President Xi Jinping leads by example by planting trees in Beijing. (Photo : Getty Images)
President Xi Jinping leads by example when he participated in a tree planting activity in Beijing on Tuesday and urged Chinese citizens to engage in activities that promote ecological development in the country.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese president joined other high-ranking leaders of the country in planting different kinds of tree saplings at an afforestation site in Daxing District.
Also acting as the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's secretary-general, Xi planted six saplings that he hopes to grow into strong trees that would bring China closer to achieving what the Chinese government calls an "ecological civilization."
The move was made in bid to lessen the effects of modernization to the environment such as air pollution, which has become a major problem in the country, especially in major cities.
Ecological Civilization
The 17th National People's Congress gave birth to the concept of "ecological civilization" in 2007 and was further improved by the 18th Central Committee's Third Plenary Session held in 2013.
In April 2015, the reformed blueprint was restated with the addition of a couple of new proposals that would speed up the country's achievement of the goal stated therein.
According to The Diplomat, Xi stressed that the reform would entail reconciling conflicts between the environment and the country's economic development.
Among the proposed measures added to the plan was the execution of natural resources audits that would determine whether or not local officials who step down from office are held accountable for any action made that hurt the environment.
According to Xinhua, the tree planting activity Xi joined in on Tuesday as well as any other environmental welfare events were necessary for the success of the 13th Five-Year Plan that runs from 2016 through 2020.
Xi emphasized the significance of the values engraved in the Chinese proverb, "people plant trees so their offspring can enjoy the shade," and urged those present to support similar activities.
China's Environmental Issues
There is no question on the gravity of China's current predicament in air pollution as it reflects itself in the mere fact that Chinese people no longer ride bikes to get to where they want to go.
In fact, the problem on thick smog particularly in the cities has given birth to even more dilemmas ranging from simple to complex.
According to Live Science, air pollution in China has become the result as well as the cause of a worsening traffic scenario in the country.
It is the result because of the increased amount of carbon emissions, but it can also be considered the cause because people prefer to ride private cars to keep from breathing the toxic air.
