Report from China: GreenSOS Mini-Grants in Chengdu
from Kat Cooley in Chengdu, China
We’ve all heard about China’s lightening speed industrialization drawing migrant workers into unsafe urban living environments, rampant air pollution that can be seen from NASA satellites in outer space, and massive hydroelectric dam that flood World Heritage sites and precious river habitats. What we don’t hear about is the Chinese student environmental movement that is working to (Earth) Charter a sustainable path through this destructive tide.
Nearly every University in China has a student organization that focuses on the environment. Many of these organizations are affiliated with China’s Communist party, and work together on nation wide campaigns to clean the environment and promote environmental awareness in schools and communities. Many others organize their own projects and initiatives that often involve environmental education, trash reduction or recycling initiatives, and investigatory research projects.
GreenSOS is a student run environmental organization based in Chengdu, China, that works to facilitate student environmental work throughout the region. The organization was founded in 2001, and now includes student organizations from over 15 Universities in Chengdu, and many partner student organizations in Chongqing, Yunnan, and Beijing.
In 2005, GreenSOS started working with the Earth Charter, integrating its principles into many of the group programs, and organizing Earth Charter workshops to discuss Earth Charter principles. Chinese culture and politics embrace the pursuit of a “harmonious society”, and former president of GreenSOS, Liu Yang explains that, “using the Earth Charter helps the Chinese students better understand the specific ingredients needed to create ‘harmony’, which by itself can seem vague or overwhelming.”
One of the most successful ways that GreenSOS has used the Earth Charter is through their mini-grant program. In 2006, a new criterion was added to the application form and training program for the mini grant program. This criterion addressed sustainability and value by asking applicants to connect and explain their project within the framework provided by the Earth Charter. Yang explains that, “this helps students understand all the ways in which their projects can be valuable to society, and more importantly, how they can modify their proposals to have an even greater impact.”
In Western China, the students of GreenSOS are bringing the Earth Charter into challenging new situations, and using it as a guide to a more sustainable future. I think their hard work can serve as a great example of how the principles really do represent ideals from every nook and cranny of the world, and can generate tangible and meaningful change anywhere it is put to work.
- Kat