Environmental Activism Puts Down Roots in China
An Interview with Ms Xiaoyi Liao
Xiaoyi Liao is the founder and president of the Global Village of Beijing (GVB), an independent, non-profit Chinese organization working to help China achieve environmentally sustainable development by raising awareness of environmental issues through public education, the media and community-based activities. Liao, 45, was in New York recently and discussed with our reporter the state of the environment, the environmental movement in China, and how she got started as an activist,
Q: How did you get interested in and begin working on environmental issues in China? A; My concern for environmental degradation in China began 10 years ago when I was a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. I read some articles about environmental disasters worldwide and some reports on China’s environment, and I was shocked by the situation. I tried to find further information on environmental disasters or environmental degradation in China, but I couldn’t find anything – in English or Chinese – in the library of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. This shocked me and I decided to do something. I transferred the focus of my research to the environmental costs of China’s industrialization and I published some articles.
Also, I was an editor of an economics magazine, and in that capacity I came across a survey that said developed countries’ environmental problems are less serious when compared with China’s, due to public awareness of environmental issues in developed countries; the survey said that in developed countries, even where the environmental Tag Heuer Replica quality is relatively good – cleaner air and water than in China – people were very worried about the environment. For them, environmental protection was a priority in their lives. In China, there is lots of water and air pollution, and plant species are disappearing, but Chinese citizens feel OK; they never think that the environment is a priority issue. About four years ago I saw an investigation that asked people to list their 10 main concerns. On that list there was nothing about the environment. I came to the conclusion that the Chinese people don’t know about their environment and that the main problem is the lack of public education on environmental issues. At that time there was no TV program or newspaper that talked about the environment in China. There were a few RJ environmental newsletters, but the readership was very limited.
Qs What steps did you take to transform your interest in the environment into action?
A: After I became concerned about the state of the environment in China, I began researching the issues. I published many papers on the environment in magazines, but I don’t think many people read them, and there was still no attention to environmental issues. So I decided that public education is maybe the most important factor. Then Tag Heuer Replica Watches I took a second step: I changed myself from a researcher to an educator. I started learning how to make TV programs, and became an independent TV producer. My first series, “Green Talks”, was broadcast in 1994. For it I interviewed more than 30 experts in China about the environmental situation and sustainable development – I also had the opportunity to study in the US, as a visiting scholar in international economic policy at the University of North Carolina. In the US, I had exposure to a great deal of research on environmental issues in China and globally, and to people actually working as activists in the US and in other countries. I met and videotaped interviews with many of them. I returned to China in 1995. The turning point came in 1996 when I became the founder of a non-profit, non-governmental organization, Global Village of Beijing (GVB). Through GVB, I realized my double missions: environmental education and development of the NGO sector in China. Despite the increased investment of money in environmental protection by the Chinese government, particularly Omega Replica for industrial pollution control projects, a lack of public awareness means that the government’s actions are not yet very powerful in protecting the environment. GVB’s goal is to bring about policy change and individual change.
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