It gives me great joy to kick off 2013 announcing some new members of our 350 international coordinating team. Stationed in Indonesia, Vietnam, China and Philippines, this all-star team of young organizers — Rully, Hong, Jah Ying and Zeph — will be taking on the challenge of coordinating a huge, multi-lingual, and multi-cultural region: East Asia. The team itself represents a diverse set of backgrounds, ranging from businesses and NGOs to academia and government. Stay tuned to see what new projects this exciting team will be launching in countries across East Asia! And here’s a bit more of an introduction from each one…

Left to Right: Jah Ying, Hong, Zeph, and Rully.

Zeph
In 2009, I worked with friends and initiated a candlelight protest that gathered 30 people in the community to join in the demand for a fair, ambitious, and binding treaty during the Conference of Party in Copenhagen. A week after, Typhoon Ketsana hit the Philippines, causing more than 450 deaths and over a billion USD in damages. The glaring reality of climate change sparked a fresh climate movement in 2010, and we held creative actions with bikers, mountaineers, runners and artists to create new climate solutions visible in our community. I then continued my work, engaging in the following campaigns – the youth-led Green Economy Summit in our Province, Moving Planet in 2011 – calling for bike lanes and promenades to be installed, a series of climate forums on the threat of coal, alternative solutions, reforestation initiatives with local partners, and Connect the Dots, which still continues in the Philippines.
 
I am eager to rejoin forces with 350.org as a member of the East Asia coordinating team, and look forward to working with the new challenges and opportunities we will face in the future!
 
Hong
For the last one and a half years, I’ve worked with 350.org in the role of national coordinator for Vietnam. Since then, I’ve connected a network of 7,000 environmental volunteers in 20 provinces in Vietnam, and engaged dozens of environmentally responsible business corporations as well as many local celebrities in climate change campaigns and projects. 350 Vietnam has become the largest grassroots climate change movement in the country, involving and benefiting thousands of people in both urban and rural areas. Our youth-led projects and campaigns focus mainly on reducing carbon emission through inspiring the people and corporates to take small and practical actions in daily life, as well as introducing greener alternatives, and providing support to climate change affected communities. 350 Vietnam’s biggest projects and campaigns include the Moving Planet, The Sun in a Bottle, Climate Camp, Connect the Dots, Green Habitation, Vote for Nature, Strawless, Light Source of Future, White Roof – Green Wall.
 
Now I am continuing as a member of the new East Asia coordinating team, and coordinating with Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar to lead climate change projects. I am excited about this challenging yet incredible opportunity, and look forward to working with the amazing regional and global networks of 350.org.
 
Rully
I first started working with 350.org in the 10:10:10 project, gathering more than 100 people to urge nations to come together and focus on climate change in Bandung, Indonesia. In 2011, I continued to raise climate change awareness locally, completing an 11 day long bicycle trip from Bali to Bandung, eventually reaching out to more than 10,000 people on Moving Planet action day.
 
Now as we continue the fight on fossil fuel subsidies, coal, emissions and climate and energy related issues, I will be working with 350.org in organizing and overseeing local activities in Indonesia. I am excited and hope to be working with all of you in our fight on climate change!
 
Jah Ying
I first joined 350.org in 2010 as a national coordinator in China. I worked with local partners to launch some of the largest climate change campaigns in China’s history, engaging over 10,000 young people to build creative local solutions to tackle the climate crisis! Some of our most memorable campaigns include a national day of action on 10/10/10, where 300 local solutions were launched, and the Great Power Race clean energy challenge that brought together thousands of students from China, India and the US in friendly competition.
 
After a one year hiatus, I am rejoining the 350.org team as the Northeast Asia Coordinator, and will be overseeing activities in China (mainland and Taiwan), Japan and Korea. I look forward to launching new initiatives in 2013 and empowering more young people to build creative solutions to tackle climate change in their home countries!
 
A big thanks to Chun See and the whole crew for helping compile this intro post.
 

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