Expanding Environmental Education in Rural, Minority China: Case Study in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province

Since an early age, I have been inspired to promote environmental protection. Why? My motivation is in my awareness the dynamic suffering caused by pollution and degradation from human activity. Though our individual roles in this suffering may be indirect, unconscious, and unintentional, it is horrifically impactful. Individual creatures lose access to water, food and shelter, while pollution also encroaches on their health. Starvation, inter- and intra-species conflict, and sometimes suffocation or disease (many rivers and lakes have gone so far as to be fish-less due to eutrification and heavy metal or other pollution) harms many individuals. Beyond that, entire species and ecosystems are affected. Similarly, human-human conflict over desired, scarce, and exploited resources is a cause of war and other acts of violence and greed. I would like to work toward lessening the suffering. That is my motivation behind this work. My niche in the puzzle toward this goal is Environmental Education, and I welcome anyone to contact me to use the bilingual curriculum I developed following this research.