John Dennis Liu

Film-maker & Ecologist

John Dennis Liu is a Chinese American film-maker and ecologist. In 1981, Liu helped set up the CBS News bureau in Beijing, at a time when tensions between the United States and China were lessening. He worked for CBS for more than ten years as a producer and cameraman. In 1995 he filmed the Loess Plateau in China, which was being transformed from barren and eroded ground into an oasis by the government. At this point Liu noticed the possibility of humans restoring ecosystems, rather than only destroying them and began studying ecology. In January 2015 John was named Visiting Fellow at NetherlandsInstitute of Ecology (NIOO) of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. John is also Ecosystem Ambassador for the Commonland Foundation based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 2017 he founded Ecosystem Restoration Camps, a worldwide movement that aims to restore damaged ecosystems on a large scale.