stated: "Ma Jun and his team exposed over 90,000 air and water violations by local and multinational companies operating in China through an online database and pollution map, bringing unprecedented environmental transparency and empowering Chinese citizens to demand justice." In 2006 Ma was named one of Time magazine's most influential people of the year.

Ma and his team spearheaded a drive to persuade IT companies, including Apple, the world's biggest technology firm, to commit to making its suppliers cleaner and details about its suppliers more public.

"Poison apple" referred to the company's lack of supply-chain oversight. The campaign was launched after Apple refused to disclose its suppliers and cooperate in a cleanup.

Ma was a gadfly. After two years of resistance, Apple disclosed 156 Chinese suppliers in April this year and agreed to work with Chinese NGOs to get suppliers to clean up their operations, many of them involving heavy metals that damaged the environment and injured workers.

"Now Apple is being more transparent about their supplier information, using our pollution database to pressure their suppliers into cooperating," Ma said. He emphasized it was a cooperative effort involving other NGOs, consumers, factory workers, investors in the community, Apple partners and Apple itself "to get the results we got."

Ma is now focusing on pollution caused by the apparel industry, which is highly polluting. In 2010, the entire textile industry was ranked third in overall amount of wastewater discharged, around 2.5 billions tons annually.

Many of the environmental problems involve illegal discharge of untreated wastewater, sometimes through secret underground pipes emptying directly into rivers and lakes.

He finds that by approaching big international brands with investigative reports about their China suppliers and by cooperating with them, he can have more impact than by approaching suppliers individually. The big companies can require their suppliers to clean up.

If naming and shaming is necessary, then so be it, as was the case with Apple. The same approach is being used with big apparel brands.

The aim is to foster public awareness with the Green Choice Alliance, a coalition of 41 NGOs that promotes a global green supply chain in various industries.

"We encourage stakeholders, investors, and consumers use their involvement and purchasing power to convince large companies to abide by appropriate environmental standards and increase their transparency and accountability."

Ma finds that big international companies are more sensitive to exposure than many domestic Chinese companies, hence more responsive. They don't want to appear in that database.

"Click here to view environmental data from various regions in China," his website says.

"Our aim is to expand information disclosure to allow communities to fully understand the hazards and risks in their environment, thus promoting widespread participation in environmental governance."

And citizens are learning the facts, getting involved and insisting on transparency in local government decisions on pollution projects.

Petitions in Jiangsu Province last week, in Sifang, Sichuan Province, earlier in July, and one in Dalian, Liaoning Province, last August were all successful in halting projects or scrapping plans. Thousands of people were involved.

Speaking of public outcry, Ma said, "With increasing openness in China about environmental issues and more awareness, the public has put more pressure on the government and on factories in their communities."

Other environmentalists, such as Ma Tianjie, head of toxics research at the Beijing branch of the NGO Greenpeace, disagree. Ma told Shanghai Daily that "protests against construction projects are not the most effective way to tackle the problem. The public should express their opinions about these projects during the planning process, not during construction."

But Ma Jun does acknowledge another way to be heard.

Ma said his institute and its programs can provide information to consumers to help them make sustainable choices.

"We call upon consumers to use their buying power to influence companies' environmental performance," he said.

He also encourages stakeholders and investors to use their involvement and purchasing power to convince large companies to abide by appropriate environmental standards and increase their transparency and accountability.

Ma was born in the coastal city of Qingdao in 1968, but grew up in Beijing and he remembers when the skies were blue. His father, an aerospace engineer, motivated him to learn English and listen to radio programs.

Ma studied English and international journalism at the University of International Relations, graduating in 1993.

He then went to work as an investigative journalist at Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, specializing in environmental issues. He traveled widely in China, visiting sights of horrific environmental degradation of air, water and land, as well as related health problems.

"The media trained my data collection abilities, allowing me to collect information from books, reports, and professional journals," Ma said.

During his years of reporting, he witnessed "lots of water pollution in southern China, the destruction of forests, and dried up water sources," prompting him to become an environmental activist. Ma has been fighting for the environment since.

Constructive relationship

Ma is also known for his book "China's Water Crisis" (1999), which has often been compared to American conservationist Rachel Carson's classic "Silent Spring" (1962) that helped launch the US environmental movement and drew attention to pollution by chemical pesticides.

Local governments sometimes put pressure on Ma, his network of volunteers and the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, he said. But overall, there's a "critically constructive relationship" with government.

Environmental openness in China is improving greatly, with more opportunities, space and support for environmental NGOs, Ma observed, acknowledging "small improvements" in government approaches to public awareness and environmental concerns. "But air and water conditions can only be described as 'deteriorating'."

What others say about Ma Jun

Once people are aware, consumers can pressure companies to reduce their impact on the environment. Companies will have an incentive because their sales can go up due to a positive image.

- Tatiana Ramirez, consultant, Shanghai Roots & Shoots.

Ma is China's bravest and most prominent environmentalist.

- Peter Goldmark, former head of the climate program at the US-based Environmental Defense Fund said in an interview with Newsday.

Ma is a pioneer in the Chinese environmental field. (His pollution map represents) a huge breakthrough, allowing local NGOs to use the information to target violating corporations, and helping to facilitate public awareness in China.

- Ma Tianjie, head of toxics studies at the Beijing branch of Greenpeace.

Ma understood that information is key. He saw that protest without information tends to make noise, not impact.

- Isabel Hilton, London-based editor of the China Dialogue website for Chinese environmental issues told Christian Science Monitor.

Ma Jun is a mild environmentalist. He chooses a strategy that imposes pressure on polluters and environmental policy makers by disclosing pollution information to the public. By avoiding violent language and actions, I believe that his organization will have a long-lasting contribution to improving China's environment. I don't know Ma Jun in person but we are following each other on Weibo.

- Zhang Junjie, assistant professor of environmental economics at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego.