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Car power needs to go

I would like to comment on an issue that I and many other people in the country think is of the utmost importance: Taiwan’s degraded environment.

My criticism may anger some, but think of me as the loyal opposition, voicing frustration with what I think are corrosive beliefs and behavior that have become entrenched in Taiwan’s daily life.

It has been said before — there are many pollution problems in Taiwan, including fetid rivers, garbage and industrial toxins. It is well known that this nation is notorious for having indiscriminately raped its environment for decades.

But I would like to briefly address the problems created by the destructive motor culture in Taipei: air and noise pollution, the blight created by abandoned vehicles, dangerous conditions on roads and sidewalks and the disorder and discomfort of swarming and lawless parking.

I may be a radical, but I endorse strict limitations on vehicles in cities, and look forward to the day when these monsters are wholly eradicated. Such a world would have a lot more bicycles, available public transportation and alternative energies, which would help restore safe living conditions.

Many will squawk that, for various reasons, motor vehicles are their god-given right, and we’ll have to pry their cold, dead fingers from the steering wheels and handlebars of their cars and motorcycles before they will give them up.

We will expect the most tenacious resistance from the smallest minds, so we will no doubt have a fight on our hands.

I read with some interest the recent interview with Susan Stockwell in the Taipei Times (“Paper, trains and automobiles,” page 15, April 9) wherein she noted that in London “they are taking ... power away from the car.” Bravo, I say, this is the progressive and intelligent way forward in city life, and will ultimately be the wave of the future.

I have seen the value of taking power away from cars in San Francisco and Boston, which in the 1980s and 1990s began to demolish those horrid, hulking elevated freeways that so diminish life and the environment as they do in Taipei.

The results have been that both cities have become renewed, more beautiful and more comfortable than ever before. It was incredible to see how the disappearance of those ghastly structures energized and beautified these cities. For Taipei, the time is now to begin endeavors like these.

I hope that we can see more discussion in these pages on these and other environmental problems in Taiwan. For my part, I am a committed bicyclist and user of public transportation — I hope to never own another motor vehicle.

And finally, working with Taiwanese people and other foreigners living in Taipei, I will try to live clean and green, and to contribute to improving the environment and making life the best it can be here.

David Pendery

Taipei

Go orange in 2008

A Danish artist has launched a global protest campaign against human rights abuses in China using the color orange.

It’s a brilliant idea, simple and completely non-violent and peaceful. He wants people who attend the Olympics in Beijing this summer to wear orange-colored shirts, hats, neckties, shoes and dresses.

Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot initiated the global protest campaign. He has told reporters in Europe: “By using something with the color orange during the Olympics — both inside and outside of China — people from many countries will be sending a signal that something is wrong in China.

“It can be anything, like an orange hat, an orange necktie or dress. Even peeling an orange in Beijing on live TV could be considered a protest.”

Of course, the Chinese government wants to present the 2008 Summer Olympics as its showcase of China’s so-called “peaceful rise” to billions of television viewers around the world. It’s China’s coming out party.

But by using the color orange as a protest color, according to Galschiot, those who participate in the dramatic yet peaceful actions will be a thorn in the side of China’s Olympics public relations efforts.

In addition, by using the color orange as a protest color in Beijing, millions of oppressed Chinese people will have a voice on the world stage via television and newspaper reports.

Why was the color orange chosen?

Galschiot said: “Orange was inspired by the European painter Kandinsky, who once said that the color orange is in fact red that has been made more human by the color yellow.

“The Chinese flag is red with yellow stars, so maybe we can support the humanistic forces inside China by using the color orange. Orange is also inspired by the color of the clothes of the monks in Tibet.”

Galschiot says he is happy with the impact his protest campaign is having worldwide. “If millions of people help pass on this idea, we can create a butterfly effect blowing an orange wind over China.”

As a form of non-verbal, non-violent protest, Galschiot’s simple idea is brilliant — and colorful. Get ready for a very orange Summer Olympics, right in the heart of Beijing.

The eyes of the world will be watching, in living color. Sometimes the most powerful ideas are simple ones. This one has great potential.

Dan Bloom

Chiayi City
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