Anchoring the "double carbon" goal, more than 90% of the interviewed college students are willing to empower a low-carbon "light life"
"The sun will not set, the horizon will be smeared with a large sunset glow, the green fields are endless, and occasionally timid yaks and beautiful horses are seen. 4-6 volunteers of similar age form a team, carrying pure White cloth bags, singing along the way and picking up plastic bags, glass bottles, wrapping paper and broken toys scattered on the ground..."
This is one of the daily fragments of Meng Bowen's volunteer life in Sanjiangyuan - the memory of picking up garbage.
In July 2021, Meng Bowen came to Yushu on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from Shanghai to participate in the ecological protection work initiated by the Sanjiangyuan Ecological Environmental Protection Association.
During the more than 40 days of serving in Sanjiangyuan, the low-carbon and energy-saving lifestyle of the local residents is still fresh in her memory.
"Residents of the communities affiliated to the association usually use plants to make pure natural, non-polluting enzyme detergents for cleaning tableware and clothes; in order to reduce daily waste, non-degradable plastic products are generally not used." Meng Bowen and Like other volunteers from all over the world, they also implement the concept of "zero pollution and zero waste". They bring their own bowls and chopsticks and do not use plastic. They often go out after dinner and pick up garbage along the road.
From the estuary of the Yangtze River to the source, Meng Bowen described her journey as a "source tracing operation", and she enjoyed it.
In 2020, President Xi Jinping proposed at the 75th United Nations General Assembly that China "strive to reach the peak by 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060".
Facing the enlightenment and challenges brought by the "dual carbon goals", the China Youth School Media conducted a questionnaire survey on 1,610 college students across the country on the topic of "low carbon life". The results showed that 97.14% of the interviewed college students recognized the low carbon lifestyle.
Regarding the significance of low-carbon life, 86.21% of the respondents believed that it was responsible for maintaining a good ecological environment for the earth; 73.29% of the respondents believed that improving the environment would make our lives healthier and higher-quality; 72.24% of the respondents said that low-carbon Life is conducive to sustainable development and is responsible for future generations; 61.24% of the respondents believe that this will be conducive to high-quality economic development; 30.68% of the respondents said that low-carbon life is a new trend.
Establish a green concept, interviewed college students pay attention to low-carbon issues
"Why didn't you finish eating? You are still a farmer, so how can you waste food?" Every time he saw his roommate left his meal, Xing Junyang "wanted to scold him".
The longer he went to school, the more he felt that food was hard to come by.
Especially after starting his postgraduate career, he mainly focused on agricultural ecology. In summer, he went to paddy fields and planted rice every day.
Summer is the rice planting season. Xing Junyang brought his old friends, rubber shoes and straw hats, to the ground, sampled, returned to the laboratory to analyze the data, and boiled the sun into the moon.
One of Xing Junyang's experiments has an experimental field in each of three cities in Hubei Province. To and from these places, he takes the high-speed train 12 times a month.
"I gained 20 pounds during the postgraduate entrance examination, and I lost weight after two months of postgraduate study."
In addition to the personal experience of "everything is hard work", the words and deeds of his parents also made Xing Junyang abide by the guidelines of every meal CD since he was a child.
But he found that some students did not agree with this idea.
Whenever his roommate left over food because he didn't want to eat or didn't like it, and went back to buy snacks, he couldn't help but "criticize": "Why do you do this?"
Wang Zhen, associate professor at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing Forestry University and secretary-general of the Urban Ecology Professional Committee of the Ecological Society of China, pointed out that although the precise quantification of consumption carbon emissions still has many underlying problems in the scientific and industrial circles that have not yet been solved, it is currently possible to It is confirmed that there are many life-related emission reduction potentials that should be paid more attention to.
“For example, the food industry accounts for about 25% of global carbon emissions, far ahead of the construction industry at 10% and the fashion industry at 5%. In stark contrast, according to the United Nations Environment Programme It is estimated that 17% of the world's food is wasted, which means that 4% of the global carbon emissions are caused by consumer food waste." Wang Zhen said.
According to a survey by the China Youth University Media, 39.75% of the interviewed college students said that they bought or prepared food in moderation, and they would not end up eating it; 27.89% would store or pack the unfinished food and save it for the next meal. 19.32% said they would choose to pack or discard them on different occasions; 6.89% would leave leftovers to pets or stray animals; 5.71% would directly discard them.
