At 9:30am.onNovember 15th, 2013, the "Youth and Green Future" seminar was held in Beijing YuanBo Park. Beijing Fengtai District Volunteers’ Department, China Environment Federation, China Central Financial Work Group, the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, UNDP as well as many well-known environmental charity organizations and volunteer organizations,were invited to participate in the seminar.
Wang Songtao, the Deputy Director of Beijing Fengtai District Volunteers’ Department gave a keynote speech. Mr. Wang pointed out that the Garden Expo landfill’s transformation from a construction garbage recycling site to the highest level of garden display platform has been a positive commitment to the green environmental aspects of the mission. From December 5, 2012 till February 28, 2013volunteer registration occurred in which a total of 56,000 people signed up. After the screening process, a resulting 13,000 people were chosen for a period of 182 days and 200,000 shifts, the total length of more than one million volunteer hours.
The Garden Expo volunteer service consists of eight characteristics, first of which regarding the amount of volunteer service. Innovation puts forward the “people per day “service concept and unit demand planning guidance voluntary service. Second, universities that has the environmental concentrations play a bigger role, like China Agricultural University, Beijing Forestry University and other colleges and universities of professional characteristics. Third,the creation and implementation of social mobilization patterns, a five to one training framework, and the attainment of six volunteer service class hits on the site reaching 20 million times. Fourth, they developed Beijing Yuanbo Park’s mobile APPs. Fifth, they create a volunteer online booking system, successfully saving100 million in costs. Sixth, the use of a volunteer system based on incentives and a written request for work leave system. Seventh, the development of a 360- degree mechanism evaluation base system, and finally and most importantly, the theme of recruitment positioning: "youth, confidence, voluntary, and green." Green knowledge through advocacy and information notification to implement paperless offices in which volunteers use reusable water bottles, and green battery recycling boxes, and implement green knowledge sharing among other activities, will effectively reduce 100 tons of carbon emissions.
Next, the Information Department of the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Deputy Secretary of the Central United Financial Group Working Committee, Mr. Xin Xuedong, gave public speeches, advocating for energy conservation and maintenance of environmental rights, strengthening PM2.5 science advocacy, calling for public participation, as well as a green finance youth financial force to implement the Youth Project to Save Food with No Waste, the Mother Yangzi River Protection program, and 150 financial youth forests.
Wonderful speeches were given by Green Star Environmentalists Cooperation Organization, Greenpeace, Beijing Forestry University volunteer representatives, Roots and Shoots organization, UNDP, the British Voluntary Service Overseas, Ivy Institute for Sustainable Development, the Commission, the Friends of the Environmental Organization Green Student Forum and the UN project officer respectively. The talks covered subjects of battery recycling, governance, policy advice and suggestions, green cartography, post-exhibition research, green exhibitions, sustainable forest management projects to improve ecological and moral awareness, EU carbon market, garbage and clean-up of environment by young people in promoting the growth of the practice, followed by a hot discussion.
Ling Yue, the director of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau made a concluding statement for the seminar and then all the participants took a group photo together and visited the Garden Expo volunteers’ house, which is the volunteers’ resting place in between work shifts.
In the afternoon, participants visited the Green Garden Expo booth where volunteers had pulled up banners and were passing out leaflets to tourists disseminating environmental knowledge and inviting visitors to play a "green game" together. Many visitors said they learned a lot about environmental knowledge during thesegames.
The activities successfully concluded after a brief visit to the "Eight Sceneries of Ancient Beijing".
Reported by Wang Yanlong, volunteer representative
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