Release Date : 2019-02-20
The 2019 Future Green Leadership Winter Training Camp hosted by the International Fund for China’s Environment (IFCE) successfully closed in San Francisco on Feb.17. The camp lasts from Feb.8 to Feb. 17. Participating students have various backgrounds coming from different universities including Tsinghua University, Renmin University, and Beijing Institute of Technology. Students spent 10 days in Washington DC and San Francisco. Their activities include leadership courses, international organizations visit, in-depth exchange with experts and well-known school campus tour.
Camp Students' Group Photo before the Capital Hill
"The training camp can be concluded in three words—innovative, harmonious and fruitful. The course content inspires creative thoughts and all the lecturers and students are full of enthusiasm. I have learned a lot from this experience and I hope more students interested in environmental policy field or leadership and innovation could give this camp a shot.”
– by Zijie Wang, Tsinghua University
On the first day, students visited some famous sites in DC—the US Capitol, the White House and the Lincoln Memorial. A welcome party was held for them later that night. On the following days, students attended lectures about leadership, time management and organization management given by Dr. Zongming Li, Dr. Michael Maccoby and Dr. Ping He respectively. Students later put in the survey that they benefited a lot from these experts’ life experience combined with theoretical knowledge. The most impressive event students feel about the whole training camp is the interactive lecture given by Mr. Robert Dixon. Mr. Robert Dixon is a consultant in Department of Energy (DOE) and has served for 5 presidents. He told the students that the key to become a leader in a certain field is the courage to explore the unknown and the persistence of keeping learning.
Professor Michael Maccoby was discussing Leadership with students
Mr. Robert Dixon from DOE was delivering the lecture
In D.C., students also visited Earth Day Network (EDN), World Bank and George Washington University (GWU). During the EDN, Tracy Ritchie, the head of the education department welcomed the camp students and helped them understand the development history of American environmental protection. At World Bank, climate change program expert Mr. Zhihong Zhang and IFC experts Zhengfang Shi introduced American technology, laws, finance and public health to students in a general way and helped them form a better worldwide view. In GWU, Professor Joe Cascio and Professor Jonathan P. Deason gave students a lecture on quantitative risk assessment in environmental issues. On the last day in DC, students attended a 2019 Chinese New Year Reception hosted by IFCE and had a good communication with distinguished guests.
Earth Day Network Discussion Session
After DC tour, students came all the way west to UC-Berkeley campus. Professor Ashok Gadgil, from Berkeley School of Urban and Environmental Engineering, also the former Director of the Environmental Science Division of the Berkeley Institute, held a session to answer students’ questions on environmental field. Students also visited the Branch of the Plastic Pollution Coalition in Berkeley to communicate with local director Sandra Curtis and went to the Stanford Auditorium to attend the China-US Relations Exchange Conference. On the Conference, the parties exchanged views on the future China-US policy recommendations based on current situations.
On the second day in San Francisco, students took a visit to the famous Stanford University. Wearing Special work uniforms, students visited the Stanford Recycling Center. There, students were impressed with the efforts that Stanford University had put in waste separation and recycling. The Recycling Director Ms. Julie Muir also brought students a lively education class on waste sorting. On the very afternoon, students visited the Google Headquarter which is not far from Stanford. While in San Francisco, students also toured the famous local spots—Lombard Street and Golden Gate Bridge.
Ms. Julie Muir from Stanford Recycle was talking about University Recycle System
Camp Students was visiting the Google Headquarter
Before students headed back, they conducted a survey on this 10-day training camp. All our participating students showed great satisfaction toward this event by broadening their horizontals and enhancing leadership skills and innovation awareness.
Since IFCE launched its first Green Development Youth Leadership Training Camp in 2015, the background of participants has spread from few universities and certain major to dozens of universities in nationwide and both students & professionals. IFCE is determined to hold continuous training camps like this to provide a new platform for networking, broadening and skills improvement for young people who are interested in leading and promoting green development in China.
