Ingrid Vahland (left), an environmental protection volunteer, shares ideas with participants of the Volkswagen Chinese Young Green Journalist Summer Camp.

Wang Siya, an eight-year-old primary school student in Kunming, Yunnan province, has enjoyed a memorable summer holiday participating in the Volkswagen Chinese Young Green Journalist Summer Camp in Shanghai.

"When I watched TV and saw reports about the World Expo, I never imagined that some day I would be standing in the big campus and witnessing all the interesting stories, especially tips about a 'green' way of life, with my own eyes," said Wang.

She and 24 other teenagers from 13 provinces and regions spent three days at a summer camp in Shanghai, visiting the Expo, bird watching in the Chongming island wetlands and sharing their ideas on ecology with each other.

The 25 young campers, aged from eight to 23, were the first prize winers of the national Volkswagen Chinese Young Green Journalist Blog Contest, which was jointly hosted by the Center for Environmental Education and Communications (CEEC) of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection and Volkswagen Group China.

"Although I was the 'green star' in my school with many green habits and green ideas in my daily life, I learned more from other campers about low-carbon lifestyles and I will maintain my green life in the future and bring green ideas to more people, young and old, around me when I go back home," said Wang.

The contest invited middle and primary school students in China to write blogs, encouraging them to express their unique perspectives and thinking on low-carbon lifestyles and environmental protection.

The event enabled the audience through various featured programs to experience a low-carbon lifestyle and the "green dream".

Over the two months since the contest was launched in April, more than 4,830 blogs were collected.

As a major event in the calendar of the Volkswagen Green Future Environmental Education Initiative (GFEEI), the large-scale environmental education event had the most participants and most extensive influence in the project's history.

Participants wrote in their blogs not only about their observations of tiny changes in their daily lives, but also gave full play to their imagination and showed their profound care and hope for the planet.

Some bloggers described the blue sky and green water of their imaginations. Others criticized the wrongdoings of humans from the perspective of animals and plants. One blogger used digital video to shoot the life of a discarded plastic bag in a city.

The wide variety of blogs showed the love and passion that students have for life and the future, as well as the initiative of the organizer.

"A low-carbon lifestyle requires the effort of each of us on a daily basis. Positive guidance and education for young people is a demanding job," said Ingrid Vahland, an environmental protection volunteer from Germany who has been a special advisor for GFEEI for four years.

"I am very happy to see that environmental responsibility and know-how is spreading in China, and it is starting with the people to whom it will matter most: our children."

"Environmental education is not only a lesson in school, but also a real experience that young people can feel and touch in their daily lives," said Zeng Hongying, deputy director of CEEC.

Molly Yang, vice-president of Volkswagen Group China, said: "It should be clear to everyone how important environmental responsibility is to China's sustainable development. As the most reliable partner of China, Volkswagen continues to pursue the highest energy efficiency and the lowest carbon emissions in its production.

"Moreover, we are actively involved in improving China's environment and educating others. GFEEI is such a program and its success in China's green schools over the past three years serves as an inspiration for us to do still more."

The Volkswagen GFEEI, which started in April 2007, provides a key platform for young people to learn more about environmental protection and green, low emissions life choices.

Since 2007, Volkswagen GFEEI has successfully held a series of acclaimed environmental education programs and more than 20,000 young people have benefited through direct involvement in these programs.

Eight million yuan ($1.18 million) was invested in the first three-year period of this project during 2007 and 2009. Now Volkswagen has joined the CEEC in making a joint investment of 10 million yuan for the implementation of its second three-year program for 2010 to 2012.

"Green City, Green Life" is the theme of the 2010 Volkswagen GFEEI, which will include a series of special programs, with the blog contest and summer camp as the first step.