A student from the Czech Republic is helping clean up Taiwan's environment by picking up litter and inspiring his Taiwanese peers to follow suit.
Soon after his arrival in February, 22-year-old Daniel Hradsky, an exchange student studying Chinese at Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages in Kaohsiung, rode a motorcycle around the country, picking up garbage littering the beaches and valleys along the way.
paradise lost
Hradsky said he fell in love with the scenery soon after setting foot in Taiwan. He rode to beaches and mountains to enjoy the nation's beauty.
Many sites, however, were littered with bottles, cans, glass and garbage discarded by tourists, Hradsky said, adding that sometimes the volume of trash was so great "it would take an army" to finish cleaning up.
Hradsky recalled that his girlfriend in the Czech Republic was a conscientious "garbage collector" who would pick up litter on the street. At the time, he recalled, he considered her actions "meaningless."
But to his surprise, soon after arriving in Taiwan Hradsky started picking up litter on the streets, in the mountains and on the beaches.
paradise regained
Over the past five months, he has visited Taipei, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Kenting, as well as Taitung and Hualien, picking up garbage along the way.
Hradsky said that although Taiwanese are very kind and friendly to foreigners, they are "litter bugs" who are also heavily dependent on cars, motorcycles and air conditioners -- all conveniences that are implicated in environment hazards and climate change.
Hradsky's actions have inspired his Taiwanese classmates and friends, who have, in turn, joined him in collecting garbage.
Some of his classmates, he said, have even stopped using their air-conditioners.
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