Water Conflict

C7 spech by Kevin Chuu

When I say water is essential and don't take it for granted, you may think I am a Green-Peace, and is going to make a fuss over a trifle again. If I say water can cause conflicts and wars, you might believe I am a scaremonger. Someone will even react like "Come on, man! We are living on a water planet, and 70percent of earth's surface is water." That is correct. But the fact is only 3 percent of it is drinkable, while only 1 percent is easily accessible surface fresh water. So the truth is water has become a scarce and precious resource on this water planet. People are fighting for it, and even go to war. Really?

Let me pick up a horrible example. Darfur, a parched land in the central Sudan, an appalling war is going on there now. Over the past four years, 200,000 people have been killed, and more than 2.5 million people have been displaced from their home. This is the so called the first genocide in the 21st century. The real cause of the civil war in Darfur is water. According to the United Nations Environment Report, the rainfall in Darfur has decreased a third over the past 80 years because of global warming. Lots of lands have become deserts, but the population keeps growing. Different tribes fight for the water and land in order to survive.

The water conflict is a real thing proceeding in Darfur now, and it is not a local event. In the whole world, about one-sixth of the 6.1 billion people lack access to improved source of water, while 40 percent are without access to improved sanitation service. Each year, 3.4 million people, mostly children, die from water-related diseases. Do not think it will not happen in Taiwan. About the water issue in Taiwan, people got a very serious myth:

We got a lot of typhoons, so we have inexhaustible water.

The truth is thank to typhoons, the precipitation we got each year, I mean the rainfall, is 2.6 times the world average, however the fresh water each one can access is much lesser than the world average. We are a country lacking of water, and the situation is being exacerbated by the global warming. Here are the causes of our water problem:

1. Uneven rainfall
We have quite enough rainfall each year, but it does not distribute uniformly. The precipitation ratio of rainy season to dry season is 9 to 1, and most of the rain concentrates in the northern Taiwan. This situation is getting worse year by year because of global warming.

2. Too much population
23 million people crowd on this small island. Every one needs to consume water. Therefore, the fresh water each one can share is only about one-seventh the word average.

3. Too much pollution
It is not hard to understand. Too many people make too much pollution. 39% of our rivers are polluted, and the trend is not likely to slow down.

4. Too many cities, town, roads and other infrastructure
Those man-made buildings and structures, most of which are made of concrete and tar, cover large part of our ground surface. Therefore only very little rainwater can filtrate into our aquifer. Most of the rain water just cause flood, rushing into the ocean within a short time.

5. Too many high-water-consumption industries
For quite a long time, our country has developed too many high-water-consumption industries like steelmaking, papermaking, aqua-farming, petroleum-chemistry, and even high tech factories of TFT-LCD. Those industries consume too much fresh water and even underground water. In Tauyuan, the water level of aquifer has dropped to 46 meters.

Ladies and gentlemen, water resource is not a issue of tomorrow which only environment activist concern. It is a real issue now. Million of people are dying for it out there. It is not a problem we can just leave behind and let our children worry about. It is a reality we, including you and me, are going to face within a decade. We only need the determination and stop ignoring it. Otherwise, in Taiwan, a water conflict, I don't want to say another Darfur, is definitely going to happen in the recent future.

Toastmasters Club C7 Speech

“Destiny of Stray Animals”

Rebecca Chou 2006/11/01
Sometimes I am wondering why a little kitten can grow up like this as my fatty cat. She was a stray cat before who was been dumped after her birth. My sister picked her up and because of her pregnancy, she gave it to me four years ago. After having a cat as pet, I found the biggest advantage is meeting handsome veterinarians when your pet is sick. However, the hardest part is also this because there is no medical insurance for pets, the cost will be double or triple. Meanwhile, no one likes the medicine and neither does your pet. Forcing them to take medicines is a mission impossible.

My cat is lucky because she has a sweet home. But from the recent news, the cat abuse case, we can imagine how awful an owner can be to a little animal. After knowing the destiny of stray animals, the worst is staying in the public shelters. Based on our Animal Protection Law, any animal is kept there for over seven days without adoption will go to heaven including your lost pet without chips! The truth is the road to heaven is suffering. The process of euthanasia is under table and far beyond of humanity. Under only 1% adoption rate of Taipei Public Shelter, the highest one in Taiwan, there will be more than 20 animals killed everyday.

Because of high labor cost and other expenses, stray animals there have no shelters at all but only a concentration camp such as Jewish people had during the Second World War. Although we cannot save them all, at least we have to know the real situation and need to keep in mind “the four No”.

1. No more stray animals.
This includes lost animals and dumped ones. For previous ones, we may need to inject chips inside of their bodies so that we could find them easily once they get lost. Since we are the owner and we have the responsibility to take care of them forever. Do not throw them away when they are old or sick. If you cannot keep them, there are many private shelters for them besides of leaving them alone on the streets.

2. No more mass destruction.
Based on statistics, killing a stray dog will cost NT$ 4800 which is almost two times of birth control. As mentioned before, over 7 days without adoption, stray animals will be killed according to the law but the problem is still on the street. The best solution is birth control instead of catch-and-kill.

3. No more superficial numbers.
Adoption of stray animals in Taiwan is less than 1% and all of them will die after seven days of cruel treatment. We may believe that some of them will find adopters; however, the truth is the adopters are the original owners. Those lost animals in public shelters will get back home easily because their owners will look for them. But their dirty and negative looking, they can hardly find adopters.

4. No more public shelters.
Sending stray animals to public shelters means sending them to hell. The private shelters will try to take care every animal until the last minute of their lives and they do not have to worry about anything there. If there is stray animal around your neighborhood, you have the choice to find a better place for them.

I know the stray animal problem cannot be solved within a short period but if we all have clear ideas of their possible destinies, we can save them from tortures and unfair treatment.