I was lived in a small village in China, 2001 – 2008. At that time I felt like I was lived in a place surrounded by many wild animals, although my father said many species already disappeared.
Ten years later, I visited my ‘home’ again, and I suddenly realized that it was dying. Due to coal mine, a mass of black particles abundant in air and leaves, which hide the original colorful world. No more clean water and blue sky, no more green leaves and wild creatures. People with happy faces mined the treasure while left black hard rocks on the surface of the ground. I thought this land will no longer be recoverable, and my ‘home’ of childhood will no longer exist.
A few months ago, in Aug 2020, I visited my ‘home’ again just before I took a long journey. Fortunately, instead of coal plants, the local gov built a solar power system, which brought hope for the land. Just two years without mining activities, birds came back and the weeds covered the black rock.
Perhaps ten years later, all things will come back to normal.