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Green and keen

By Erik Nilsson (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-30 08:55

American Anna Zimmermann powers compact fluorescent light bulbs by pedaling a bicycle during an event held by Global Village of Beijing on Earth Day.

Zwisler says Goodall asked her to help cultivate Roots & Shoots programs around Shanghai. When she started in 1999, three local schools were involved in the program. Today, there are more than 170 programs. Members participate in a variety of projects that range from making their schools environmentally friendlier to planting trees in Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Zwisler says the 2006 Inner Mongolia reforestation project was made a "great experience" by support and camaraderie.

"We have taken a unique approach, working with the local farmers, nursery seedling suppliers and school children to form a team that will not only plant the trees but also monitor their survival, their growth and their value, and build a program that will last for the next 45 years."

The organization pledged to plant one million trees in the desert encroaching on Hure Banner in southeastern Inner Mongolia and expects to meet that goal by 2016, she says.

"Our tree planting program is a great example of how unique China is: We can plant trees and change the desert from a brown, sandy wasteland to a green, crop-sustaining forest and at the same time improve the economy of a whole village - all through the organized support of people throughout China who care enough to buy trees," Zwisler says.

One of the most rewarding things about her work in the country is helping Chinese youth discover their own abilities to change the world, she says.

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