Aborigines show city-dwellers how to be earth-friendly consumers
Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong
Written by Lydia Ma
Farmers promoting environmental-friendly agriculture and Aborigines affected by Typhoon Morakot held an exhibition and set up several booths at National Taiwan University on October 16~17, 2010, to raise public awareness for more earth-friendly lifestyle choices.
Taiwan Rural Front, one of the event organizers, also led discussions at a few forums to teach people how to be “green” consumers so that they could satisfy their needs without destroying or polluting their country’s soil and villages.
The organization’s spokeswoman, Tsai Pei-hui, underscored that reducing the use of harmful pesticides or chemicals would go a long way in increasing the value of crops, which would in turn translate into higher earnings for farmers as well.
This awareness program was coined “Bow to Land” and included forums educating city-dwellers on how they could help farmers and rural residents, and be more earth-friendly in their daily consumption. But one of the program’s main goals included kick-starting conversation between consumers and producers – in this case, peasant farmers – and allow the latter to teach former how to make smart, earth-friendly choices when buying produce.
Chin-He Presbyterian Church member Liu Hsing-chien remarked that the purpose of this “Bow to Land” awareness program is to teach people how to live humbly – much like Jesus did. He stressed that Aborigines have had to learn to get by with humble means after last year’s Typhoon Morakot and their circumstances have affected other areas of their lives, including how they do farming.
Liu especially thanked churches across Taiwan for their support and aid in the months following Typhoon Morakot which contributed greatly to the gradual recovery of Aborigine villages devastated by the typhoon.
As for Chin-He reservation and its church which belongs to South Bunun Presbytery, its main source of income for the time being has been an assortment of plums, plum jelly, and lemon jelly. Lila, an elder from Chin-He Church, is grateful that her village managed to overcome so much since last year and she credits it to people who supported and reached out to them. She believes their expressions of concern model the core values of this “Bow to Land” program.
