On April 9th, 2006, Global Village of Beijing staff Li Li, Benjamin, and Ikeda Takeshi, along with volunteers from the Green Choice program and from Columbia University's Graduate Students Association, visited the suburban Friends of Dandelion School to launch a campus beautification and environmental education campaign.

With the vigorous help of the students, Global Village of Beijing staff, volunteers from the Green Choice program, and teachers from the school planted trees, while volunteers from Columbia University's Graduate Students Association painted the school's walls.? Everybody involved worked together on the environmental education, paper making, and environmental recreation activities.

During the environmental education class, Global Village of Beijing staff Li Li gave the students a vivid explanation of the relationship between water, energy, and garbage, encouraging the students to have discussions on this theme. In the paper-making experiment, the students actively participated in the work of recycling waste paper.? Through this experiment, as well as through an informal quiz about paper and plastic bags, the students learned about the importance of using recycled paper bags and the significance of reducing consumption of these items. These activities helped increase the students' environmental consciousness, allowing them to cherish more deeply our natural resources. During the quiz-game, the students raised their hands in excitement to answer the questions, manifesting their astoundingly high levels of environmental consciousness and environmental knowledge. At the same time, this reflects the positive results of China's environmental education programs.

After the activities, the Friends of Dandelion School gave commemorative badges specially made for this event to all of the participants.

Author: Ikeda Takeshi
Translator: Heather Fair
Published date: April 12th, 2006