Who is the source of the Rongbu glacier melting map hanging in the office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon? Who led the rapid response team to investigate 99 chemical plants in 68 townships during the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake? It is Yu Zhong, a senior member of the NGO Environmental Protection Organization. On the afternoon of December 4, Yu Zhong was invited to UIC to give a lecture entitled "environment messages public change".

Zhong Yu believes that environmental protection is the common responsibility of all citizens

Zhong Yu first put forward an idea to the students: "environmental protection is not a matter for a government or a non-governmental organization. Environmental protection is the common responsibility of all citizens. " With this idea, students began to understand the environmental protection work of non-governmental environmental organizations.

Yu Zhong showed several pictures to introduce the current situation of China's environment. These pictures showed ponds polluted by enterprise sewage, sea pollution caused by oil spills, air pollution caused by factory emissions, and land collapse caused by over exploitation of groundwater. Yu Zhong also listed a large number of environmental data in various aspects. Through these shocking data, students also realized the grim situation of China's environmental protection.

Yu Zhong then talked about two major problems of environmental protection in China: one is that China has not punished the environmental pollution and ecological destroyer in place, and the appeal of environmental public welfare is difficult to make; Another is that the Chinese public has no sense of guilt about environmental damage, and no one feels that they are responsible for the environment. This also reflects the difficulties of environmental protection in China.

钟峪分析中国环境保护现状

Yu Zhong 's analysis of the current situation of environmental protection in China

Now, China's environmental protection is in two times: first, the environment has been facing a collapse, and China's environmental pollution has approached or exceeded the limit of natural load; The second era is the public active cognition. Because of the development and popularization of media technology, the Chinese public has gradually changed from passive cognition to active cognition for environmental protection, which is a big development direction.

After putting forward two problems and two times, Yu Zhong began to elaborate how to make the awareness of environmental protection deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. She proposed that we should break the barriers between human beings and nature, others and things, and change comes from the transformation and innovation of ideas. Speaking of how to stimulate the public's cognition and action, Yu Zhong said that we should first let the public know and understand these things, and then carry out different practices according to their different attitudes towards them. Problem exposure is not the goal, the goal is to let the public know the truth of the matter, so as to promote the further efforts of environmental protection organizations.

Through the case analysis of three different types of public welfare organizations and NGO green creation, Yu Zhong further explained to the students how environmental protection organizations let the public know about things, and then let the public participate in them step by step.

Finally, Yu Zhong concluded her speech with a quote: "great change seems almost impossible when you start to work hard, but it seems inevitable when you finish."

The lecture attracted many students to participate

In the interactive session, the students also enthusiastically asked questions. Mr. Dong, a sophomore majoring in Environmental Science, asked, "because some projects of the green center need funds, is the money open to the public? And as for a scientific report, will it be distorted if it is transformed into a popular report?" Non governmental organizations attach great importance to their credibility, so there is absolutely no problem in this respect," Yu Zhong said. As for scientific reports, they will be abstracted in the process of transforming them into civilian reports, and important contents will be retained. It's just for ordinary people to have a better understanding of it. " The enthusiastic speeches of the students prolonged the speech for nearly half an hour.

The speaker: Yu Zhong, director general of Guangzhou Green Center, winner of SEE ecological Award for China's environmental activists, and the Fourth Top 10 Walkers in China. In the past 10 years, he has been the action manager of Greenpeace (East Asia) and director of Forest Protection Project of International Environmental Protection Organization Greenpeace, responsible for the action research and rapid response of Greenpeace in China.

Text: Xindi Wu (Four-dimensional Communication Society, freshman of International News)

Photo: Mei Chen (Four-dimensional Communication Society, junior of International News)

Editor: Yuanying Yu (Source: Press and Public Relations Department)