Save wildlife
Photo by Yao Fan

今年夏天,濒危动物华南虎的命运牵动了许多老百姓的心.确实,动物的命运与人类息息相关.保护野生动物任重而道远.本期英语沙龙特别邀请了三位外国朋友和我们共同探讨,献计献策,希望能真正意义上帮助动物--人类永恒的朋友.

Close the zoos


Ronald James (in the middle), American, is currently living in Xiamen and teaching Global Issues/World Affairs at WECL English College.

I never much enjoyed the zoo. As a child, the prospect of a day's visit with my classmates sounded fun, but beyond the attraction of a day off from school, singing on the bus, and the cotton candy, the experience was usually pretty depressing. The place stunk like a huge cat box, and the animals appeared sulking, bored and disinterested. And what did we learn from polar bears that repeated the same back-and-forth motions all day long in their cramped cement pools, driven psychotic by their imprisonment and isolation?

The zoos of my memory are not unlike the freak shows of bygone days, metaphors for our aberrant relationship with nature. It was exploitation on both sides of the bars: the animals yanked from their worlds, without regard for the impact on the individual or whole species; and the people exploited too, duped by the illusion that wildlife was flourishing when it was, in fact, disappearing quickly.

But some zoos have begun to re-think their roles. Many employ hard-working, concerned people, and are changing their priorities from entertainment to conservation-primarily by breeding endangered species with the hope of someday returning them to the wild. Ironically, though, the wild is no place for wildlife anymore. As long as we humans continue to lay claim to so much of the planet, any wildlife released back to nature will quickly end up dead.

So here's a radical idea: Close the zoos! Most are of questionable public educational value anyway. And in our modern electronic age we have the Animal Planet and Discovery Channels to see wildlife on its own turf. Zoos should focus all efforts on staving off what is being called the biggest mass extinction since the dinosaurs. Through captive breeding-and political action on global habitat loss-the wildlife conservation community should focus on reversing this terrible trend. Instead of selling popcorn and admission tickets, they could obtain their funding in other ways from individuals, and from private foundations.

What better message to put out to the public: No more popcorn, no more clowns and no more cigarette-smoking, roller-skating chimpanzees-we're in a crisis. The show's over, folks!?

Live a greener life


Jessie Wang, one faithful member of Common Talk English Club, is a manager of an international trading company and a warm advocate of environment protection.

Besides making a donation, most of us have no direct way to help protect and save endangered animals. But I think we have many indirect ways to fulfill our good wishes, among which living green should be an efficient and feasible one.

In my opinion, living green means trying to incorporate our social and environmental values into our daily living by reducing our impact on the environment and offering small solutions to the big problems everyday. If all of us choose to move in the direction of such a sustainable lifestyle, the world would be a better place for both human beings and animals.

On the basis of my practice, here are some good ways to live green:
1.Classify garbage at home. Four separate bags for paper, glass or metal bottles, plastic materials and the unrecycleable waste. My child will be rewarded with some pocket money after garbage disposal if he does it well.
2.Save energy at home. Choose energy-efficient bulbs and appliances, raise the thermostat a little in summer and lower it in winter.
3.Save on water. Use water-saving faucets, showerheads and toilets and reuse water in a proper way.
4.Use fewer disposable products. Because disposable chopsticks, cups and Christmas cards lead to cutting down more trees.
5.Reduce exposure of toxins. Collect all the used batteries in a box and send it to the designated places. Always buy cleaning agents with the Green Label on the packages.

In addition, as one of "the best guest counselors" (优秀校外辅导员)honored by Xiamen Shiyan Primary School in which my child studies, I have been making every effort to involve children in environmental protection under the support of some parents. Besides doing some investigation, we lead our "Flying Birds Holiday Team"(翔鸟假日小队) to the zoos, gardens, parks, museums and many natural places near Xiamen where we share our appreciation of the natural world with them and educate them to live a green but healthy, quality life-- by giving more of what they want (e.g. green trees, a clean environment) and less of what they never want (e.g. pollution ).

Extinction is forever


Daniel Frenette came to China earlier this year to study the language and to learn more about the country, the people, the culture, business opportunities, etc. Daniel is originally from Canada, graduated from college in the U.S., and has traveled to several countries. He seems to pick up the language wherever he goes, as he can speak English, fluent Spanish, and now basic Chinese.

In our busy lives we can often forget or choose not to think about the problems in our world, as it often happens with endangered animals.

If we look at the meaning of the word "endanger" in the dictionary we will find something like "to bring into or expose to danger or peril". This is the position that thousands of species of animals are in today.

Sad to say many people don't care about it, and the few that do care get little or no support from the ones who don't. We should all be ready to help, especially when there is a possibility of extinction. In the west there is a popular saying, "Extinction is forever", this is very true when it comes to endangered animals because once they are gone we can't bring them back. It will be very sad to see any animal disappear. Here in China some of the most beautiful animals are in danger of extinction, such as the panda, the snow leopard, the Asian elephant and dozens more. There are a lot of animals at the brim of disappearing, some of them are rare and beautiful and most of us have never seen or heard of some of them. Unfortunately, we might never get to appreciate them because there are so few left and those that are left are disappearing so rapidly. Just think about the future, in the next couple of years at least a dozen endangered animals will disappear. If this continues like it has, future generations will not be able to know or enjoy all of the animals we have today.

There are a lot of factors and reasons why a great number of animals are endangered. Among those reasons are: pollution, excessive hunting, and lack of habitats. Fortunately, these problems can be solved with help and determination.

Endangered species


Douglas Moss is living in the States with his family and he is currently working for a local magazine. He has taken part in some activities involved with protecting animals, especially endangered ones.

The loveable and irresistible panda is recognized the world over as a symbol of China's natural heritage. The panda is also one of the world's most endangered species; fewer than 1,600 remain in the wild today. Despite government protection, pandas are still hunted for their pelts, which are worth $100,000. China is in danger of losing forever much of its rich wildlife heritage during the 21st Century.

Visit the live animal markets and traditional medicine shops in southern China and you will see one reason why so many species of wildlife are endangered.

Diners in Guangzhou continue to enjoy eating exotic animals such as civet cat, fox, boar and raccoon dog even though the recent SARS outbreak was a direct consequence of this unhygienic practice. Only 5,000 to 7,000 tigers remain in the wild but demand for tiger parts has skyrocketed. According to Tigers in Crisis, a bowl of tiger penis soup goes for $325 in Taiwan and powdered tiger bone can bring up to $1,450 a pound on the streets of Seoul. The demand for bear paws and bile for medicine threatens to wipe out most species of Asiatic bears within just a few more years.

The Chinese government has made wildlife conservation a priority. But the public needs to get serious about saving these majestic animals. There is big money to be made in killing off China's wildlife. Rare animals are being slaughtered because they have beautiful fur, they taste good or for body parts used in traditional Chinese medicine. If people would stop eating rare animals and use viagra instead of tiger parts, then the poachers will stop killing these animals.