I had no time to venture into downtown Beijing from where I live and work near the northern Fourth Ring Road in early November, when Chinese and African leaders met at the forum to discuss further co-operation.

During the forum a few hundred thousand private and government cars refrained from going into the city streets. Those who drove in the downtown area couldn't help but marvel at the light traffic they enjoyed.

Traffic became the talk of the town, and most people are convinced that the effective traffic management, which won public support, was a successful rehearsal for the coming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

It is also a prelude to fulfil the promise we made to the world: The Games will be a "green," or environmentally friendly, sports gala.

But I believe we should also think and plan far beyond the Olympics. The traffic congestion and exhaust emissions as well as smoggy weather are not improving our lives and work.

We rejoice our success in getting several hundred million people out of poverty and now most people have to work even harder so that they can live a comfortable life.

We have also increased our dependence on fossil fuels. We have not worked hard enough at a recyclable economy and environmental protection.

A lot of people, from home and overseas, have been sounding alarms to a possible bleak future when the earth's fossil fuels run out and the alternatives do not work to satisfy our insatiable demand.

In fact, over the past week, I have personally heard a few prominent Americans such as David Brady from the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist discussing the challenges we Chinese must face with our increased affluence, urbanization and gross domestic product (GDP).

We may not feel comfortable being admonished by other people, especially Americans, whose country consumes, imports and stores more fossil fuels than any other country in the world.

What Brady and Friedman may not be aware of is that many ordinary Chinese are taking ingenious action to save water, electricity and fossil fuels. Quite a few villages in the suburbs of Beijing have made use of solar or wind energy and bio-fuels to cook, heat water and heat their homes.

And the government is starting to implement a "green" GDP drive to evaluate official performances by how much they can reduce consumption of energy and raw materials and pollution in pushing higher developmental figures.

To ease the traffic and encourage more people to take public transport, several subway lines are under construction, snaking underneath the urban centre of Beijing.

The Fifth Line goes right by where I live. When this line opens, I don't think my family will ever drive to the Wangfujing shopping area downtown, where we go now and then.

Many projects or programmes are either in the works or being planned, but this does not mean we are doing enough.

We have to face the facts that our rivers are still polluted and the sky is often grey. We still breathe in dirty air and drink and eat things that we fear are contaminated.

We can no longer tolerate our slackness in energy-saving and pollution control, because waste of raw materials and energy will not sustain the improved life we seem to be enjoying today and may well jeopardize the lives of not only ours but also our children's and grand-children's.

(China Daily 11/16/2006 page4)