Emerging communities China trip - July 2017

Transcription

1 CERES Global Emerging communities China trip - July 2017 We re off on an incredible journey, exploring new communities in China emerging from social and environmental adversity, looking toward a fascinating future.

2 The information in this booklet is aimed to prepare you as much as possible for the trip. Please read it carefully. However, please try to nurture a sense of openness and flexibility as plans can change at the last minute and life on the road very much flows on from moment to moment. 2

3 WHO YOU WILL BE TRAVELLING WITH CERES CERES Community Environment Park is located on 4.5 hectares of land on the banks of the Merri Creek in Brunswick East, Melbourne and is a place where people come together to share ideas about living well together, and directly participate in meeting their social and material needs in a sustainable way. Since CERES was established in 1982, the efforts of our community have transformed the site. Once an old dump and desolate wasteland, today CERES is a place of nature and beauty, inhabited by a vibrant and diverse community. We attract around 400,000 visits each year through our on-site education and training programs, our retail plant Nursery, the Organic Market & Grocery and our cafe. We also partner with a wide variety of organisations to bring about mutually beneficial outcomes, and reaches across the planet with CERES Global. CERES Global CERES Global is a project within CERES aiming to engage with the issue of global inequities and the well-being of all people on the planet and the environments in which they live. It has a special focus on working with communities to find solutions to environmental and climate change challenges. It also works to improve economic and social sustainability within these communities. As part of this, we invite you to join us on cross-cultural, socio-environmental exchanges. These are unique participatory educational and skill sharing travel programs. For more information visit HOW THIS TRIP CAME ABOUT CERES Global has for over 10 years been building important relationships with communities globally. As we continue to foster those relationships and understand how best we can work alongside communities to tackle environmental and social challenges, we ve found that interest from University groups in leveraging our network of friendships has proven to be a great match, impacting students who apply their learnings on trips, as well as the communities we visit. In 2015 Ben Habib from LaTrobe University and Ben Walta CERES Global Coordinator designed and delivered the Environment and Sustainability China study tour, visiting sustainability, urban food security, university, pollution watchdogs, and environmental organisations (among others) in Shanghai and Beijing. In 2016 CERES and LaTrobe again ran a China study tour, visiting new and existing partners in Beijing, and in the West of China in Chengdu and Chongqing. In 2017 the credit bearing LaTrobe study tour will focus on South Korea, however Ben Habib & Tim Andrews from LaTrobe University alongside CERES Global will continue to build our friendship and rapport with our Chinese partners, through this Emerging Communities in China 11-day journey. We welcome you to join us on what will be an incredible journey. Those participants seeking tertiary accreditation for participation in this 2017 China trip are encouraged to discuss their course structure with Ben Habib to seek advice on possibilities. 3

4 FACILITATORS Ben Walta - CERES Global Area manager: Ben has facilitated over 40 trips internationally and at home in Australia and brings with him a gentle and contagious warmth and laid back nature. As well as being a 5-star facilitator Ben is also an incredible networker and manages to pull connections and great conversations together wherever he goes. He is passionate about experiencing and being with the world in new ways, getting our wings out, gaining global perspectives on sustainability and the environment, sharing journeys and connecting with our own human stories. Ben Habib Is actually a guru who takes many forms, at once a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at La Trobe University, and concurrently a mentor, confidant, celebrity, advocate, advisor, a tree, and a creator of social movements. Ben s experience in Asia ranges from high level government and institutional partnership building, deep political insight in to economic and power relations, understanding of environmental challenges facing the region and the importance of emerging communities, and first-hand experience of the efficiencies of modern China in meeting extreme challenges (ask Ben about his Chongqing hospital experience). 4

5 A NOTE BEFORE TRAVELLING WITH CERES GLOBAL Our trips are not tours but rather journeys of exploration and learning that we share together. They are very real, lived experiences, where the people who travel with us immerse themselves in the culture and places we visit in a meaningful and mutually respectful way. Equally, our facilitators are not tour guides but facilitators or enablers, who work with the group as a whole to achieve insight and understanding of the communities we visit. The facilitator s role is to engage discussion within the group and with community members we are visiting to allow the sharing of ideas on social and environmental issues. The people and places we visit are not tourist destinations or third party providers but rather real friends who we approach as true partner organisations. All of these partner do exceptional work in the areas of sustainability, the environment, community development, social equity and education. We celebrate each other s work through mutually beneficial exchange and two-way learning. You guys are participants on this journey rather than volunteers, and we re out in the world primarily to listen and learn, to build friendship and rapport and when the relationship exists, we share our own stories and insights from our Western lens. On occasion, discussions develop in to collaborative projects to meet social and/or environmental challenges. It is expected that you will show some initiative and make a contribution to the journey, through sharing of your own knowledge and experience, and working within the group to ensure a cohesive and insightful experience is shared by all. But most of all, enjoy this trip and embrace it. 5

