Which road should we take?

At every election ardent discussions erupt over when construction should begin on that particular road, and in the end passion always returns to calm. Most people now believe that the $NT 200 Billion allocated for construction of the Su’ao-Hualian Highway should be redirected into a sustainable development and public works fund. And now because of increasing tension about elections, the proposal has finally made it onto the legislative agenda. But could this be yet another attempt to fool the people? Perhaps this will simply become a duplicate Offshore Islands Development Act, with only a minority benefiting and great damage inflicted on the land.

On the way to the pristine lands of Hualian and Taidong, a few ugly cement plants along the way welcome visitors. Beautiful stretches of coast like Chi-Hsing Tan still belong to the people, but they are now the fat of the land for various corporations. Not only does the government want to build a filthy coal plant on the coast, it also wants to build a hydro plant in the mountains that will destroy the ecology of Luming River. And under the pretext of reducing carbon emission, the conquest of traditional tribal lands forcibly occupied by colonizers a hundred years ago will be perpetuated using the guise of changing the lands into a lowlands forest recreation area.

How can transportation, energy, agriculture, and tourism developments on the east part of the island take a different road than the west?

After being awarded the National Youth Commission’s Grand Prize for Public Participation, the environmental activist youth from “蘇花糕餅舖” also earned recognition for the “Coolest Project” at the second Global Young Greens Congress. The hard work of Taiwan received a standing ovation from the international community. Hundreds of environmental activists and Green Party legislators will visit Taiwan from 30 April to 2 May for the second Asia Pacific Greens Network conference. This is an extremely unique opportunity!

How will we attract these international visitors to come experience the beautiful mountains and waters of Hualian and Taidong? How will we draft a resolution requesting governments to implement or even help create “five year working plans” for a multinational local cooperation network? Let’s together create a People’s Version of the Eastern Development Plan and build a platform to exchange local hopes regarding long term development. Let us cultivate our Hualian Dreams, and make them come true.

        >>Click here to Register on-line<<

[event date] 28 March 2010 (Sunday)

[event site] Hualian Creative & Culture Park Building 2; address: 144 Zhonghua Rd (Old brewery), Hualian City

[event format] Open space meeting (equality in participation, sharing of wisdom),

For information on Open Space Technology visit: http://www.frontier.org.tw/ost/resource.htm

[schedule] 

1:00-1:30pm registration,

1:30 Introduce APGＮand Open Space Technology,

2:00-5:00 open discussion and action plan

[hosted by] Global Greens Network Friends of Taiwan, Green Party Taiwan, Hualian Branch Taiwan Green Party, Hualian Branch Environmental Protection Union, Hualian Branch Society of Wilderness, The CP Yen Foundation, Kuroshio Ocean Educational Foundation, Marine Construction Projects in the historical domain of the Hualian County A-mei Tribe Karowa Generation Research Foundation , Executive Yuan Council for Cultural Affairs

[co-hosted by] National Dong Hwa University College of Environment, Taiwan 原鄉文創Consulting Company

03/18/2010 – 14:10