IT TAKES A RESPECTFUL PARTNERSHIP. HOW SMALL GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.
Zhang Chengui was the first to adopt alternative energy in Yunnan Province's Meiquan Village http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/07/03/china.alternative.energy/
Zhang is the leader of the Meiquan village. From his example, hundreds of households in 420 villages are adopting renewable energy, reducing dependence on wood stoves, decreasing deforestation and lowering indoor air pollution. With loans from the bank and grants from the Nature Conversancy, Zhang is leading hundred of households in his region to a brighter, sustainable energy future. We often only think of China as "the big polluter", but some wonderful things are occurring there.
I have been following China for years. Like many emerging nations they have been struggling to find a happy medium between maintaining their cultural roots and, at the same time, integrate the thrust and lure of modern western world. A difficult task. China's rapid growth shows them surging forth, then pulling back, reappraising, then surging forth and the cycle repeats itself. A lot of experimentation has to go on, as they find their own identity within the greater global community. But they are fast learners and can course correct quickly, in part due to their country's political structure. They can make decisions and enact them quickly.
Like when they banned plastic bags last year and set an example for the rest of the world: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/china-plastic-bags-47010907 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/22/china-plastic-bags-ban-success
Later on, I will blog about some of the great innovative things happening in China. I think we all hear about the bad stuff in China too often (I know I write about it a lot, only because we need to wake up and not go back to sleep again.) Watching nations move through their conflicts between maintaining their cultural respect and dignity while assimulating western ideals brings great compassion to my heart. Which ones to take in or keep and which ones to dismiss. A trial and error approach that can be confusing, and painful at times. Change on the magnitude we are seeing on the planet is never easy. This time it is collective. It involves all of us. The microcosm and the macrocosm – we are doing the same as individuals in our personal lives. Individuals make up a community and we are all this transition together in one form or another.
When we pull together and share our knowledge wonders can happen. Unfortunately we in the west too often want to "impose" our way as the "right" way without consideration for other cultural attitudes and belief systems. I think when we "offer" solutions and allow the local indigenous populations to formulate their own structural and developed lifestyles pertinent to their region and societal roots it becomes a true partnership. This is one of those examples.
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