6 Destination China Quick facts on China Officially known as the People's Republic of China. Has the largest population in the world, with over 1.3 billion people (1,343,239,923) as of July Is the 3rd largest country by area at 9,706,961 sq km. Belongs to the continent of Asia. Bordering countries include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Vietnam percent of Chinese people are Han. The non-han population includes 55 ethnic minorities, of which the major groups are the Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao, Uygur, Yi, Tujia, Mongolian, and Tibetan. Fun and Bizarre Facts on China 100 million people in China live on less than US$1 per day. At the same time there are 190 billionaires and more than two million millionaires. The sunrise in parts of China can be as late as 10am, because the country joined its five time zones into a single one. Table tennis is China s national sport. It is mandatory that cosmetics are tested on animals whilst in Europe it is prohibited In China you can major in bra studies A new sky scraper is built every 5 days China used more cement in 3 years ( ) than the U.S used in the entire 20th century. Half of the world s pigs live in China Rich people hire body doubles to serve their prison sentence China overtook the US as the world s largest economy in 2014 It s illegal to use a wordplay or pun in advertising or on television The first recorded use of Marijuana was in China over 4700 years ago 20 million 20-year old trees are cut down every year to make chopsticks Air pollution in China increases snowfall in California Just 7% of people in China are religious making it the least religious country in the world. Still, more people go to church on Sunday in China than in the whole of Europe. Brad Pitt was banned from the country for his role in the movie 7 years in Tibet. There is an Elderly Rights law which makes it illegal for anyone who has parents over 60 not to visit them regularly Facebook, Twitter and The New York Times have been blocked since 2009 The word censorship is censored in china Chinese students can get 7 years in jail for cheating on exams The most comprehensive pure linguistic Chinese-language dictionary records more than 23,000 head Chinese characters and gives over 370,000 definitions Three surnames, Wang, Li and Zhang, make up for 21% of the Chinese population. 6

7 What this trip is about "China is vast. Off-the-scale massive. A riveting jumble of wildly differing dialects and climatic and topographical extremes, it's like several different countries rolled into one." CERES Global has been travelling to China for 4 years now, taking groups of interested people on socioenvironmental cross cultural journeys focused on mutual learning and exchange. The emphasis of this trip is to look at the environmental and human aspects of a country undergoing rapid progress and unconditional change. We re particularly interested in new communities emerging from environmental and social adversity and opportunity, as well as resilient traditional minority communities surviving in today s Chinese society. As well as our organised engagements there will be plenty of time to hit the streets, explore the night life, marvel at the history and culture and delve into the famed cuisine. In-Country Community Partners and visits Shanghai 3 days The Trip will start in Shanghai a city with over 24 million inhabitants, rich in history, architectural landmarks, glamour, and promise of the mystique. JUCCCE Urban communities: JUCCCE are a fantastic organisation, connecting passionate people in the field of environment and sustainability and asking the question, where is the human in China s development. The JUCCCE key program is currently teaching young kids how to eat in a way that is good for them and good for the planet, and dreaming for a sustainable future. JUCCCE are calling in talent to change the way China eats through play education. This is an emerging community that we re really interested to learn more about. Shanghai Tower: The world s tallest building (2015), the Shanghai Tower is designed to meet all the needs of a community, so if one wishes one need not leave at all. Complete with filtered air, parks, schools, shopping centres and business levels; the 129 level Shanghai Tower is a world unto itself. We ll start by viewing the Tower from neighbouring Jin Mao tower before exploring within. 7

