XIANGYANG, China – This factory located in a quiet island of central China’s Xiangyang city probably won’t grab your attention. Its stainless steel complex and three-story office building look similar to any other. But don’t be fooled by appearances. The plant here holds a secret that has lured more than 100 Chinese mayors to pay their respects and uncover how they can replicate its success.

This Earth Day weekend, the U.S. Department of State is hosting more than 2,000 coders in more than 40 cities to encourage creative thinking about technological solutions to ocean issues. The third annual Fishackathon could produce new tools for local communities to track long-distance fishing, a growing problem in some places, as China, in particular, scales up its efforts.

Blackened rivers snake the ring roads of Beijing, carrying pollution and often smelly water from one end of the city to another. The most polluted of these have been dubbed “foul and filthy” rivers (黑臭河) by China’s Ministry of the Environment (MEP) and Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD). However, the government has decided to clean these up – and is enlisting the help of the public to do so.

China’s “strictest air protection law” yet took effect on January 1, 2016, promising to bring big changes to its smog-filled cities. But some municipal governments have been ahead of the curve, working to clean up the air through experimentation and innovation. Shenzhen, China’s first special economic zone and which recently passed its neighbor Hong Kong to lead China’s most competitive cities, is one of these.

In December 2015, Beijing issued its first-ever “red alert” for smog, its highest air pollution warning, which closed schools and restricted the number of cars on the road. Less than two weeks later, it issued its second.

The recent news that China has been underreporting its already globe-leading coal consumption by nearly 20 percent for the last decade underscores the scale of its air pollution crisis.