Principals on front line of climate change education

School heads from remote regions show passion for environmental protection in mock UN talks

Many school principals in China's poorest and mountainous regions have never taken a flight, and in some cases have never even traveled out of their provinces. So it was truly impressive to see the passion and eagerness that some of China's least-privileged teachers from underdeveloped regions in eight provinces, such as Qinghai, Sichuan and Guizhou, displayed in a day of mock United Nations negotiations on climate change efforts in Beijing recently.

Every summer for the past six years, a group of fellowship winners from such regions have attended a one-week, eye-opening training course in Beijing, with the support of devoted volunteers, as well as financial and logistical help from businesses and academic institutions.

The curriculum includes team-building exercises, learning about the education systems in Europe and the United States, visiting the World Bank offices in Beijing, and training on how to provide care to the children of migrant workers who are left behind in villages. On average, more than half of the parents in rural areas earn their daily bread by working outside their villages.

This year's attendees, most of whom took a flight for the first time in their lives to get to the capital, expressed their deep appreciation for this rare opportunity. I had the good fortune to become involved in these efforts in previous years, and I would like to extend the same profound appreciation toward them. The determination, sacrifices, pureness of spirit and hard work of people such as these have helped turn the dreams of people like me into reality.

For years, children have walked out of the mountains and lived a better life thanks to their devotion and the devotion of people like them. I was one of those children.

Recently the visiting principals - including one who has worked in a remote mountain village for more than 30 years and three others who teach in villages 4,000 meters above sea level - participated in a day of mock UN climate change talks, imitating the next round of the international community's talks on efforts to mitigate global warming that are expected to take place at upcoming talks in Paris in December.

Before the discussions, we gave the attendees information about the positions of various countries and explained the process of such international talks. Then we asked them to represent various positions such as those of the United States, the European Union, China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa, as well as small, island countries.

They quickly got into their roles and were soon busy holding meetings on the "sidelines" and lobbying to gain more support.

Their passion was evident; these principals know firsthand how the rivers in their areas are polluted and how the soil is contaminated. Most importantly, they know extreme weather is a threat to villagers.

One school principal, who was representing China, concluded his speech by saying: "We should ask the developed economies to shoulder their due historic responsibilities on carbon emissions, but, equally important, we should take more radical efforts to reduce our own carbon emissions and set a positive example for the rest of the world."

It is encouraging to see the awareness of the issues involved shown by these principals, and it gives some hope for the future. With such awareness and vision echoed at the grassroots level worldwide, the ripples of awareness they create, embodied in each of the children they teach, can have a profound effect.

This process, I believe, will be just as important as the UN talks in the long run, perhaps even more so.

The author is China Daily chief correspondent in Brussels. Contact the writer at fujing@chinadaily.com.cn