8 Shokay Fashion from the Roof of the World: Shokay is the world s first socially responsible premium yak down brand. Shokay are committed to benefitting the communities that produce yak down, conscientiously selecting the right partners, creating timeless products, and using the best business principles. Funded by Harvard graduates Carol Chao and Marie So through Ventures in Development, Business is being pushed to find social solutions through Social Enterprise, supporting minority groups for cultural preservation and sustainable livelihoods. Hangzhou Permaculture: 2 days We travel by train from Shanghai to Hangzhou a charismatic city surrounded by misty hills. In 2015 we visited a very special community establishing itself in a mountainous area just outside of Hangzhou. The community focused its ideals and beliefs for a better future on Permaculture principles, and alternative, sustainable living. It is very unusual and to an extent risky to establish quite obviously alternative communities such as these in China. In discussion with the group it was clear that community to community support was really important, for people of different worlds to work together towards a shared vision for the future, and to provide support where we can. We didn t make it back to Hangzhou in 2016, which means we are really excited about visiting this very special community again this year. 3 Gorges Displaced communities: 3 days In 2015 the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in China was completed displacing 1.13 million people. To assist, the Chinese government used policy and incentives to stimulate the local economy. Whether the resettlers benefited from such initiatives is not yet understood. Here we will visit resettlement towns, and significant cultural sites to explore the social, cultural and environmental impacts and how communities emerge out of adversity. We also hope to catch a boat up the river to visit the hanging coffins the mysterious traditional local practice where coffins are hung from cliffs alongside the river. 8

9 Yunnan 3 days Yunnan is a province in far south-western China and stunningly diverse in both scenery and culture. It is home to the largest number of ethnic minorities inhabiting a landscape made up of snow-capped mountains, rice terraces, lakes and deep gorges. We will be partnering with The Nature Conservancy to explore environmental protection initiatives and CERS China looking at Social Enterprise and cohesive communities with Tibetan minorities, as well as various waste & sustainability initiatives throughout the region. We ll also have a complete itinerary of dates and times of accommodation, travel, and engagements in late May once all partners and carriers confirm meetings. 9

10 RECOMMENDED FLIGHTS: At this stage if you re locked in and ready to go, you re ready to book flights. You ll find here recommended flights for those people who are keen to travel in a group, however you re free to arrive earlier than the recommended flight by a few hours or a few days if you prefer and meet us at the first Hotel we stay in. You won t have the Hotel meetup location until May, but don t worry, you can still book your flights. THE RECOMMENDED ARRIVAL FLIGHT IN TO SHANGHAI IS: QANTAS/CHINA EASTERN MU738, in to Shanghai Pudong Airport (not Shanghai International Airport): 9 th July 2017: MU738, departs Mel 11:00, arrives PVG 20:00; THERE RECOMMENDED DEPARTURE FLIGHT IS: CHINA EASTERN MU th July 2017: MU5077, departs KMG 16:10, arrives Mel 09:30(+1). WHAT TO BRING: Please take essentials only. A refillable water bottle is a good idea, hand sanitizer, appropriate medications, and so on. We can chat more about exactly what to bring at the pre departure briefing. Soft bags are better for packing & carrying than hard bags/cases. Remember that you will be the one carrying your luggage, sometimes for quite a while at a time, so make sure it s manageable. FOOD AND DIETARY REQUIREMENTS: Chinese food in China is amazing, meals are well balanced, nutritious and delicious. However, it can be challenging for vegetarians and those with a less adventurous pallet. Within our group we usually have 20-30% vego, and we re keen to keep our meat consumption reasonable for sustainability reasons. That said, there ll be plenty of opportunity for the carnivores to take part in China s favourite pastime eating meat. If you have any allergies or any other dietary requirements, do let us know in plenty of time and work with us to ensure we re adequately prepared for any food related challenges. ACCOMMODATION: Accommodation in China is basic but nice. We re not going 5-star on this trip and we re keen to keep it real with the locals, however we re able to afford the comforts of China given the miracle of birth and the lottery of economic disparity so we re not roughing it too much, don t worry. 10

11 FACILITIES: We ll make sure we have access to toilets throughout the journey, and we will likely be able to have a shower every day. It s common to talk amongst ourselves about our digestive systems and our response to a change in diet. We should have intermittent access to internet however the great firewall of China is annoying and we can only guarantee sporadic access and no Facebook at all, so bring a book. INSURANCE We recommend that you get travelers insurance and/or ambulance insurance. The latter will cover you in case of an emergency evacuation. This one is great for a gender disparity consideration: and if anyone can find a good sustainability/eco/environmentally/ethical friendly travel insurer, let us know we ve been looking for ages. TRAVELLING IN A GROUP We expect to have between 10 and 20 people travelling with us on this journey. Because of this it is important we are mindful of everyone else s needs as well as our own. This trip relies on us working together as a group. Things run smoothly when everyone contributes and helps out. You will also need to be mindful of your own resilience dealing with discomfort (especially on the drive between communities) and a lack of personal space. It is important to be aware of your own needs and develop personal strategies in dealing with this. MONEY Your contribution covers internal transport, meals, accommodation, the purchase of carbon credits to offset airline travel, facilitator support, administration and project running costs. This price does not include flights to and from China, visas, travel insurance and items of a personal nature such as laundry, beverages etc. There may be one or two meals during free time that you have to pay for yourself. If you would like, you also have the option to upgrade to a single room, additional costs apply. Currency: Renminbi (RMB)/yuan 11

