Children Can Well Be Another Force for Protecting the Environment
2018/11/5 23:10:00 本站

Author / Lu Lei


On October 30, 2018, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) received one of its most honored friends Professor Fred Dubee, who is now the Senior Advisor at CBCGDF. During the visit, Professor Dubee and the Secretary-General of CBCGDF Dr. Zhou Jinfeng exchanged various viewpoints on how to promote public awareness of environmental protection in China, which is deemed by both to be of fundamental value in further pushing and popularizing the green trend in China.

 

Among the various ideas and proposals, the introduction and promotion of Scout & The Gumboot Kids, which is one of CBC’s most popular children’s series so far, a nominee for numerous awards including a Canadian Screen Award for Best Pre-School Series and the winner of the Golden Sheaf award two years in a row for Best Children’s and Youth Series in Canada and five Leo Awards including Best Pre-School Series, is the most eye-catching.

 

Professor Dubee noted that one of the key obstacles to green development in China is there being a lack of understanding among people as for its importance of safeguarding the environment and the well-being of humanity. “We have to make all the obscure scientific words currently used for environmental protection interpretable to ordinary citizens, and we can definitely do this from children,” said Professor Dubee. Scout & The Gumboot Kids, as a cartoon program targeted toward pre-school aged children (aged 3-6), fits almost perfectly with such an idea because  it was initially designed as a means of using pop culture entertainment to inspire children; that is, to arouse their curiosity about nature and to mindfully engage with the natural world. This can be of far-reaching implications for the environment because eco-friendly children will be more likely to contribute to the greening of the world by becoming equally eco-friendly adults.

 

Dr. Zhou warmly welcomed this proposal and commented on it as being of practicality, based on what CBCGDF has achieved in the past 33 years in the domain of environmental conservation. In fact, CBCGDF’s experience with the project of “China Conservation Area for something at somewhere” (CCAfa) has already proved young volunteers as being highly enthusiastic, reliable and effective in carrying out a series of environmentally-friendly activities. For instance, in 2016, CBCGDF, together with the China Social Assistance Foundation and Let the Migratory Birds Fly Foundation, facilitated the establishment of “CCAfa for Relic Gulls in Tianjin”. Till now, around 80 conservation areas have been established in China, successfully motivating the younger generation to protect biodiversity. They include those in Inner Mongolia, Tangshan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Tiaozini in Jiangsu, Xiong’an New Area, Xinjiang and other beautiful Chinese provinces and autonomous regions.

 

Therefore, with Scout & The Gumboot Kids acting as a catalyst, we may say that the mission of further engaging young children in the global effort of achieving ecological balance and sustainable development seems even more promising and hopeful.


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(Photo: CBCGDF)