The College of Staten Island (CSI) hosts The Nature Conservancy’s Russell Leiman, Regional Managing Director of the Asia-Pacific Conservation Region, in a presentation entitled “Good Environment Is Good Business: Getting the Message Out in China.” The presentation is free and open to the public. It will be held Monday, September 24 at 6:30pm in the college’s Center for the Arts, and will focus on the Conservancy’s successes and failures in China.
The Nature Conservancy has been working in China for many years as one of many non-governmental organizations that are playing an increasingly important role in helping the Central government fight against pollution.
“China’s amazing economic growth has come at a high price,” says Alan Zimmerman, professor of international business and marketing at CSI. “Air and water pollution have reached dangerous levels. Cancer is now the leading cause of death in China and it is estimated that only 1% of China’s 560 million city dwellers breathe safe air.”
Adding to China’s environmental problems is a 2005 report that found that the country was the world’s leading source of sulfur dioxide pollution.
Russell Leiman has been the head of the Conservancy’s Asia-Pacific region since 1999 and has worked first-hand with Chinese officials on these problems. Before joining the Conservancy he was CEO of two financial services firms and was a member of the London Stock Exchange.
The event will be held in the Recital Hall of the CSI Center for the Arts at 2800 Victory Boulevard in the Willowbrook section of Staten Island. It is presented by the college’s International Business Society in association with the Modern China Studies Group.
