GCC: GEA-China: Update June 1999

GEA - China Update, June 1999

More Information

About GEA-China

GEA-China Updates

Plans and Projects

Accomplishments

Introduction to China

Founding Partners

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Quotables

Committee

Three months after the initial teacher training, GEA - China representatives visited China to see teachers implement their new environmental education curriculum. Laura Utley, U.S. partner of GEA - China and founder of GCC, and Leslie Crawford, Executive Director of E2, visited several schools in Beijing and met with many of the GEA - China-trained teachers April 26-29, 1999.

Many of the concepts are already being implemented in the classroom. Classes check leaking faucets and water fountains. Parents have been invited to participate in the conservation process with the students. One school had recycling bins set up in the playground courtyard. Many classes were taught how to read water meters and shared ideas on how to conserve water. Implementation went beyond the classroom as one school conducted water tests of samples from many sources, such as a river, paper mill, and residential areas. Art illustrating water conservation work is posted around the classroom.

More on the Water Conservation classes

GEA - China is continuing the education process through cross-cultural exchanges. An educational tour will be organized for Chinese teachers to visit several U.S. cities this Fall. Professor Bradley Smith, a renowned U.S. environmental scientist, delivered lectures and held seminars at Qinghua and Capital Normal Universities in April, 1999. As Laura Utley aptly puts it, "shared experience brings China and the U.S. closer together and creates a common understanding of critical environmental issues. Such exchanges will enhance the understanding among people from different countries on issues far beyond environment for the betterment of humankind.

"In late April 1999 I was privileged to visit Beijing.... I was greatly impressed by the work already done by GEA - China and the warm reception that GEA - China received by our Chinese hosts. I was also greatly impressed by the commitment to environmental education by every sector of Chinese society.... There is little doubt in my mind that we could indeed learn a great deal from the Chinese in the area of sustainability and environmental education.

I look forward to our future endeavors and wish to thank GEA - China and specifically Laura Utley for her vision and commitment to the environment and international understanding."

Dr. Bradley Smith

GEA - China Symposium on Environmental Education

Wang Xiamong, Director of Publicity Department, Beijing Municiple Environmental Protection Bureau; Ren Naian, Consultant to State Environmental Protection Administration; Misha Krakowsky, Board of Directors GCC/GEA - China; Laura Utley, Co-Chair, Founder and Chairman Global Communications for Conservation New York; Zhao Ying-ping, Deputy Director of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau; Dr. Bradley Smith; Chen Kun, Agenda 21.

Madame Deng Nan, GEA - China's partner and MOST Vice Minister expands on Abraham Lincoln's words: "'I am for those means which will give the greatest good to the greatest number.' GEA - China is committed to creating an enduring and substantial environmental knowledge base through which all participants will benefit. It is a long term, continued, and win-win-win venture we have embarked on into the new century."

Laura Utley and Leslie Crawford visiting a Chinese school implementing E2.
Baiyunlu Primary School

	April visit by Ms. Shumin Pan, GCC/US-GEA - China Regional Area Liason, with Laura Utley and Leslie Crawford

Dawanglu Middle School

April visit by Ms. Shumin Pan, GCC/US-GEA - China Regional Area Liason, with Laura Utley and Leslie Crawford

More on the Water Conservation classes

Laura Utley and Leslie Crawford visiting a Chinese school implementing E2.