6 . At Marine Mammal Laboratory, laboratory director Herman put a dolphin through its paces. Using hand signals, Herman asked, “Is the ball in the pool?” The dolphin correctly pressed a lever for “YES”. Herman asked it to push the ball to a basket. It did. Then he signaled his pupil to do it again, but he removed the basket. Herman expected the dolphin to be confused. Instead, it carried the ball to the NO lever and stopped there. Herman was astonished. “This is a totally untrained, invented response,” he said, “We never dreamed the animal would ‘think’ the problem through like that.”

To get a closer look at these amazing creatures, Herman and his team spent a week on board the Jennifer Marie. Whenever they heard the cry “Dolphins!” they slipped into the water. The dolphins approached, curious about them, observing them with dark, liquid eyes. Dolphins love to imitate. If they swam on their backs, Dolphins did too. If they dived, Dolphins followed. This talent can be carried to extraordinary lengths. In one instance, a trainer blew a puff of cigarette smoke against the window of an observation tank. A young dolphin rushed to its mother, nursed briefly, and spat out a cloud of milk against the glass.

Herman said “We’re still in the early stages of learning about the intelligence of these animals and our ability to communicate with them.” Scientists are amazed at dolphins’ intelligence, but fear for the future of these trusting ocean creatures.

Dolphins’ trouble could be sharks, killer whales or, worse yet, a fishing vessel. Indeed, in the past three decades, commercial fishing, especially the biggest threat—the drift net fishing, has greatly decreased the world’s dolphin population. Every night in the North Pacific, hundreds of Asian fishing vessels put out these “curtains of death,” each up to 50 miles long. Floating with the currents, they sweep up all sea life in their path. People wonder what the world would be without dolphins.

7 . Wetlands occur wherever water meets land. Wetlands exist in every country and in every climatic zone. Healthy wetlands store carbon, regulate the water cycle, and support 40% of the world’s biodiversity.

Jiangxi Poyang Lake Nanji Wetlands

Nanji Wetlands is located in the southern part of the main lake area of Poyang Lake, covering a total area of 33,300 hectares. It is an incredibly valuable ecosystem and serves as a vital habitat for various wetland bird species, including many national first-class and second-class protected animals.

Anhui Shengjin Lake National Nature Reserve

The Anhui Shengjin Lake National Nature Reserve is a freshwater lake wetland, with an area of 33,333 hectares. It is primarily set up as the wintering grounds of rare birds. Within the reserve, there are a total of 142 bird species, including 66 species of migratory (迁徙的) birds. This reserve holds the distinction of being the largest natural wintering ground for the hooded crane (丹顶鹤) population worldwide.

Gansu Yellow River Shouqu Wetlands

The Gansu Yellow River Shouqu National Nature Reserve is located within Maqu county. It covers a total area of 203,401 hectares, with 132,067 hectares intended for wetland conservation. The primary objective of this reserve is to protect the highland wetland ecosystem, as well as the habitat of migratory birds, particularly the black-necked crane. In February 2020, it was officially approved as a Wetland of International Importance.

Guangdong Nanpeng Islands Reserve

Established in 2003, Guangdong Nanpeng Islands Reserve covers a total area of 35,679 hectares. In 2015, it was recognized and included in the International Important Wetlands Directory. The main focus of the reserve is to protect the unique underwater natural landscape, the ecosystems of the nearby coastal waters, the important rare and endangered marine (海洋的) animals.

8 . Without shiny black solar panels (太阳能板) on the roof, the residents in an apartment building in Illinois are enjoying the benefits of “community solar” — a program in which residents can buy electricity from nearby solar farms, reducing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions (排放) and receiving discounts on their electric bills.

The solar energy in community solar doesn’t actually flow into your home, but flows into your area’s power grid (电网), providing electricity to homes and businesses in your region, and you get the benefits of government solar rewards in the form of lower electricity bills.

Among those signing up for the program is Dickerson, 73, of Oak Park, Illinois. “Try it; you’ll like it,” he said. “You’ll save money, and you’ll feel good about saving the planet — at least a little bit.” Proudly showing charts of their electricity costs in a recent interview, Dickerson and his fellow members of the community green committee, said they’re all paying less with community solar for their individual homes as well as the community’s common space.

Community solar was pioneered in the mid-2000s as a way to bring clean energy to the many American households without access to solar panels for various reasons. “Community solar is about to boost everywhere in terms of access,” said Nicole Steele, a senior advisor in the U. S. Department of Energy. “It’s just another way to be part of the clean energy transformation and see the actual benefits.”

Dickerson and his neighbour Johnson have been protecting the planet since childhood, such as leaving no litter in the forest and sorting recyclables. Therefore, they found it easy to accept community solar. Now, the building’s green newsletter, edited by Johnson, is trumpeting community solar savings. “As a parent and grandparent, it’s kind of like a heritage,” Johnson said of this work. “How could I do something that’s bad for the world in which my grandchildren are going to live?”

10 . Wildfires, when allowed to burn in areas without human development, can contribute to the restoration of the surrounding watershed(集水区), renewal of the soil, and resetting the clock for the ecosystem.

Many forests cannot sustain themselves without natural wildfire, including pine barrens, lodgepole pine forests and many more. These forests require canopy fires, which primarily affect the upper layer of plants in a forest, to reproduce because the trees in the forest are adapted to only produce seeds following a major fire event. Hence, fires can be restorative for the forest, and without them many of these forest types would decline on the landscape. How is a fire restorative for the watershed? It restores in many ways including, but not limited to, improving water quality, offering habitat for insects that serve as food for fish, promoting the growth of fire adapted plants, etc... Not to mention renewal of the soil chemistry which is vital to the forest and the watershed.(My attitude is that of someone who has studied wildfire and streams since the disastrous 1988 Yellowstone wildfires.) The science backs up how natural wildfire can be favorable through research publication after publication.

It’s like “resetting the clock” on the ecosystem, allowing it to smoothly all over again for another 200 years. By the way, a canopy fire such as Yellowstone in 1988 also results in the reproduction of younger trees after fire which act to stop the spread and progress of a potentially destructive wildfire immediately. Without it, future wildfires are very likely to become bigger and bigger.

The bottom line is that we may need today’s natural wildfires on our forested landscape to prevent more serious fire events in the future. That lesson was learned in 1988 Yellowstone wildfires which was a year of disastrous large-scale fires despite more than 50 years of thorough and tight fire monitoring.