Sun Yu, who studied at Wuhan University, has been keen to watch various documentaries about animals and environmental protection since high school. The "Blue Planet" series about the ocean world made him sigh, "This is what the earth feels like." See the news With the continuous reports of ecological pollution, a seedling sprouted in his heart that he wanted to do something by himself.
With the momentum of "I want to do something big", Sun Yu, who just entered the university, quickly became a member of the school's environmental protection association.
Ai Buxi is a third-year student of Hunan Sany Industrial Vocational and Technical College. He is an intern in a prefabricated building production factory. He has a deep understanding of low carbon in industrial production.
The teacher told us in class that prefabricated buildings unify the building materials in the factory and process them into 'semi-finished products', and then assemble them into complete buildings at the construction site. Standardized production can reduce energy consumption in production and the consumption of materials such as wood and aluminum.
"During his internship in the factory, he found that garbage sorting is everywhere. "The steel scrap and scrap iron slag left in the production will be returned to the warehouse, and they can also be recycled in other production.
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Environmental protection can be done everywhere, and the interviewed college students practice green "light life"
The trip to Tibet gave Meng Bowen a deeper understanding of nature and the environment.
In fact, Meng Bowen has always been an active practitioner of low-carbon environmental protection and resource recycling.
When shopping at the supermarket, she will look for the food with the green food logo as soon as possible.
The production process has little impact on the environment, the quality is safe, and the taste is unique. This is her evaluation of green foods and why she has a soft spot for them.
Meng Bowen has to screen the clothes in the wardrobe every two years, pick out the damaged, ill-fitting or styles that no longer conform to her personal aesthetic, pack them in large dry-cleaning cloth bags, and send them to the old clothes recycling bin in the community.
According to a survey by the China Youth University Media, 94.84% of the interviewed college students will consciously practice environmental protection behaviors and reduce carbon emissions.
81.80% will try to restrain useless consumption; 66.83% will reduce carbon emissions by reducing the use of products that may generate more garbage and waste; 58.01% will consciously prolong the use time of items; 51.86% will give priority to low-carbon emission products; 51.37 % will increase the recycling rate of waste items.
On this environmentally friendly ship called "Green Boat", Sun Yu participated in large and small "low carbon" activities.
When "Double Dan" comes, Sun Yu and his partners will draw patterns and blessings on the surface of grapefruit, oranges, rake oranges and other fruits. These "results" with different styles are finally sent out as "greeting cards" to the students who place orders. in the hands of your best friend, brother or boyfriend or girlfriend.
Talking about the original intention of making fruit greeting cards, Sun Yu introduced that this is to "let everyone know that there is no need to follow the trend and buy paper greeting cards for the festival."
Sun Yu said frankly, "Actually, saving a little paper greeting cards can't do much. It's more to let everyone realize that there are many things in life that can be replaced with more environmentally friendly objects or methods."
Insisting on taking public transportation, selling unused electronic products on second-hand platforms, or "relaying" for use by elders, and putting old clothes in the school's clothing recycling bin... Xing Junyang's low-carbon lifestyle is diverse.
During college, he and his classmates also prepared small cards with various garbage patterns and 4 small trash cans of different colors, and went to the community near the school to do garbage sorting science.
Put different cards into the trash cans of different colors, "Driven by the will of winning and losing. Whether it is a child or an adult, the answer is very exciting."
Meng Bowen, who used to live in Yichang, can personally feel the changes brought by green development to the environment.
In 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping went to inspect the banks of the Yangtze River. The first stop in Hubei was Yichang. After that, chemical enterprises within one kilometer along the river were "relocated and relocated".
After moving to Shanghai, she was impressed by the city's garbage classification management system, and she has now developed the habit of garbage classification.
Kitchen waste is usually classified into wet and dry categories at home. For packaging waste generated from online shopping or occasional take-out orders, Meng Bowen said, "I sort and recycle it."
To Xing Junyang's relief, his hard work towards his roommate also played a role.
"Later, he either bought less food when he was buying food, or tried to finish it as much as possible. Sometimes he found that he had bought too much, so he would put some food into my bowl before eating. As long as he talked a lot, he would be careful."
Wang Zhen analyzed that personal environmental protection actions can not only play a role in achieving the "dual carbon" goal, but also play a major role.
"The establishment of a low-carbon lifestyle requires each of us to re-examine our daily lives and identify which behaviors we can do and which behaviors are constrained by the environment and conditions; at the same time, urban planners and managers must also re-examine our daily lives. To look at all angles of urban life, how to carry out a more low-carbon overall planning and system operation.”
