Ma Jun — the former journalist, author, and founder of the leading Beijing-based nonprofit Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs — thinks the timing of the growing alarm is no coincidence. In an interview with Yale Environment 360 contributor Christina Larson, he said that one reason air pollution has recently become such a pressing public issue is because of the concurrent rise of social-media platforms in China — especially the microblogging sites Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo. While public demonstrations organized by citizens are in most cases illegal in China, microblogging sites have provided a new kind of public forum — a way to share information, quickly. Read More
