People
Go-green messenger
By Yan Yiqi (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-04 07:55
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Distressed at the deteriorating conditions of his village, an ordinary farmer digs deep into the family's savings to spread concern for the environment. Yan Yiqi reports
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Yang Kaihua hopes to promote environmental protection with his bags. Wang Cheng |
The villagers of Yunxi, in East China's Zhejiang province, call him "du tou", or stubborn and stupid. The 38-year-old farmer has earned this moniker for putting all his family savings into his "big deeds".
But Yang Kaihua believes he is neither stupid nor stubborn. All he wanted to do was distribute 16,000 reusable bags at the Beijing Olympics, to raise awareness of environmental concerns.
Unfortunately, owing to some mistake in the design of the bags, he missed the Olympics and is now looking to the Shanghai Expo.
Yang is like any other resident of northern Zhuji, a small city known as the world's biggest producer of freshwater pearls.
Yang weaves cloth when not busy with farming, making an annual income of 30,000 yuan ($4,400). His hard work over the years has brought the family of four a new house and a car.
"Life is getting better, so I decided to do something for society. I thought of the worsening environment of our village," Yang says.
Yunxi used to be a beautiful village with a clear brook and fertile fields where the Yang family had farmed for several generations.
It was a chance incident that drew his attention to the environment. His grandfather brought home something he dug out from the farm field, believing it to be precious.
It turned out to be a used sanitary napkin. Although Yang laughed when he found out what it was, it left a deep impression on him.
The Yangs' farm lies close to the village's septic tank, where excrement collected from the whole village is placed for use as fertilizer. But the villagers often dumped plastic bags, diapers and sanitary napkins in the tank.
A brook runs alongside the tank and when it floods during heavy rain, some of this waste gets washed into the farm.
"It is getting harder to grow anything there," Yang says.
But the septic tank is not the stream's only source of pollution; nearby factories also spew waste into it. Yang recalls that decades ago, villagers could drink directly from the brook. Now, they spend 2 yuan for a 25-liter can of water that lasts only a week.
Many villagers also suffer from gallstones, another sign of the deteriorating environment.
Saddened by the changes that he saw, Yang decided he must do something.
"I would pick up trash whenever I saw it, but that was far from enough. I believe the world will be a better place if everybody makes an effort," Yang says.
Except for spending on food, clothes and other necessities for his family, Yang began to save every penny. He would get the cheapest clothes for his older daughter, and asked the younger one to wear her hand-me downs. From 2001 to 2008, Yang had more than 100,000 yuan ($14,650) for his "big deed".
In the beginning, he had no clear idea of what he wanted to do.
A ban on plastic bags in 2007 inspired him. "I though if I could distribute reusable bags at the Beijing Olympics, more people would become aware of environmental concerns," he recalls.
He started designing the bag. Reckoning there would be more than 15,000 people attending the Opening Ceremony, Yang decided to make 16,000 bags.
The bag comes with a handkerchief and a leaflet that encourages people to use fewer facial tissues.
After getting permission from the Beijing Olympics Committee, Yang got working. The sample bag was supposed to be ready by May 30, 2008, but a small mistake ruined Yang's plans. The sample bag was too small, and the color was not bright enough.
"The deadline the Beijing Olympics Committee set for me to hand in the bags was July 15, but I failed to make it," Yang says. He still has some 4,000 m of cloth sitting with the dyers. He hopes to fulfill his dream at the Shanghai Expo.
Yang has spent more than 80,000 yuan on cloth alone. "I want to provide a quality product so I bought the best cloth," Yang says, adding that the total expense could reach 200,000 yuan ($29,300).
He bought the best cotton cloth he could find from a friend at 20 yuan per meter. "The factories charged me the lowest price, possibly moved by my efforts," Yang says.
Not everyone understands him, though. His wife, Zhu Huanhong, almost divorced him over his plans.
"We have two kids, and we will need money. How can he be that selfish to spend all our savings?" wonders Zhu, who once moved back to her parents' house.
She came back eventually. "I still cannot understand him. But this is his dream," Zhu says.
Yang simply shrugs off the criticisms. "People say I am stupid. They just don't understand. I want to motivate people into protecting the environment."
After the Zhejiang Daily reported Yang's story in late January, several news agencies are now helping Yang to contact the organizing committee of the Shanghai Expo. Details of how his bags might be distributed at the Expo are still under discussion.
(China Daily 02/04/2010 page20)
