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Robin Winkler: a force for ecological care

Sitting among Hualien residents, environmentalists and legislators at a press conference held earlier this week at the Legislative Yuan, Robin Winkler (文魯彬), a lawyer who has given up his US citizenship, added his voice to the growing opposition to the proposed Suao-Hualien freeway.

Having spent 27 years in the country studying Chinese and working as a legal consultant for foreign investors, Winkler now promotes sustainable development.

To achieve this goal, Winkler established the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, Taiwan (台灣蠻野心足生態協會) last month and is its director-general. The non-profit organization is a product of Winkler's long-held belief that the environment needs a good lawyer.

The organization gets reliable backup from the resources of Winkler Partners, Winkler's Taipei-based law firm. He believes that the involvement of lawyers in the environmental movement can help shape environmental law in this country.

Over the last three decades, Winkler observed the detrimental effects of rapid economic development on the environment, but decided more had to be done.

"In order to carefully consider local issues from the Taiwanese perspective, I chose to become a Taiwanese citizen," Winkler told the Taipei Times.

Winkler, 50, renounced his US citizenship in August last year and fulfilled the goal of becoming a Taiwanese national in November.

An advocate of the simple life, Winkler began to translate books published by the US-based Sierra Club a few years ago. Through a Taiwanese publisher,the books were released here, encouraging locals to adjust their values.

Among these, Winkler released several titles criticizing excessive material consumption, a process that depletes the environment's resource base and exacerbates inequality.

Just as the intellectual property expert was reaching the peak of his career, he was diagnosed with third-phase lung cancer. From the end of 2002 to the middle of last year, Winkler spent time in Hualien fighting the illness. His doctor had predicted that he would live no longer than six months.

Profound physical weakness, however, did not defeat Winkler's hopes to further embrace this country, nor his enthusiasm for raising environmental awareness. Instead of losing the courage to embrace life, Winkler concentrated his energies on translating the legends of 10 Aboriginal tribes into English. These books, written in English and Chinese, are aimed not only at children but also at adults.

In this way, a peaceful and meaningful life in Hualien had nursed Winkler back to health.

DRIVING FORCE

Winkler then became a driving force in the campaign against the controversial freeway project connecting Ilan and Hualien counties.

He said the government had reduced the reasons for building the freeway into a crude promotion of Hualien's economy.

Winkler attacked what he called the government's careless thinking, which could be seen in the freeway's environmental impact assessment (EIA).

"It's terrible, because the assessment lacks a comprehensive concern for a whole range of issues, including water resources and ecological systems," Winkler said.

Winkler's position is shared by many environmentalists. Lai Wei-chieh (賴偉傑), secretary-general of the Green Citizens' Action Alliance, said that the EIA for the NT$96.2 billion project needs to be reviewed carefully because it will pass through 13 seismic fault lines, 10 prehistoric sites and 17 environmentally sensitive areas.

It is one of the most earthquake-prone areas in one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

Lai said the EIA was passed by the Environmental Protection Administration on March 15, 2000, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was in power. However, the assessment craftily acknowledged that the project could have unforeseen environmental effects that would have to be dealt with as they occurred, he said.

"It looks like the EIA process is based on the interests of developers rather than those of the community," he said.

Chang Hung-lin (張宏林), secretary-general of the Wilderness Society, the largest conservation group in the country, told the Taipei Times that Winkler's approach in tackling questionable projects, most of which sacrificed the environment and which posed a threat to the ability of many species to survive, was rational and hit the nail on the head.

"Before environmental regulations were formalized, we needed devoted lawyers like Winkler to carefully analyze the environmental problems that we encountered and find plausible legal solutions," Chang said.

In addition to opposing the freeway, Winkler and his partners have also worked on reviewing regulations for waste incinerators and establishing regulations on ecological funding among other projects.

"It's common for people here to think globally. But it's not easy to find people who act locally as devotedly as Winkler," Chang said.
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