A solar-powered streetlight at Simatai Great Wall in Beijing. [China Daily]

Many environmental organizations have produced creative media campaigns to generate public interest, including for the Olympics.

Teaming up with 11 former Olympic gold medalists, the China Environment Awareness Program (CEAP) created eight public service advertisements to raise public environmental consciousness toward a "Green Olympics."

Although each of the public service ads lasts only 30 seconds, the eight advertisements address key environmental protection issues, such as sorting trash for recycling, saving water resources, protecting bio-diversity, and using more clean energy.

These public service ads are being broadcast on various TV channels, on the monitor screens within the Olympic facilities and at stadiums and on public transportation systems.

Popular athletes deliver the green messages. In one ad, when star badminton player Bao Chunlai stays late, head badminton coach Li Yongbo turns off the extra lights in the training center, reminding the audience that "saving energy can be as easy as pie. "

In another ad, four-time Olympic table tennis champion Deng Yaping beats her rival by using both sides of the paddle. So, Deng exhorts, print on both sides of a piece of paper.

"On the battleground of climate change, we need more 'green champions'. I believe these athletes' influence will help people translate the green concepts into practice," said Kishan Khoday, assistant country director of the United Nations Development Project in China.

In China, new laws and regulations are helping to guide the public toward greener practices.

As of June 1st, free plastic shopping bags have been banned all over the country. Consumers have turned to woven baskets, or the more fashionable "eco-friendly cloth bags".

Those who do pay for plastic bags are trying to buy as few as possible, reversing an old mindset prevalent before the ban.

A similar initiative requiring offices, hotels, malls and other large buildings to set air conditioners no lower than 26 C in the summer is expected to become law.

Visitors can see solar-powered streetlights at scenic spots in the city's suburbs. Some traffic lights in the city are also solar-powered.

A survey jointly conducted by CEAP and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences this year shows that environmental protection is listed as China's fourth most important social issue, after healthcare, employment and the income gap between urban and rural areas.

"There has been a distinct increase in public awareness of environmental protection," Jia Feng, a Ministry of Environmental Protection official who heads the CEAP program said.

The green goals set by the country's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) to cut energy consumption by 20 percent and major pollutants by 10 percent toward a more sustainable mode of economic development has contributed to increased public environmental awareness, he said.

The Environmental Defense Fund has been leading a green campaign since 2005, trying to persuade Beijing citizens to adopt more environmental friendly ways of commuting in the city.

The campaign has chosen Shanghai, the host city of the 2010 World Expo, and Guangzhou, the host of the 16th Asian Games in 2012 as their next destinations after the Beijing Olympics, according to Zhang.

"Apart from all the official measures taken to clean up the environment, the real legacy of the Green Olympics for China is to make a greener lifestyle both belief and practice in the society at large," Zhang said.