Chinese youth rank health, education as most important life quality factors
Throughout November and December of last year, we collaborated with enovate to gather insights into the minds of China’s socially aware, progressive youth. This was the first nation-wide survey of youth attitudes towards environmental issues and awareness!
Through an online survey of over 400 students and young employees from around China, as well as in-depth interviews in Shanghai, Greennovate and enovate sought to discover what defines a modern quality of life for Chinese youth in 2010, as well as attitudes and perceptions towards green products and brands.
So what were the findings? Put in short, Chinese youth have indicated a desire for a healthier, more environmentally-conscious lifestyle, and have demanded that green brands prove their “greenism” through products – not just marketing!
Special thanks to the Shanghai youth-insights group enovate for all their help!
Click here to see the detailed results!
Greennovate will travel back to Guangzhou once again this month for the third installment of our partnership with FedEx. Our team will provide environmental empowerment sessions for employees, training them on sustainability challenges, and engaging volunteers in community outreach programs at local high schools.
On Friday, March 12th, Greennovators will travel to Kunshan for a day of environmental education at the Double Tree Hotel, an international branch of Hilton that has partnered with several environmental groups on its path towards sustainability. Our presentation will be part of their community outreach program, “Teaching Kids to Care.”
Bill Gates' vision of "Innovate to Zero" may be difficult but necessary
Everyone knows who Bill Gates is, and just about everyone is aware of his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – the world’s largest charitable organization. The Gates Foundation is famous for, among many other things, taking on global challenges like vaccination shortages and extreme poverty. But recently, the Microsoft founder has been focusing his energy on a new project, something he calls “innovating to zero”: the pursuit of a world with zero carbon-dioxide emissions. I’ll admit that even an eternal optimist like myself was sceptical; reduced emissions, sure. Greatly reduced emissions, definitely possible. But zero emissions? The idea of Shanghai taxi drivers plugging in their electric Prius’ to a wind power station just seems a bit far-fetched. At his TED appearance in L.A. last month, however, Gates gave a lengthy speech outlining just how we might achieve the lofty zero-CO2 goal. His formula (after the jump):
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Bamboo rafts: a unique part of Yangshuo culture
After travelling to Yangshuo last year for the GECKO program, I’ve just visited for a second time on vacation. Like most visitors to Yangshuo, I was transfixed by the beauty of the stunning karst formations and quaint villages among the rice paddies, scattered between the hills. However, seeing the pace of development and its impacts on the town of Yangshuo itself, with high capacity hotel construction projects and crowded tourist shopping streets loaded with touts and factory merchandise, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of future is in store for Yangshuo. This gets cast into sharper focus when you consider that a high speed rail link to wealthy neighboring Guangdong province opens next year. Can the new revenues pouring in be channeled to benefit the people of the area while preserving the natural beauty and local culture that attracted visitors in the first place? While a definitive answer to this question just isn’t possible, especially after only two visits, I’ve had a chance to witness elements of ecotourism appearing in some of the villages nestled among the karsts surrounding Yangshuo. Through the efforts of local and foreign entrepreneurs who recognize that the value of the villages is in their distinct local character and pristine environment, a picture is starting to emerge of a different style of development that could be very good news for Yangshuo as a whole.
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Ecosia helps protect Brazil's beautiful Juruena National Park
How many square meters of rainforest have you saved in the past week? I’ve saved 121.6 m2 – pretty cool, right? The best part is that all I had to do was search the internet using the new eco-friendly search engine, Ecosia.
Launched in Germany on December 7, 2009 (along with the start of the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen), Ecosia donates 80% of its revenue to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) – more specifically, to their project to protect Juruena National Park, a thriving tropical rainforest located in the heart of Brazil’s Amazon River basin. Ecosia claims so far to have saved just over 35 million square meters of rainforest, calculating that each and every search performed on their website saves about 2m2.
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AIESEC members in the Greennovate office
With the impending start of the summer semester at Chinese universities, Greennovate and AIESEC are planning a dramatic expansion of their sustainability education programs.
AIESEC is the world’s largest student-run organization. Active in over 1700 universities across more than 107 countries and territories, it is an international platform for youth leadership development. AIESECers strive to be agents of change and have a positive impact on society, with climate change and sustainability issues as significant parts of the organisation’s agenda. [click to continue…]
Shanghai Coolbike participants celebrate the end of a great ride!
This year sees Coolbike is furthering its creative appeal and partnerships with high-profile environmental groups in Shanghai, plus rolling out events to other major urban cities in China – next stop, Beijing!
GoodtoSH 01 Coolbike launched on December 5th, 2009, with a fun bike ride around Shanghai to encourage residents to use bikes as a regular transport option in their daily lives in order to stay healthy, reduce air pollution, and enjoy life. Tying in with the launch of the Copenhagen UN Climate Summit on December 7th, this cool bike event aimed to show that in Shanghai we care about these issues, too!
To see a short video of the first Shanghai event, click here.
The next Shanghai event will partner up with Shanghai EcoDesign Fair, with another city bike ride on April 18th at 2pm in downtown Shanghai. Mark your calendar, bring your bike and your friends, and show you care! For more info, please contact susanevanskelly@gmail.com.
See you all soon!
This is the second time GECKO will visit beautiful Mogan Mountain.
We’re excited to be gathering teams of Chinese university student volunteers to bring the GECKO program to schools in Moganshan, starting with a “Big Litter Pick” on March 8th! In collaboration with the eco-resort naked Retreats as part of their naked Green Initiative Month, we will be training 4 different teams of 4 student trainers to run cross-cultural environmental workshops with participating local schools (Moganshan and Paitou Middle Schools), as well as international schools in the Moganshan area. This second installment of our partnership with naked Retreats will run throughout March and April with the goal of reaching out to over 1,000 high school students.
Interested Chinese university students, please contact Winnie at gecko@greennovate.org!
Chris Pothaar presents to a diverse group of YCIS students in Shanghai
This Monday, our GECKO team got back in action with the first event of the new (Chinese) year! After Yew Chung International School’s younger students visited our green office early this month to learn about Greennovate and gain some insight on how to run their new riverside development projects, our team was invited to the international school to present GECKO to the older students. Stay tuned in March to learn about our events in Moganshan!
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