The association now has over 6,000 members nationwide, he said at an online sharing session during the Beijing Ecology and Environment Week, which ran through June 1 to 7.

Now the members also hold events promoting waste reduction and garbage sorting, as well protecting drinking water resources.

With one long-term project, they invite parents and children to work with river keepers to check the waterways and clean garbage by the riverbanks around the Miyun Reservoir in suburban Beijing.

Wang discovered that, for many of the city's children, it was through these practices that they learned where their water comes from.

During the sharing session, Dong Yan, a high school geography teacher in Beijing, talked about how she has integrated cultivation of environmental awareness into her lessons since 1993. It was driven by the idea she learned in college that people should think globally and act locally toward environmental issues.

She's now promoting the habit of replacing disposable tissues with cloth handkerchiefs among her students, by encouraging them to check how many tissues they use, and look into the consumption of water and waste caused in tissue production.