ROLE OF NEW MEDIA IN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN CHINA: THE AIR POLLUTION INCIDENT

At the end of 2011, a local celebrity in China posted a tweet in his micro-blog (akin to a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook) to show the air pollution related data in Beijing provided by US Embassy; and it immediately evoked strong response among the public, since there was obvious contradiction between the data issued by the US embassy and local government. Since then, the air pollution related knowledge, especially the air quality index related knowledge have been highly concerned by Chinese people.

This study aims to offer a look at the online environmental education following the air pollution in China. The micro-blog, which owns more than 0.2 billion users, is nowadays an important tool for the public to achieve environment related knowledge, share information and express opinions about environmental incidents. By using a case-study approach, this paper mainly focus on the qualitative content analysis of air pollution related knowledge resource posted on the micro-blog, to discuss the role of new media in the environmental education for the public in China; and furthermore, from a comparative perspective, to discuss its influence and deficiency in constructing environmental knowledge for the public compared with tradition methods of environmental education.