This year's Arbor Day should not be just a time for planting trees, as has been the case in the past, it should also be an opportunity for us to reflect on what we can do to improve the health of the country's environment and ecology, which have taken a battering during the past 30-odd years of rapid economic growth.

The suffocating smog that has frequently smothered large swathes of the eastern and central regions since mid-January has raised the alarm that something urgently needs to be done.

There has been widespread concern about the air quality and whether the smog is a risk to health, and this has provoked intense discussions about the cause of the smog and how it can be prevented. This has prompted local governments to take emergency measures, from reducing the use of government vehicles to suspending the operations of some factories.