China's 'Green Goddess'

Liao Xiaoyi

Born:1954

Place: Chongqing

Job Title: Environmentalist

Founder,Global Village of Beijing

Role Models:Rachel Carson and Suonan Daji

China's most famous woman environmentalist, Liao Xiaoyi, obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from Zhongshan University, Guangdong Province, in 1986. She began researching environmental issues in 1990, and went to the United States in 1993 as a visiting scholar at the North Carolina State University. There she produced a TV documentary called The Daughters of Earth.

Her Global Village of Beijing organization was founded in 1996. Since then, Liao has produced more than 100 TV programs on Chinese environmental issues and published numerous articles on the subject. Nationwide she has so far delivered more than 100 major addresses to concerned groups, and bodies lacking in environmental knowledge.

Two years ago Liao was awarded the coveted Sophie Environmental Protection Fund Award in Oslo, Norway. She used the US$100,000 award to establish a "reward fund" for individuals who make an outstanding contribution to environmental protection in China. Recent years have seen her equally busy on other levels, notably the creation of the Global Village group "for the earth", which she had long sworn to establish.

Liao was also closely involved as environmental consultant to Beijing's Olympics Bid Committee, BOBICO. "As such I was happy at the chance of communicating directly with government officials, including Mayor Liu Qi [also BOBICO president] at his office. With government support, we set up a Green Olympics Joint Committee with the bid committee, so I was better able to continue with my projects such as garbage classification and establishing green communities."

Meanwhile her commitment to environmental protection in China seems to know no bounds. She seems to be constantly involved in every issue that presents itself, large or small. And her message to everyone remains unwavering: protect the environment or pay a heavy ultimate price.

At Chinese New Year she repeated the words of a song she had earlier composed: "With the ringing of the New Year bells, let's all make a green promise to strive for a healthy planet, an evergreen Olympics in 2008, blue skies and clear rivers." The words were in fact originally a self-promise which were to trigger an overwhelming response among Beijing's 830,000 primary schoolchildren. Liao and her Global Village staff sent environmental-protection literature to every primary school in the city. All pupils were invited to give her a serious promise to live the "green" life she so fervently advocated.

Her village's mission is to help China achieve sustainable development by increasing public awareness and enhancing people's participation--in simple terms, doing their bit. It could be said that an individual's contribution to the city clean-up starts at his or her own dustbin.

And as Liao is also fond of reminding anyone who will listen: "Twenty-two percent of the world's population lives in China. As the country prospers through an unprecedented rate of economic growth, the choices China makes over environmental resource management will define the future for all humankind."