350 China, Part V: The Green Long March

Jamie (Agent 350)

Aug 20, 2008 10:57 am

For the last three years in a row, I've found myself preparing for a march sometime in August. In 2006, I walked with Bill McKibben, our crew that's now working on 350.org, and around 1,000 other people, across the state of Vermont in a highly successful push for strong climate legislation. Last summer, I was on the road again, this time in New Hampshire for a 5 day walk leading up to the presidential primaries.

But none of those quite compared to this year's march – or, to be more precise, 10 marches. The Green Long March is now in it's second year and has quickly become China's largest student conservation movement. Over 5,000 students participate on 10 different march routes in various parts of China, engaging thousands of more people along the way. The students will cumulatively march 2008 kilometers, an auspicious number that corresponds to the 2008 Beijing Olympics which kick off just as the march ends.

The name of the program is a reference to Mao's infamous “Long March,” the Red Army's grueling trek across China to escape destruction at the hands of Chiang Kai Shek's forces. Mao is clearly a controversial figure, even in China where is portrait still hangs at the gates of the Forbidden City, overlooking Tianamen Square. Nevertheless, the Long March holds a mythological status in the Chinese public consciousness, an incredible demonstration of unbending willpower.

Claire and I met up with one leg of the Green Long March in the southern city of Guangzhou, only a few hours by train from Hong Kong where we attended the Asian Youth Climate Summit. We made it just in time to attend the kick-off ceremony for “The Gold Coast” route, a relay or sorts, with students from a number of southern Chinese universities completing different sections of the march.

I didn't understand most of the Chinese language program, but the excitement of the participants was tangible. Along with the usual speeches, students performed a martial arts ceremony, a giant drum performance, more dances, and recited a “green pledge” in unison. It was quite a show. As I quickly learned on the trip, when Chinese take something on, they really do it big.

The next morning, we joined the students at a local supermarket where they passed out sustainable shopping bags, conducted surveys of consumers about how they saved energy, and ran green-themed games and competitions for children and adults alike. It struck me how open and energetic the students were. In the USA, a lot of young people are a bit shy of talking to complete strangers about anything, let alone how they could change their lifestyle. In China, where people are used to interacting with more people on a daily basis, the students weren't shy in the least, marching up to shoppers, standing right next to them, and conducting their green survey on the spot.

In the afternoon, we joined a group of about 20 students in a trip to a nearby “ecological village,” a traditional village of narrow streets, a winding canal, and historic buildings that the government had set aside for preservation. The students, dressed in identical Green Long March polo shirts, interviewed local residents about the benefits and challenges of living in the ecological village. The majority of the residents were happy to talk with the students and often applauded their efforts. Many people spoke articulately (or at least seemed articulate, I got all the info second hand through Claire's translations) about why environmental protection is important, despite the fact that compared to most Americans, these Chinese villagers were causing very little pollution themselves.

The next morning, the real marching began. Waving flags, singing, and chatting with other hikers, we spent the morning walking up a mountain set in a large “ecological park,” a popular destination for families and retirees. The humidity made the hike rather grueling, but the students were in high spirits the entire way. I spent most of my time running up and down the line filming the students and interviewing them as they marched along.

It was just the sort of amazing story we were looking for – when was the last time you heard about Chinese students taking action to protect the environment? Probably never. Yet, here they were, doing their best in the face of enormous challenges to educate the public about the need for action.

On our final day with the Gold Coast Route crew, we visited China's largest landfill, a massive, unbelievably smelling place near the city of Guangzhou. I'd never been to anything like this. The place was enormous, you could probably fit 50 football fields in the large pit that was quickly being filled with garbage and covered with black tarps.

The most stunning thing about the landfill, however, was not the amount of waste, but that the owners were using it to generate electricity. When garbage decomposes it releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas that instead of being wasted, can be burned to make electricity. The landfill also recycled it's waste water, purifying it to the point where it was completely odorless and perfectly suited for agriculture or other uses – although I wouldn't bet on a bottled-water company coming along anytime soon.

I'll try and get a video of the Green Long March up on Changents.com soon. The most inspirational points of the march were in the conversations that Claire and I had with students along the way, some of which we were able to capture on film.

It's those personal interactions that get lost in the distance between China and the United States, and in all the politics that lie between. And yet, those conversations are exactly what we need to be having more of. It's our hope that 350.org will grow to be a place where those interactions can happen. Where we can find a way for all the students and people I've marched with over the last few summers in the US to communicate with the students who are still marching through China as I write. I know that I for one, will be keeping in touch with friends from the Green Long March for a long time to come.