You partied on it all summer long, now it's time go clean up the beach. Dr Jane Goodall will be in town tomorrow to help Taiwan clean up the shoreline at Liukuai north of Danshui as part of her Roots and Shoots network of community volunteers.
The Roots and Shoots program began when 16 students gathered with Dr Goodall on her front porch in Tanzania in 1991. The students were fascinated by animal behavior and concerned about the state of the environment. But their schools didn't cover these topics. The students wondered if they could further these interests through out-of-school activities.
PHOTO: AP
Their conversation ranged from how to help chimpanzees to how their actions might affect their communities. The 16 returned to their schools with a task: Find other interested young people and take action. And so the Roots and Shoots program was born.
Roots and Shoots groups undertake "service-learning" projects that promote care and concern for animals, the environment or the community. There are more than 6,000 groups ranging in size from two to 2,000 members registered in more than 87 countries.
Their mission is to foster respect and compassion for all living things, to promote understanding of all cultures and beliefs, and to inspire each individual to take action to make the world a better place for people, animals, and the environment.
And sometimes to clean up a beach. The local chapter of the International Jane Goodall Association will be picking up volunteers at the Hongshulin MRT station bright and early at 8:30am. Organizer Zhu Pei-wen (朱珮文) asked that no one be late, but said the bus may be making a second or third trip, depending on the number of volunteers. She also warned that the coastal winds at Danshui can be fierce and chilly and advised that everyone dress accordingly.
Following the clean-up, Dr. Goodall will give a talk on volunteering for the community at the lecture hall of Zhen Li University (真理大學活動中心演講廳). Box lunches will be made available.
Teachers, if you're interested in incorporating Roots and Shoots community-awareness programs into your class curriculum, there is information available on the Web, including lesson plans for all ages. Check out http://www.rootsandshoots.org/in-schools/default.asp for more information.
Performance notes:
WHAT: Beach Clean-up
WHERE: LiuKuai Beach. Meet for bus pick up at Honshulin MRT Station
WHEN: Tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 4, at 8:30am. Clean-up will go until 4pm.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had