"Black" documentary premieres on PTS, revealing the true state of water pollution in Taiwan, China
Documentary director Ko Chin-yuan, who has long focused on Taiwan's ecological environment, has released another of his latest works: "Black." It documents and explores Taiwan's severe water pollution problem, from Luzhu in Taoyuan, Xiangshan in Hsinchu, Hemei in Changhua to Guantian in Tainan, leading viewers to see the current state of water pollution in Taiwan. It will premiere on PTS at 10 p.m. on the 31st. Below is a brief text version of the documentary's content; for the full highlights, please tune in to the PTS channel.
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Taiwan's farmland area is 830,000 hectares, more than one-fifth of the country's total land area. These lands serve functions of food production, water conservation, ecological balance and national land security. However, over the past 30 to 40 years, Taiwan's farmland has been decreasing year by year because of urban planning, zone expropriation, the construction of industrial zones and science parks, or speculation in farmhouses and real estate, while the area of farmland polluted or left fallow has also continued to increase. The food self-sufficiency rate has already flashed a red warning, and yet are we still burying our heads in the sand, deceiving ourselves and others as we continue to abandon agriculture, forsake agriculture, and even destroy agriculture? Once a crisis emerges in farmland, will it only be a problem for farmers? For the people living on this land, can the food, water and living environment they depend on for survival still remain safe?
Luzhu, Taoyuan: Legal Industrial Pollution - Has the Huangqian River Ever Stopped Running Red?
Pheasant-tailed jacanas fly and swim freely in fields where water caltrop and rice are rotated, while farmers sweat and toil, striving to change the conventional farming methods that once used chemical fertilizers and pesticides, bringing new hope for organic rice and water caltrop in Guantian, Tainan. Yet a large steel plant that was erected in the agricultural zone many years ago now plans to expand and add a pickling and galvanizing plant. With civic environmental awareness growing today, the farmers have decided to no longer swallow their anger and have vowed to oppose the expansion plan that carries hidden risks of future pollution.
We often attribute the blame for Taiwan's farmland pollution to historical mistakes such as the failure to separate irrigation and drainage and unclear land-use zoning, but old mistakes are still continually reappearing in new forms. Continuing to tolerate the continued expansion and development of factories within agricultural zones may result in yet another patch of polluted farmland, yet another grain of rice that harms our health. Taking this wrong step will surely snuff out the new hope of organic agriculture in Guantian.
A-Bin (Li Chieh-pin) returned home seven or eight years ago and devoted himself wholeheartedly to trying organic farming methods to grow rice and water caltrop, generously and gradually persuading and influencing other farmers as well. After much effort, some results had finally begun to show in recent years, but the planned site of the pickling and galvanizing plant sits right next to his farmland. Unable to hide his worry, A-Bin voiced the feelings of many farmers: "What are we going to give our next generation? Do we really want to give them a lot of property? Better to give them a complete and perfect piece of land."