China, where producing most of the garbage in the world, is currently where I live in. Since I spent most of the time in my life in here (roughly 17 years), I know how severe the pollution is in this place. So at September 27^th, our school suggested us to clean our city by walking around. I was one of the members who took part on. Along with enthusiastic participants, I was able to look around how severe it is around the coastal areas in Qingdao.

The whole plot for this program was suggested by our school which is the only accepted Korean school in Qingdao, China. As we were foreigners, we supposed that some people may have negative stance toward us. Nonetheless, we thought recovery of the environment is more primal and therefore we initiated the ?cleaning program?.

When we were walking along the coast and collecting the garbage, I saw some people are throwing the garbage even though they saw I was collecting those. This shows their concept about the environment which is significantly indifferent about the nature. Our plan changed a bit at that moment. Original goal was to simply clean the street. However, watching citizen throwing away thoughtlessly, we changed our plan to warn citizen about the effect on the act. We showed them about the damaged images in some region, and the polluted rate around the globe. Here are charts we showed to them.

1.    According to the Chinese Ministry of Health, industrial pollution has made cancer China?s leading cause of death.

2.    Every year, ambient air pollution alone killed hundreds of thousands of citizens.

3.    500 million people in China are without safe and clean drinking water.

4.    Only 1% of the country?s 560 million city dwellers breathe air considered safe by the European Union, because all the China's major cities are constantly covered in a "toxic gray shroud". Before and during the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing was "frantically searching for a magic formula, a meteorological deus ex machina, to clear its skies for the 2008 Olympics."

5.    Lead poisoning or other types of local pollution continue to kill many Chinese children.

6.    A large section of the ocean is without marine life because of massive algal blooms caused by the high nutrients in the water.

7.    The pollution has spread internationally: sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo and according to the Journal of Geophysical Research, the pollution even reaches Los Angeles in the USA.

8.    The Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning in 2003 had an internal and unpublished report which estimated that 300,000 people die each year from ambient air pollution, mostly of heart disease and lung cancer.

9.    Chinese environmental experts in 2005 issued another report, estimating that annual premature deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution were likely to reach 380,000 in 2010 and 550,000 in 2020.

10. A 2007 World Bank report conducted with China's national environmental agency found that "...outdoor air pollution was already causing 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths a year. Indoor pollution contributed to the deaths of an additional 300,000 people, while 60,000 died from diarrhea, bladder and stomach cancer and other diseases that can be caused by water-borne pollution." World Bank officials said "China?s environmental agency insisted that the health statistics be removed from the published version of the report, citing the possible impact on 'social stability'".

After having unexpected enlightening, we kept collecting the garbage. We had to clean 20km course. Though it was challenging, we managed to complete. As a result, the coastal area became much cleaner than before. Our school faculty and students received an award from mayor of Qingdao.