112 Years Hualien Environmental Education Project
In order to align with the United Nations SDGs and the development priorities of national green life movement, we launch the 2023 Environmental Education Project.
We hope to implement the legislative spirit of the “The Environmental Education Act " in various activities, promote green living actions to the public, and encourage the public to take concrete actions for the sustainable development of the earth. The following is a summary of the final results of this year's plan:
1. Cooperate with environmental festivals and other environmental education related activity plans.
1.1 Annual theme: With "Sustainability x Environmental Education x Green Light Travel" as the main theme, combine the SDGs indicators, the local environmental education facilities and sites, to design themed courses. It is expected that through the courses, students will enhance their environmental knowledge, attitudes, behavior intentions and skills in environmental literacy, and engage in friendly environmental activities.
1.2 This year, four international important environmental festivals, including “World Forest Day”, "THE Earth Day”, "International Biodiversity Day," and "World Environment Day," were held with a total of 262 participants. Overall, 67.59% of people strongly agree that activities can improve their environmental interacy in terms of environmental interacy, 28.1% of people agreed, only 4.29% people said it were ordinary. Display the content of international environmental festival activities and generally enhance the environmental interacy of participanting people. In terms of activities satisfaction , there are 74.14% of people said they were satisified , and 25.9% said they were satisified . Most of the qualitative opinions are positive feedback.
2. Plan of Operations related to Article 19 and 24 of the Environmental Education Act.
2.1 30 units have been screened out this year, and 30 on-site inspections have been completed.
2.2 Advice for investigation: (i) Departments under examination should fill out their summary of environmental education according to the actual content of the events and elaborate on the content of the events and the implication regarding environmental education. (ii) Finish reporting the hours within 1 month after the completion of the activity. (iii) Remember that outdoor curriculum should be implemented at environmental education facilities. (iv) To obtain outdoor curriculum hours regarding environmental education, activities should take place at environmental education facilities and should disseminate that there are already ten of such facilities existing in the county.
2.3 Since all governmental agencies and schools are important partners in promoting environmental education, in order to gradually incorporate key strategies of net-zero green living into environmental education policies, the assisted investigation of this year has continued to provide each unit with the latest environmental issues and policies as well as usable environmental education resource under jurisdiction. Not only does it promote environmental education facilities, but it also helps agencies under administration adjust their environmental education policies and methods of raising events.
2.4 Counseling sessions for institutional schools: Three counseling sessions were completed on September 22nd and 23rd, with a total of 94 people participating. In terms of the degree of students’ satisfaction, more than 70% said that they were very satisfied with the content of the course, 26% said that they were satisfied, and 3% said that the courses were average. Through the sessions this time, all schools in the county would be familiar with, understand, and operate the “Environmental Education Lifelong Learning Network System” to facilitate the completion of various annual environmental education application tasks. Sessions in Yuli and Guangfu were introduced with presentation. The session in Hualien provided students with the function of operating each website synchronously. If there are any questions, instructors are ready to be asked and will solve the problems immediately. If students still need guidance, telephone or on-site counseling will be arranged. Handout materials will be provided and stored in the cloud for each organizer before and after the class to achieve the convenience of the service and the effectiveness of being paperless.
3. Project for environmental lecture
3.1 Seven environmental lectures have been conducted this year. The clearance rate for new cases is 77.2% and for old cases is 51.6%, and the rate of completion for off-site training is 100%.
3.2 Although the environmental lectures are designed for people, institutions, groups, or companies that violate environment-related regulations, the content of the courses is still designed to give positive environmental education connotations, inspiring students who participate in the courses to participate in the action of net-zero green living in the hopes of leading to “the transformation of life” and “the transformation of industry.”
4. Projects for training and utilizing environmental education volunteers and projects for the operation and management of environmental education ambassadors.
4.1 Plans for operation and management: In response to the establishment of the “Environmental Education Digital Center,” vocational training for environmental education ambassadors will be carried out to improve the effectiveness of teaching.
