 US teen takes green leap to China
By Qian Yanfeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-04 07:42 SHANGHAI: At 16, Taylor Francis is the youngest ambassador of The Climate Project, a US-based non-profit program that promotes awareness of global warming. He was selected and trained on environmental issues two years ago by former US vice-president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore, who also inspired and acted in the Academy Award-winning movie An Inconvenient Truth. The teen has spoken to more than 10,000 people, mostly high school students, in the US in his green crusade. He talked about how each one of them can make a difference to stop climate change. The consequences of not doing so, Francis said, will be felt in this lifetime. His mission has now brought him to China. Realizing the potential of the country's impact on the environment that transcends national boundaries, the high school sophomore took a bold step and arrived in China last month. Francis spoke to students, businessmen and those from green non-profit groups to confront climate change in one of the world's fastest developing countries. Francis has reason to be optimistic about his efforts. Last year, about 20 exchange students from Shanghai went to his school in Hillsborough, California. He spoke to them about climate change and how it was affecting their future. Since then, the Shanghai Children's Palace, the organization which started the exchange visit, has launched a program that has so far trained more than 100 Shanghai students to speak about environmental issues in the city. "That's the thing I'm most proud of," Francis said. "If you could get all other kids to do the same thing, it would be a powerful model." Francis does not see his age as a disadvantage. Instead, it has endowed him with a perspective that drives him further. "When you're working with the knowledge that it is your future that hangs in the balance, and it is the world in which you're going to live that is at stake, it's so much more compelling to begin educating others about the issue, and working to solve it," he said. The large amount of statistics Francis has collected on the environmental situation in China has been well received by his Chinese audiences. Language has proven to be no barrier. Francis conveys his message in a compelling way that has invited heated discussion among his listeners. "He is just incredible," said Zhu Junliang, a student from the Shanghai Foreign Language School. "It makes me realize how urgent the situation is and think about what I can do in my daily life to at least address this problem and, hopefully, change it," Zhu said. Francis' links with China started a year ago. Last summer, he came on a school trip to China and ended up talking for the first time to Chinese 5th graders in a small town in Jiangsu province about global warming. The reactions from those students were very positive, he said. They asked many questions concerning electric cars and renewable energy, questions, Francis said, were "incredibly informed". This experience ended up reinforcing his conviction about the significance of China and the US working together in the green crusade. He said he felt responsible for bringing back to the US the message that environmental awareness in China is stronger than expected and growing fast. "I've been incredibly impressed at how knowledgeable and energized the students here are about climate change," Francis said. "So many have come up to ask about what they can do," he said. (China Daily 07/04/2008 page11) |
