Who wrecked the oceans, rivers and creeks?

The beaches along Taiwan’s west coast are popular destinations for leisure and fun. However, upon closer inspection, the seemingly clean beaches are infested with Styrofoam, fishery equipments and large varieties of garbage. The indecomposable junks are one of the most lethal damages to the ocean’s ecosystem.

There are many artificial fishing reefs along Taiwan’s coastlines to provide areas for organisms to take refuge or reproduce. In the Chigu region, bamboo sheds are used for sand and coast retaining purposes, showing that natural materials like bamboo can be efficiently utilized. On the other hand, Styrofoam is a source of major headache for environmentalists. Styrofoam is made of polystyrene (PS) and is indecomposable. A piece of Styrofoam, after a few hours of weathering down by wind and water, will dissociate into countless bits and Styrofoam particles that are virtually impossible to clean up completely. Not only do the bits and chunks affect the beauty of the landscape, they are also often mistakenly consumed by organisms and thus causing their death. Other than the garbage, manmade chemicals and toxins also contribute to the death of underwater organisms – packages of insecticides and farm pesticides are often found floating in the rivers.

The maintenance of the environment needs everyone’s care and contribution. Eliminating the sources of contamination is the best and only way to rout pollution problems. Currently, there are groups of environmental-conscious people in Taiwan who are starting to push and promote the importance of protecting our environment. While they are self-motivated and put ideal into action for everyone else to see, they also hope to encourage others to join them.

A group of students from Chang Jung Christian University’s Water Environment Reservation Center went to Tainan County’s Erhjen River to participate in the beach cleaning event. This event consisted of three parts - beach cleaning, environment introduction and Erhjen River tour – the main purposes are to let the students understand Erhjen River’s current condition and experience firsthand the hardness of environment maintenance. Erhjen River is currently estimated the most polluted river in Taiwan. However, in recent years, the Erhjen River Environment Patrol formed by the government and civilians is seeing some results for their hard work – fiddler crabs, water birds and other signs of environmental restoration can now be seen on the beach. Through the devotion of these anonymous heroes, we hope to educate and guide more environment-conscious young people to help and do their own part in protecting Taiwan’s ecosystem.