Xiaoyu Yang (ELP 2021) | Environmental Analyst, Jinan Environmental Monitoring Center, China
The journey continues from the persistence of change.
I was working for Jinan Environmental Monitoring Center (JNEMC) in China, and the long-term mission of this organization is local environmental monitoring of ecology and environmental conditions, environmental compliance, and the release of emergency pollutants.
Since 2010, my prior director, a very forward-looking man, has been recruiting new competent people for mapping the factors for ecological assessment by application of GIS. Unfortunately, few could focus on innovations to better convey environmental information since they were assigned to other primary activities within our organization.
The business competition from other social institutions and the advancement of the internet and big data reveals the limitation of traditional monitoring networks and reports. Organizational reform brewed along with these new challenges. We formed a new division for remote sensing (RS) applications during this time. In 2019, I offered to lead the exploration into the potential of urban environmental RS. An opportunity to learn in the National Center for Application of Remote Sensing in Ecology and Environment served me well.
Identity Positioning: Trainee, Special consultant, Coordinator, or Facilitator?
The journey of my facilitation for converting RS from original support activities to primary activities (refers to Porter's Value Chain Model, which I learned during Mike Cheng’s course during the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program) began. This attempt started with basic software operations. Later, reading, online classes, conferences, and communication with professionals assisted me in understanding the RS principles and methods, which touched on broader issues. This feedback helped me to draft plans to support local environmental capacity building. By synthesizing the technologies into an integrated package, I initiated the first urban technological transformation project to collaborate with national and local organizations on the development and launch of projects.
Nevertheless, there are many challenges ahead in exploring RS potentials: 1. Urban environmental monitoring requires higher spatial resolution than monitoring on the national scale, especially for quantitative analysis. 2. What we illustrated through RS can't support decision-making directly. The results retrieved from satellite detection don't fully align with the data dimension obtained by the traditional environmental monitoring network. The mismatch between the resolution and the temporal gaps of Satellite RS products and local pollution control grids defined how difficult it is to mine data. 3. The interdisciplinary monitoring framework differs among different environmental mediums. For instance meteorology, ecological photochemistry, and remote sensing are jointly involved for systematic data analysis to understand air pollution. The water environment monitoring depends on the watershed which involves hydrology, land use, and ecology.
How could we integrate sources of data to understand issues at the local scale? Continuing with just a proactive way of learning to explore solutions for local missions and problems is inadvisable. We wouldn’t be able to meet the demands for decision-making to combat pollution and reduce human activities' impact on ecology. The importance of collaboration on both sides is the key. Since I am working without being authorized by a clear position, it is challenging to mobilize human resources and delve into information from diversified sources, especially when working across different organizational structures. What could be my path to avoid being a drop in the bucket? I began to switch my role to focus on the facilitation of collaborations. Right now the planning period for the 14th Five-Year (2021-2025) means everything is under exploration and it is the right time to offer a piece of advice.
Towards adaptability and resilience to be an environmental leader.
Based on my experience in the master's program of sustainability and environmental policy, the findings and complexity of working for both national and local organizations had led me to search for a way out until I discovered the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program.
It was a fantastic journey to be involved in the 2021 Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program (ELP). Collaborative leadership and conflict resolution materials provided by Susan Carpenter had us considering immersive case studies to practice collaborative negotiation and facilitation for achieving consensus in decision making. In a marketing session taught by Professor David Zilberman we worked on a two-stage exercise for understanding marketing strategies. The system leadership’s concept introduced by Lisa Dreier drew a holistic picture of how we can act in a role to achieve lasting impact through the six conditions of system change. Every speech, the questions from other participants, virtual breakout room conversations on specific topics, exercises, and group work on collaborative projects provided me with a rich, impressive experience to nurture me as an environmental leader. I have already tried to apply the knowledge from these experiences in my job. Many signs of progress at working events demonstrated how valuable the skills and tools from the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program are.
Not long after that, our local organization assigned me another role in marketing our organization and facilitating stakeholders' financial support, both an opportunity and a challenge. Inspiration from the Beahrs ELP keeps me working on sustainable development and has helped me to adapt and be resilient with confidence in this new environment.