Prompt: take one hour today to talk with a community member (NOT a non-local staff member from your host agency) about the social issue/research question you are addressing. Take the time to listen to their point of view, without imposing yours. What do they have to say?
Since it's long since past three days after my arrival, I've had more a few hour-long conversations with the people I've encountered. These conversations are not solely limited to the topic of environmentalism, but have spanned over other aspects of society--education, corruption, local culture, Chinese history. One of the first conversations I had specific to the issue of environmentalism was with Yuling, a Rice alum living in Chengdu. While speaking with Dr. Li, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Rice, she put me in contact with Yuling, who now worked with the EPA equivalent in Chengdu.Without much exposure to the issue beforehand, I was eager to learn more, and gained a lot of insight on environmental efforts and perceptions in China from her.
On a sunny Saturday morning, we sat outside a cafe to enjoy the comfortable weather. I learned that Yuling grew up near Chengdu and went to the States for a total of 9 years for her bachelor's and PhD in environmental science. Missing home and the relaxed pace of life, she came back to Chengdu, working with the 'EPA' at the administrative level. She explained the differences she noted between working in the environmental field in China and in America. One of the hardest things to do here was research, given the difficulty in obtaining reliable data. Furthermore, she mentioned the difficulty of getting data or reports from other departments if one did not personally know someone in the department. Rather than emails, QQ was the more prevalent form of communication even at work. This has been true from my own experiences. While I haven't used QQ, WeChat tends to be the more prompt way of reaching someone even if you don't know them, such as when requesting a driver for a day trip.
Regarding environmental awareness among the general public, it's still needs work. All around the city are signs saying something along the lines of being civilized and contributing to society. A good number are specific to being environmentally-friendly ('Everyone is responsible for protecting the environment'). As I mentioned earlier, most trash cans have both a 'recyclable' and 'non-recyclable' bin. However, it's really just surface level. Posting signs and such are easy to do; changing people's attitudes and outlooks are not. This is where efforts need to be focused. Another common sight in the city are the neon-orange-vested men and women posted on every block, or every 1km of public roads to be exact. Armed with a straw broom and metal dustpan, they're responsible for keeping the street clean of all litter, essentially picking up after people who didn't bother to throw away their trash in the trash can. Thus the reason for the constant reminders--on billboards, on the subway, on the small display banners of taxis--in the hopes of improving the public moral code.
We also discussed how people perceived the pollution in the city and how, if at all, they dealt with it. I had noticed the occasional individual, usually a woman, wearing a face mask in the streets, but they were all the thin blue disposable surgical masks, useless in terms of preventing the inhalation of particulate matter, or PM. I mentioned this to Yuling, and she said the main reason was that they just did not know about proper protection (this NY Times article outlines the situation in further detail). When I asked if this was the government's job to disseminate the information, she thought it should be, but that it likely would not be anytime soon. She felt that the government was structured such that those lower down only did what they were told rather than being self-motivated to address an outstanding problem. Furthermore, the government workers themselves, namely the police were unprotected against such pollution when they directed congested traffic from the middle of the street. Having done research on PM 2.5, or particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, Yuling pointed out that such occupations had high exposure to PM 2.5, considered one of the most damaging for its ability to lodge deep within the lungs. Regarding this issue and need for more public awareness, I thought it might be the perfect work for an NGO to tackle some day, hopefully soon.
Speaking of connections, thanks to our meeting that day, I was invited to a get together later that night. Luckily Karen and Thomas were free as well, and we had a blast getting to meet more Chengdu locals over smoothies and tapas with a distinctly Chinese streak.
From left: Yuling, myself, Karen, Thomas
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