Chinese Civil Servants In Notoriously Polluted City Urged To Walk To Work - AFP

[hatrack]

"You go first!" "No, YOU go first!!"

Civil servants in a Chinese city that is listed as one of the 10 most polluted in the world have been asked to walk to work in a bid to ease the environmental woes, state press reported Wednesday. Lanzhou, the capital of China's northwest Gansu province, has notoriously bad pollution due to high coal use for energy, heavy industrial emissions and its position in a valley that traps air, but also because of rising car use.

To help fight the problem, Lanzhou's mayor has told civil servants they will have to leave their cars at home and walk to work on days when the pollution problems are particularly bad, the China Daily said, citing local officials.

"We have suggested that civil servants walk to and from their offices on days when the pollution level is very high to reduce vehicle emission," the paper quoted Lu Zhaowen, a director with the city's Environment Protection Bureau, as saying.

The China Daily said Lanzhou was already regarded as one of the world's 10 most polluted cities and the problems had worsened this year despite environmental protection efforts put in place as far back as the 1980s.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2006/070117030905.6szuw3fk.html