She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.
She says: « People who know me understand that it is because I care, while those who do not know me wonder what I am after ».
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Jianli Yun – China
She works for Green Han River (mentionned on PBS).
Yun Jianli, born into a family of teachers in Xiangfan City, was once a high school teacher, a profession that is now looked up to. She retired in 1988 at the age of 55.
At this turn of life, she decided to become a full-time volunteer in environmental protection, which was a great surprise to her family and colleagues. As she got more and more involved in environmental protection, she felt it was not enough just to have enthusiasm.
A structure that provided a space and platform for the development of volunteers was needed. In 2002, she initiated the formation of a group, Green Han River, virtually with no resources whatsoever, but devoted wholeheartedly to environmental protection.
Jianli traveled by cycle searching for office space and asking for help; she donated equipment for office use. The people were not aware of environmental issues and many failed to understand her. “You are already so old, don’t you have something better to do then running around and asking for this and that?” they would say.
Governmental officials thought she wanted a share of potential benefits related to environmental protection and businesses responded with hostility. “People who know me understand that it is because I care, while those who do not know me wonder what I am after,” Jianli says.
Jianli visited villages, factories, and mountainous areas along the Han River to investigate the source of pollution, and wrote more than 100 reports submitting more than 10 motions to the government. She also introduced environmental protection education to the campus, communities and villages, reaching over 60,000 people.
The group has employed different approaches for different target communities, making the work more effective; people’s awareness on environmental protection was significantly enhanced. As a result of this public education efforts by environmental protection authorities improved, and many small paper factories were closed down.
During the past few years, Jianli has worked for over 10 hours a day, even on holidays. On her daughter’s wedding day, she whisked away from the ceremony and returning to work on a plan for investigation and training. Unlike other grandparents she has not once picked up her 10-year-old grandson from school!
Her family did not understand her at first. But over time, they began to give their support seeing how hard Jianli worked, and the positive results of her efforts.
As a mother and grandmother, she has given little to the family. But as a volunteer, she has contributed much to society. The volunteer team in Xiangfan City grew bigger and bigger, with participants who are over 80 years and some who are in kindergarten.
Many middle-aged people called her “Sister Yun of Environmental Protection”. And the little kids called her “Environmental Protection Granny”. People’s awareness of environment protection is much higher now. More and more people participate in the green movement.
The sky in Xiangfan has become bluer, the water clearer, and the air fresher; the standard of life has improved. Han River in Xiangfan City, is the source for China’s “Channeling water from the south to Northern China” Project and the water here is clean enough to be drunk directly. (1000PeaceWomen).
… Yun Jianli, the 61-year-old founder of a local environmental group called Green Han River, has spearheaded a river-cleanup campaign. In the course of their investigations, volunteers with her group found tributaries in the Han valley, the Diao and Li rivers, to be so severely polluted that the foul-smelling water was the colour of soy sauce … (full text).
Read: Emergency Measures on Algal Problems in Water Resources of the Han River, not dated, maybe 2005.
Sorry, I can’t get any other information of Jianli Yun, China, in the internet, being certified it would be the wanted person.