“The dolphin’s smiling, is nature's greatest deception.”

-- Richard O’Barry

Richard O’Barry, once was the first dolphin trainer, after the suicide of Kathy, a dolphin who accompanied him throughout his career, became an animal rights activist and the founder of a non-profit organization: Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project. In 2009, he and his group sneaked into the secret cove in Taiji, Japan that killed hundreds of dolphins everyday and filmed the famous movie on dolphin protection: the Cove.

“I spent 10 years building that industry up, and I spent the last 35 years trying to tear it down.” said Ric in 2009. Now in 2021, he is 81 years old and it is the 51th year he has thrown himself into dolphin protection, building websites and organizations to appeal to more people to attend his group. Dolphins, like humans, have self-awareness. They are auditory animals who rely and are sensitive to sound. When we lock them up in the aquarium with a hard cement wall and excessive noises of the audience surrounding them, there is a great chance that they will be stressed to death. Dolphins are not automatic air breathers, which after Kathy experienced the stress and depression in Miami aquarium, she chose not to take the next breath and committed suicide. Fishermen in Japan took the advantage of sound to rush dolphins to the shore, where after dolphin trainers choose strong dolphins for training, the other dolphins will be driven into the secret cove, killed, and selled. The red sea water left me in great shock. The municipal government and fishermen shared the economic profit brought by dolphin trading. Since dolphins are self-aware, when they were captured and surrounded by fishing-boats, watching their families killed by humans, it is not hard to imagine their desperation and fear. At the end of the movie, Barry, wearing a TV in front of his shoulder, walking into the conference of International Whaling Commission, showed in front of everyone, including the representatives from Japan, the videos they took from the secret cove. This wordless protest created a huge mental strike for me. 12 years later, in 2021, Barry made huge progress appealing to the world on dolphin protection. Now in states and countries such as California, Hawaii, France, Greece, Canada, dolphin shows were outlawed. As students, we can start protecting the dolphins by not buying tickets of dolphin shows or any events related to dolphin industries and sign petitions on the Dolphin Project website to Japan government officials to end the hunt. Furthermore, there are volunteers and internship opportunities opened for everyone to help the organization. I, personally, would like to help protect dolphins by applying to volunteer jobs on websites, translating all their information into Chinese to help spread the awareness.

This opportunity was provided by Miami Youth Climate Summit(MYCS). The main topic of the whole conference focused on finding solutions to world climate change. The conference invited speakers who were professionals in climate and sustainable science to share their knowledge and experiences in different conference sessions. I had a chance to listen to 3 of the sessions: Adaptation: Creatively Living on a Changing Planet, Shark Conservation in a Changing World, and How to Become an Effective Science Communicator & Youth Activist. The sessions provided new perspectives that I had never viewed before as a girl who grew up in an urban area.

In the first lecture about adaptation, professor Alizé Carrère demonstrated her study on deforestation and how farmers in Madagascar were adapting to it. Lavaka, erosional gullies caused by slack soil and deforestation, was deadly to farmers living below it. To know how farmers were adapting to this situation, Alizé walked through miles of lands and villages to interview them and take astonishing pictures of the eroded mountains. I was delighted and admired those explorers who brought important knowledge into the public’s view by their efforts.

Meanwhile, I learned the massive power of properly using social media to spread ideas and knowledge. By posting videos on social media, Alizé shared her research and interviews with the world; ocean activist Danni Washinton recorded the “Art by the Sea” events of their organization and posted them on the website to amplify its influence on her ocean protection program. One other thing that changed my way of thinking from this conference was the idea of “shifting baselines.” In the Shark Conservation lecture, professor Catherin Macdonald introduced the idea of “shifting baselines,” which means that our measurement of the environment changes with the changing environment may blind us from discovering the potential problems. It is hard for us to step back and review the whole environment from past to present in most situations. To be aware of our environmental situations and support future sustainable movements is something for us, as the future of the world, to keep pushing.

“The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others.”

-- Saint John Chrysostom

The ted talk is exceedingly touching and persuasive. Hugh Evan, the speaker, used his personal experience to illustrate the rising and the importance of global citizenship. As a global scholar applicant, I found from this ted talk my mission and responsibility. I summarized two disciplines to be a global citizen: one is the long-term passion and practical actions. To go beyond just thinking and pathetic about the global issues, I need to take action and be a part to help pursue the surroundings and the authorities to change. This procedure acquires a long-term passion for being involved rather than an emotionally driven stimulation. The ted talk was made in 2016 when Hugh introduced Davinia James, the global citizen who collected 1.5 million pennies and helped 300 young girls get into schools. Today, when I looked into her personal website, I found that Davinia is still helping the children even during the pandemic with full passion and material results. In contrast, I reflected that I’m less executive in taking action. I hope that by attending, listening, and reflecting on these global events, can I finally find my field and take action to actually make a change.

