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Topics / Global Change Science And Policy / China and the Environment: The Impact of NGOs, Culture and Growth
 

China and the Environment: The Impact of NGOs, Culture and Growth

Bowers Auditorium, Sage Hall
205 Prospect St., New Haven

Xiaoyi (Sheri) Liao, the Chinese environmental ambassador to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Committee and one of China’s best-known environmental activists and journalists, founded and is president of the Global Village of Bejing, a nonprofit and nongovernmental organization dedicated to environmental education and community service. For her efforts, she received the 2001 International Banksia Award from the Banksia Environmental Foundation in Australia. The award acknowledges individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to improving the global environment.

Liao founded the Global Village of Beijing in 1996 with her own personal savings, and has focused her efforts on raising environmental awareness and building support for sustainable development in China. Her organization produces a weekly television series, “Time for Environment,” which is broadcast nationwide in China; conducts training and networking for journalists; and organizes annual Earth Day events.

In 2000, she received the Sophie Prize, an international environment and development prize established in 1997 by Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder. Other recipients of the prize include Nobel Peace Prize-winner Wangari Maathai.

Liao holds a master’s degree in philosophy from Zhongshan University, and is a former researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.