4.2 Meetings for environmental education volunteers: two joint meetings and two cadre meetings have been held, with a total of 101 participants. Through open discussions, environmental education volunteers can understand the operating situation of the volunteer team. Staffs of Environmental Protection Bureau can also announce the latest information (e.g., net-zero green living) at the meeting and understand the volunteers’ ideas as a reference for formulating policies.
Professional trainings for environmental education volunteers and Ability Enhancement Courses:
(i) Professional Trainings: six sessions have been completed, with a total of 180 people participating. They focused on the demonstration and exchange of the environmental education ambassadors’ now existing and future lesson plans. Overall, in terms of environmental literacy: 76.1% of people expressed strong agreement that the activities improved their environmental literacy. 23% of people agreed, and only 1% said it was average, indicating that most environmental education ambassadors affirmed the content of professional trainings; in terms of degree of satisfaction regarding the activities: 78.4% said that they were strongly satisfied, 20.9% satisfied, and only 0.7% said that it was average, which clearly shows that the environmental education ambassadors affirmed the overall arrangement of the event.
4.3 (ii) Ability Enhancement Courses: A two-day and one-night ability enhancement course was completed to encourage environmental education ambassadors to learn the characteristics and advantages of environmental education facilities in Taipei City. A total of 40 people participated. After the ability enhancement course, 99.4% of the trainees agreed that they possessed the literacy regarding “climate change,” “environment and resource management,” and “cultural preservation.” 84.9% of the trainees were very satisfied with the training, and 14.2% of the trainees were satisfied.
4.4 The use of environmental education volunteers: 203 environmental education ambassadors have been invited to disseminate on spot at the courses that were applied to cooperate with schools and communities this year. Through environmental education ambassadors’ dissemination, we hope to improve the environmental literacy regarding “food and agriculture education,” “marine conservation,” “air quality,” “river water quality,” “environmental sanitation,” and “energy saving and carbon reduction” of people in Hualien.
4.5 Since environmental education ambassadors are important human power in promoting environmental education and net-zero green living in the county, solid professional trainings and ability enhancement courses used for benchmarking study this year helped environmental education ambassadors absorb new environmental knowledge, realize the importance of net-zero green living, and communicate with the key units of environmental education, which stimulates the environmental education ambassadors to convert their course contents. Only when environmental education ambassadors keep up with the times and improve their own environmental literacy can they promote comprehensive environmental education and net-zero green living content to the people of the county.
5. Environmental Knowledge Competition
5.1 Local Preliminary Competition: It was held at the Cultural and Recreation Center of Shoufeng Elementary School in this county on September 9th, 2023. Twenty contestants were selected to represent Hualien County to attend the national competition. It was the second time of this year that we have cooperated with the environmental education guidance group of the county to organize the local preliminary competition. Due to the experience of holding it last year, it is more mature this year.
5.2 In order to cooperate with the Ministry of Environment’s investigation of the effectiveness of the environmental education literary of the participants who attended the preliminary round of the Environmental Knowledge Competition, the topics of the competition were based on seven categories: green life, climate change and disaster prevention, resource recycling, prevention of public nuisance, environmental management, natural conservation, cultural preservation, community participation, etc. Also, important environmental issues in the country and abroad in the recent years were listed and ensured that all topics relate to environmental literacy, which served as the reference for environmental education guidance group to design questions for local competition.
5.3 The representative team of Hualien County was composed of the top five groups from regional competition, and it has attended the national competition of the knowledge competition at National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology on November 18th, 2023.
6. Project for regional administration to support national association of outstanding environmental volunteers.
6.1 Regional Preliminary Competition: It was completed at Zhonghua Elementary School in Hualien City on July 15th, 2023. According to the result of the preliminary competition, a total of 24 teams has signed up this year. The environmental education ambassadors of the service team in Hualien County won the first place in both Gold Brain of Environmental Protection and King of Resource Classification. Team Wuhe Soaring won the first place in Resource Slam Dunk Master. Ji’an Township Environmental Protection and Development Association won the first place in Environmental Protection Battle. These four teams will be represented in the national competition for the association of the outstanding.
