It was great to see you all last Thursday, and I look forward to many exciting classes over the next semester.
Next class, we'll take the time to go around the room and make introductions, so that we can all start getting to know each other more.
As we mentioned last time, our topic for this Thursday, 3/25, is Trash and Pollution.
some Negative (but important!) topics such as:
*nuclear waste storage and its effects on populations
*trash vortexes in the ocean
*trash in space
*pollution and health
*pollution and corporations
some Positive (and hopeful!) topics such as:
*beach clean-ups
*recycling
*biogas
*the clean-up of the Love River in Kaohsiung
*anti-pollution laws
Questions such as:
*What is the history of plastic? What is the science behind plastic? What problems does it cause? Why do we use it so much?
*Where does our trash go in Taiwan after the garbage truck takes it away?
*How much of what the recycling truck takes away really gets recycled?
*What can be recycled into what?
*What laws control air and water pollution in Taiwan?
I hope that you will choose an idea above, or be inspired by the above ideas and find another idea that you're interested in, and research it, and share it with our class!
You can learn from and research both English and Chinese articles and information.
The English in-class presentations can be as simple or as complex as you wish, and as broad or as specialized as you wish! Please present in the way that you feel comfortable!
The time limit for a talk is 10 to 12 minutes, so that everyone who wants to has a chance to present in class. (But as I said last class, please feel free to contact me in advance if you'd like to make a longer presentation, and let me know how much time you're going to need.) And the presentations can be as short as you like; if you can say everything you want to say in 3 or 5 minutes, that's great too!
Below are a few interesting articles on the topic of Trash and Pollution! Let me know if you'd like advice on finding more information on your area of interest, and I'll be glad to help!
Here's a helpful introduction to garbage pollution:
At the top right of this page are other links to other pages with lots more information about the different types of pollution, and what can be done to help.
Here's an article about the dangers of the junk that's cluttering up space:
This article is quite long; if you don't have time to finish it I suggest just reading at least from the beginning down to the "brief history of space junk."
And here's an article about the huge trash vortex in the ocean:
I'm including two video suggestions as well!:
The first is a short talk from Ted.com:
Diana Cohen: Tough truths about plastic pollution (5min 18sec):
At the bottom of the square, there's a box where you can turn on the Chinese (traditional) subtitles if you wish!
If you'd like a challenging talk, I recommend this 20 minute presentation called "the Story of Stuff."
The presenter speaks quite quickly, and there are no subtitles.
Enjoy! See you in class on Thursday, 3/25!
Sincerely, Abbie
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