After one August night, the small old village of Xiaoer was never the same. Song, mingled with laughter and applause, echoed through the rainy night air on the banks of the Nanguang River. An evening cultural performance called “Love my Hometown, Protect the Environment” was held in this beautiful village in

Gong County of Sichuan Province. The villagers directed and acted in the show that had ten parts — dances, dramas, songs and comic dialogues — all with messages about hygiene and ecology to urge villagers to stop destroying the environment. The audience just couldn’t believe their eyes and ears: their neighbors performed so expertly on stage. Not only were there repeated sighs of admiration among the 2,000-person audience, but also a lot of laughter: the show mocked the bad conduct of some community members.

The moon had climbed high in the sky by the time the show ended. The audience left orderly, with no piece of waste paper behind. The immediate impact of the activity impressed a student volunteer from Chengdu named Zhou so much that she cried. To her and the other vocational coordinators, it was the greatest reward and recognition they had ever received.

One month ago, Zhou and another college student volunteer named Mou, and a retired teacher named Wang, all started a one-month environmental education project and designed an action plan according to the local situation. They, along with a newly established team of environmental protection volunteers, had to do all the coordination and promotion work in temperatures as high as 38˚C. The three volunteers and the new team worked together to organize a variety of environmental protection activities, such as conducting questionnaires, household visits, promotions, trainings, making notice boards and doing rehearsals. Through implementing these activities, they learned and practiced, and in the process, built up a society-level environmental protection effort. The two parties got along well and had a good team spirit.

The activities and practices offered the opportunity for the participants to explore possible approaches to sustainable rural development, and experiences and lessons were accumulated. Influenced by the traditional concepts of “industrialization, urbanization and modernization”, community members, local government, and enterprises had often neglected problems such as the waste of resources, and environmental pollution. In rural areas where conflict between people and nature is relatively low, the awareness of ecology and environmental protection is weaker, and little effort is paid in environmental education. Thus, to promote environmental education through external intervention, to let people understand and accept the idea of sustainable development, and to increase the awareness of rural villagers on ecological and environmental protection, all have far-reaching effects on sustainable rural development. PCD, Chengdu Urban Rivers Association, Roots & Shoots Environmental Education Projects, Ecologia Sichuan Project, and Green Student Association Network绿色学生组织网jointly proposed training and practice with rural environmental education workers. Conducted at project sites in Gong County, Sichuan, and Pi County, Chengdu, the initiative aims to nurture people to work independently, to develop environmental education activities, and to gain experience in rural environmental education.

Zhou, Mou and Wang became city volunteers of the project after the one-month practice. They and other volunteers, and some villagers from project sites, participated in four intensive trainings. They learned knowledge and practical skills in rural environmental education from a number of experts in rural development and environmental education. During the summer holidays, the volunteers who had participated in the project were divided into two groups and started practicing what they had learned in Gong County and Pi County. The two groups will continue to share their experience with other rural environmental education workers.

written by:
- Zhou Qin, Southwest Petroleum University
- Luo Hong, Zhang Tingben, PCD Chengdu Office