Green Communities

The development of Green Living must be grassroots-based in the context of a community. Regardless of a person's profession or line of work, all are part of a community. Green living has the capacity to affect the daily lives of people and create a successful and sustainable community. Starting in 1996, Beijing Da Cheng Xiang community established the first garbage-sorting site in response to several Global Village campaigns aimed at bringing environmental awareness into the daily lives of citizens. Global Village cooperated with the Xuan Wu municipal government in 1999 to found the first Green Community in China. The characteristics of a Green Community include environmentally sound architecture (green building) combined with energy and water conservation, garbage collection and sorting, and public participation consisting of government ministries, companies, public organizations and community representatives. A large group of public volunteers function as the promoters of environmental protection campaigns and Green households. Besides community development, self-management, autonomy and self-education remain important aspects of community building and civil society in general.

In August 2000, GVB presented the Green Community model to the chair of the Beijing Olympic committee, Mr. Liuqi. He and the Beijing Olympic Games Bid Committee decided to adopt the plan and, in September 2000, nearly 100 leaders from 18 government departments visited GVB's Green Community to learn how to duplicate the model in other parts of the city.

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES:

Earth Day 2000 China:

GVB collaborated with 5 other NGOs in developing and hosting Earth Day 2000 activities. A dozen local NGOs and more than 100 environmental groups supported and joined the activities which included Green Life Commitment across the country as well as Earth Week China. The latter included tree planting day, green community day, green campus day, green shopping day, green hotel day, green office day, and green transportation day. As the first nationwide environmental activity hosted by NGOs, nearly 10 million people participated including Earth Day-founder, Dennis Hayes, who began the initiative 30 years earlier.

Green Olympics and Green Life:

•  GVB serves as a consultant to the Beijing Olympic Committee and has been involved in the creation of the “Green Games.”

•  Together with China Charity Federation (CCF), GVB founded the “Green Angel Project” and cooperated with the China Artists Association to host the “Green Olympics Green Picture Exhibition.”

•  GVB developed an environmental training program for Chunshuyuan community and also gave a detailed introduction on Green Communities to members of the International Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission when they visited the site on February 21, 2001.

•  GVB cooperated with the Chinese Consumer Association to initiate the Green Consumption Volunteers Campaign nationwide.

•  In August 2004, GVB organized “Olympic Society-Green Living” campaigns to teach communities, including children, the simple tenets of environmental protection. These campaigns are designed to engage the public in environmental awareness and to encourage participation in community programs to protect and improve the environment.

•  In July 2004, GVB organized the 26℃ Campaign to limit air conditioner use by raising the temperature to 26 degrees Celsius thereby conserving energy and helping to improve the environment in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.

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