To curb the number of smoggy days, many cities have drafted anti-pollution plans, but they lack the support of compulsory laws. For example, in Shanghai the smog response plan requires certain construction sites to suspend work and individuals not to burn firecrackers, but there is no legal enforcement behind these requirements, so the environmental staff can only "persuade" the construction site managers to suspend operations. Special legislation for emergencies is needed to deal with smog.

Environmental authorities always complain about the lack of staff and the difficulties they face in supervising polluters. Why not seek help from the ordinary citizens? Many citizens are willing to monitor air pollution sources; the authorities could well estimate there would be one million volunteers to do such supervising work.

We have the technology to harmlessly dispose of crop remains, yet they are still burned; we have advanced technologies to exactly locate every pollution source, yet seldom do we hear of anyone being punished; we have environmental laws, yet pollution is rampant. We need specific detailed regulations to ensure our environmental protection agencies and other law enforcers perform their duties.

Legislation is being improved to support environmental protection and make the air clean. The current regulation on preventing air pollution in Beijing, which came into force in this March, has divided air pollution sources into details and set clear penalty for them. We hope it will be strictly enforced because we do not want any more smog.

While helping environmental agencies perform their duty well, we as ordinary citizens should also protect ourselves in order not to be harmed by the smog. Fine particles are especially detrimental to juniors, so primary schools and kindergartens should immediately suspend outdoor sports activities. Educational authorities need to react in time to protect children.

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2014-10/10/content_18718496.htm