"I've been living with nuclear waste since I was born. My greatest hope is for the waste to be removed from Orchid Island as soon as possible." Thus did Orchid Island junior-high schooler Hsieh Wen-lung (謝文龍) express his most heartfelt wish and his sense of helplessness to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) during Chen's meeting with child "ambassadors" who had come from around the world to attend this year's World's Children Summit, which was held in Taiwan.
But have Taiwan's adults really heard or felt the cry of a child from Orchid Island?
That the policy of "temporarily" storing nuclear waste on Orchid Island has long caused environmental injustice and affected the health and social psychology of its residents is well known. For that reason, Taiwan Power Co (Tai-power, 台電) has repeatedly pro-mised to remove the waste by the end of this year. Now this promise is set to be broken. Hsieh gave voice to their vexation, "[We] hate being cheated again and again by the government."
"Don't do unto others what you wouldn't have them do unto you" was Chen's reply to Hsieh's plea. This response reminded us to put ourselves in the shoes of others. Nonetheless, the Tao people have lived with fear and trepidation because of the waste that has been dumped on Orchid Island. What they need is a solution to the problem.
Since the 1980s, "environmental human rights" have been gradually incorporated into the concept of human rights. Basic environmental human rights include clean air, sunshine, water, soil and a suitable living environment. Governments must make efforts to guarantee these for their people.
The emphasis on children's rights highlights the significance of environmental human rights. Adults, motivated by political, economic and lifestyle factors, damage the ecological system and pollute the environment, but their actions will have a greater impact on children than themselves.
Academics stress "intergenerational justice" in their discussions of environmental problems. "Intergenerational justice" is a moral appeal based on the notion that future generations will have to suffer the pernicious consequences (mudslides, water shortages and the proliferation of diseases) of whatever ravages the current generation inflicts upon nature (deforestation on mountain slopes and mass generation of toxic waste).
Since future generations can't safeguard their future rights and interests through normal channels, today's adults must establish appropriate regulations and policies from the viewpoint of social ethics. This is the main difference between current and previous discourse on social justice.
The concept points directly to the fact that our society is doing an injustice to posterity by exploiting natural resources and emitting wastes in order to satisfy the endless desires of the present generation. The extent to which a society stresses intergenerational justice is one determinant of how civilized that society is.
Think about it. While we enjoy the convenience of electricity, Hsieh and the other children on Orchid Island have to live under the shadow of nuclear waste every day. This is a great injustice.
We all know that Taipower and the government have tried over the past few years to find a permanent location for the waste but have failed. What's really preposterous is that the question of whether to establish the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四) has become a political bargaining chip.
Many adults have come out in favor of continuing construction of the plant but, as usual, none wants the waste. Once again, it will be future generations who will have to pay.
Hsieh's speaking out was the most significant thing that happened at the children's summit. In addition to supporting Hsieh's petition to remove the waste from Orchid Island as soon as possible, I -- ?on the basis of the ethical spirit of intergenerational justice -- also call on Taiwan to accelerate its transformation into a nuclear-free homeland and halt construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. After all, in every nuclear reactor is sown countless seeds of "intergenerational injustice."
Chi Chun-chieh is an associate professor at the Institute of Ethnic Relations at National Dong-Hwa University.
Translated by Jackie Lin
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