boyutpedia Chapter 1 Environmental NGOs
Chapter 1 Environmental NGOs
President Obama, who has only been in office for a week, is preparing to launch a massive economic stimulus plan, in which energy and environmental policies are given high priority...
[With the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol now in effect, the carbon emissions trading market remains hot...]
The Buick's radio was playing a broadcast with static.
The windshield wipers squeaked and scraped, gradually clearing away the grime and snow from the windshield.
The world before Meng Ran's eyes gradually became clearer.
A hazy, gray sky.
Red brick buildings extending to the street corner.
Everything was so unfamiliar.
"Detroit in a Parallel World".
"Still Detroit in early 2009?"
The constant stream of memories from the original owner flooding his mind caused Meng Ran's body to tense up inexplicably.
Before his time travel, as a seasoned GG (German) professional, he had indeed visited the United States several times for business purposes.
But I'm not really familiar with Detroit.
He had two vague impressions about this place:
First, it is located in the Great Lakes region, separated from Canada by only one river, a typical rust belt area.
It is also the hometown of the three major automakers: General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.
Second, this is one of the cities with the highest crime rates in the United States, with Black people making up more than 80% of the population.
Thinking of this, Meng Ran quickly reached out and held onto the rearview mirror.
A mixed-race face appeared in the mirror, with long flaxen hair hanging down, obscuring the eyebrows and eyes, making the face look very haggard.
However, even though he looked haggard, you could still tell he had a good foundation, giving him a bit of a manga-like appearance.
"Knock knock knock~~"
The sound of knocking on the car window interrupted Meng Ran's thoughts.
The car door was opened.
The cold wind rushed in, instantly dissipating the little warmth left inside the car and taking away some unpleasant smells.
A woman, her ample buttocks encased in jeans, sat in the passenger seat and then slammed the door shut.
She looks to be in her early twenties.
Beneath her flowing black hair was a beautiful face with a distinctly Persian flair.
Clearly, this is a secular Middle Eastern woman—the Detroit metropolitan area has a large Middle Eastern immigrant population, the second largest in the United States.
"Shit!"
"This damn weather, this damn Detroit!"
Cursing under her breath, she placed the black backpack on the foot mat, then looked at Meng Ran, who was still dazed.
He urged, "Bane, if you don't start the car soon, I'm going to freeze into a block of ice. Then you'll have to stick a stick under me and transport me to some freezer to sell as vanilla ice cream."
Such bold words completely sobered Meng Ran up.
He reached out and turned the key to start the engine.
The girl then took a piece of chocolate out of her bag.
After taking a big bite, he complained, "I don't understand, has Jimmy gone mad? In this weather, we're actually going to sit in the street over a few bullfrogs!"
Before she could reply, she clutched her head again: "Oh God, maybe I'm going crazy. I shouldn't have joined this damn association in the first place."
Meng Ran did not respond.
I started the car and continued to silently process the memories.
The Persian girl named "Thea" in the passenger seat was a colleague of the original owner of this body.
Both of them work for a nonprofit organization called the Great Lakes Environmental Justice Association.
In layman's terms, they are members of the same environmental NGO.
The association has been established for about three years and is considered one of the larger local NGOs in Detroit.
It covers a wide range of issues, including climate justice, biodiversity conservation, energy transition, circular economy, and so on.
Meng Ran's project team is mainly responsible for the issue of "Biodiversity Conservation in Detroit's Water System".
Therefore, today all members of their group must stage a sit-in protest in the street for "American bullfrogs that died from heavy metal pollution in sewage".
To be honest, Thea always thought those bullfrogs had frozen to death!
It was January 23rd.
Wild bullfrogs should be hibernating.
The frogs were sleeping perfectly fine, so why dig them out of the "Ruzhi River" ditch?!
A dozen minutes later...
The dirty wheels rolled onto the muddy snow on the side of the street.
This road is located in front of Gate 6 of the Ford Rouge Plant, southwest of Detroit.
The target of this protest is Ford.
The car's exhaust pipe was still emitting white steam.
Meng Ran and Xi Ya exchanged a glance inside the car, then took out two green T-shirts with the association's logo from the back seat and started putting them on.
Compact cars have limited space.
It was difficult to put on clothes.
This made Thea, who was already full of resentment, even more irritable.
Meng Ran found it rather novel.
