Chapter 15 : Environmental Protection

        Deep in everyone’s memory, there is a beautiful river, a river that is clear and beautiful with fishes swimming over glimmering pebbles. Deep in everyone’s imagination, there is a pure land where you can smell the freshness of the soil and grass and feel the cool breeze blowing from a beautiful open field. Deep in everyone’s dream is a verdant mountain that plays a woodwind symphony when the wind blows through the trees.

There is dream and there is reality. And the reality is stark. We now have few clean water resources, few places with fresh air. Forest decline is serious. Mother earth is sick. And so are we. What happened to our dream of the beautiful river, the pure land and the verdant mountain?

 

Environmental Problems

        Although the economy of Taiwan has grown fast, we need to consider the environmental cost. To cultivate eels and shrimps for export, too much underground water has been pumped, leading to stratum subsistence and ocean inundation. To grow vegetables and fruits for our own consumption and for export, we planted mountain slopes. To play golf, we cut down forests. Soil has been washed away by the ton. Landslides are common. This is the destruction of the environment. Industry creates economical miracles, but improper planning pollutes the land. Other problems are the misuse of insecticides and fertilizers, exhaust emissions, and the improper disposal of household and industrial waste. If we do not take any remedial measures, environmental problems like water pollution, air pollution, noise pollution, and land pollution will all go from worse to bad.

 

Environmental Preservation

        In previous chapters of this book, we have learned that the climate of Taiwan is warm and comfortable with abundant rainfall, and that the terrain varies greatly between the mountain peaks and the ocean coast. The varied and complex natural environment of Taiwan contains abundant ecological systems that are sometimes very rare and vulnerable. Once destroyed, they can never be restored. The government has established six national parks and other natural reserves to protect natural resources, such as particular types of terrain as well as wild animals and plants. There is also protection for historical and cultural sites such as old buildings.

        To protect the water, soil and air from pollution, the government has established the Environmental Protection Administration. The Council for Economic Planning and Development has drawn up the National Land Use Plan to promote proper land use.

        The residents of Taiwan have become aware that environmental protection is closely related to their daily lives. There are more and more environmental groups now. To minimize environmental pollution, some entrepreneurs have invested in environment-friendly manufacturing processes and have begun making environment-friendly products. Most of us realize that only when environmental protection goes hand in hand with economic development can human beings create a long-term, harmonious relationship with Mother Nature and benefit one another.

 

Sustainable Development

        Human beings rely on resources like air, water and soil to live. In fact, we share the air, water and soil with our ancestors and our descendents. We should not exploit these natural resources. We should try our utmost to treasure and conserve them. The ideal of sustainable development has become a kind of common consensus among all humankind.

        Being members of the global village, we all have a responsibility to contribute to the sustainable development of the earth and to a new, green century of environmental protection. The most immediate thing we can do is to make a commitment. We cannot only think about ourselves. Conservation of the environment is no longer somebody else’s responsibility. It is your responsibility too. We all need to reduce pollution by conserving resources.

        The power of an individual is small, but a mountain of pennies is a fortune. Every little bit counts. As long as everyone begins to reduce consumption of natural resources and artificial materials like plastic and to recycle as much as possible, the ecological systems of the earth will not be destroyed. Our future generations will live on this Ilha Formosa for a long, long time.