Climate Squad intern, Anna Lewis, asks Sinba about his visit to the UK, and how climate change education is progressing in both countries.

How did you get involved in the British Council?

In 2001, I was the Chairman of my University's Students Union and got involved in a local TV show. During the show I approached the British Consul General and invited her to speak about British culture at the Golden Autumn Arts Festival. The event was a big success, she even took me out for dinner afterwards!

The following year I was a part of the Think UK campaign - to try and give a more modern perception of the UK. After graduating, I heard of a job opportunity at the British Council. I applied and am now the Climate Change and Science Manager in the Chongqing office.

What’s the strangest thing you have seen so far in your trip to the UK?

I've been in the UK for nearly a week, job sharing at Global Action Plan. I attended a primary school workshop and found the class management very interesting. In China methods are very teacher centred whereas here in the UK there is more interaction and class involvement. Children have more conversation and are encouraged to find answers for themselves.

I also found the pub strange! I wanted to experience something traditional so the schools team took me to a British pub. In China, if people arrive and there aren’t any seats they leave, but in the pub everyone was happy to stand and chat.

What are the differences in the way the British Council China and the Chinese government deal with climate change?

The Chinese government tend to use terms like ‘energy efficiency’ and ‘emission reduction’ rather than climate change. The government offices also focus on businesses and give individual percentage CO2 reduction targets, which have to be reached each year. The central government then gives a target for the country.

The government is weak on tackling climate change within communities and the general public, a lot of work done is for propaganda rather than concrete change. However, as a diplomatic organisation, the British Council work with the Chinese government in every way and with many organisations such as the Local Education Commission on schools.

A lot of work is done around the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle scheme. The government also has the Green Schools initiative, which is a framework they provide with policies, content, teaching resources and activities. We help by running workshops with the influencers such as teachers, who then go back and design a proposal for their ‘Greener Schools’ project. We also train grassroots NGOs who then go into universities to train students.

What was the main thing you wanted to see or do on your trip?

Global Action Plan and British Council China have been working together for nearly 4 years and a lot of workshops have been delivered by Global Action Plan. Feedback has always been good so I wanted to observe them and see how they are organised as they are quite different to those in China.

Global Action Plan also design and deliver workshops and are more like consultants whereas in China, the British Council project manage. So I want to look at what we can take from the UK to make our workshops better. We want to add as many UK elements and formats as we can and establish lots of links.

We hear that the British council have been awarded the most fashionable blog in China? How do you use micro blog (Chinese twitter)?

We have a corporate account on microblog, we include everything that we [British Council] do in all projects. We have a marketing and communications team who collect information from all of our projects such as exams, education and media, and post it on the microblog. People can text in to the office with information so news travels fast. We also include information on what the UK is doing around education and climate change issues so it is prompt and authentic.

Do you think young people are motivated to act on climate change and what do you think the leading solution to tackling climate change will be?

In 2008 a survey was done on people’s concept of climate change. Results showed that a high percentage of the Chinese public are aware of the issues and there is no doubt climate change is happening. However many don’t know what actions to take or what daily behaviours they should change to tackle climate change. Therefore, most climate change projects in China try to change people’s behaviours.

I think education to young people will be the key as they are the future generation. I think we need a cultural solution to show that climate change is not just about science and politics but also about economic and cultural changes. We need to examine dialogues, cultural exchanges and put aside politics so we can speak at the level of the people about climate change.

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