“Dream” (feat. Natalie Bergman, Ryan Merchant, Keenan O’Meara & Tal Altman)

In this animation video for the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival, four animals facing extinction tell their stories through the famous song of “I Dreamed a Dream”. Whale, Pelican, Rhino and Seal in the video are pushed to end their beautiful and peaceful life, living in a human hell where they would be killed at any second.

Four animals’ state of survival has been shown realistically in this short film. Whales have been consistently and wantonly hunted for kinds of products. So they are in decline. Thirteen species of whale live around the world and six are dying out. The same goes for the rhinos, poachers’ hunting blamed for a sharp decline in rhino populations. What’s worse, some kinds are being pushed to extinction. They are being poached out of existence for their valuable rhino horns, which cause numerous rhinos to die in pain. A pelican is trapped in the sea and can’t hunt for food because of the offshore oil spill. It will be poisoned or killed after its skin absorbs toxic chemicals.

During seal hunting seasons, we are upset not only about hunters’ bloody seal killing, but also about the brutal way they are skinned for their coats and oil. Even the 12-day-old baby seals were killed by hunters. Likewise, some types of seal are on the verge of extinction. It is heartbreaking when I see their deadest eyes. Man’s evil and cruelty are showed. The four animals are a miniature of being killed. Other animals, plants, and our ecological environment have been being destroyed. This reminds me of one word: “When the buying stops, the killing can, too.”

Overly damaging the environment is just for money. Driven by the profit motive, we have been infinitely extorting resources from Mother Nature, which is already overloaded with our consistent demand. All the dire consequences, such as air and water pollution, climate change, the greenhouse effect, extinction of species, the lack of fresh water and dead zone at sea, are coming home to roost. Mankind is not only the perpetrator but also victim. While they complain the environment is getting worse and worse, they still continue destabilizing. The scientists repeatedly call for protecting the environment, but to no avail.

Sometimes, I have a sense of crisis: Our planet will be destroyed one day. The horrible imagination in many films about doomsday once gave me the creeps. But if the day comes, what should we do? After believing in God, I came to realize that God is the Creator of the heavens and earth and all things. At the beginning, God prepares the suitable environment for us. However, we’re never satisfied, but wantonly damage the ecological balance for our own private gain, causing irreparable damage to the mankind. Just as God’s words say: “God allows man to manage all things and have lordship over them, but does man do a good job? (No.) How does man do a bad job? Mankind tends toward destruction; mankind is not only unable to preserve the things as God created them, he has actually destroyed them. Mankind has reduced the mountains to rubble, choked the seas with earth, and turned the plains into deserts where none can live. Yet there in the desert man has made industry and built nuclear bases and destruction prevails in all directions. The rivers are no longer rivers, the sea no longer the sea, they are filled to the brim with pollution. When mankind breaks the balance and the rules of nature, their day of disaster and death is not far away and is inevitable. When the disaster comes, you will know how precious God’s creation is and how important all of it is for mankind; mankind is beginning to wake up to this fact. You see, man living in an environment with a fine climate is like being in paradise. People do not realize this blessing, but the moment they lose it all they will see how rare and precious all of it is. How would one get all of this back? What could people do if God was unwilling to create it again? What could you do? (We could do nothing.)Actually, there is something you can do and it’s very simple and when I tell you what it is you’ll immediately know that it is feasible. Why has man found himself in his current environmental predicament? Is it because of man’s greed and destruction? If man ends this destruction, won’t the living environment gradually right itself? If God does nothing, if God no longer wishes to do anything for mankind—that is to say, He doesn’t want to intervene—the best method would be for mankind to stop this destruction and return things to how they were. Putting an end to all this destruction means to stop the plundering and devastation of the things God has created. This will allow the environment where man lives to gradually improve. Failure to do so will result in further destruction of the environment and it will only become more serious. Don’t you see that My method is simple? (Yes, it is.) It is simple and feasible.”

God’s words show us the best way to iron out the problem is that we should put aside our greed and stop hunting wild animals and damaging the environment, and that we should know God’s intention when He created all things for mankind and obey His arrangements. Only in this way, will our survival environment turn the corner. Or else, when most of the world become uninhabitable, it will be too late to repent.