As another round of smog descended on Beijing Sunday, a report published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that large amounts of nitrogen-containing organic compounds were found in recent heavy pollution that choked North China's Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province.

The nitrogen-containing organic compounds were the main element of the Los Angeles photochemical smog in the previous century, which sends a dangerous signal to China.

Chinese academia has long called for the country to avoid repeating the error committed by developed Western countries, which adopted the practice of "treatment after pollution." Governments have made efforts, but China was still unable to avoid it. The fundamental reason is that it is difficult to make a variety of social interests, such as the public's desire to drive cars and have better living conditions, give way to the environment.

It is natural for profit-driven enterprises to have a negative attitude to environmental protection standards. Although the public is calling for actions to protect the environment, neither individuals nor companies have actively participated in efforts to meet this end.

It remains to be seen whether the public's demands for a clean environment will reach a level high enough to prompt a change in the country's social and economic policies.

The public's environmental protection awareness needs to be further enhanced until it manifests itself in pressure on officials.

As long as the sense to protect the environment becomes society's first wish, it will turn into concrete actions from the government. But is the will already here? 

No matter how serious environmental pollution is, the public may be hesitant to take action if their own interests are harmed. The government should take the initiative by leading the public to realize the order of priority of each interest so as to have healthy and sustainable development.

The government should, through making policies, help form initiatives based on market and morality to promote environmental protection. Strength based on market forces is particularly important. The reason why China's environmental protection efforts have yielded few results is that they haven't been transformed into market interests to promote other social interests.

The economic essence of environmental protection is adding costs and reducing waste. The campaign against food waste and festival banquets backed by China's new Communist Party chief Xi Jinping recently has achieved remarkable results. The main reason is that severe punishments have been set.

If any waste that pollutes the environment leads to interests being harmed, the public, under the proper guidance, will practice thrift in a collective manner. Then, the strengths based on market and morality in protecting the environment will combine into one.