Sort of relevant to “Taiwan from Above” is the NASA picture released yesterday.
Where can I pick up a copy of the movie?
[quote=“Hokwongwei”]Sort of relevant to “Taiwan from Above” is the NASA picture released yesterday.
nasa.gov/content/oblique-nig … MUEAXaZORt[/quote]
The only reason the entire island is not lit up are the extreme mountains. That always makes me sad.
Thank god for those mountains. Otherwise the population would possibly be 46 million instead of 23 million, and the entire island would be one massive urban sprawl, a country-wide Taipei.
Eslite, Kingstone, most DVD stores already carry it. MOD, VOD, most services have it.
MM isn’t in Taiwan! As I see it you have two options: buy online from somewhere like books.com.tw, or ask someone on this board to send a copy to you (wink wink nudge nudge) and paypal over the money.
I don’t know…it’s easy to criticize Taiwan for having destroyed much of its natural beauty, and there are certainly many things that could be done to address this…But at the same time, Taiwan is one of the most densely populated islands on Earth (THE most?). It’s virtually impossible to house a modernized civilization of 23 million people on an island this size without wiping out a massive portion of the landscape. What were they supposed to do?
Well, he used to come by often. And in that case, Amazon! LOL
[quote=“downtownandrew”]If you are familiar with XBMC / Kobi, via a video add-on. I found a stream of this film and watched it in 1080p.
Amazing film - was so surprised thought I was going to see some sights I never seen before from a unique perspective. But then this film turns quickly how much negative environmental issues exist here in Taiwan besides air pollution… the over produced fish farms, and the export cement factories, and the destruction of so many shorelines, etc… just terrible.
This movie is a must see for all citizens of Taiwan, it should be played at all schools.[/quote]
Is it ONLINE then? could you be so kind and send me the link? I really wanted to share this with some people from my country… I’m afraid that subtitles are kinda needed.
You know, this is basically exactly what China says every time someone criticizes their pollution and environmental havoc.
[ul]“Western countries got to pollute the environment as much as they wanted during development. We should be able to as well!”
[/ul][ul]“We’re still developing. You have to break some eggs to make a danbing.”[/ul]
[ul]Etc.
[/ul]
The thing is, we weren’t as environmentally conscious as a global society when Taiwan was rapidly expanding in the 70s and 80s. It wasn’t morally reprehensible then to just smother ecologically sensitive areas in concrete and pour waste water into rivers. We, as a whole, know better now. But that doesn’t stop companies like ASE from dumping its untreated waste water or Ting Hsin from putting poisons in our foods. The past is the past – we need to be looking to the future, and far too many people are happy to let the Nankan River in Taoyuan run red. “It’s not my problem!”
There are alternatives to this sort of industrialization, tourism being one of them. You can’t blame the problem on Taiwan having too many people because you’re mixing up the cause and effect. Taiwan’s birth rate skyrocketed during that time precisely because of the development. A high-flying economy and generally happy, employed, and richer-than-they-were-yesterday people went crazy with the babymaking as hygiene and health standards continued to rise, leading to a huge increase. When CKS and his government got control of Taiwan in 1945, there were only 5 million people across the whole island – fewer than there are in just Taipei+New Taipei today.
I personally think Taiwan would do well with about 2/3 of the current population, maybe around 15 million or so people. But that’s entirely speculation and not based on any scientific indicators.
You know, this is basically exactly what China says every time someone criticizes their pollution and environmental havoc.
[ul]“Western countries got to pollute the environment as much as they wanted during development. We should be able to as well!”
[/ul][ul]“We’re still developing. You have to break some eggs to make a danbing.”[/ul]
[ul]Etc.
[/ul]
The thing is, we weren’t as environmentally conscious as a global society when Taiwan was rapidly expanding in the 70s and 80s. It wasn’t morally reprehensible then to just smother ecologically sensitive areas in concrete and pour waste water into rivers. We, as a whole, know better now. But that doesn’t stop companies like ASE from dumping its untreated waste water or Ting Hsin from putting poisons in our foods. The past is the past – we need to be looking to the future, and far too many people are happy to let the Nankan River in Taoyuan run red. “It’s not my problem!”
There are alternatives to this sort of industrialization, tourism being one of them. You can’t blame the problem on Taiwan having too many people because you’re mixing up the cause and effect. Taiwan’s birth rate skyrocketed during that time precisely because of the development. A high-flying economy and generally happy, employed, and richer-than-they-were-yesterday people went crazy with the babymaking as hygiene and health standards continued to rise, leading to a huge increase. When CKS and his government got control of Taiwan in 1945, there were only 5 million people across the whole island – fewer than there are in just Taipei+New Taipei today.
