Programme: Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development Summer Camp in Yunnan
Partner Institution: Yunnan University
Period: August 10 – 18, 2019
In this 10-day environmental education camp, I have developed understanding on the environmental progress made in Yunnan China. Through visits to some sustainable units, such as restaurants, schools and local farms, we have witnessed how sustainable concepts and practices are performed in commercial, educational and agricultural sectors.
It is particularly impressive and memorable that students were involved in active discussions on what is the concepts of environmental efforts, as well as idea presentation on how may the local farmers’ farm be improved with our youth minds. Apart from intellectual sharing, we, HK students, had a lot of farming experience for which we had never had before the trip. These experiences brought us reflective moments on how we human enjoy the food, the building materials and everything with the natural resources. To put the relationship between human and these resources more sustainable, there have to be increased environmental awareness from the society and the government. Possible approaches we have come across may be neighborhood-friendly food purchase, organic farming and ecotourism. Local sectors should integrate the different minds and actively make consultation to work on their green plans.
I am very glad to have students from Yunnan University joining us in this trip. They have been local tour guides and group mates with HK students in learning environmental issues. We appreciate the inspiring insights and active participation from them that have made the learning journey to become more fruitful. Honestly, I have never come into close contact with the Mainland students. In this trip, I had chances to know about their studies, perspectives and experiences which are quite interesting.
Concerning the overall arrangement of the program, I feel mostly satisfied with the pace of the tour and the diversity of activities. It would be even better if the theoretical activities (namely talks, sharing) can be shortened and leave more time for the hands-on experiences.