KHH Enviros Newsletter –January 2nd, 2010
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2010 has arrived and it’s another new beginning!
2009, though ending on a bit of depressing note at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, was actually a good year for environmentalism. We saw the first climate bill make it through the house of representatives in the US, China has begun plans to build the world’s largest wind farms and Taiwan passed a bill to ensure the rapid growth of renewable, clean forms of energy. Not too shabby.
Unfortunately, one needs only look out their window to see that the job is not even close to finish. We have movement, and that’s good, but it’s gonna take some pushing to get this off the ground. 2010 will be the year the Green Movement explodes in Taiwan!
This year will be characterized by a lot more enviro events with partner organizations in Taiwan and abroad, and turning our organization bilingual. If the KHH Enviros is to make any significant impact, we have to reach out to our Taiwanese hosts more. Look for our Recruitment events soon; we’ll be going to Universities and possibly high schools to get the youth of Kaohsiung involved.
Get ready to go green this year!
KHH Enviros team
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1. Green News from Around the Island
2. Green Tip – Stages of Environmentalism
3. Let’s Get Recruiting Students– Please Come Help
4. “We’re Not Finished Yet” - YouTube Video
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1. Enviro News From Around Taiwan
Taiwan has unveiled what it calls Asia's biggest solar power plant as the island, which imports almost all its energy, seeks to tap into clean renewable resources, the government said yesterday. The two-hectare (4.9-acre) plant in south Taiwan's Kaohsiung county, an area that enjoys year-round sunshine, is equipped with 141 huge solar panels that can generate one megawatt in total, said the Atomic Energy Council.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) made public the government's planned procurement prices for renewable energy generated by enterprises in the private sector, yesterday.
Nearly 70 percent of the population favors the notion of replacing nuclear power with renewable energy, while 50 percent think nuclear power should be maintained as an option, according to the results of a poll released yesterday.
Taiwan, which imports all of its coal needs, reduced purchases for a second consecutive month in November as power producers drew down inventories.
The public will get a discount for conserving water starting in January, the Water Resources Agency announced Wednesday.
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) on Tuesday published a study on weather changes in Taiwan over the past century, which showed that local temperatures had risen by an average of 0.8 degrees Celsius.
Noting that there are around 200,000 hectares of fallow land around Taiwan, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) minister suggested yesterday that building “photonics greenhouses” on such land as part of efforts to promote the development of renewable energy would be a good policy.
The Cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) renewed a campaign yesterday in which the public are urged not to use disposable chopsticks — a move that has persuaded more shopping malls, department stores and hypermarkets to take part in its carbon-reduction efforts.
The air conditioning system in Yuan Ze University classrooms is just like that at any other university. It costs a lot of money to run.
Motech Industries Inc., Taiwan's largest solar cell maker, said yesterday it will buy a solar cell module assembly plant in Delaware from General Electric Co.'s (GE) energy unit for NT$146 million (US$4.54 million).
The impact of a sandstorm sweeping in from China on Taiwan's air quality has subsided and air quality has gradually returned to normal, although the quality in southern Taiwan is still not ideal, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.
Air quality from Taiwan's central to southern regions has reached the “red” condition as of yesterday, according to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). It is expected to last two more days if the good weather continues.
After six years of field investigation, the first map of Taiwan's vegetation -- nearly 60 percent of which is forest -- was published Thursday.
President Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday that Taiwan, as a constructive member of the global village, is committed to reducing carbon emissions and the government will uphold its responsibility in that regard in the years ahead.
Taiwan dropped 15 places and was ranked at the bottom of “poor” countries in a worldwide gauge of national emission reduction performance released in sideline of the Copenhagen U.N. Climate Summit yesterday.
A Taiwanese delegate attending a global meeting on climate change in Copenhagen argued that it is not in the spirit of carbon emissions reduction if carbon emission credits are traded as futures.
Some 30 university students from Taiwan, acting as environmental ambassadors, joined thousands of protesters on the streets of Copenhagen Saturday to demand that world leaders take stronger action to fight climate change.
President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday called on members of a youth volunteer team organized by the National Youth Commission to spread the concept of carbon emission reductions and energy conservation as they perform volunteer services.
The U.S. plan to regulate greenhouse gases will pose both challenges and opportunities for Taiwan industries and investors, according to industrialists and analysts here.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) urged the Legislative Yuan to pass a greenhouse gas control act as a legal basis for facilitating efforts to curb carbon dioxide emissions and coping with the new situations that may arise from a global convention on climate change.
President Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday that the international community would get a better understanding of Taiwan's efforts in cutting back carbon emissions if government officials could take part in a global meeting next month in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.
The establishment of Taiwan's eighth national park, Taijiang National Park in Tainan, was described by Vice Premier Eric Liluan Chu at its opening yesterday as an important landmark in Taiwan's environmental conservation efforts.
Taiwan's nongovernmental organizations are still facing China's obstruction internationally with more than a dozen NGOs being requested to change their names this year, but the trend was unrelated to the new flexible diplomatic approach of Taiwan's government, according to a foreign ministry official.
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2. Green Tip – Stages of Environmentalism
Courtesy of Tim Higgs
Greetings green people. This month our tip is less of a tip and more of a bit of ecological education, a bit of a pick me up, but more just a reminder that being green is emotionally charged. You’ll get frustrated, we all do, just don’t let it stop you.
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“I don't remember the first time I cried for the earth, but it happens more and more these days.”
An environmentalist goes through a lot of different stages, I'm finding out, before they become comfortable enough with themselves to admit to being one.
The first stage is inspiration and awe.
When a person begins to learn – of their own accord – about the vast amounts of degradation occurring in this world, it often sparks a certain thirst for more knowledge. It's a wonderful moment to be in when you're finally learning something, after years of sitting in school, bored and annoyed, that truly sparks a passion for learning. I wish this stage could last forever; it's peaceful and satisfying.
The next stage, which quickly follows, is frustration.
When a person begins to learn about these deeply emotional issues, they' will undoubtedly want to talk about it, and share this shocking knowledge. Though there is often frustration with the greater world as a whole for allowing this sort of thing, it's when you begin to engage your friends and family that the frustration really begins. As the environmentalist begins to realize that daily priorities like work, family, bills, home ownership, and a considerable number of other considerations will invariably take priority. The environmentalist expects the knowledge he spreads to be the spark for action, when in fact most people just don't want to hear about it. They have enough problems in their own life to deal with the world’s.
After frustration there is a threshold one must reach and it can take a would-be environmentalist away from the path he or she was meant to be on. Once a person realizes the shear scale of the problems it becomes like looking up at a mountain, standing in bare feet. To add to this, you'll be climbing this mountain alone, it seems. At this point the person chooses to power through, regardless of obstacles, or despair takes hold and any good work they would have done is abandoned. This is usually not a conscious decision, but rather one that is socially built in. Instead of focusing on helping the environment, their focus shifts to more “practical” concerns. I.e. The same issues, like job and family, which took priority for the people who wouldn't help in the first place, become the would-be environmentalists priorities. If this stage continues through life this person becomes someone we all know: the “I remember when I wanted to save the world, too” person. The person who believes it's impossible, because they found the task too daunting in their youth.
It needn't end this way, though for many who start on the good work path it does. Some may hurdle the stage of despair, but for those who don't there remains a feeling of emptiness; of feeling like they were supposed to be doing more with their life to help the world. This feeling is pushed down by the everyday concerns and good work is replaced with work work. But for some, time in this stage is never quite satisfying. They recognize the hole and begin a more healthy relationship with environmentalism.
In essence what happens is there is an acceptance that perhaps the problems may not be solved. Perhaps family and friends will call you crazy and misguided. Perhaps you can't do environmentalism as your job and become the eco-warrior you dreamt about in stage one. Perhaps you may fail, but you'll do it anyway because it feels right.
This is the final stage of sustainable environmentalism. The identity of a “green person” becomes cemented into your self-worth. If you're not doing good work, you don't feel you're being a good person. You strive to do things more green, even if you can't do everything as enviro-friendly as you'd like. And you are happy to be known as an environmentalist by your friends and family.
It's difficult and frustrating, but try to get to this final stage. Don't despair, you're not alone.
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3. Let’s Get Recruiting Students– Please Come Help
In the coming weeks we’ll begin going to Universities to sign people up to our mailing list.
It’s as simple as asking people for their email address. Easy!
If you’re uncomfortable with your Chinese ability, no problem! We’ll have a short blurb on a card ready for you to simply hand to them. They read it and sign up or don’t.
If you’d like to help, send us an email. We’ll have scheduled dates, and impromptu dates where we go when people can go.
4.
Our YouTube series continues on. This is a video produced after the Copenhagen Climate Conference as a message to world leaders that we’re not finished the climate work.
Indeed we’ve only just begun.
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Wishing you all a Happy Holiday season, if indeed it’s your holidays.
--Tim
Managing Director
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