Vegetable Seminar held by Dalin Community, Yuchi Township

Vegetable Seminar held by Pipa Community, Puli Township

　With frequent occurrences of extreme weather, climate change has become a focus of concern to people around the world. In response to this impact, Nantou County’s Environmental Protection Bureau continues to promote energy conservation and carbon reduction. In addition to encouraging people to purchase local vegetables to reduce their carbon footprint and emissions, the County is also assisting village-level communities in building low-carbon sustainable homes.
　To promote “local vegetables”, the Bureau has encouraged Dalin Community of Yuchi Township, Zhanghe Community of Nantou City, Pipa Community of Puli Township, Yufeng Community of Shuili Township, Sheliao Community of Zhushan Township, Shichuan Community of Caotun Township, and Wushijia Community of Puli to increase public awareness of energy conservation, carbon reduction, and sustainable development, through vegetarian lunches, seminars focusing on vegetables, events promoting local vegetables, and vegetable cooking classes. A total of 2,232 people participated, reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 1.696 tons. Furthermore, Dalin Community of Yuchi Township and Pipa Community of Puli Township set up a used-goods exchange platform. This helped encourage low-carbon consumption and circular use of resources to achieve a sustainable environment.
　Besides promoting local vegetables, the Bureau also continued to promote “greening and cooling” construction to reduce dwelling temperatures. Living walls of green hedges were built at the county government supervisor dormitory, as well as at Zhanghe Elementary School and Minggang Elementary School, and a rooftop allotment was constructed in the Wushijia Community of Puli. These measures lower the indoor temperature of the building, thus saving electricity. In addition, considering that wet and rainy conditions have become more and more serious in recent years, Puli and Caotun Townships and Xincuo, Bizhou, and Lancheng Communities have set aside funds to respond to the impacts of climate change and make the public aware of the importance of water recycling and reuse.
　Director Li said that the County will continue to encourage people to participate and gain further certification for low-carbon sustainable homes. This year, 6 villages were successfully registered, increasing the participation rate to 55.3%, while 4 sites obtained the “bronze” certification. The Bureau will continue to coach and help villages to build low-carbon sustainable homes. Additionally, these experiences help incentivize of carbon reduction and sustainability, and make them into a part of people’s daily lives, allowing them to tackle the impacts of climate change.