I personally think Taiwan would do well with about 2/3 of the current population, maybe around 15 million or so people. But that’s entirely speculation and not based on any scientific indicators.[/quote]
I’m not trying to justify the unjustifiable actions of Ting Hsin or ASE. I’m talking about the things that were mentioned above like a formerly pristine little stream being turned into an irrigation ditch. Unfortunately, those things have to exist. If you housed 23 million people on this island without putting up sewage and irrigation and etc., the island virtually would fall apart.
You basically just wrote off all of my points with “those things have to exist.” Again, there are 23 million people here because the environment is one of concrete and steel, not the other way around.
Look at basically every other developed country on the globe. They may have gone through an ugly developmental period but they came out alright. Hong Kong is denser than Taiwan; South Korea is nearly as dense. Okinawa, though small, is as dense as Taiwan is. None of these places show such flagrant disregard for the environment as Taiwan has and continues to do.
Taiwanguy what planet Taiwan do you live on? Sewage connectivity was less than 20% until the last decade. Taiwan is a mess largely because things like sewage lines were NOT put in place; and not because they had to be. Jesus read a book would you and stop free associating your facts. Even now most of the island does not have proper sewage treatment.
I would conservatively estimate 70% of the environmental destruction was unecessary and completely preventable with zoning and minimally civilized standards.
Remember when the Changhua petrochemical plant was going to be built and Amchan claimed it would have the high standards of China because all existing plants in Taiwan operate on much lower standards. 
Taiwan is a special case. It does not even have a land use policy in place though the DPP have fought for one for 20 years. I believe even Vietnam does. No country of Taiwan’s level is so lacking in standard environmental legislation and enforcement. It’s politics not crowding that is to blame.
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[quote=“Taiwanguy”]
I’m not trying to justify the unjustifiable actions of Ting Hsin or ASE. I’m talking about the things that were mentioned above like a formerly pristine little stream being turned into an irrigation ditch. Unfortunately, those things have to exist. If you housed 23 million people on this island without putting up sewage and irrigation and etc., the island virtually would fall apart.[/quote]
that isn’t the real issue. Irrigation water works can be done in a way to maintain if not enhance bio-diversity. Taiwan’s problem is they are done in a way to maximized under-table profitability.
Just for the record, I found the torrent… 
. There are several versions/qualities available.
What timing… I wrote a post about this just now 
Taiwan from above:
synapticism.com/taiwan-from-above/
[quote=“hansioux”][quote=“Taiwanguy”]
I’m not trying to justify the unjustifiable actions of Ting Hsin or ASE. I’m talking about the things that were mentioned above like a formerly pristine little stream being turned into an irrigation ditch. Unfortunately, those things have to exist. If you housed 23 million people on this island without putting up sewage and irrigation and etc., the island virtually would fall apart.[/quote]
that isn’t the real issue. Irrigation water works can be done in a way to maintain if not enhance bio-diversity. Taiwan’s problem is they are done in a way to maximized under-table profitability.[/quote]
If you want to see water works done right here in Taiwan, I suggest a visit to Laoxi (荖溪), a.k.a Baibaoxi (白鮑溪) in Hualian, which is near the tourist destination Liyutan (鯉魚潭). You will have a hard time telling any water related civil engineering project took place at the location. The project received the 2012 Civil Engineering Gold Award. I was told that the person responsible for planning the project got a lot of push backs, and he convinced everyone to do it his way by saying:
“Haven’t we all done enough dirty jobs? Why not do a project the right way for once to ensure our grandchildren will have butt holes.”
translated loosely from the original
“我們狗皮倒灶的事做得還不夠多嗎？就做一次讓孫子會長屁眼的工程吧。”
Which is why the director took it on a tour of schools, college campus, public spaces, parks, anywhere where they could reach the people most affected and most invested in this lovely Island.
Of course, nothing beats seeing this on the big screen. 
Just seen this at home. Yep, big screen would be the way to go - immerse yourself. Even so, the images were stunning.
I’d have liked a little less swirling music, and a bit more substance to the script. Also, I think they could’ve found some better shots of litter pollution. It’s a huge problem down here in popular swimming holes, especially when BBQ season kicks in. If folks do attempt to deal with the trash, it’s mostly ‘oh we’ll burn that, ah it doesn’t burn very well, never mind’, instead of packing it out.
But I learned stuff. Like Taichung has the biggest coal-fired power plant in the world. That surprised me.
Latecomer to the party, just watched this last week. Echo most of the sentiments in this thread, was pretty amazed at all the fish farms down south.
The pollution and whatnot I knew about, but to see it in person… O_o.