When Media Goes Non-profit: How Green Earth Volunteers Gathers Force
Influence the influential—a media rule that could also govern non-profit industry—entices to media’s appeal while delivering charitable value. With that, media workers echo warmly, empowering the voice of eco-protection.
Massfication and participation—the standard that rules Green Earth Volunteers’s (GEV in short hereinafter) eco-tour—brings joy to its joiners while stirring their nerves to environmental protection.
8:30am, Jul.14, 2002—Qiqi, the only man-raised Yangtze River dolphin worldwide—stopped its breath. Its pass-away broke two little hearts. Hanchen Wang and Niuniu, two GEV kids watching and caring for Qiqi since they were three years old, had been friends with Qiqi over the past five years.
From 1997 to 2002, GEV had never shifted their eyes from Qiqi. Their focus on endangered species persisted, spreading from animals to the environment they live in, especially China’s major rivers.
Their efforts gained weight in public. More importantly Green Earth’s unusual experience in cooperating with the media and then with the mass provides a textbook case for other NGOs to follow suit.
Yongchen Wang, a reporter to China National Radio, launched Green Earth Volunteers, which is oriented to “Approaching nature, Knowing nature and Making friends with nature”(slogan as it is). Its volunteers cover mainly journalists and environmental scientists.
For the past decade, GEV has grown into a group that absorbs all walks of life, including media workers, environmental workers, government workers, corporate workers, teachers, students and veterans. Over 50,000 people have been engaged in GEV’s activities with incalculably more influenced by related coverage.
GEV Journalists—Influence the Influential
GEV initiated a project named GEV Journalist Salon in the summer of 2001. The salon, held once a month, proceeded to 2002 when GEV struck a cooperation deal with China Youth Daily (a government mouthpiece) and Green Island (a counterpart NGO). Later the salon progressed as a platform where journalists learned knowledge, exchanged information and discussed problems all around environment. Together they became the central force that propelled China’s environmental coverage.
GEV has kept rounding up news released at the country’s major media every day since February, 2005. All the news is published on River Daily, a website of its own. So far, over 500 readers have been registered subscribers, in addition to a number of link exchanges with relevant websites at home and abroad. In 2006, GEV contracted Sanlian Bookstore, one of China’s influential publishers, on publishing Survey from China’s Environmental Journalists each year. 12 of the hottest environment-related issues are selected for journalists to investigate. Every journalist could pick one and write a report on it. The yearly survey has become a must-read material for environmental activists and researchers in China.
Looking back on the development of GEV, we may find that influence the influential—a media rule that governs non-profit industry as well—entices to media’s appeal while delivering charitable value. With that, media workers echo warmly, empowering the voice of eco-protection.
Public Participation—Learn by Experience
In 2006, GEV started a Ten-year River Track programme aimed at watching and documenting changes of rivers in West China, as well as their associations with neighbouring residents. With the help of TV network, radio, newspaper and internet, the public could be rendered the rights to know and act upon the protection, development and usage of the rivers. The waters in the list included Muge Lake, Yalong River, Lancang River, Jinsha River and Nu River. Now hydropower development of Jinsha River is high on Yongchen Wang and other volunteers’ watching agenda.
In March, 2007, GEV co-organised a regular outing project with Global Village of Beijing and Friends of Nature, two counterpart NGOs. Joiners were guided along the rivers around Beijing, gauging the water quality, and recognising plants and animals living nearby. Getaway as it may be, the tour served as the best lesson to motivate people’s actions on eco-protection. As expected, the project worked out. “The tour has gained popularity. About thirty or fifty applicants would join us. Some have become our ‘key players’. Experts would give necessary explanations to the questions raised by our joiners during the trip,” introduced Lili Dou, coordinator of the project.
Professional + Amateur = Massification is the formula when GEV design and implements its strategy, with which a wider range of subjects would be influenced.
Cooperation—Unity is Force
GEV is a faithful believer in cooperation with other NGOs in and out of China. Set it 26℃ is a campaign kicked off by GEV hand in hand with several other NGOs such as Global Village of Beijing and Friends of Nature. The summer campaign, reaching across the country, was to urge people to set the temperature of their air-conditions above 26℃, a benchmark that makes a difference to energy saving and environmental protection efforts. With the echoes going increasingly robust, 26℃ was eventually written into the law as a national standard in 2007.
More events such as No Driving Day and Green Consumption (leading the public to cut uses of disposable products and to consider the manufacturer’s eco-qualification when choosing its products) were also held in collaboration between GEV and its NGO partners.
Apart from cooperation with other NGOs, GEV has earned official support from China Environmental Culture Promotion Association (CECPA) affiliated to the Ministry of Environment.
The Ten-year River Track and Survey from China’s Environmental Journalists projects had CECPA behind the scene. As recently as 2008, the regular tour project around Beijing’s rivers is financed by America’s Waterkeeper Alliance.
The profound social impact of GEV’s public activities has made it possible that environmental NGOs could have their say in shaping national policy decision.
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