6.2 National competition: The representative team of Hualien County, composed of the above four teams, went to Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science on October 29th, 2023 to participate in the national competition of the association of the outstanding. The representative team of Hualien County achieved four outstanding results in Gold Brain of Environmental Protection, King of Resource Classification, Resource Slam Dunk Master, and Environmental Protection Battle. Ma ○ Jun, the representative of the Wuhe Soaring Team, participated in the warm-up competition of the Environmental Protection Expert and won with excellent results.
7. Application for 2023 Hualien County Environmental Education Picture Book Selection and Promotion Project
7.1 Plans for the selection: The plan for this year is based on local environmental issues in Hualien County as the background story to create environmental education picture books that are rich in the characteristics of Hualien from food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, entertainment, shopping and other aspects related to net-zero green living.
7.2 The result of the selection of the picture books: A picture book selection meeting was held on July 17th, 2023. There were 14 picture books altogether undergoing the preliminary and final review. The top three picture books selected in descending order are: “Plastic Reduction, Yes or No,” “Fish to Eat Every Year,” and “Nini’s Last Wish.” “The Village of the Art of Straw” was granted merit award. The award ceremony will be held on October 3rd, 2023, and the winners will be invited to attend and receive their awards.
7.3 Workshops for environmental education picture books: They were completed at Hall No.6 of Ji’an Hakka Artist Village on April 8th and April 9th,2023. A total of 80 people participated, and 83% of the participants were strongly satisfied, and 15.7% of the students were satisfied. From the comparison of the worksheets of the pre- and post-test, the students could answer the correct answers, showing that students who participated have improved the effectiveness of learning; Regarding the improvement of environmental literacy of themselves, 95.8% of the students think that they have acquired environmental literacy related to “the environmental issues in Hualien.”
7.4 The lesson plan for environmental education picture book this year is an adaptation of the drama script “Green Messenger” written and adapted by the leader Huang O Lan. Additionally, the environmental ambassadors were invited to be actors and perform at the Picture Book Carnival on October 14th, 2023.
8. Application for projects regarding environmental education camps during winter (summer) vacation
8.1 Hualien Sugar Factory Environmental Education Center was selected to be the high-quality environmental education facility for this year. Camps were held there respectively from July 21st to July 22nd and August 18th to August 19th.
8.2 There were 60 people participated in the camps by two batches. The results of the pre- and post-test indicated that this activity was significantly helpful in improving the knowledge of the participating students. 95% of the students showed that they cared about the environment. In terms of aspects related to the intention towards environment, more than 85% of the students expressed their willingness to actively care about issues related to climate change. More than 85% of the students possessed environmental skills, and the survey regarding degree of satisfaction of the activity showed that an average of 95% of the students were satisfied with the learning content.
8.3 The camps this time were mainly for students above the fourth grade of elementary schools and students below senior high schools. We hope that students will understand how the Hualien Sugar Factory transformed from a sugar making industry to a tourist factory, and we combined local characteristics to promote environmental education, hoping that through educational entertainment, students can be inspired to take action on environmental protection in the future.
9. Regional Preliminary Review Project for the 9th National Environmental Education Award
9.1 In the national final selection of the 8th National Environmental Education Award last year, Hualien County won five distinction awards. In order to continue sharing the result of Hualien County’s deep cultivation of environmental education with the national public, preparations for the 9th National Environmental Education Award this year have been made. We actively inventoried potential units in Hualien County and invited units that were interested in participating in attending the conference in the county on March 28th this year, with a total of 40 people participating.
9.2 The preliminary review meeting regarding the 9th National Environmental Education Award has been held on June 27th, 2023 by the regional preliminary review of Hualien County, and five groups were selected for the final review respectively: (i) Individual Group: Wu O Yue; (ii) Private Business Group: Hoping Industrial Port Corporation; (iii) Team Group: Association of Cultural Heritage and Economy Development of Ceroh Tribe, Hualien; (iv) Institutional Group: Ninth River Management Branch of Water Resources Agency of Ministry of Economic Affairs (former Ninth River Management Bureau of Water Resources Agency of Ministry of Economic Affairs)、Taiwan Sugar Corporation of Hualien and Taitung Office. Environmental Protection Bureau of Hualien County and our company will keep providing guidance and companionship, giving feedback on various competitions and related administrative support to let outstanding units in Hualien County shine on the national stage.
