Recently, the film production team of an environmental protection network film visited the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), hoping that the CBCGDF will participate in the filmmaking as an environmental protection NGO. The Secretary-General of the CBCGDF personally received the film production team and provide some environmental protection ideas and examples to the film production team.

The following is a summary of the statement made by the Secretary-General of the CBCGDF:

In the field of firefly protection, although many of them are doing environmental protection work in name, they are actually not. For example, firefly art festival, firefly release and other activities are actually harmful to fireflies. CBCGDF’s volunteers and other environmental protection NGOs have made very serious criticisms of them. The National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the local environmental protection department have reported that many firefly art festivals have been called off before the start. At the same time, many environmental experts, including activities and films about wildlife such as spotted seals, have also made very serious criticisms because they have conveyed many wrong ideas.

Now the trend is to encourage people to go less these places like zoos and aquarium around the world. We should support the construction of environmental and ecological civilization, so the theme and plot of the film should be consistent with ecological civilization in many aspects. The concept of this field has been constantly updated. For example, we have recently published a series of articles criticizing several cases of "greening" against ecology. The latest case is a park in Tianjin, which is being renovated, but the direction of its renovation is wrong: clean up the pond, reconstruct the plank road... These are all wrong. Why? There is a Libellula Angelina in that area. It is the most precious of about 800 species of dragonflies known in China. In the Red List of IUCN, the endangered category of the Libellula Angelina is CR (critically endangered), and the same as the endangered category of the first-class protected animals, Chinese sturgeon and Yangtze river dolphin. When IUCN reviewing the category of Libellula Angelina, also stated that the number of global populations was declining year by year. In 2005, Tianjin as a province with the sporadic distribution of Libellula Angelina was recently and only recorded in Sister Lake of Zhang Xingzhuang, Hebei District, Tianjin. However, due to the acceleration of urban construction, in recent years, volunteers once again went to visit Sister Lake and found that there were no Libellula Angelina at all. Surprisingly, it has been found in country parks this year, but as an aquatic insect, the Libellula Angelina is highly demanding for the environment.

The renovation and construction of the park will cause that Libellula Angelinas is in danger of extinction. Therefore, the Tianjin Municipal Government attaches great importance to it and ask CBCGDF to tell them how to reform it. Similarly, people like to go to the beach to collect shells, clams and other things. Since the reform and opening up, the natural coastline of Tianjin coast has been comprehensively reformed. There is a propaganda picture of "desolate beach changing into beautiful scenery" outside a large hall in Binhai New Area, but this is an anti-ecological civilization behavior. Because there is no desolate beach in Tianjin now, it has become a beautiful scene. The desolate beach has millions of birds every year, from Africa, Malay to Siberia and Canada, they have to stay there, eat a little seafood from the mud to add energy. But when the government planted trees, the birds could not fall down, and it was difficult to eat as usual. The highly enthusiastic sea-going activities of tourists have wasted the food sources on which these birds depend, which has greatly threatened their lives. In Bagua Beach of Tianjin, there is also a kind of bird, which is an endangered animal, the Relic gulls. Unfortunately, there has been a protracted "guard" since May 1 this year. Misled by some social software, the beach was once crowded with tourists from all over the world, while the road near the beach was full of cars, and the scene of Bagua beach was "very lively" for nearly half a month. This also brings great difficulties to the protection of endangered animals. If 1% of the population of endangered birds is found in one place, it should be recognized as an important habitat for them. But the government needs to carry out construction, which is actually the behavior of anti-ecology. Another example is Dongtan in Shanghai. Some experts say that the greening work in Shanghai should be strengthened and carried out. The leaders say that the mud beach is not beautiful. Shanghai has issued greening target.

A German photography enthusiast in Shanghai, we call him "Bird Uncle" in Germany, was very nervous after learning the situation, and immediately sent relevant information to the CBCGDF. We suggest that the relevant departments in Shanghai should consider this matter scientifically and evaluate its ecological impact effectively. We should respect nature and science, not "one-sided" understanding, or even misinterpret the profound connotation of "green".

Greening requires scientific considerations and must protect the ecology. Beaches and mudflats are not just for birds, they are also very important for clams and shellfishes because clams and shellfishes are marine life as well. Therefore, what are beaches and mudflats? They are considered as the "delivery room". It is well known that turtles go to the beach to lay their eggs, and without the beaches and mudflats, that marine life would be gone. Without mudflats, without beaches, what is the clear water and green mountains? And what is ecological civilization?

For instance, rural revitalization and development — simple large-scale construction. In the case of tourism, there is a difference of opinion, now the more avant-garde eco-environmentalists are extremely opposed to tourism. Nowadays, there are serious problems in the tourism industry, which are brought about by industrial civilization and profit-seeking capital. However, this is not necessary. Can human beings now bear the consequences of this? It cannot be undertaken. For the attitude of ecological civilization and ecotourism, we are more moderate instead of the extremist. However, the extremists are firmly opposed to tourism because of its carbon footprint, carbon emissions, environmental damage, traffic pressure, etc., which have a direct causal relationship with the climate, environmental and ecological problems that we are facing now. If we can reduce our travel properly, there will be fewer planes, fewer trains and fewer disposable items in hotels, and our ecological environment will also be improved.

Why are all species extinct? One reason is that a large number of roads have been built, which cut off the migration of species. We emphasize protection and development, but the protection of the ecological environment is as important as people’s poverty alleviation and life. However, in the era of ecological civilization, the whole concept should be renewed. When I attended the launching ceremony of National Public Welfare and Environmental Protection Movie of Clear Water and Green Mountain movie in Wuhan, I said: what exactly is clear water and green mountain? The directors think I’m telling a story. They think we should use art to spread the most precious, advanced and correct ideas. Xinhua News Agency immediately contacted us when they saw my speech during the Clear Water and Green Mountain Movie launching ceremony, and the story mentioned in the article was because no one could have imagined that an ecological project might be just an imminent ecological destruction project.

I've seen some American blockbuster movies with great backgrounds and implanted many new concepts. They have become a trend to lead fashion, such as dressing, eating, construction and other fields, even including daily meetings, village meetings, construction, building characteristic towns, promoting environmental protection, etc. Therefore, we should not only have distinct themes but also should including abundant science, era and future concepts in it. Moreover, we need to keep up with the hotspots of the times, such as African swine fever, fall armyworm, Good Food, and other elements; we should also integrate some trending social concepts in the film that may attract more young people, which can be reflected in the form of body language or dialogues. This kind of work has a strong sense of social responsibility.

We used to talk about intergenerational civilization, which means that our generation should save water for the next generation to drink. However, not anymore, because our generation has run out of water. Twenty years ago, we dug water wells in the countryside to get water. At that time, we only need to dig five meters to get water, but now we have to dig a hundred meters underground to get water to drink. In another 20 years, young people may have to dig a kilometer before they can drink water. Therefore, there is no intergenerational issue at all. As far as our generation is concerned, there is no pure water now. According to the research of scientists, the pure water we bought contains micro-plastics, which is an inescapable fact. Human beings are constantly evolving, but on the whole, we are not evolving as fast as we are destroying.

(Photo credit: CBCGDF）

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/9286.html

By / Li Xue, Xue Tongtong