The second discipline I found was the power of cooperation. Hugh has listed many successes made by global citizens. I realized that it could not happen without the effort of every person who gets involved. The concerts Hugh set up were seen by the government leaders. He invited famous musicians, asked people to participate in solving global issues to earn the tickets, and coincided the concert with U.S assemblies. Without the participation of all members mentioned above, Hugh would not have succeeded. This is the power of the community, the collective voices of global citizens. I learned that I could not possibly achieve anything by myself, but to gather with people who have similar interests and passions to me.

Innovation and Resiliency in Covid Era is a panel discussion focused on analyzing problems and phenomena, such as economic innovations, public health crises, and shifting demographics, faced by rural Coloradans specifically. The presentation was made up of a diverse group of professionals: demographers, economists, professors in rural agriculture, and officers in the economic development & international trade in this panel. The first takeaway I got was from the speakers. They were the people to plan and carry out reliable systems that could maintain our economic environment and build thorough infrastructure. The penal transparently showed us how offices in Colorado worked to support our community and explained all the problems we were facing due to the Covid, which made citizens better understand their living environment and gave them a chance to think and discuss their decisions in the offices freely. This is where I found it inspiring because there were seldomly open discussions like this within my hometown and the communities around me. I would like to introduce this kind of conference to families, clubs, and schools.

The panelists referred to data and charts to demonstrate the economic compositions, contrasts, and potential problems faced in Colorado's economy before and after the pandemic. Dr. Michael Seman introduced the field of the creative economy, in which, particularly in Colorado, live and music events not only happened in urban but also in rural areas. The creative industry made up 5% of the state economy and employment. Based on data, millennials tended to spend money on experience economy like performing art and live events, which could be a breakthrough to save the post-pandemic economy in Colorado. I couldn't relate to this idea while friends of mine in China started to attend Music festivals as the pandemic recovered there. The various perspectives from specialists in this conference reminded me of the importance of sharing and blending ideas to save and maintain our community.

Chimamanda, in her speech, explained how listening to a single story gradually creates stereotypes and generalizes the characteristics of a person, country, or culture. This concept was not specific to one group of people, but we were somehow influenced by it. She gave a few examples on herself and the people she met who were affected by single stories, such as how she believed in her younger age that literature could only contain foreign characters since all the books available to her were books written by Europeans; and how her American roommates were sympathetic to her “experiences'' in Africa even before they meet each other for the first time.

Her speech made me reflect on my own experiences, the stories from previous Chinese immigrants which we joke about ourselves now, such as how foreigners believe in the superpower of Chinese Kung Fu, and were surprised that we were not doing foot bindings, were all misunderstandings produced by “single story.” Nowadays, with the development of social media, we commonly receive unilateral information-driven by business power. Public opinions were spreading faster than ever, which has led to conformity. Gradually, it was hard to see different attitudes on a problem. Minorities who express different opinions are more likely to be attacked by the majority, which directly leads to cyber-violence.

At the end of the TED Talk, Chimamanda advocated we spread multiple stories about ourselves to the world through media, drawings, and writings. My responsibility is to promote cultural immersions and eliminate stereotypes. Many scholars in China have already started to break the language barrier, translating Chinese poems and Traditional Chinese literature into multiple languages to spread our cultures. And for us, their next generation should be able to use the power of the media to spread unbiased, diversified acknowledgment.

The ted talk is exceedingly touching and persuasive. Hugh Evan, the speaker, used his personal experience to illustrate the rising and the importance of global citizenship. As a global scholar applicant, I found from this ted talk my mission and responsibility. I summarized two disciplines to be a global citizen: one is the long term passion and practical actions. To go beyond just thinking and patheticing about the global issues, I need to take actions, be a part to help pursue the surroundings and the authorities to change. This procedure acquires a long term passion of being involved rather than an emotionally driven stimulation. The ted talk was made in 2016, when Hugh introduced Davinia James, the global citizen who collected 1.5 million pennies and helped 300 young girls get into schools. Today, when I looked into her personal website, I found Davinia is still helping with the children even during the pandemic with full passion and material results. In contrast, I reflected that I’m less executive in taking actions. I hope that by attending, listening, and reflecting on these global events, can I finally find my field and take action to actually make a change.

The second discipline I found was the power of cooperation. Hugh has listed many successes made by global citizens. I realized that it could not happen without the effort of every person who gets involved. The concerts Hugh set up were seen by the government leaders. He invited famous musicians, asked people to participate in solving global issues to earn the tickets, and coincided the concert with U.S assemblies. Without the participation of all members mentioned above, Hugh would not have succeeded. This is the power of the community, the collective voices of global citizens. I learned that I could not possibly achieve anything by myself, but to gather with people who have similar interests and passions with me.