Restart and connect with Mother Earth Sun Yat-sen University holds "Eco-Body-Soul" workshop
In order to help students establish a macroscopic vision of eco-body, mind, and soul that co-exists harmoniously with Mother Earth, Aerosol Science Research Center of National Sun Yat-sen University held the "Eco-Body, Mind-Inner Development Goals (IDGs) Workshop", activities include energy saving Introduction to carbon-reducing green buildings, meditation breathing awareness, contact with the earth, forest breathing, five-sense forest thinking, blessings of the earth mandala, etc. In addition to domestic students, foreign students from Japan, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, etc. participated in the event. The whole process was conducted in bilingual, to implement the concept of promoting international co-learning by Aerosol Science Research Center of Sun Yat-sen University.
After cooperating with environmentally-friendly stores in Hamaxing Business District in 2021 to hold the "No Trace Eating" campaign to reduce plastic, carbon, and air pollution, Aerosol Science Research Center of Sun Yat-Sen University and Pingtung County won the Environmental Sustainability Award this year. Yuzhonglin Ecological Mind Leisure Farm” worked hand in hand, and Associate Professor Chia C. Wang, the Director of the Aerosol Science Research Center at National Sun Yat-sen University, and the farm owner Li Yihe, who has decades of experience in mindfulness healing and life environment education, jointly planned the “Ecological Body, Mind-Inner Development Goal Workshop”. During the activity, the trainees walked barefoot on the grass and exchanged breath with the big trees in the forest. Humans and nature are in a perfect balance. Humans can maintain life by breathing in the oxygen emitted by trees through photosynthesis, while trees can survive by absorbing carbon dioxide emitted by humans. Human beings do not exist independently on the earth, but depend on the nourishment of the mother earth. However, the environmental pollution caused by various human activities in the past century has seriously damaged the balance.
Associate Professor Chia C. Wang, the Director of the Aerosol Science Research Center at National Sun Yat-sen University, said that through breathing, human beings, mother earth and all life on earth are actually a community of life. However, in recent years, man-made air pollution and suspended PM2.5 have caused nearly 7 million people to die prematurely every year. The COVID-19, which has been spreading for nearly three years, has also been proven to be mainly caused by aerosols containing the virus in the air, showing the importance of creating a clean air environment.
"The prerequisite for improving air quality is that everyone must first recognize the objective fact that each other is a symbiosis, that good and bad are dependent on each other, and that they recognize from the heart the close connection between themselves and others, and Mother Earth, and are willing to make changes in actions. It can be achieved.” Associate Professor Chia C. Wang, the Director of the Aerosol Science Research Center at National Sun Yat-sen University,pointed out that the United Nations announced 17 “sustainable development goals” in 2015, including taking actions to mitigate climate change, building sustainable cities and communities, ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, and establishing global partnerships, etc. The 17 SDGs goals guide the global joint efforts towards sustainability, and we hope to achieve the 17 SDGs goals by 2030. However, to achieve the 17 goals of the 17 SDGs, it still depends on the development and cultivation of many inherent abilities of human beings, including the identification of oneself as a part of ecology and the close connection with all other life and nature.
This workshop hopes to reawaken the memory of everyone's umbilical cord connection with Mother Nature through the interactive experience with nature through the five senses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body. The students who participated in this activity shared that the last time they stepped on the ground was when they were young, they would not think about it when they usually wore shoes. In fact, it has always been by our side. When lying on the ground and looking up at the sky, you can see from a different perspective how Mother nature covers and protects all creatures on the earth. The collective creation of earth mandala is also a link that impresses the students. Everyone uses the collected earth materials, arranges them arbitrarily, and finally collaborates to create an artistic creation. The whole process allows people to see the value of each person's existence, and each person's small contribution will have meaningful changes in the final creation. The process is touching and thought-provoking.
Paichi-Pat Shein, the leader of the Environmental Education Promotion Team of the Aerosol Science Research Center and the professor of the Institute of Education, said that the development of key internal capabilities has a decisive influence on promoting sustainable development education, and should try to integrate into higher education, K-12 teaching courses at all stages of learning, and all sectors of society. In the process of promoting sustainable environmental education at the national level, this will also be a key direction of the education for sustainable development for all that the Environmental Education Group of the Aerosol Science Research Center will strive to promote in the future.
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The internal development goal has become the consensus of many countries in the world, and is also an incubator to promote SDGs in 2030. The internal development goals can be roughly summarized into five aspects, including 23 key capabilities, including the ability to self observe, perceive and adjust, the ability to connect with others and the global ecosystem as a whole, the kindness and empathy for others and the natural environment, the systematic understanding of complex affairs, the long-term vision, and the ability to create together. Aerosol Science Research Center of Sun Yat sen University is an international NGO organization IDGs（ https://www.innerdevelopmentgoals.org/ ）At the hub of Taiwan, we will actively promote the integration and practice of ecological body and mind in the future, and expect to achieve the vision of 17 SDGs as scheduled by 2030.
