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This Chinese-Canadian Scientist’s Tool Kit is Helping the Earth Chill Out

Banning straws and plastic bags is a good start. But that’s no enough.
This Chinese-Canadian Scientist’s Tool Kit is Helping the Earth Chill Out

Too busy to check in on the RADII website every day? We got you every Monday with a summary of all the freshest takes on China’s youth culture in the last week:

  • The world has been grieving the early passing of Off-White CEO Virgil Abloh, and Chinese netizens are not faring so well either.
  • Duck, duck, goose. Chinese netizens are furious about this winter-wear brand’s unfair return policy.
  • Meet the Chinese-Canadian scientist who developed a toolkit to help communities curb climate change.

Chinese-Canadian Scientist Helping Communities Fight Climate Change

Participants working together on the Citizen’s Coolkit

What can you do to fix climate change? It’s hard not to ask yourself this question, especially now, after global leaders at COP26 claimed earlier this month to have made breakthrough deals to phase out the use of coal. But with some experts claiming we’ve passed the point of no return — that capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius is now just a pipe dream — will it really matter how one person behaves?

Cindy Zhaohua Cheng, a research scientist at the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning, believes that while individual efforts may not be effective on their own, translating ideas into neighborhood-wide action is the key to meaningful change.

This can include efforts to gradually ramp up community engagement through conversations, maps, shared vision, and collective action.

With these objectives in mind, Cheng and her colleagues developed the Citizen’s Coolkit to help local residents better understand the value of green spaces in urban areas. They hope to provide communities with a new understanding of the land and, ultimately, aim to climate-proof entire neighborhoods.

How does the Citizen’s Coolkit work and what are Cindy’s plans for it?

November has been a transformative month. The weather has cooled considerably, and sunset in Shanghai happens before 5 PM. Seasonal affective disorder is in full swing, and you’d be forgiven for feeling some winter blues.

With that said, music has been helping. We’ve been treated to some excellent releases this month, like a summer throwback from Gavin Too and Peng Tan, a short EP devoted to the delights of the betel nut, and a beautifully diverse orchestral album from Fishdoll.

Check out the latest episode of SoundCheck, where Wes Chen, host of hip hop podcast thePark, and Bryan Grogan talk about their favorite tracks of the month.

  • The Chinese team has won the women’s singles title at the World Table Tennis Championships for the 14th time. And this 22-year-old totally kicked ass this year.
Chinese athlete Wang Manyu
  • WeChat, aka China’s super app, finally allows external links to be accessed on the app after close to a decade.
  • The youth of China are grieving the loss of trailblazing fashion designer Virgil Abloh. The hashtag “Virgil Abloh has passed away” has been trending on Weibo, and netizens are posting photos of their Off-White sneakers in memory of the designer.
  • “The moon isn’t rounder in foreign countries, and foreign down jackets aren’t warmer.” Chinese netizens are still pissed (read: furious) about Canada Goose’s unfair return policies.
  • As it turns out, Shanghai is not a very convenient place for people with disabilities. A Shanghai-based blogger posted a video documenting her worst experiences of 2021 as a person who uses a wheelchair, and it’s been viewed over 4.5 million times.

When Light Chaser Animation Studios opened its doors back in 2013, the studio aimed to produce quality animated films tailored to China’s ever-expanding domestic box office.

The company has since released six CG animated movies, with each drawing inspiration from Chinese culture, literature, and folklore. Now, the sequel to the studio’s most commercially successful release, White Snake, has finally been released on Netflix in the United States:

Yu, founder of Light Chaser Animation Studios, shares more about guiding viewers through a dystopian cityscape while drawing inspiration from ancient Chinese folklore.

Are you a gifted meme maker? Or a storyteller crazy about Chinese youth culture? Take a look below, because we’re currently hiring for the following positions:

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