Economy and Environment

Economy and Environment

The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami brought vast destruction to Japan. Captured on shaky camera-phone footage, images of the event, of the monumental floods sweeping away everyone and everything, are now burned forever in our collective consciousness. A nation at once underwater and ablaze. 125,000 buildings destroyed. Over...

Read more: What Fukushima should mean to us

Economy and Environment

Nicolas Pagnier is a member of the Utopia office (http://www.mouvementutopia.org/). Following the Fukushima disaster in March and eRenlai's June Focus which looked in detail at the growing anti-nuclear movement in Taiwan, Nicolas feels concerned that governments and corporations in nuclear power will continue to operate business as usual. This...

Read more: Fukushima …and then?

Economy and Environment

We all have to eat, but what exactly should we eat? There is a saying in Chinese - “we would rather eat expensive food than take cheap medicine”. In other words, eating good food prevents us from getting sick.

Taiwanese homemakers are well known for how smart they are. However, planning to prepare good and healthy food for the family is...

Read more: The green dream of community farmers

Economy and Environment

“What would you think about a trip to Borneo?” When I was asked this, hundreds of images immediately came to my mind: the jungle, the monkeys, me in the middle of a green ocean with toucans in trees. I loved the idea!

What I did not know then of course, is that not only would I see the green ocean of Borneo and the beautiful beaches. But , I...

Read more: Borneo: Under the palm trees

Economy and Environment

Oh the poor people, oh the poor planet! We need to save the planet, to save ourselves! I dare say that these claims are being heard more and more every single day. Copenhagen was a disaster after all, so some people believe that all there is left for us is to roast in the coming pit fires or burn in the boiling oceans of the global warming of...

Read more: Saving the planet

Economy and Environment

The crisis in natural resources affecting mankind is multifaceted, and it’s not always easy to evaluate the acuteness of the phenomena. China’s shrinking arable land offers a perspective on the way such challenges can be analyzed and assessed. It shows that problems are real but should not be exaggerated. Rather than relying on general...

Read more: China’s shrinking arable land?

Economy and Environment

When many of us think of Taipei, the area that encircles the Taipei city is not what would usually come into mind. Though more and more, it is seemingly obvious that one should pay attention to the land space that is home to over 3,8 million people. This location is none other than the Taipei County.

The county controls ten county-controlled...

Read more: A little county goes a long way

Economy and Environment

Water Leak & Waste Urgently Await Improvement

“The skies give Taiwan up to 2500 to 3000 millimetre of rainfall each year, which is abundant enough. What a pity to not detain it and instead waste it!”
As a matter of fact, due to the steep slopes and short rivers in Taiwan, the water volume retained is less than 20%. The pipelines too are...

Read more: Water Challenges in Taipei County