Riding the Green Wave in China

Witnessing a lifetime of environmental change in just 15 years.

- STEVE BLAKE

MY China adventure began on the heels of the SARS epidemic in 2003 when I arrived at Nanjing University on a college exchange program. I fell in love with the culture, language, food, energy, and excitement of the place and was surprised to feel completely at home here in China.

I can still remember nearly every day of those four months I spent in Nanjing. Biking in the city’s bustling streets, I felt completely invigorated and told myself I had to return one day. Though I returned to the U.S. for a year to complete my studies, I felt like I never really left China. I really only had one goal after graduating and that was to come back and get involved in some way in efforts to protect the environment.

Now, nearly two decades later and on the heels of another epidemic, that “China adventure” has become my daily life, and I feel extremely fortunate to be able to now call China home.

To say the country has changed in the time I’ve been living here is an understatement. The transformations happening in China over the last few decades are unparalleled in human history. And to be able to witness in person and breathe that change on a daily basis has been truly remarkable.

There are so many aspects of China’s transformation that have been exhaustively covered, but the one that my entire professional career has been shaped around is China’s efforts over the past two decades to protect wildlife and improve the environment.