In the year leading up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Beijing Forestry University and international NGO Future Generations teamed up to organize the first “Green Long March” for Chinese students. The goal: empowering young people to become advocates for the environment.
Leading up to the event, 2,000 college students from across the nation mobilized to make a powerful statement. Forming 10 survey teams, they traveled by train, car and foot, to see China’s environmental challenges up close and to spread their passion for conservation.
Notebooks in hand, the teams made their respective treks, from the great deserts of the northwest to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. In The Road Ahead: The First Green Long March Director Ryan Wong hones in on a few compelling students and captures the experience through their eyes.
To meditative and moving effect, Wong immerses us in the vast and diverse landscapes the students visit. We witness their growing wonder as they encounter the natural world as they never have before. We also share their devastation as they talk to locals and start to understand the human impact of environmental destruction.
