Activism and Awareness

British Council hosts youth climate change leaders in China

Photo via British Council

It seems the British Council these days is busy cultivating youth climate change leaders in China.

This past Saturday evening at the Bookworm Chengdu, a cultural events center in central Chengdu, several youth ambassadors spoke to an audience of largely grade school students on climate change action, as well as their own involvement in an international climate change conference in London this March.

The International Climate Champions, organized by the British Council, consists of 38 youth ambassadors from 13 countries, including China. The project is targeted at 12- to 18-year-olds, which, according to the program’s site, are a “persuasive global generation, [one that] can network very effectively, and are skilled at engaging with other young people and the wider public.”

Wang Yifei, of Sichuan, is the Chongqing Climate Champion, one of the initiative’s three China youth ambassadors. He spoke on the recent conference, where he gave a presentation on the decrease of diversity in Sichuan due to climate change, using giant pandas as an example. The Beijing ambassador gave a presentation on weather change, including snowcap melting in Inner Mongolia.

The Chinese delegation offered the following as an option for the “Kobe Challenge,” which will be presented to environment ministers at the G8 Environment Ministers Conference in Kobe, Japan this May: “Climate change is the problem and our generation is changing to become the solution.”

The trip included a visit to 10 Downing Street, an interview with BBC and a meeting led by Hillary Benn, the UK’s Secretary of State for Environmental Affairs.

Wang expressed confidence in young people’s ability to deal successfully with the climate change problem, citing education of the country’s current youth generation and a “positive attitude” as integral to success. Citing the UK’s official target to reduce carbon emissions by 60% by 2050, he was unperturbed.

“I think China can do much better than that,” he said, before a receptive audience, most of whom appeared to be younger than him.

The discussion also mentioned the British Council’s “Climate Cool” initiative, which “aims to raise awareness of climate change and encourage participants to take individual action to reduce the impact of climate change.”

Judging by a survey referred to on the Climate Cool site, Wang’s confidence may need to come along with some serious alteration of current Chinese youth sentiments.

The survey, performed through China Youth Daily and based on 2,500 questionnaires involving nearly 10,000 participants, shows that “80 percent of surveyed youths indicated their concerns on the climate change and related disasters.” In particular, they cited rising sea levels and subsequent reduction in land area and the potential for “some coastal cities and islands to disappear” as causes of concern.

However, “there would be strong resistance if people were asked to sacrifice their current living standards for the sake of sustainable consumption,” cited by the Climate Cool site.

According to the survey, approximately two thirds of participants still “indicated a willingness to purchase a car within their financial capabilities,” even though “most had noticed the negative effects of automobile exhausts on urban air pollution.”

General young Chinese attitudes, the survey found, are lagging well behind their older counterparts. According to the survey, while 76% of adults surveyed “have a positive attitude to saving energy,” only 34% of under-18s had similar attitudes.

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Additional Info:

Climate Cool Initiative focuses on ways to reduce carbon emissions and energy use through three main ways:

1. distribution of media for educational purposes
2. reducing consumption and change lifestyle through innovative ways, including using renewable materials within society
3. taking action on campuses.

It also provides training that teaches students how to measure their school’s carbon footprint, perform an environmental audit of their school and how to mobilize teachers and fellow students by demonstrating the impacts of climate change.

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