We just had our annual salmon barbecue, a wonderful event that always brings together a fabulous group of people!  Many thanks to everyone who helped make our salmon barbecue a great success.  We held the barbecue at the Institute for Fisheries Resources and the Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center, helped by “master-griller” Ed Ueber, with fish provided by Monterey Fish Market.  With wine donated from Redwood Creek Winery and lots of help from staff and board, we all had a lot of fun with the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay in the background!  Many thanks to Doug McConnell (www.openroad.tv) and Rachel James, our Alaska Program Associate, who spoke about the work we’re doing to protect the Arctic Seas in Alaska.  And most of all, thanks to all of you who came and who contributed generously to support our Alaska program!

The salmon barbecue always reminds of what we stand for:  supporting communities to have a larger voice on the environment.  We work with lots of people, from fishing and Native communities, from all walks of life.  And we can all enjoy good food and company together in a wonderful place!  For those of you who missed it, I hope you can join us next year!

I arrived before dawn in Wuhu, Anhui. The city, although the most prosperous in Anhui, isn’t serviced by an airport, so I made the 1000km trip from Hubei Province by overnight train.

Anhui Province, in eastern China, is the region where Pacific Environment’s partner Green Anhui works. They’re programs stretch from the north, where they work on the Huai River, to the south, where they’ve just launched a program on environmental health from their new Wuhu office.

I’m here, not only to meet with Green Anhui, but to facilitate a water pollution network meeting. Green Anhui is one of a dozen groups that Pacific Environment works with to address water pollution in China. This is the third time we’ve brought together this network for two days of sharing ideas, developing strategies and building stronger partnerships. We’ve worked ahead of time with Green Anhui to develop an agenda and invite our partners; all told, over 20 participants have traveled from across China for the meeting.

The first day, our main meeting day, each group gave presentations about their work, using power-point to outline their programs and showed pictures and maps. After lunch, we dove into deeper discussions on what people’s biggest challenges were, if we can develop shared strategies, and how Pacific Environment can be a more effective partner.

On the second day, we took a field trip into the rural regions of southern Anhui to Peach Blossom, the home of a famous Chinese poet; and the military base of the 11th Infantry Army and the site of the Anhui Incident. Ultimately, this day was an equally as important part of the meeting. It helped solidify relationships and it gave people the space to talk informally and feel a little more “at ease” and connected in their work. This is crucial since many of our partners work independently.

Finally, it was encouraging to be somewhere beautiful where people freely swam in the clear waters and walked barefoot in the grass. I think this gave us all hope.

David Gordon, Executive Director

Welcome to Pacific Environment’s rejuvenated and revitalized blog!  Bookmark this page so you can check back here on a regular basis. We will update you a couple times a week about the latest great work that our staff and partners are doing around the Pacific Rim!  We’ll bring you stories from the field and analysis of some of the latest environmental events!  I’ll tell you some of the latest adventures of our staff and our partners’ trials and tribulations.  And we’ll give you updated news about key environmental issues from China to California and from Russia to Alaska.

Most importantly, leave your feedback in the comments!  We are thrilled that you are part of the Pacific Environment community and look forward to bringing you closer to environmental issues around the Pacific Rim through this blog.

See you on-line!

For the Pacific Rim,

David Gordon