Seeds of hope grow into a force of nature

Internationally renowned primatologist Jane Goodall at a public event themed on animal protection in Beijing on Sunday. CHINA DAILY A dangling, moon-shaped feeding device for playful cubs to cling to, allowing food to fall through its holes; a geometric structure of interconnected triangles, strung together with plastic cups cut from water bottles to hold honey; and a pair of nut-filled cylinder tubes wrapped in wool yarn and painted with paw-print patterns — these are the toys designed for moon bears, named for the crescent-shaped white marking on their chest. ROOTS/SHOOTS BEIJING In 2011, Li's design won first prize in a designing-for-moon bear competition, one of the organizers of which is the Beijing branch of Roots and Shoots, a youth-led community action program launched two decades earlier by the internationally renowned primatologist Jane Goodall. "Many young people who were with us have later gone on to take leadership roles in China's ongoing effort to balance development with environmental protection," says Goodall, who's currently in Beijing, leaving on Thursday. "At 90, she's here to celebrate with us the China program's 30th anniversary, and to show that when one is immersed in something one truly loves, there's no such a thing as retiring," Jiang says.