Former NBA superstar and current CBA Beijing Ducks point guard Stephon Marbury is now responsible for more than just basketball in China. At the moment, Marbury was named by Beijing's local government as the city's official Environment Protection Ambassador.

According to reports from China's Xinhuanet website, the two-time NBA All-Star has just been given the task of becoming Beijing's role model in loving and taking care of the environment and an official promoter of the "environment-friendly life style" as well. And it was a role that the man called Starbury has reportedly embraced with arms wide open.

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"It feels good, I'm used to be here, used to be a part of Beijing," Marbury said in an interview published at the Global Times. "So it's natural for me now, it's not like when I first came here. This is a home for me."

Marbury also said that his duties are simple: just to go out and encourage the whole Beijing community to be more environment-friendly, like to put their garbage in the proper bins, to plant trees, and to take the subway as much as possible to conserve on fuel and prevent more smoke to fill the capital's air. In fact, it has now become his custom to commute via the subway when going to team practices and other meetings.

This latest development in Beijing is said to be motivated by China's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is reportedly screening the candidate countries for aptitude and suitability as a venue, and clean air is one of the most important criteria in consideration.

Beijing officials have declared that by the time of the Winter Olympics in 2022, the air pollution issue in the country's capital will be long gone, according to The New Zealand Herald. Beijing's bid committee VP Zhang Jiandong have insisted that as of now, the air quality of winter sports sites in the city will already pass the IOC standards and they will improve them even more.

Tagschina basketball association, China News 2015, Beijing Air Pollution