Thumbs up for Chi Pang-wen (Letter, Feb. 26, page 8). I have written letters to the editor commenting on the environmental and ecological situation in Taiwan. I have also written to some national park administrations and the Environmental Protection Administration. Silence was the answer.
Lately, maybe because I realized that if the Taiwanese do not care about their environment and my words are no use, I just kept working on it by promoting environmental and ecological awareness in the mountain clubs I help and at the schools I work for.
It seems to me that, like everything in Taiwan, "the environmental question" is also a political one. Why is the government so reluctant to make Taiwan a truly environmentally sound country? Maybe the officials still remember the education they received during the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) era -- that is, "Taiwan is not really your true home. Your motherland is just a few hundred kilometers to the west, China, the promised land to which one day we will return."
I am beginning to believe that this ideology has not been erased in the brains of today's leaders, and maybe we will still need to wait 20 to 30 years until people who were brought up thinking of and believing in Taiwan as their true home, with enough beauty to surprise anyone, take the reins of the nation. Let's just pray that Taiwan is still an inhabitable island at that time.
Francisco Carin Garcia
Taipei
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