David on Formosa

I spent last week visiting Marqwang and Smangus, two communities in the houshan (後山) area of Jianshi Township (尖石鄉) in Hsinchu County. The visit was to conduct field work for a research project about the management of the Shimen Reservoir Catchment following the implementation of the Shimen Reservoir and Catchment Area Remediation Special Act (石門水庫及其集水區整治特別條例) [...]

I had another letter in the Taipei Times today. This one was on the subject of peak oil. Unfortunately the title the Taipei Times’ editors chose for the letter, “Planning for an oil-less future”, reflects a common misunderstanding. Peak oil doesn’t mean the world will run out of oil, but that the supply and availability [...]

The Asia Pacific Greens Network Congress took place in Taipei from Friday through Sunday. It brought together members of Green parties and environmental activists from many countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region and also from Europe. I attended the conference on Saturday.

The 2010 Urban Nomad Film Festival (城市遊牧影展) began on Friday night with the Taiwan premiere of The Cove at the Armed Forces Cultural Centre in Taipei. The Cove won the 2010 Academy Award for best documentary and the premiere was ahead of the documentary’s general release in Taiwan on 7 May.

Over the weekend I visited some of the areas affected by Typhoon Morakot in Kaohsiung County with a group of law students from Providence University. It is now more than eight months since the typhoon hit Taiwan. While there has been so much reported about the event in the media visiting these places provides a [...]

A cycling carnival (生活單車市集嘉年華) organised by the Thousand Mile Island Trail group (千里步道籌畫中心) was held in Taipei yesterday. It began with a bike ride starting at NTU and then going around Da’an Park. The ride finished at Yongkang Park where there was a variety of activities.

I sent a letter about climate change to the Taipei Times on 7 January, but as of today it hasn’t been published (Update: published on 17 January). The Taipei Times published this letter on climate change today (which contains some ridiculous claims) and also Johnny Neihu took an amusing look at the qualities of Shezi [...]