Today\u2019s episode was recorded on Wednesday April 15th as a live webinar conversation between Pei Su, the Executive Director and Co-founder of ACTAsia and myself. It\u2019s unedited and somewhat messy sound-wise but we wanted to get it out as soon as possible.
There are a lot of rumors and misinformation getting passed around the globe in terms of China\u2019s wildlife trade and markets: what has been banned, what hasn\u2019t, and what all of it means. In today\u2019s conversation, Pei Su answers many of my questions about what\u2019s happening on the ground in China, what the bans actually mean, and where the many loopholes lie.
Pei Su has been on the front lines to create a better world for animals for three decades. She is a wealth of knowledge, a force and an inspiration.
In 2011, she co-founded ACTAsia \u2013 an organization that\u2019s dedicated to creating change in China through humane education. What that means is that they go into schools and train the teachers to teach a 6-year program called Caring for Life Education. The kids are in the program from ages 6 -12 and they learn animal welfare, empathy toward animals, environmental issues, social welfare, and citizenship. To date, 80,000 kids have gone through Caring For Life and 2,000 teachers have been trained. Pei believes that things won\u2019t really change for animals in China until people start to view them differently \u2013 and, the best people for that job are the children \u2013 as they will create change for generations to come.\xa0
There is also a ton of good information on what\u2019s happening in China on ACTAsia\u2019s website.