Green Earth Volunteers is one of China's oldest indigenous environmental NGOs. Founded in 1996 by radio journalist Ms. Wang Yongchen, Green Earth Volunteers serves as a vehicle for grass-roots participation and we remain dedicated to expanding Chinese citizens’ active understanding of environmental issues. We work on multiple fronts. Through our educational trips and activities, many thousands have personally experienced the challenges China faces as pollution, environmental degradation and climate change affect our water, air and land. Green Earth Volunteers' monthly "Journalist Salons" bring key environmental journalists and specialists together to discuss breaking issues. Many more benefit from the transcripts of lectures and discussion among participants at each session available through Green Earth Volunteers' website. In a related project, Green Earth Volunteers supports contributors in Beijing and 18 other cities who forward local stories on environmental issues for inclusion in our daily news digest. On average, each issue includes 15-20 items and is sent to nearly 1000 recipients. These stories document matters related to pollution and health, enforcement and justice, and climate change. Through our salons and this digest, Green Earth Volunteers is fostering a nation-wide network of concerned journalists, which now constitutes a potent force in China's indigenous environmental moment.
Our newest initiative is the China Green News, which is an English-language digest designed to give non-Chinese readers access to first-hand information on China's environmental situation. We started small, but are proud that in a little over a year we have organized a committed and capable group of translators and editors. Many of our translators are idealistic Chinese college students. We hope that, through this volunteer experience, most or all will go on to become life-long environmental activists helping shape China's future. With additional volunteer and financial support, we intend to expand Green Earth News to include more, and more complete, translations of the Green Earth Volunteers news digest. To subscribe please visit our website at: http://eng.greensos.cn.
The effectiveness of Green Earth Volunteers' multi-faceted work is demonstrated by its continuing impact on policy, especially in recent years. Green Earth Volunteers years-long focus on the Nu River "development" controversy, for example, has helped keep the issue fresh in the minds of Chinese policymakers and the public. More broadly, seeing articles on pollution problems in print reassures individuals that they have the "space" to raise their specific concerns, which in turn helps increase public willingness to engage on local environmental issues.
Green Earth Volunteers' founder, Ms. Wang Yongchen, is a prolific writer and award-winning journalist. Wang's media credentials and reputation as a crusading reporter, and her courage in taking on special interests and the Government when necessary, help explain our effectiveness to date. But Green Earth Volunteers' road isn't an easy one. All indigenous NGOs operate within strict constraints on advocacy, organizing and fund raising, and Green Earth Volunteers' key volunteers admit that they face daunting challenges in transforming the organization from a small, project-driven group into something more substantial. Green Earth Volunteers formally registered with a local branch of the Ministry of Civil Affairs as a citizen-run non-profit organization in December 2007 as the "Green Earth Environmental Scientific Research Centre." Friends are now working with Green Earth Volunteers to create a stable and professional management staff as a foundation on which to consolidate and expand the NGO's activities. With a modest injection of management talent, they believe Green Earth Volunteers can capitalize on its success in attracting committed volunteers and become a more important channel to disseminate environmental information and constructively influence policy.
Specifically, Green Earth Volunteers looks forward to further expanding its outreach and training for interested journalists in provincial capitals around China. Green Earth Volunteers also wishes to increase its educational activities to encourage thousands more influential Chinese to actively participate in the indigenous environmental movement. Given the pool of talented volunteers already associated with Green Earth Volunteers, and its important track record to date, prospects are good that the organization can continue to play an important role in China's nascent environmental movement.
To date, Green Earth Volunteers has subsisted largely on Chinese volunteers' contributions, but has also received some funding from overseas groups, including small grants from the Blue Moon Fund, Canon, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation. Interested readers can visit the group's website at http://eng.greensos.cn. By accessing the English language pages you can also subscribe to China Green News. Information on joining our volunteers and contributing may also be found there.
Our Address: Bailing Temple, Xilou Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100007, China.
Tel/Fax: +8610-84039930, Email: g84039930@126.com.