With a love for learning and a love for the Earth, and three hours a week, a group of older students turned an abandoned plot of land in their neighborhood into a wetland conservation site.
The group of 51 students at Shilin Community College held an eco-pond completion ceremony yesterday and promised to maintain the wetland even after their class is finished.
“Building the pond is only the beginning. With it I’m going to teach them how to be environmental educators and guide people through wetlands,” said Chen Te-hong (陳德鴻), head of the Society of Wilderness and the class teacher.
WETLANDS’ VITAL ROLE
Wetlands are an important source of nutrition for many types of plants, animals and insects, as well as an important habitat for them, he said.
“The damage done to wetlands is more severe than people think,” he said.
Fortunately in recent years more people are starting to pay attention to what they are doing to the environment, Chen said, adding that the concept of “land morality” is beginning to be spread.
“The idea of land morality is to let nature take over when it comes to ‘designing’ a green space,” he said.
For example, the constructed wetland that Chen’s class built doesn’t have carefully pruned trees and mown grass.
ACCORDING TO NATURE
“We are educated to think that orderly is the way parks should be, but we should provide an opportunity for the environment to evolve according to nature, rather than demanding that trees and grasses comply with human desires,” he said.
The student leader of the class, Liao Yong-song (廖永松), who is in his 60s, said the class was very meaningful to him and that he wished to become an “ecosystem maintainer” and guide at the site after he finishes the course.
“We have planted many things that should originally have existed here [if the land hadn’t been damaged],” Liao said.
Most of the students were surprised to learn what nature should be like, how much damage humans have done to it and why the survival of small animals and plants is directly linked to human survival, he said.
PYRAMID
“The food chain is like a pyramid with humans at the top. If the life forms on the bottom — which support the beings in the middle — don’t survive, then humanity will face collapse,” Liao said.
“When we try and conserve and protect nature we are actually protecting ourselves,” Liao said.
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday thanked Palau for its continued support of Taiwan's international participation, as Taipei was once again excluded from the World Health Assembly (WHA) currently taking place in Switzerland. "Palau has never stopped voicing support for Taiwan" in the UN General Assembly, the WHO and other UN-affiliated agencies, Lai said during a bilateral meeting with visiting Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. "We have been profoundly touched by these endorsements," Lai said, praising the Pacific island nation's firm support as "courageous." Lai's remarks came as Taiwan was excluded for the ninth consecutive year from the WHA, which is being held in
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
At least three people died and more than a dozen were injured yesterday afternoon when a vehicle struck a group of pedestrians in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽). The incident happened at about 4pm when a car rammed into pedestrians at an intersection near Bei Da Elementary School. Witnesses said the sedan, being driven at a high speed, ran a red light, knocking scooters out of the way and hitting students crossing the road before careening into a median near the intersection of Guocheng and Guoguang streets. The incident resulted in three deaths and 13 injuries, including the driver, a 78-year-old man
RSS