Wenling Clean-up Day

Name: Clean-up Day

Mission:

-       Clean up litter

-       Instill a long-term “no-littering” mentality in Wenling participants and citizens as part of an appreciation for their urban environment.

-      Empower Wenling participants to change their circumstances and to not litter.

By the Numbers:

1 day

1 slogan, “Save Environment, Save Life”

48 participants, 42 high-school students

 96 large trash bags filled

3000 flyers with advice on how to be environmentally friendly

200 small flags printed with slogan

4 large poster boards explaining why we should stop littering and its effects on the environment throughout the day.

1 Large banner hung in the city after the event with slogan

2 Newspapers

1 T.V. Network

1.16 million people- Wenling’s population, who potentially were affected by the publicized event.

Summary:

40 students from Wenling Middle School, Zhejian Province of China, 7 other participants, and I helped clean up Wenling’s trash and raise awareness in the city of the problem of littering.

Clean-up Day’s message-- “Save Environment, Save Life”--was able to reach people from different age groups and backgrounds because it was held in a public-friendly place. My team and I, with the program coordinators from Wenling Middle School, chose to hold the event in and around a large, central, recognized building in the city known as the “Wenling Shopping Mall.” The event’s location contributed heavily to its success.

To open the event, I gave a keynote presentation about how China and the United States differ in levels of environmental awareness to the 40 participating students, because I wanted to clarify that the main purpose of the event was to raise awareness of bad habits, urge locals to rectify their bad habits, and clean up the Wenling environment. The thoughtful questions and comments I received from students afterwards suggested that the keynote presentation successfully helped them see the meaning behind the event.

During the day, each of 48 participants (including participating students and my team) each collected enough trash to fill at least two large trash bags. We handed out nearly 3000 flyers printed with advice on how to be environmentally friendly to locals and more than 200 small flags printed with our event slogan to locals’ children. In addition, a large banner with the event’s slogan and message, “Save Environment, Save Life,” was hung over one of the main entrances to the building. Four large poster boards with information about the purpose of the event and its importance were also posted in visible, public friendly places throughout the day.

 The event was given substantial publicity. Two newspapers, one local and one provincial, as well as the Wenling T.V. network covered the event. The Wenling T.V. channel and local Wenling newspaper aired my Clean-up Day story on July 29, 2013, which means that Clean-up Day’s message was spread to the entire population of Wenling, which is 1.16 million. The provincial newspaper, Zhejiang Voice of Overseas Chinese, was printed in Wenling as well as in other bordering, large cities on Aug. 15th. The event was so successful that the partner coordinator of the event, Mr. ZhiYun Jiang from Wenling Middle School, voiced his intention to continue the partnership program in 2014.

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