9.3 Final review meeting: The final review meeting of the 9th National Environmental Education Award was completed on August 23rd, 2023. The winner of the distinction award for group award was “Association of Cultural Heritage and Economy Development of Ceroh Tribe, Hualien.” The representative for the distinction award among private business groups was “Hoping Industrial Port Corporation.” The winners of high distinction award among institutional groups were “Ninth River Management Branch of Water Resources Agency of Ministry of Economic Affairs” and “Taiwan Sugar Corporation of Hualien and Taitung Office.” The winner of high distinction award among individual groups was Ms. Wu ○ Yue. The above award-winning units, whether groups or individuals, have worked hard and persevered in the field of environmental education to receive the honor. We hope that all of us can continue to work together for the sustainability in the environment in Hualien in the future.
9.4 Award Ceremony: The award ceremony has been held on October 3rd, 2023. Award-winning units were invited to participate in the reception of the awards, and the awards were awarded by County Mayor Xu ○ Wei.
10. Application for food-cherishing cooking recipe／the selection of food-cherishing lesson plans
10.1 The selection of food-cherishing cooking and food-cherishing lesson plans was held for the first time this year. Relevant experts and scholars were convened to discuss the selection brochures for this year on February 21st and February 23rd, 2023. After the brochure was revised, the selection was officially announced to the public in coordination with the press conference regarding the food-cherishing selection activity that was held by the Environmental Protection Bureau on March 24th, 2023 and the assigned sign-up page. The selection started from today until June 15th, 2023.
10.2 Preliminary selection for the regional competition: The preliminary selection for the regional competition of food-cherishing cooking recipe / food-cherishing lesson plans has completed paper audition on June 30th, 2023. A total of 43 groups have registered for “food-cherishing cooking recipe group.” After the selection, 9 groups competed in the final competition of the recipe group on July 29th, 2023. A total of 8 groups signed up for “food-cherishing lesson plans group” this year. After the preliminary selection, there were 7 groups doing teaching demonstration on the spot, and top three and four honorable mention awards were selected in the end. After the preliminary round for the regional competition, Chen ○ Wei’s “Spring Moon” from recipe group and Lin ○ Fang’s “Are you full yet?---Everyone” from the lesson plans group won the first place, representing Hualien County to attend the national competition.
10.3 National competition for food-cherishing cooking recipe / food-cherishing lesson plans: The national competition for food-cherishing cooking recipe / food-cherishing lesson plans of Hualien County is represented by the first place winner in the recipe group, Chen ○ Wei’s work “Spring Moon” and the first-place winner in the lesson plans group, Lin ○ Fang’s “Are you full yet? --- Everyone” to attend National Cooking Recipe/Food-cherishing Lesson Plan Competition on September 19th, 2023. Chen ○ Wei won the Man-Han Quan Xi Award, and Lin ○ Fang won the Characteristic Lesson Plan Award.
11. Environmental Education Review Committee, Inter-bureau Meetings, Environmental Education Action Programs and Results
11.1 Hualien County Environmental Education Review Meeting and Inter-bureau Meeting: It was held at the “Hualien Sugar Factory Environmental Education Center” on April 14th, 2023, with a total of 37 people attending to review the implementation result of environmental education of various bureaus and offices in the county in 2022 and to review the submission of content related to environmental education promotion project in 2023.
11.2 Environmental Education Action Program: Encourage various agencies (institutions), schools, civil organizations, and companies to collaboratively promote environmental education under the principle of environmental sustainability. According to environmental education action strategy of the county, the major implementation results in 2023 are:
(i) Quality Certification Strategy: Provide assistance to civil societies, companies, private and public sectors to promote environmental education. With the efforts of all parties, Biyunzhuang Local Circulating Picture Book Reading and Education Park and Fish Bar Fish-Eating Experience Center have passed the certification for environmental education facilities on March 1st, 2023. Metrology and Green Energy Exploration Center also passed the certification and became an environmental education facility on August 16th, 2023, bringing the overall number of environmental education facilities in Hualien County to 10.
