The average annual rainfall in Taiwan varies by region, with Taipei famous for cold and wet winters while Kaohsiung enjoys cool and dry winters. Summers give the south more rainfall, while the north usually enjoys one month of afternoon thunderstorms. But for the entire island the precious system of dams relies upon typhoons to get filled for use all year. With climate change, however, we have been experiencing fewer such storms. This year we've had none at all. The dam in Tainan has become a grassy green playground. Fortunately for the north we have had over a month of almost daily downpour, so our dam is forced to release overflow. Always in terror of drought, I will not complain about the constant rain. I just wish my landlord would allow me to collect it in buckets and barrels on the roof, if only for keeping my garden going during the dry months that climate change threatens us with. We already were facing threats of water rationing before this current wet season began.
On Tuesday last week (July 1, 2008) I had the good fortune of attending a workshop co-sponsored by the Taiwan government’s (Executive Yuan) Council of Indigenous Peoples and the New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office . The event was a dialogue between internationally renowned New Zealand author Witi Ihimaera and Taiwanese aboriginal artists Badai (novelist), Sakinu Tepiq (戴明雄) (filmmaker), Walis Nogang (educator), Paelabang Danapan (scholar), and Dadelavan Ibau (ethnomusicologist). The wor kshop was important for wh at was said, as the speakers addressed a number of issues th at are of relevance to indigenous peoples and com munities around the world. Topics of equity, excellence and justice for indigenous peoples were brou ght to the foreground. In his opening remarks, Ihimaera set the focus upon the necess ity of indigenous people coming together to discuss and even deal with local issues that are disturbingly global in scope. These crises—which include the loss of cult
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