[lang_en]February Featured People: Mihela Hladin
Interview &Translation / Steffi Chen
1. Welcome to Xindanwei.com, Please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field of sustainability and healthy lifestyle?
I was born in Slovenia, a very small but green country in the middle of Europe. By very small I mean a country with 2 million people. So when I first told this in China, someone in the audience asked me if we all live in the same hotel;) I spent most of my childhood at my grand parents farm, near the city. We grew all our food ourselves, we made all our food ourselves, we treated animals as part of our home. At that time I did not realize that this will be such a great value for me in my future work.
For the first year and a half in China when I was still working for a foreign environmental engineering company, I kept bumping into the same challenge which was that people are not aware enough that you can’t just buy trees. The river will not get clean in a week. I was sure that if the industrial owners I’d been working with had a bigger picture of their environmental impact, they would not continue doing things in the same manner. So, I decided to stay and focus on environmental awareness…to do something that will have an impact on China on a long term with greater quality of life for people. Greennovate was born in late 2007, with consulting arm that helps business to develop sustainable practices and non profit part, that educates communities on environmental and social challenges and solutions.
2. Can you tell us about Grasslands, the new project you are launching in collaboration with Xindanwei? What kind of impact are you trying to create with this project?
I cannot take credit for this idea. What I wanted with out team was, that we would be part of community where creative and bold people are. It is not about how fancy the office buildings are, it is about the content and people they have in. This is a driver for inspiration and action that is much needed in our field. There is so many small, green and health related initiatives going around the town but we all can only have limited outreach if we don’t start joining together and integrating our solutions to make a bigger impact.
3. Both of you have been the driving forces of Grasslands. What prompted the idea of Grasslands and what excited you to make you undertake it?
Amena was really behind the idea of Grasslands. I was in immediately when she introduced it to us and we started to look for a space. It took us a long time and when we saw Shaoxing Lu, it felt like we finally find the right home;) It made perfect sense to partner with you at Xindanwei, I always admired the concept and persistence behind it. We immediately saw we have a lot in common and so we joined our forces.
4. Can you tell us what are the future plans for Grasslands? What kind of environment/community do you expect it to be? How do you want to scale up this project to create a greater impact?
It will take some time to really have the concept in. But nothing happens over night and we want to really make it right. So for this first year we are working on weekly events related to health and sustainability, that will be bringing in different people and partners. We believe this is the best way to show the Grasslands concept and start conversations about future partnerships under this umbrella. We are also actively looking inside our existing partnerships and with companies that are either start ups or entering Chinese market, that would fit with our values and move it. We’d like to create a ‘model’ grasslands hub in Shanghai, fine tune the concept and then scale it up in China and also outside. Like I already said, buildings without ideas, concept and amazing people are just a bunch of walls and decoration.
5. Thanks again for providing Xindanwei.com this opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts for our readers?
I’d like to finish with a quote that we used to use in our materials when we started Greennovate. I hope it will inspire your readers and give them additional motivation to pursue with their plans and dreams:
‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’ – Margaret Mead[/lang_en]
[lang_cn]人物（二月）：Mihela Hladin
采访和翻译／ Steffi 陈
1. 欢迎来到xindanwei.com，请先介绍一下您自己。告诉我们您是从哪儿来，又是如何进入到现在这个推广健康生活方式和可持续发展的领域？
我出生于斯洛文尼亚，位于欧洲中部的一个很小的绿色的国家。我说的很小，是说这个国家只有二百万人。我刚开始在中国这么告诉别人的时候，有人问我是不是这个国家的人都住在同一间酒店里 ；） 我我童年大部分时间都在我祖父母在城市附近的农场里度过。我们自己种植所有的食物，自己烹饪所有的食物，我们把动物像家人一样对待。当时我并没有意识到这对我将来的工作是这样大一笔财富。
在中国最初的一年半我在一家外资环境工程企业里工作，我常常遇到这样的挑战：人们不够认识到你无法用金钱买来绿树，河流不会在一周之内变清澈。我确定如果那些我遇到的工业企业主认识到他们对环境的影响，就不会继续他们的行为。因此我决定专注于推广人们对环境的认知，去做一些对中国有着更长期影响，能更大程度上改善人们生活的事情。Greennovate （格诺威特）诞生于2007年，拥有帮助企业发展可持续战略的咨询部门，和向社区宣传来自环境、社会的挑战和其解决方案的非盈利部门。
2. 问：能否为我们介绍一下“青草地”这个与新单位合作新推出的项目？您希望通过这个项目产生怎样的影响？
我不能把这个想法都归结我的功劳。我和我的团队希望成为一个充满创新、勇敢的人的社区一员。这与办公室是否豪华无关，而是有关内容和这里的人。这才是灵感和行动的来源，这些在我们的领域里是非常需要的。在这座城市里有许许多多与绿色和健康相关的小的项目，但如果我们不联合起来并整合我们的力量的话，我们的影响将十分有限。
3. 作为“青草地”项目的幕后推手，能不能和我们分享下这个想法是从何而来，又是什么动力让你去实践它？
Amena是这个项目的幕后推手，当她向我介绍这个想法的时候我立刻加入了，然后我们开始寻找空间。我们花了很长时间选址，而当看到绍兴路这个空间时候，感觉终于找到了完美的家；） 和新单位合作是理所当然的，我一直很欣赏这个概念和背后的坚持，我们立即觉得有很多的共同点，并决定合作了。
4. 能不能告诉我们对于青草地未来的计划？你希望它成为怎样的环境/社区？你打算如何扩大这个项目并产生更大的影响？
这个项目的概念需要一些时间发展壮大，但罗马不是一天建成的，我们要努力把它做好。今年我们会组织每周健康和可持续活动，邀请不同的嘉宾和合作伙伴。我们相信这个展示“青草地”概念和讨论未来合作的方式。我们同时在积极地探索现有的企业合作伙伴，包括创业型企业和进入中国市场的公司，是否适用我们的价值观并参与进来。我们希望能在上海建立一个“青草地”的模板，完善这个概念并扩大到全国及国外。正如我说过，没有想法、概念和有才华的人的空间只是一些墙和装饰而已。
5. 再次感谢您给xindanwei.com这个采访您的机会。您还有什么想对读者说的吗？
我想用一句我们在成立Greennovate的时候用在宣传材料里的话来结束这次访谈。希望它能够给读者们一些启迪和动力来追求他们的梦想：“永远别怀疑一小群有想法的人能够改变世界。实际上，历史上只有他们做到了”——玛格丽特. 米德。[/lang_cn]
