Zhou Bide, a 65-year-old retired engineer, saw a new way to tackle pressing environmental issues when the local government pledged to clean a polluted lake in response to online appeals.

In an online forum at Rednet.cn, a local news website in central Hunan province, environmental activists like Zhou have been exposing "environmentally unfriendly" events in the province's Xiangtan city throughout 2011.

In this manner, the activists hope to push the local government to curb severe pollution, and Yijia Lake was the target of their latest online campaign.

With an area of around seven hectares (100 mu), Yijia Lake was clean before 2007. But it has become one of the most polluted areas in Xiangtan against the backdrop of rapid urbanization.

"Garbage blankets the stinking water as raw sewage runs into the lake directly," Zhou said.

"We've lived in Xiangtan for generations. How can we witness the downgrading of our hometown day by day without doing something?" Zhou said.

To save the lake, the activists launched an online campaign in mid November to raise awareness in the city. Over 56 posts called for local authorities to take immediate action.

The burgeoning online discussion and ensuing public pressure prompted quick government action. In late November, deputy mayor Yang Qinpeng toured the lake along with environmental protection bureau officials.

Yang urged governmental departments to work out a plan to control the pollution and set up a long-term system to conserve the ecology around the lake.

The plan, which was approved by the municipal government days later, said the government will spend 5 million yuan (785,000 U.S. dollars) to fight pollution in the first stage. After the project ends, the lake is projected to be an ecological park that residents can enjoy.

As the campaign initiator, Zhou welcomed the local government's quick response. "I didn't expect such fast action," Zhou said. "We ordinary people can push authorities to fulfill their responsibilities."

Xiangtan is one of the key industrial cities in central-south China. Apart from the pride of industrial triumph, the accompanying terrible pollution has become a deep lament of urban dwellers.

In the past, the local government paid more attention to economic growth and little attention to the environment, as good economic data helped officials get promotions.

But with rising environmental protection awareness and online forums and microblogs, authorities find it hard not to bend to public pressure.

"We are under growing pressure as public awareness of environmental conservation has been enhanced," said Zhao Bo, deputy director of the Xiangtan municipal environmental protection bureau.

The "green appeals" for a clean Yijia Lake is just one example of rising grassroots participation in China's environmental protection endeavors this year.

Earlier in October, a nationwide air quality test was initiated by self-motivated individuals, with PM2.5, an airborne particulate matter under 2.5 micrometers in size, as the gauge.

About one month later, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued a draft of revised air quality standards and adopted a tighter system of monitoring air pollution to respond to public pressure.

In August, a paraxylene (PX) plant was ordered to shut down in the northeastern coastal city of Dalian following public protest. Paraxylene is a petrochemical used in making industrial raw material, but it can be cancer-causing if exposed to the human body.

In the array of events that stoked nationwide concerns, the environmental protection efforts by average citizens have succeeded in forcing local governments to conform with public demands.

It delivers a positive signal that the local governments are answering people's demands for environmental protection, said Hu Jingsong, a member of the Xiangtan committee of the Communist Party of China.

An interactive dynamic is taking shape between the grassroots and authorities in environmental issues, Hu said.

"Now the grassroots have more channels to express their rights and claims, and also are more active in demanding a cleaner environment when confronting governments," said Li Bin, a professor with the sociology department of Central South University of China.

"Only by responding to people's 'green appeals' can local governments maintain their political credibility," Li said.