Facing the Environment
China faces daunting environmental and energy resource challenges.
Stanford MBA students have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet with government officials, state-owned enterprises, and Western companies to learn how the country's policies are aiming for a better balance between humans and nature.
GSB Students Travel to Study Resource Issues in China
![[Image: Stanford GSB Service Learning Trip]](/sites/default/files/images/ChinaServiceLearningTrip.jpg "[Image: Stanford GSB Service Learning Trip]")
Like many nations, China juggles a tremendous push for economic growth with its need to protect the environment and maintain what it refers to as a "harmonious society." Seventeen students from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business explored those challenges up close in a ten-day service learning trip in March of 2009. While investigating the connections among economic growth, climate change, and the environment, the group studied energy production and distribution in China, learning from environmental policy makers, non-governmental organizations, energy companies, and clean-tech companies.
"I was awed by the sheer scale and scope of China's environmental and energy resource challenges," says trip participant Tom Mercer (MBA/MS '10). "This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet with government officials, state-owned enterprises, and Western companies to get a better understanding of how the country's policies and approaches may -- or may not -- help China to find a balance between humans and nature. I came away understanding more fully how the nation may determine the future of the world's environmental situation."
In Beijing, one of the highlights was a visit to the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a non-governmental organization run by Ma Jun. Ma spoke about his organization's efforts to make data about air and water polluters more accessible to the general public with the hope of increasing compliance with China's environmental laws. He and his organization are the subjects of a new GSB case study spearheaded by Professors Hau Lee and Erica Plambeck. The group also enjoyed visits to the Great Wall of China in Mutianyu and the Bird's Nest and Water Cube venues from the 2008 Summer Olympiad in Beijing.
In the city of Yichang, the group met with representatives of the China Yangtze Power Company, which runs the Three Gorges Dam. After the company meeting, members of the power company's Young Professionals Organization accompanied the group for a tour of the dam, which is the largest hydroelectric power facility in the world. The power company granted the group special access to the top of the dam and to the control room, both of which are off limits to the public. The group then visited a museum that explained the step-by-step process for building the dam.
Another trip highlight was Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, where the group met with a member of the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) local office. At a panda breeding center, several trip members got warm and fuzzy with baby and juvenile pandas.
"The trip helped put into perspective the challenges and opportunities facing not only China but the whole world when it comes to energy, the environment, and climate change," says participant Jason Kaminsky (MBA/MS Environment and Resources '09). "Although the problems are global, the magnitude of the situation and the political environment are unique to China and must be dealt with within Chinese frameworks. After engaging with local young professionals in Yichang, seeing the awesome will and power of the government at Three Gorges Dam, and appreciating the path of development in Beijing, I will approach China with a new eye and new appreciation for what they have accomplished and the tremendous opportunities that lie ahead."
The service learning trip is offered to GSB students by the Center for Social Innovation's Public Management Program.
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