Tian Dong's Conservation Path: Seeking Hope Amid Collapse

I am very fortunate: I lived through the most beautiful era of Yilan

I am very unlucky: at such a young age I already have to bear the pain of a ruined homeland

I am very helpless: no matter how I cry out for help, what I do not want to lose is still lost

I am very angry, very broken, very sad, but again and again I repair myself and work hard alongside everyone else

And so I see a tiny glimmer of hope, and I say to myself and to everyone: grab hold of it.

My parents are truly great. Before I could even talk, they made a very brave decision: leave Taipei and go live in Yilan. The reason? They said that after living in Taipei for so long they felt a bit tired of it, wanted to try a more comfortable environment, and give their child a good childhood along the way. Strange, you say, is that brave? Yes, it is!

Back then there was no such thing as National Highway No. 5. To drive between Yilan and Taipei there were only two choices: One, the Coastal Highway. Beautiful scenery, birdsong and fragrant flowers, three hours! Two, the Beiyi Highway. This one is faster; if you are a speed racer you will get there in an hour and a half, but... so~o~ dizzy~ing~! Either way, compared with today's National Highway No. 5, these two roads were simply inhumane. What about taking the train? Sorry, that also takes two hours. And after getting off, if you do not take a taxi and cannot find anyone to pick you up, it is very hard to reach your destination. Under those circumstances, if I had grown up in Taipei since childhood like my parents, with all my family also in Taipei, I definitely would not, and would not dare, do such a thing.

Because we were not locals, and because my parents' profession was teaching, we had neither land nor any knowledge of farming in Yilan, and we did not choose to live beside the paddy fields either. Instead we settled in a community beside a main road. Still, at that time Yilan's environment was really so good that you only had to walk out the door for three minutes to play beside the paddy fields. "Dancing with insects and frogs" and "running so wildly I fell into the mud" are my most precious childhood memories, and they planted the seed of hope of a love for ecology.

In fourth grade, because I was electrified by the black-faced spoonbill, I became obsessed with birds. Without a second thought I gave up the music class and plunged into the world of birds. Only then did I discover that Yilan was simply paradise! Any moment it would hand me a vast expanse of rice paddies, full of birds! Three or four thousand Pacific golden plovers, common teals, Kentish plovers, black-faced spoonbills and bean geese at extremely close range... Oh my, I was overjoyed! I fell completely in love with this land, found a sense of belonging, and when introducing myself I would say in a naive, loud voice: Our family is from Taipei, but my parents and I are Yilan people!