Anchoring the "two-carbon" goal, the interviewed college students unlock the "new way of playing" energy saving
Xing Junyang fastened himself to the "Double Carbon" locomotive.
During his postgraduate studies, he studied with Cao Mingui, a professor at Huazhong Agricultural University who studies low-carbon rice farming and agroecology, and did research on low-carbon rice farming.
"After transplanting rice, it is no longer irrigated and planted in dry fields, the emission of methane and other greenhouse gases will be reduced, and it will also have the effect of saving water resources." At the same time, Xing Junyang said that he is very much looking forward to the current application in the industrial field. The carbon emission rights trading can be tested and promoted in the agricultural field. "There will also be a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the process of agricultural production. The inclusion of agriculture in carbon emission rights trading can also promote energy-saving and environmentally friendly agricultural production methods."
Save water, take public transportation, reduce the use of harmful plastic products, and do a good job of garbage sorting... In Meng Bowen's view, "low-carbon life" can start from the little things around you.
"It's not far away from us, and everyone can stick to it." She hopes that in the future, colleges and universities can strengthen the publicity about "low carbon", and even offer relevant practical courses that are compiled into credits.
Sanjiangyuan's volunteer experience brought her into contact with the concept of "zero waste", and she also looks forward to some companies to carry out more zero waste education and to connect with some environmental service agencies.
Wang Zhen suggested that when people practice low-carbon life, they can start from three aspects: "energy saving, material saving, and recycling." In terms of 'energy saving', it is a low-carbon lifestyle that the public is more sensitive to, such as the common way of turning off the lights, Turn off the air conditioner, etc.
In terms of 'savings', it is a good practice to reduce food waste and extend the lifespan of items.
"Wang Zhen mentioned that many people like to catch up with the trend of electronic products nowadays. Mobile phones, tablet computers, TVs, etc. always want to change to the latest models: "From the perspective of emission reduction, it is recommended that you try to extend the service life of these products, but do not pursue too much." Unnecessary trend.
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According to the survey by the China Youth School Media, 76.09% of the interviewed college students hope that products can clearly mark carbon emissions; 58.70% expect the media and other institutions to release science knowledge on identifying low-carbon products; 48.57% hope that relevant institutions can Whether low-carbon environmental protection will increase the cost of living; 54.91% believe that garbage classification should be more in place; 44.16% expect to improve the recycling rate of resources through scientific research; 48.26% say it is important to eliminate extravagant waste, excessive packaging and other ethos; 45.84% believe that environmental protection should be strengthened publicity.
"In addition, there are two suggestions for 'recycling', namely 'small recycle' and 'big recycle'. 'Small recycle' refers to the reuse of personal items, such as reusing some unused items or donating them To those who need it; 'big cycle' refers to recycling products to the production system with the help of enterprises and the government, for example, fully practicing the garbage classification in the community or selling on second-hand trading platforms, etc. In short, we must form a good A platform of cultural atmosphere and operability allows every resident to participate in the big family of circular economy." Wang Zhen said.
According to a survey by the China Youth University Media, 96.58% of the interviewed college students are willing to reduce their daily consumption for a low-carbon life.
In the face of old electronic equipment and electrical appliances, 55.59% will choose to trade in old ones; 50.25% will sell them to waste recycling personnel or recycling stations.
Selling on second-hand platforms (32.24%), idling (30.12%), and giving away (18.07%) are the usual methods of dealing with college students interviewed, and 8.94% would choose to discard them directly.
"It is really necessary to promote a low-carbon lifestyle, which will have a great impact on the environment. Everyone should work hard for the 'double carbon' goal." In Xing Junyang's view, the "high carbon" in life still very common.
"For example, some food is wasted during a dinner party, and when there are many people or people you don't know well, it's too embarrassing to say anything." The problem of "face" after the "lizi" is sufficient seems to make low-carbon and convenient and comfortable Contradictions occur in life. "Taking a taxi and self-driving are more convenient and fast, but they are not as environmentally friendly as public transportation."
Xing Junyang believes that at a time when material life is relatively rich, it is impossible to ask everyone to be frugal in all aspects, but more people should be allowed to tighten the "low carbon" string in their minds and reduce carbon emissions wherever they can. .
(At the request of the interviewee, Sun Yu is a pseudonym in the text.)
China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily trainee reporter Luo Xibi Ruoxu trainee Peng Xin Source: China Youth Daily