by Charles DeBenedetto
(Air
pollution in Taiwan today. The only place you ought to be exercising
in is the east coast. Screenshot taken from: waqi.info)
I never really knew what air pollution was
before coming to Asia, and that makes me very fortunate. As a child, whenever
it was not raining it was fine to go outside, and I took that for granted. When
something is overly abundant, we often do not cherish it, and so many days that
I could have been playing outside, I spent inside with my television and video
games. I told myself that it was the summer mosquitos that prevented me from
going outside, but it was laziness.
I regret that now. Back then I had no way
of knowing that one day I would live in another country. I would not have known
that my future home, although excellent in many ways, would suffer from air
pollution. This drastically changes the quality of life, despite Taiwan’s many
modern conveniences, many of which are superior to the United States.
There are a lot of reasons for air
pollution in Taiwan, and I will briefly summarize them. Most people might
assume that air pollution comes from Mainland China, and that is certainly true
when the wind is blowing from the northwest. But, most of Taiwan’s pollution is
homemade. Partly it is our culture, since we regularly burn incense and “lucky
money” during religious festivals. Partly it is our cramped society, with all
of the scooters (mopeds) and cars on the road. But mostly, it is our fear of
nuclear energy. Taiwan has nuclear power plants, but many are closed, as the
public has expressed fear of a Fukushima-like nuclear meltdown.
And so, Taiwan burns a lot of coal.
Infamously, the Long Jing coal-burning power plant in Taichung City is the
largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world. That is a world record that
certainly does not belong in the Guinness Book.
(Long
Jing Power Plant. Photo Credit: Taiwan News)
I wonder why the Taiwanese people are not
constantly protesting outside of Long Jing. I have been in Taiwan for almost
five years, and the air has been a problem since I arrived here, but friends I
have talked to have said that the air quality has become continuously worse
over the past decade. Unfortunately, part of the reason it was so easy to get
people to wear masks during this covid-19 pandemic is because people already
wear masks regularly to combat air pollution.
But wearing a mask does not fix the
problem. It should be seen as a temporary solution to a problem that has not
been fully addressed. And we think we can solve the problem by planting trees,
as the Taichung City mayor has initiated a project called the “Mayor’s Trees,”
but that is just distracting us from the root cause (pun intended). Others will
assert that they are doing their part by riding an electric scooter, but, when
the electricity comes from the coal-burning plant, how much good are you
actually doing?
The Taiwanese government has made more windmills
and solar panels, and that is great, but what we really need is nuclear energy.
The reality for most Taiwanese people is that every day we check the weather
forecast, not for rain or sunshine, but solely to check the air quality. Every
day we check, hoping for the air-quality index to be green, so we can go for a
walk, or a run, or a bicycle ride, and not have to wonder about the
simultaneous benefits to our muscles and hurt to our lungs. But most days, we
are disappointed.
I live in the countryside, a good distance
from the city. Most days, when I ride my scooter home, the sky is a continuous
white blanket, no blue sky between clouds, which is a good indicator that the
air is polluted. I wear a mask every day when I ride, regardless of the air
quality index, because of the exhaust of so many scooters and cars around me.
There is no backdrop beyond the road to look at, because the air pollution conceals
it.
But occasionally, when the coal-burning
plant is not running at full capacity, I can see the tall, green mountains that
are always there, but so seldom seen.
I pull over to the side of the road, stare,
and forget to take a picture.
I feel like a tourist in my own
neighborhood.
Perhaps if I saw them every day, I would
take them for granted, too, like I did the beautiful natural world of my home
in rural America. But when those mountains finally do come out, I’ll stare at them until the last rays
of the Sun fall, and I’ll wonder when the next time I’ll see green mountains
under blue skies again will be…
(If
only we could always see these mountains. Photo Credit: https://www.erv-nsa.gov.tw/en)
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