Nantou County 2021 National Environmental Education Contest Finals Nantou County Representative – “Kings of Environmental Education”

Zong-Yi Zhang, Section Chief of the Planning Section of the Nantou County Environmental Protection Bureau, cheering on contestants to be the best

　The National Environmental Education Contest, organized by the Environmental Protection Agency of the Executive Yuan began on November 20th (Sat) at Feng Chia University in Taichung. Nantou County’s contestants competed valiantly against 420 other contestants from all over the country, and after a day of tough competition, the County continued its good performance at the Contest as Nangang Junior High School’s Pin-Chen Gong won 1st place in the national junior high school group, setting a record for the county’s awards.
　The goal of the National Environmental Education Contest is to stimulate people’s motivation to care for the environment, as it not only tests participants’ understanding of environmental policies and current events, but the test questions also incorporate environmental issues intertwined with everyday life, such as recycling, ecological conservation, and renewable energy. This is a more lively and interesting way of allowing contestants to reflect on whether their past lifestyles were too extravagant, or consumed too much of Earth’s resources, as they prepare to compete and answer questions. Afterwards, they can implement environmentally-friendly habits in their daily lives.
　The atmosphere was competitive, as 4 groups of contestants – students from elementary schools, junior high schools, senior high schools, and adults from all across Taiwan – competed in elimination and sudden death matches. If there contestants won the same number of points, or if there were too few places left, they went head-to-head to see who came out on top. Nantou County’s contestants powered through two rounds of the competition, and Pin-Chen Gong finally ended up on the top of the podium to beat out all of the contestants in his group, winning the coveted 1st place in the junior high school group.
　Yi-Shu Li, director of the Nantou County Environmental Protection Bureau, said that the Nantou County contestants performed admirably this year, and in addition to sharing this achievement with county residents, he also hopes that the County’s contestants can perform just as well next year. He also hopes that this year’s performances can inspire more people to participate in the County Preliminaries next year, and spark a trend of county-wide participation and lifelong learning in all residents. During this year’s competition, Director Li genuinely felt that the Nantou County contestants’ not only dramatically increased their knowledge about the environment, but they have also been able to turn that theory into practice, as they’ve taken the initiative to start bringing their own environmentally-friendly cups and chopsticks, and used their own influence to care for the environment and promote sustainable development, urging the residents of Nantou County to come together and demonstrate their readiness to put environmental protection into action.