12 RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL FRAMEWORK Can we as travellers leave a positive mark on the places we go? All CERES Global visits and engagements are designed to educate and engage participants on global cultural and environmental issues by learning about the challenges that our host countries face and visiting local projects that empower local people to create culturally relevant and sustainable change in their communities. We aim to support genuine friendship building between participants and the host communities including ongoing contact, support and sharing that results in capacity building for the local community and a mutual exchange of world changing ideas that are sensitive to local issues. Practices: Everyone has a role to play in fostering good tourism. Governments, business and communities are all important, but as a guest you can make choices for change in the right direction. We can influence things such as the products and services we select, making decisions based on knowledge gained from local information and multiple visits and the way we choose to interact as a group with the environment and people around us. But there are some things we cannot influence, as sustainable products and services may not be available and participants that come on trips are also responsible for their own behaviours and consumption habits. Sustainability code of conduct: CERES Global responsibilities Economic empowerment: Empowerment of local communities through tourism to help improve education, health services, water supplies and sanitation whilst also reducing dependence on nonsustainable livelihoods such as deforestation. Ecological impact: Providing opportunities for participants, where possible, to reduce their ecological impact. Carbon offsetting participant flights: CERES Global trips are Carbon Offset, through Pitchandikulam Forest and WithOneSeed Transport: Booking, where possible, more sustainable forms of transport Local transport: Using local public transport wherever we can to reduce fuel usage per passenger. Local services: Engage locally-owned and operated services thereby supporting local people and avoiding long and carbon-intensive supply chains. Purchasing: Where possible consider the life cycle of the product and their impact in the local context. Endeavour to reduce the embodied energy (energy consumed through production and transport) of the food and goods purchased by our passengers. Food: Where possible eat at locally owned eateries where the food has been locally sourced, therefore reducing food mile emissions and supporting local economies. Providing only vegetarian meals in most locations. Water Conservation: Support initiatives that encourage conservative use of water. Educate participants on local water uses and issues (many of the places we visit have limited access to and supply of water) Water bottles: Access to safe and sustainable sources of drinking water is our first priority. Where possible we provide bulk water to refill water bottles or filtering options. We encourage our participants to avoid unnecessary purchasing of bottled water and the subsequent waste disposal. The production of a 1 litre plastic bottle takes 2 litres of water and 200ml of oil. Therefore for every 1 litre of water sold, 3 litres of water is used. Local employment: We use local leaders and guides so that we learn about the culture and way of life directly from those who live it and put money into local hands and economies. In particular, we learn from indigenous rural communities about their relationship to the land and their sustainable practices. Recycling: Provide travellers with awareness on how they can practice principles of reduce, reuse, recycle and appropriate waste disposal at their destination. Many of the countries we visit don t have waste disposal infrastructure set in place that deals with waist in a healthy or environmentally sound way. 12

13 Learning: Foster a culture of learning within the group from locals, traditional elders and ancient knowledge. Participant Responsibilities Travel and tourism is best planned and experienced as a means of collective fulfilment. When undertaken with an open mind, it is a fundamental component of self-education, mutual exchange, understanding and learning about the diversity between people and cultures. Travelling with an open mind to other cultures and traditions will transform your experience. Try to minimise purchasing bottled drinks Be aware of the products you take with you including soaps, shampoo and conditioners, insect repellents, clothes washing products etc, and choose natural biodegradable products wherever possible. Be wary about toilet paper use and girls think about disposal of sanitary products Be water wise! Think about the type and amount of transport you use each day when are you responsible for these things. Much can be seen from walking! Think about the products you dispose of and where they go in the country you are in. Many countries we visit don t have waste disposal infrastructure set in place that deals with waist in a healthy or environmentally sound way. Try to learn as much as you can about the community you will be visiting so that you are aware of cultural norms and different ways of behaving. Learn some language. Even a very small amount of local language can go a long way and demonstrates respect and an active interest in the country you visit. We re really happy to be taking this amazing journey with you. Keep in touch during your pre-departure preparation and ask any questions as they come up. THIS WILL BE SUCH A GREAT ADVENTURE! 13