FutureGenerations

Beijing, China - Students from 32 Chinese universities who completed a China-wide "Green Long March" for environmental protection this summer are encouraging China to stay on the path to sustainability post-Olympics.

"The Green Olympics and our Green Long March are both working towards better conservation awareness in China," says 23-year-old Green Long March student leader Wang Yanan. "We want to inspire Chinese youth to become the pioneers of environmental change."

Inspired by the momentum of the Green Olympics, students first started the Green Long March program in 2007 as a means of uniting student environmentalists across the country. The Green Long March runs education programs year-round, culminating in a nation-wide march along 10 routes crossing 26 provinces every summer.

Organized by the Beijing Forestry University and Hong Kong-based NGO FutureGenerations/CHINA, The Green Long March is considered to be China's largest youth conservation awareness movement. It has been called "part of the green legacy of the Beijing Games" by the official International Olympic Committee magazine.

"The Green Long March builds on human energy to create practical and lasting change," says Frances Fremont-Smith, the Executive Director of FutureGenerations/CHINA. "It is developing a national youth corps of conservation leaders committed to advancing environmental protection."

This year, Green Long March volunteers investigated community conservation successes, and surveyed green businesses that have improved their carbon footprint. Key conservation models will be further developed in the upcoming Future Generations "Model Eco-Communities" project, being piloted this year in 40 different rural villages.

"Following in the footprints of the Green Long March volunteers, I believe the concept of ecological protection will be spread far and wide," says Yu Jishun, Secretary General of the Beijing Forestry University Youth League.

The Green Long March would not be possible without contributions from the following forward-thinking and socially responsible companies and foundations: Goldman Sachs, Swire Pacific Limited, Suntech, Yahoo! China, Adrian H.C. Fu, and ZeShan Foundation.

Contact: Joanna Wong, Communications Manager
jwong.glm@gmail.com, 15810708207

Press kit and print-quality images at: http://www.futuregenerations.org.cn/en/