Green for Happiness　Healing of Land, Body and Soul at Delonix Regia Forum

       Ta Ya Group Chairman Shen Shang-Hung said in his welcoming speech: "I am glad that Ta Ya is able to contribute efforts to building our pristine homeland. The green living concept that Green Inside has advocated for is consistent with Tainan City Government's low-carbon city, low-carbon travel, and low-carbon traffic initiatives. From daily living activities to clean production and use of renewable energy at factories, we at Ta Ya are doing everything possible to make out actions environmental friendly."

       Tainan City Deputy Mayor Yen Chun-Tso made an analogy based on his medical background that: "Every different aspect of city administration is interconnected. Technology can not exist without culture or a sustainable environment." Deputy Mayor Yen complimented and expressed gratitude on Ta Ya's decision to build a proprietary solar power plant, and said: "Extreme weather is the biggest crisis in mankind's history, and is a challenge that we have never encountered. The topic of land restoration discussed in this forum will help our descendants react to climate change."

       This year's speech, titled "From Barren to Fertile - A Restoration of Clean Land and Life," was delivered by Mr. Chen Mingchuan from Tse-Xin Organic Agriculture Foundation. He began by recalling his return from the United States, and his involvement in the design and construction of organic farms. He said that 145,485 square meters of land owned by Taiwan Sugar Corporation were over-fertilized for sugar cane plantation that the land became acidified and ultimately abandoned and used as landfill site. In 2007, he started leading a team of volunteers on a mission to save land, clearing rocks and garbage piece by piece. Through a series of processes including aeration, water treatment, plantation of green manure and trees, the volunteers finally restored life into the once abandoned land. After Mr. Chen had shared his farming experience, two other guest speakers were invited to talk about the healing of land, body, and soul.

       Managing Director Chen Yuping of KJMU Foundation began her talk about how we, as consumers, can develop harmonic connections with our land and achieve greater satisfaction from it. She first defined "geo-culture" as the way humans treat/use the land. What Mr. Chen had shared was his way of treating land, and one that motivates and gives consumers the peace of mind to purchase products produced from it. Geo-cultures need to be materialized in order to influence consumers' decisions throughout the value chain.

       Mr. Li Yuqing, Managing Supervisor of Taiwan Ecological Stewardship Association (TESA) and member of Society of Wilderness (SOW), took the audience to think deep about balancing between the environment we see and the souls we can not see. "Mountains need to rest and sleep like people. They doze off when they feel tired, and it is moments like these that we should avoid disturbing them." He encouraged everyone to think like mountains and rediscover our connection to nature by listening to the voice of the land, and making changes where necessary to heal our land, body, and soul.