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It was just a normal subway trip in Guangzhou, China, with commuters buried in their papers or deep in thought. Imagine the surprise of these exceptionally modest Chinese businesspeople, and a grandmother or two, when around two dozen of their fellow riders suddenly removed their pants and skirts—and sat the rest of the ride in their underwear. Some of them read papers, others listened to their mp3 players, but many of them held up signs declaring “Save the Earth” and exhorting their fellow riders to greater environmental awareness.

Demonstrations in China are usually touchy. Exposure of undergarments also rates high on the list of things that should not be done. But this group of activists were not hauled off in chains; instead they got a lot of slightly amused media coverage. In between the laughter, their environmental message was getting out.

Those of us in other countries tend to think of China as the pollution villain—coughing out billowing clouds of industrial waste and turning their lakes a brilliant glowing green. Especially in the wake of Copenhagen, not a few fingers have been pointed in China’s direction for fussing too much about politics and not enough about pollution (though really, we all share the blame).

The truth of the matter is that China is in many ways becoming more eco-conscious than us. In part, this new green attitude springs from some simple calculations. As part of evaluating agricultural yield when using marginal land, the Chinese found that the harm outweighed the potential good. By trying to remove entire forests, and plant every square inch of fertile soil, they were actually reducing the overall fertility of the area. They decided instead to farm less and reintroduce trees and moisture to denuded land.

Productivity outputs of nearby farmers increased dramatically, despite having less land to farm. This calculation has driven the Chinese government in the last few years to set aside increasingly large portions of land—now in excess of 15% of the nation—as protected zones.

In city governments, similar calculations lead to an increasing interest in recycling. This was in part a cost-saving measure, and also a means of employment. In many places, the local government effectively licenses the poor and homeless people of the city, so that any bottles and cans they collect will bring them a higher return than the same can would for a well-heeled executive. The bottles can then be recycled, and the cost of producing new goods reduced. While the idea of using masses of homeless people to comb through garbage (which is not sorted into recyclable and non-recyclable in many places) may seem unconscionable, it does provide them with a means of feeding their families. And it keeps the streets cleaner—and greener—than they would be otherwise.

Ecology is also in vogue with young working Chinese, and they show it in the education they choose for their children. For example, growing numbers of eco-education schools focus their entire educational theme around environmental awareness, working these ideas into everything from art projects sketching leaves and trees, to word problems about conservation. It’s true that these are still expensive boarding schools, attracting mostly upper-class Chinese families and children of international businesspeople and diplomats, but it is a promising trend.

Environmental awareness in China is growing all the time—so much so that a pants-less protest brings not chains but chuckles. It is now a worthy-enough cause for people to take up without seeming a threat to the government, which itself is promoting a new and growing agenda to improve China’s green standing. The only issue now is that China seems to think it can ‘go it alone’ when it comes to ecological reforms. Hopefully, soon it will realize we must all work together to reach our common environmental goals— something that could be said of all of us.