Back when I was on Earth, I often saw the baffling behavior of environmental NGOs in Europe and America.
Who would have thought I'd become a party involved today? Life is truly unpredictable.
He pushed open the door and got out of the car.
They took a few more signs with protest slogans from the trunk before walking to the side of the street.
At this time, there were already more than a dozen members wearing green T-shirts.
They sat in a row on the side of the street, holding up protest signs.
In front of the crowd, dozens of frozen bullfrogs were neatly arranged in a row, creating a truly comical scene.
If you add some glue and stick your hands to the road, then everything will be just right.
However, perhaps the weather was too cold, or perhaps the timing was wrong.
There are no vehicles blocking the road yet; the entire road is empty.
Not far away, a police car was parked, and four patrol officers responsible for monitoring the protest were leaning against the car, yawning and watching them, but they didn't come over.
Upon seeing the two, a handsome white man immediately tapped his watch in displeasure.
"Gentlemen, it's 9:16 now!"
This handsome white man is none other than Jimmy, the senior manager of the project team.
Before Meng Ran could reply, Thea retorted.
She waved her Blackberry phone: "It's only -3°C right now."
"Oh, Thea, can't you even stand a little bit of cold in order to save these lovely animals? I hope you remember that we are doing something great and noble."
"Wow~~ That's really amazing." Thea rolled her eyes sarcastically.
"In short, reporters from the Detroit Free Press and television stations will be here soon. This time, we want to show the public the power of our association."
Jimmy muttered something to himself, then picked up his phone and walked to the side to make a call.
Watching his retreating figure, Thea nudged Meng Ran's arm with her elbow.
He muttered, "That bastard Jimmy, just to please that 'red-haired director,' keeps leading us to do ridiculous things!"
Red-haired director?
Upon hearing this nickname, Meng Ran instinctively looked around.
The so-called red-haired director is the executive director in charge of their project team—a sophisticated and elegant Irish-American girl.
She is actually not very old. Her grandfather and father were both former Detroit city councilors, and her family was well-off.
He joined the association three months ago, and became the executive director in the second month.
However, she rarely participates directly in the project team's activities, focusing more on securing funding.
"She's in a lot of trouble right now, so she probably won't come. Jimmy's performance is going to fall through again," Thea whispered.
"Troublesome?" Meng Ran asked, puzzled.
"I heard the association's budget was cut significantly this quarter. And our project team's performance was at the bottom of the association last quarter. If you were her, wouldn't you be worried?"
As she spoke, Thea found a piece of cardboard to place under her.
He sat brazenly in the middle of the road and held up a protest banner.
Seeing this, Meng Ran followed suit and sat down next to Thea.
Unexpectedly, just as he raised the banner in his hand, some information suddenly appeared before his eyes:
The "Chaos Reputation System" has been activated...
[Host detected participating in the "Protect the Bullfrogs" protest organized by the Great Lakes Environmental Justice Association]
[After the event ends, you will be able to unlock the body panel, 100 Chaos Reputation Points, and 1 random skill card.]
[Tip: Participating in or leading various NGO-related affairs can trigger system tasks, granting Chaos Reputation Points and a random skill card.]
system?
Meng Ran's heart rate suddenly rose.
A slightly trembling hand pressed against a violently beating chest.
He began to examine the system's contents in detail.
The panel mainly includes four dimensions: [Constitution], [Strength], [Agility], and [Mental Strength].
You can use the [Chaos Reputation Value] to allocate points.
Furthermore, after unlocking the [Body Panel], Meng Ran's body will be completely reconstructed based on key information such as the original owner's fingerprints.
After unlocking the panel, Meng Ran's body is essentially new.
More importantly, there is a special effect in the [Constitution] section.
那就是当【体质】达到10/15/20/25/30的阶段，将同步清除孟然的所有伤病。
This includes fatal injuries and deadly diseases.
In other words, as long as he wasn't shot in the head and instantly lose consciousness...
No matter how serious the injury or how deadly the disease, if you add points to your [Constitution] stat when it's a multiple of 5, you'll be a hero again.
Good guy!
When Meng Ran transmigrated here, her biggest worry was her safety.
Now that we have the system, our confidence has instantly increased.
As for the [Skill Card] reward, the system only mentions that it's a different type of auxiliary item, and the specific details are still unclear.
"Beep~~"
The sound of car horns drew Meng Ran's attention back to the protest site.