Thinking ahead
Environment project and exchange program for German and Chinese students
How does waste management work in China? How is water and air kept clean? How are these things dealt with in Germany? What role does climate change play in Germany and China? These are the central questions that school students from China and Germany have been focusing on in the 2010/2011 school year in their “Thinking ahead” project.
Structure and organization
Four schools in China and four schools in Germany (in the cities of Duisburg, Traunreut, Hamburg and Wismar) – around 100 students in all – are taking part in the Stiftung Mercator project that the Foundation is running in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut. During the course of 2011, the students from China, who are from Wuhan, Shanghai, Zhangjiakou and Beijing, will be visiting Germany and the students from Germany will be visiting Germany to experience at first hand what people think and do about a variety of climate-related and environmental issues.
Objective
The objective of the programme is to raise awareness among Chinese and German students aged between 15 and 17 concerning key questions of environmental and climate protection, to draw the attention of the students to the different national approaches and to promote intercultural knowledge transfer in this area.