How an American teacher’s $5,000 donation helped turn a Chinese desert into a lush, green forest

Away from emotional stories like Yin’s, the campaign has had mixed success. While the Great Green Wall is a “great initiative in principle,” the Chinese government tends to emphasize “top-down, technocratic solutions to environmental problems” and focus on targets more than quality, said Judith Shapiro, who teaches at American University in the department of environment, development and health. The loss of open land for nomadic herding as a result of the initiative “remains a serious blow to some ethnic minority nationalities,” she said.

In the program’s early years, deserts were lined with “fast-growing but water-hungry” trees such as poplars that depleted water tables, though more suitable and biodiverse species are now being planted. “Overall, the Chinese government has done a good job instilling the idea that trees are a great benefit to society,” Shapiro said.

The climate connection

Days after Sakolsky met with Yin in China’s arid north, a likely impact of the changing climate was felt when a devastating flood struck 2,000 miles away along the Nepal-China border. More than 1,400 people have been confirmed dead and thousands remain missing across Nepal and China’s Tibet region after the Aug. 26 disaster, which experts say was linked to warming temperatures in the Himalayas.

“I am very, very sad for the people in Nepal and people in China,” Sakolsky said at a news conference in Beijing on Aug. 31. “I know now the world is alive, and if I keep throwing paper on the ground or if I keep letting trees die, I am killing the life of the world, which means I am actually killing mankind.”

The Tibet flood was one of several disasters this summer in China, where flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Maysak in early July killed at least 159 people in the southern region of Guangxi. At least 16 people in Jiangxi province were killed in a Sept. 5 mudslide set off by torrential rain linked to Typhoon Saudel. Researchers said last year that climate change is making such storms in Asia more frequent and severe.

China says it plans to reach peak carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Its carbon emissions have been “flat or falling” since 2024 and are on track to fall in 2026 for the second year in a row, according to an analysis for Carbon Brief this month by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

While its coal emissions are still rising, China is seeking to fill a void in global climate leadership left by the U.S., the world’s largest carbon emitter historically, which withdrew from the Paris climate agreement during Trump’s first days back in office last year. Critics say China’s goals are too cautious and will leave it unable to meet its Paris Agreement pledge to cut emissions by 65% from 2005 to 2030.

Trump and Xi were not expected to have any meaningful discussion about climate change at their summit this week.