River Watch: Get Back in Touch With Nature
Living in Beijing, we often feel out of touch with nature. High-rise buildings, pollution and concrete roads hardly call to mind dewy grass, fresh water streams and chirping songbirds.
Now, the Green Earth Volunteers – one of the oldest local environmental NGOs in China – is offering expats an opportunity to reconnect with the great outdoors. They have been organizing a “River Watch” activity (乐水行) every Saturday for the past two years, but starting in July, they’ve arranged for monthly English-language translations as well. And their second one ever is taking place tomorrow morning (see details below).
They go to a different spot each time, usually on the outskirts of the city. The goal, their English representative Angela Merriam tells me, is “to enjoy the beauty of nature” as well as “see firsthand how our behavior adversely affects it.”
We asked Merriam what to expect, why rivers should be our concern and whether it is possible to breathe fresh air in Beijing.
Why rivers?
China’s water crisis – exemplified by scarcity and pollution – has been the subject of national and international concern for years, and Beijing can be seen as a microcosm of the larger national problem. Many of Beijing’s residents feel disconnected from [environmental] problems … There is always clean water coming out of the faucet and the rivers in the city (those that haven’t dried up yet) are relatively clean.”
Where have past River Watch activities taken place?
Anywhere from Tongzhou out to the Summer Palace. They’re all over.
Is it possible to breathe fresh air and see clean bodies of water in Beijing?
That’s not necessarily the goal of River Watch. We aren’t heading outside of the city to breathe fresh air or see clean water – although we do that sometimes. Our destinations change every week, especially when we go down routes that feed into the drinking water. We have a number of routes, but our most important goal is to show Beijingers the effects of our consumption on the water. There’s a lot of garbage in the water. Sometimes people are absolutely shocked and frightened. A few of them are students who have studied ecology and environmental science – and even they can’t fathom what’s going on in the environment.
Why should we go?
The weekly River Watch activities have provided Beijing residents with a chance to get outside the city and see the rivers in surrounding areas with their own eyes – it's also a chance for you to come out and practice your Chinese and make some new friends. We’d love to get more people involved, so please come and join us!
August 20, 2011
The National Olympic Forest Park
Gathering Place: Subway Line 8, South Entrance of the Forest Park, Exit A
Gathering Time: 8.45 am
Distinguished Guest: Gao Pengjie (Professorate Senior Engineer, Artificial Wetland Design)
GEV Coordinator: Wang Jingjing 158 1107 9160
English Translator: Guo Yifei (Jasper) 136 413 25615
Visit http://eng.greensos.cn or email cgnvolunteers@gmail.com for more information on meetings (and to clarify when their English-translated outings will take place). Green Earth Volunteers organizes several other programs including Yellow River Decade; translations for many of their operations are still in the works, but they are always looking for volunteers. Check back regularly for updates.
Photos: Flickr user reg_nordman