(ii) Guidance and Reward Strategy: For the 9th National Environmental Education Award in 2023, Hualien County has held the final review meeting on August 23rd, 2023, and 5 groups have won special distinction awards: The winner for the group award was “Association of Cultural Heritage and Economy Development of Ceroh Tribe, Hualien.” The winner among the private business groups was “Hoping Industrial Port Corporation.” Winners among the institutional groups were “Ninth River Management Branch of Water Resources Agency of Ministry of Economic Affairs” and “Taiwan Sugar Corporation of Hualien and Taitung Office.” The winner among the individual groups was Ms. Wu ○ Yue.
(iii) Environmental Education Review Meeting: It was held at Azure Hotel on November 30th, 2023. A total of 40 people attended the meeting to discuss the “Draft Amendment of Hualien County’s Environmental Education Operation Program for 2024-2027.”
12. Guidance for the certification of environmental education facilities
12.1 Environmental education facility certification guidance: Biyunzhuan Local Circulating Picture Book Reading and Education Park, Fish Bar, and Metrology and Green Energy Exploration Center have completed the application for the certification and officially become environmental education facilities this year.
12.2 Tracking and guidance for existing environmental education facilities: There are 10 environmental education facilities in Hualien County. Among them, Biyunzhuan Local Circulating Picture Book Reading and Education Park and Fish Bar Fish-eating Experience Center passed certification on March 1st, 2023. The Metrology and Green Energy Exploration Center passed the certification review on August 16th, 2023, so the remaining 7 locations will be tracked priorly this year. The tracking status of this year is as follows:
(i) Aspects regarding the manpower for environmental education: All 7 locations have certified personnel dedicated to environmental education. The Izukan tribe of Bunun people also sent personnel to Yilan University to receive courses regarding environmental education personnel certification this year, gradually expanding their manpower; in terms of volunteers, the Izukan tribe of Bunun people and Hualien Sugar Factory Environmental Education Center have not yet established environmental education volunteers, and the rest facilities all have volunteers to assist in guided tours or course-related services.
(ii) Aspects regarding the implementation of environmental education courses: All seven facilities are committed to promoting approved courses. In addition, Yiyuan Ecological Primary School, Hoping Industrial Port Ecological Classroom, and Taroko National Park are also actively developing new courses.
(iii) Aspects regarding the planning of operations management: All 7 locations have customized courses; there are also external cooperation units connecting with nearby natural fields and community resources, which is beneficial for taking root in local environmental education.
(iv) All 7 facilities have certified environmental education personnel to continuously promote environmental education courses and provide customized courses for groups in class; and all sites have their external cooperation units, which is beneficial to forming a regional alliance and working together to take root in local environmental education.
12.3 This year, we also provided guidance to four potential units, including Chung Hwa Pulp Factory, Hualien Branch of Taiwan International Ports Corporation, Hualien City Farmers Association, and Hualien Fuli Township Farmers Association, to closely track and provide guidance and assist them in preparing documents for the application for environmental education facilities.
13. Application for 2023 Hualien County Air Pollution Prevention Curriculum Development and Education Program
13.1 Compilation of air pollution prevention and environmental education lesson plans: In conjunction with the 2050 net-zero emission policy, the lesson plan of “Indoor Air Quality - Little Devils Hidden at Home” was trialed for the first time on April 16th, 2023, coordinating with the professional training course for the environmental education ambassadors; the second trial was implemented on May 12th, 2023, and then two trainings for lesson plans were conducted respectively on June 15th, 2023 and July 1st, 2023.
13.2 Promotion for the environmental education lesson plans regarding the prevention of air pollution: 8 sessions for the promotion for lesson plans in 2023 have been completed this year.
13.3 Aspects regarding the maintenance and management of the digital air pollution prevention and environmental education collection website: 2 environmental education news and articles are updated every week.
13.4 Environmental education handbooks regarding air pollution prevention: 1,000 environmental education handbooks have been completed and submitted to the bureau.
