Yan Li - Beijing, China

Almost all of the people Climate Stories talks to are lay people with no particular interest in or knowledge about climate change. However, Yan Li, who has been working as a climate change campaigner for Greenpeace China for two years has some very important things to say about what climate change really means for China.

Yan Li says that China will be one of the countries worst affected by climate change. It's already triggered droughts in the North but flash floods and typhoons in the South. These extreme weather events are set to get much worse. Most projections now foretell a bleak water situation for China. No water means no development so it's the hottest issue.

Most people in Beijing don't realise it yet but their water supply is severely under threat right now. The reservoir that keeps the capital in fresh water is now at a quarter of its usual capacity. It used to be open to the public to visit but now people are kept away so they can't see how bad the situation has become. There's a huge contrast between the situation in the big cities in China and rural life. Yan Li illustrates this with the example of the wealthy city of Guangzhou where the people have everything they want and the surrounding countryside, where the people have no water and are very worried about their futures.

Heavy rain of 100-200mm an hour of rain is common in some of the Southern parts of the country but Xinjiang has had no rain, especially in the Gobi region. Yan met some people there who had no need for a roof on their house because it never rained. In some areas though climate change is improving people's lives. It has brought rain to previously arid areas, so more food can now be grown. Ultimately though, everyone will be worse off as the productivity of China's land declines overall.

Yan Li was disappointed when China's target to produce 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2010 was downgraded to non-fossil fuel sources. However she tells me there are other more encouraging signs that China's leaders are taking the issue seriously. Greenpeace are pushing for the environmental cost of coal to be included in coal pricing by way of a carbon tax and the government are currently holding an online debate about it.

The government are also investing in the development of the as yet mythical carbon capture and storage technology, as well as carbon labelling but Yan Li isn't convinced how effective either will be. There is apparently evidence that people here are prepared to pay more for environmental products though.

Greenpeace are currently planning a 'virtual march' through China to raise awareness of climate change. At the moment though Chinese people don't understand what civil society or campaigns really mean for them. The first NGO, an environmental education charity called Friends of Nature, was established in China only in 1994 and there are many restrictions on such organisations here. It's a big dream for her that one day there will be a big movement of people in China on environmental issues.

With water linking climate change with food security, poverty, health and development, Yan Li believes climate change should be a much bigger issue in the minds of every Chinese person. The time to think small is over.

Yinning - Beijing, China

Yining, 22, is a post-graduate student at the Beijing's international university, studying to teach Mandarin to foreigners. She is a Beijinger born and bred but lived in Denmark as an exchange student for a while. She thinks that Europeans generally care more about issues affecting the wider human race and tells me Chinese people only care about money, damaging our environment in the process. It's not all bad though. She's encouraged by recent signs that people in China are starting to buy more environmentally friendly products.

Yinning & Emma

Yinning says people here don't talk about climate change that much but that it has been influencing people though, especially recently. The weather has got really weird and it gets warm and cold at strange times. Beijing also now suffers from sandstorms coming in from the Gobi desert. She thinks this is partly because there aren't enough trees in the countryside any more.

The Great Wall at Simitar, near Beijing

In Yining's eyes, it's everyone's job to fix climate change but people in the city don't see its already devastating effects so people in the countryside are more aware of the issue. In the South of China you can see people suffering from the lack of rain but in the city everyone always has enough food. She has heard that the powers that be have taken food from rural areas by force in order to feed people in Beijing.

Mornings in the parks in Beijing are filled with wondrous things

Yining thinks the Chinese government should do more to regulate for the environment. She has seen adverts about saving water and energy but the country's leaders are mostly too concerned about GDP. They are talking about sustainable development but haven't yet implemented many policies and those that have been are not enforced.

Hutongs are too small for cars but perfect for vertical vegetable growing

According to Yinning the big city governments care more about the environment. In Beijing there are restrictions on what sort of fuel you can use but not in the countryside. She then goes on to make the very valid point that no matter how efficient the cars are, the overall number of them is ultimately more significant. She wishes the restrictions were placed on the numbers of cars instead.

A young Chinese family at one of the Beijing 350 events

Yinning's heard about the imminent world summit on climate change Copenhagen but can't relate it to her daily life. That's the business of the government, not ordinary people. She agrees that Chinese government have more power here so things can change quicker but it's difficult for people lke her to influence them. They don't listen to their people.

Myagaa - Eight Lakes, Mongolia

Young mother Myagaa lives with her husband and children in a ger that currently overlooks a landscape so breathtakingly beautiful it seems almost surreal. Unable to reach the area by vehicle, we have trekked on horseback for a day to reach her.

Emma looking out over the Eight Lakes valley

She has seen many changes that she associates with global warming. There used to be eight great lakes but some are now tiny and others have even dried up completely. There also used to be many more streams and rivers. Recently she's seen dust rolls here too, which is a worrying new sign of a changing climate.

One of the Eight Lakes reduced to a puddle

This all makes the nomadic herding life more difficult. The animals do not get fat as they should and give less milk. Myagaa worries that her nomadic lifestyle will not be possible in the future. It's a big problem everywhere and most people she knows are worrying about it.

Morning at the lakes

Myagaa believes it's everyone's job to fix climate change but she's not convinced it's possible. She says she can't do much and it's not difficult to see why: this way of life could hardly be lower impact. The family do not have a car, which would be useless in this terrain. Heating is provided from the ubiquitous wood and dung burning stove that resides in the centre of each round ger tent. However, Myagaa tries not to litter and uses yak dung for the stove as much as possible, to avoid cutting down trees. The government here talk a lot about taking action on climate change but Myagaa can't see them doing much yet. Sound familiar?

Myagaa & her husband in front of their ger

Myagaa knows it's possible to live without fossil fuels because this is the ancient way of life Mongolians have been living "since the times of Chinggis Khaan" and beyond. She is optimistic for the future but worries for her children. She is particularly worried that a lack of rain from climate change will force them to leave behind forever the nomadic way of life that she loves.