Earth Day passed by unnoticed on April
22, as Taiwan's water shortage worsened. Since Typhoon
Herb in 1996, through the 921 earthquake and onward,
this land has experienced no peace. Either we are drenched
in too much water, or we don't get enough. This is certainly
one of the effects of global climate changes. We may
continue to see irregular and unbalanced rainfall, and
climate changes will become even harder to predict.
In fact, given the speed with which
the environment is deteriorating around the world and
in Taiwan itself, it is likely that we have already
said goodbye to the favorable weather and timely winds
and rain that we enjoyed in our childhood.
More pessimistically, if you are dissatisfied
with this year's weather, what lies in store for us
next year might be even worse.
Icebergs in the South Pole are melting.
Excessive amounts of ice and snow in the Himalayas are
melting, causing great quantities of water to flow into
Xinjiang. All this implies that the Earth's "refrigerator"
is breaking down, depriving it of a mechanism to suppress
temperatures that are increasing every day. Because
Earth has a fever, the bitterly cold winters of the
past has become warm winters. Instead of the damp plum
rain season, we just see gray skies. Many scientists
even suspect that the high frequency of earthquakes
in recent years might also be related to global warming.
Earth's fever has disturbed the order
of the seasons. More than 160 nations signed the Kyoto
Protocol in 1997 in the hope of abating the effects
of global warming by restricting emissions of carbon
dioxide. Deplorably, this goal might now not be achieved
after the US withdrew from the pact.
To bring down the fever, humanity
must put an end to the devastation it is inflicting
upon the earth and give the globe some breathing space.
We must face the problems of the "three e's"
-- environment, energy and ecology. Development in Taiwan
over the past 50 years has caused the nation's environment
to degenerate. Wetlands, lakes and rivers disappear
or shrink; underground water levels gradually fall;
farming land and water sources are polluted; the ground
we walk on sinks; and surface soil is incapable of retaining
water. From one point of view, environmental resources
belong to our descendants. Since we take out an advance
on these resources, we must be prepared to pay it back.
Development also leads to the over-consumption
of energy, which is another reason for Earth's illness.
Traditional coal, gasoline or nuclear energy have either
polluted the air, emitted massive amounts of heat, exacerbated
global warming, or caused radioactive pollution. Some
energy sources are actually on the brink of depletion.
We should follow the US, the UK and Japan in doing our
utmost to develop "white" energy -- using
wind power, wave energy, temperature differences and
ocean currents to generate power.
The disappearance of forests is the
main factor affecting our ecology. Forests are the lungs
of the planet, as well as the most effective tool for
retaining water. The loss of forests not only leads
to weather imbalances but also to mudslides, desertification
and sandstorms. The plants and animals -- the main sources
of human food and medicine -- which used to inhabit
the woods also die out as a result.
If high-tech research -- which is currently of so much
importance worldwide -- cannot contribute to resolving
the three e's, humanity's technological express train
will continue to head into the doldrums of history.
Humanity will eventually find out that, for all our
creative capabilities, we cannot maintain a sustainable
existence.
Yang Yeong-bin is the
dean of College of Engineering at
National Taiwan University
(Translated by Jackie Lin)
註：本文被遠東圖書公司邀請收錄為「高中英語教材」
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