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The Taiwan International Graduate Program for Earth System Science (TIGP-ESS) of National Central University (NCU) organized the “TIGP-ESS Environmental Education Event of 2020” on September 26, 2020. Dr. Andrew Tien-Shun Lin, Associate Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, and Dr. Bor-Shouh Huang, Distinguished Research Fellow at Academia Sinica, led students to clean up the beach and conducted environmental education at Guanyin Caota Sand Dunes. This event also cooperated with the Environmental Protection Administration, conducting the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Monitoring. In this beach cleanup activity, about 80 kilograms of trash was removed. It was also a great opportunity for students to know more about the environments, geological traits, and coastal hydrology of Taiwan and issues including environmental protection and energy.
Participants followed the manual of ICC Monitoring to clean up the beach. By organizing such an environmental activity as beach clean-up, NCU expects to teach students the knowledge about waste. People should refrain from using disposable products; in other words, environmental protection should start from waste reduction. Such an act could help protect the coastline of Taoyuan and even make contributions to protecting the Earth. This activity also allowed international students to know more about Taiwan and connected them with this land.
“By organizing this activity, we expect to promote the idea that beach cleanup is not the end but the starting point for ocean protection. The most important thing is to practice waste monitoring and waste reduction. We wish to spread this idea, inspire students, educate them about social responsibilities and environmental concerns, and have them practice altogether a university’s social responsibilities,” said Dr. Lin, Associate Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences.
In addition to the beach cleanup, participants visited the real-time suspended solids monitoring system, which was set up by the research group of Dr. Zhi-Cheng Huang, Director of the Graduate Institute of Hydrological and Oceanic Sciences. The last stop of the visit was the TaiCOAST Coastal Observatory set up by Dr. Hwa Chien, Associate Professor at the Graduate Institute of Hydrological and Oceanic Sciences, to gain a comprehensive understanding of NCU’s dedications to protecting the coastline of Taoyuan City.
