Chen Juei-pin (陳瑞賓), secretary-general of one of Taiwan’s leading environmental groups, said in a recent interview that one of his dreams was to get more people to talk about “what is right” rather than what is in their own best interests.
“When the public has autonomy and can obtain information without having to rely on the government, then they will discuss not only their best interests, but also what is right,” the Taiwan Environmental Information Association (TEIA) leader said.
That kind of thinking is what motivates Taiwanese -environmentalists to stay strong in the pursuit of justice, he said.
Environmental protection is closely related to people’s daily lives and involves everything, from food, clothing and housing to policy, Chen said.
It is impossible to protect the environment by asking individuals to recycle and cut energy consumption without discussing a country’s development policies, he said.
For example, it is estimated that the proposed Kuokuang petrochemical plants and Formosa steel complex would increase the country’s annual carbon emissions by 10 percent, he added.
“Meanwhile, the average household or business emits 30 percent of the country’s carbon dioxide,” he said. “Even if every individual in Taiwan were to recycle and cut their carbon emissions by 20 percent, it would only result in a 6 percent carbon reduction overall.”
However, even that could be negated by one or two major high-energy consuming manufacturing projects, he said.
Chen established the TEIA in 2000 after launching an online newspaper that translated content from the “Environment News Service.”
The e-paper, which cost him NT$2 million (US$66,100) to set up, was the first publication of its kind in the community. He later turned the publication into an information platform and set up an online donation system that evolved into the TEIA.
The association has had many financial crises over the past 11 years and at one point, Chen was forced to sell his house. However, even after the sale, he still had a debt of more than NT$1 million.
Chen said his commitment to the environmental cause is “what he considers right.”
He received a Ten Outstanding Young Persons award in 2008 along with Taiwanese pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民), who pitched for the New York Yankees from 2005 to 2009.
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