[pf] China's Young Green Warriors (TIME, from last October).

· The URL on TIME.com for this, was sent to the GreenViews-NZ list today:

http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/youngchina/g.s.environmental.html
  which is:

China's Young Green Warriors

Despite official ambivalence, more and more students are fighting to undo
environmental damage
    By WEN BO 

Most Chinese students would probably love to spend their vacations the way
Li Li did this year: touring the U.S. But the 22-year-old history major
from Peking University was not on a pleasure trip. Instead she spent four
weeks traveling the country to meet with American environmental groups,
learning how they organize, motivate, educate and protest.

Li became aware of China's environmental crisis as a teenager. She was
spurred to action when a stream near her home outside Shanghai was ruined.
Sewage from a nearby industrial plant effectively killed the river—along
with her childhood memories of fishing with friends. Outraged, she set up a
city-wide environmental action group from her high school. Students now
arrange nature walks and educational programs promoting conservation and
awareness. More recently Li became coordinator of China's Green Student
Forum, a nationwide network of more than 60 groups. Such activism impressed
Global Greengrants Fund and Ecologia, which sponsored her U.S. trip.

Li may be precocious, but she is not alone. The Green Student Forum was
formed in 1996 by myself and Yan Jun, a student at Beijing's Forestry
University. Across the country, dozens of other college kids have since
begun to organize in their communities to reduce pollution and preserve
endangered species and resources. Many of the groups are working with
almost no funding, but they are moved to contribute their time to the
cause. It's no secret that China has disregarded environmental concerns in
the pursuit of economic development. Now it will take more than regulations
to fix the sorry state of the environment: people need to become aware of
their own responsibility for saving nature. If China's crippled ecosystems
are ever to recover, this generation of activists will have to lead the way.

I, too, was a teenager when I joined the environmental movement. At first I
was interested in the same issues as activists abroad—acid rain, the marine
environment, toxic waste. In China, however, these are not just
environmental issues but ones rooted in political corruption and economic
backwardness. Protesting factory emissions can strike a nerve with the
state. So I shifted my focus to conserving endangered species, where
official efforts have been lacking. I hoped that by concentrating on this
area, I could make a larger point about the need to salvage our ecosystems.

Fortunately, such subterfuge is becoming less and less necessary. Just
after the 1989 student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, the authorities
were wary of any university-based activist groups. But in recent years,
students have been able to organize around environmental issues—as long as
they are careful. Most of the groups limit their activities—lectures,
petitions for recycling, fund-raising drives—to their campuses. When they
go beyond the school grounds, the activities usually center on nature
conservation, which is sanctioned by state policy. The culprits they target
are mostly local officials, so the students can serve as helpful
whistle-blowers, highlighting problems the central government may not know of.

Once, students wouldn't have dreamed of making a career out of
environmentalism. But Li, for one, says she would rather be an activist
than a historian. Ideally, her example will inspire more than jealousy
among students who wish they, too, could study abroad. If her trip was a
reward, then she deserved it. For people like Li are trying to make China a
better and greener country to live in, not a place that everyone wants to
leave. 

Wen Bo, ex-reporter for China Environmental News, cofounded the Green
Student Forum 

Write to TIME at mail@web.timeasia.com 

 ALSO IN YOUNG CHINA: GOVERNMENT
National Pride: Patriotism makes a comeback

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sent-on to Positive Futures by David.
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