Clive Williams Nicol is not afraid to be called a "tree-hugger." To him, nothing seemed more urgent than saving trees from the slash of an axe.
"My grandmother is an old style Celt, who believes that you can get spirit power from trees when you hold the tree," he said.
"The trees have energy and healing power," he said.
So when Nicol heard that the Japanese government was planning to remove trees in Kurohime Heights to build roads, he approached them with a rather interesting offer.
"Please sell me a hundred trees in the forest," he told a government official. "That way you will not have to cut down those trees and they [will be] able to stay here forever."
"No way," said the official, shaking his head.
The answer failed to deter Nicol. Rather than continue negotiating with the Japanese government, he figured out that the best way to preserve the trees would be to buy the entire forest.
Since 1985, through his savings and money he has made selling books and appearing on Japanese TV shows, Nicol has managed to buy woodlands piece by piece from corporations and government alike.
"Not one single dime I spent buying the lands came from the Japanese government," Nicol said.
Nicol now uses the lands he purchased to conduct research on plants and animals.
Summer camps will also be held in the forest for children suffering from disabilities and those who suffered traumatic experiences in childhood.
He also turned the project into a book with the title The Diary of Kurohime Heights, now available in Chinese.
In fluent Japanese, Nicol recounted his story of purchasing a forest to participants at a question and answer session yesterday at the Taiwan International Book Exhibition.
Born in South Wales, Britain, Nicol embarked on several expeditions to the Arctic Circle from the age of 17.
He was inspired to do so by a movie directed by a Norwegian explorer.
Nicol has also been active in restoring forests in the national parks of Ethiopia.
His efforts only achieved minimal success, however, as warlords later took away surrounding lands by force and did great damage to the lands.
A prolific writer, Nicol has published several books on environmental issues.
One of Nicol's books, The Boy Who Saw the Wind, was turned into an animation movie and was recognized as the Best Animation Film at the 45th Asia Pacific Film Festival.
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
ANNUAL LIGHT SHOW: The lanterns are exhibited near Taoyuan’s high-speed rail station and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the airport MRT line More than 400 lanterns are to be on display at the annual Taiwan Lantern Festival, which officially starts in Taoyuan today. The city is hosting the festival for the second time — the first time was in 2016. The Tourism Administration held a rehearsal of the festival last night. Chunghwa Telecom donated the main lantern of the festival to the Taoyuan City Government. The lanterns are exhibited in two main areas: near the high-speed rail (HSR) station in Taoyuan, which is at the A18 station of the Taoyuan Airport MRT, and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the MRT
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights
Nearly 800 Indian tourists are to arrive this week on an incentive tour organized by Indian company Asian Painted Ltd, making it the largest tour group from the South Asian nation to visit since the COVID-19 pandemic. The travelers are scheduled to arrive in six batches from Sunday to Feb. 25 for five-day tours, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The tour would take the travelers, most of whom are visiting Taiwan for the first time, to several tourist sites in Taipei and Yilan County, including tea houses in Taipei’s Maokong (貓空), Dadaocheng (大稻埕) and Ximending (西門町) areas. They would also visit