Community

Welcome to contributing blogger Sophia Mendelsohn!

We’ve added another person to our team!

My name is Sophia Mendelsohn, which the Chinese translate into “Su Fei.”

I am living in Shanghai and have been for three years. Each year we watch as the city grows increasingly international, but becomes a little grayer up above our heads. It is no doubt that you can see the pollution building in our city. There are other positive changes, too, though, like the new advertisements in the subway stations reminding us to use fewer plastic bags.

Before SH, I lived in Kunming, China (all the way South) and Harbin, China (all the way North). I still have a soft spot in my heart for Harbin. How could you not for a place where they BBQ outside all Siberian-winter long and keep their ice cream frozen in snow banks instead of freezers?

I have traveled quite a bit in Asia, and although my career belongs to China, my favorite country to travel to has been India. I recently volunteered there with a non-profit organization that helps eradicate slave labor in the silk industry. One of their creative CSR ideas was to sell the “clean” silk to guided tours and other trappings of the booming tourist industry in the area. The money was fed back to support education and micro-loans for the workers.

I work in export and manufacturing and spend a fair amount of time in factories outside of major cities in China. Everyday I see opportunities for us to save on costs and reduce waste, without stopping progress. My previous job was in corporate communications where my favorite projects always had to do with CSR and sustainability. The power consumers have to move these things forward cannot be underestimated. Remember: you are the customer.

I speak, read and write Chinese at an extremely advanced level and majored in East Asian Studies in university in America. All together I have been in Asia four to five years. This is my first blog.

If you are also interested in joining the ResponsibleChina team, please write me at erica [at] responsiblechina [dot] com. Send 2-3 writing samples or links to your online work with a brief description of your interest in China, environmental affairs, social entrepreneurship or corporate social responsibility.

Sphere: Related Content

© 2008 ResponsibleChina.com: Environmental sustainability, corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship in China..