A joint program established by the US and Taiwan in 2014 has helped Taiwanese students gain greater environmental awareness and improve their ability to record firsthand pollution data, a senior official with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said yesterday.
US EPA acting assistant administrator for international and tribal affairs Jane Nishida said she found that students at a Taichung high school were more involved in environmental issues in their second year of participation in the EPA’s global air quality initiative.
Through the “Kids Making Sense” international program, students can use US-made devices to check the level of PM 2.5 pollution — particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers — in the air and explain how people’s behavior could affect the environment, Nishida said.
She said students at the Stella Matutina Girls’ High School in Taichung, who previously had only a vague idea about the effects of environmental pollution, now have a better sense of the problem after recording and comparing pollution levels when there are few vehicles on the road with peak periods.
The school has also set up a color-coded air quality alarm system that signals when air pollution reaches dangerous levels, Nishida said.
A common system in US schools, it is an ideal way to get the public to pay attention to environmental issues, she said.
“Our youth are ambassadors in terms of public awareness,” Nishida said.
During her visit to Taiwan, Nishida will also promote US-Taiwan cooperation through the International Environmental Partnership (IEP), a joint multi-year effort between the US EPA and Taiwanese EPA, the American Institute in Taiwan said.
In 2014, Taiwan and the US officially launched the IEP, a network of international experts working to increase awareness for addressing environmental challenges.
Through the initiative, the two sides are working to address issues, such as climate change, environmental education, electronic waste management, air pollution, mercury monitoring and contaminated soil and groundwater.
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