05/19（Tue.）Ancient ingenuity of water harvesting（Host：Toshi）

[toshi]

Dear YOYOs,

I am going to be the host in 05/19（Tue.）
Again I am going to use a TED talk as my topic. I hope you will be inspired by this TED talk.
Enjoy it!

Source: Anupam Mishra: The ancient ingenuity of water harvesting

If you have problem to see the subtitle, please email me.


Questions for discussion:
Session One:
1. The average rainfall in Taiwan is 2 to 3 times the average rainfall of the world. But how come now we are facing water shortage dilemma? What have you done in your daily life to conserve water? What can we do to save water in our daily life?

2. Do you know how much is the water loss rate during the transmission? It's 22%!! What do you think the government to save water? Why not encourage people to install the rainwater recycling system?

Session Two:
3. Energy saving is also an important issue. The government asks us to raise up the temperature of our air conditioner. However we seems ignore the importance of the heat isolation of our architecture. What do you think? Is there anything else about energy or water saving you feel very important but maybe not be noticed?

4. Most people believe that modern technology can always provide a better solution than ancient technology. What do you think? Do you know any ancient technology which is equally impressive or even better than modern technology? Do you know any ancient great technology that even up to now we still can not realize how it was achieved?


********************************************************************************************************************************************
Agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
8:10 ~ 8:25pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:25 ~ 9:05pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
9:05 ~ 9:25pm Summarization (20 mins)
9:25 ~ 9:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements ********************************************************************************************************************************************
聚會日期：列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間：當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
星期二聚會地點：丹堤濟南店
地址、電話：台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站：板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法：出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後，沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘，到了濟南路口，左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
最低消費： 80 元


注意事項：
1. 與會者請自行列印 Questions for discussion。
2. 與會者請務必先看過演講影片，並仔細想過所有的問題，謝謝合作！

給新朋友的話：
1. 請事先準備 2~3 分鐘的英語自我介紹；會議結束前可能會請你發表 1~2 分鐘的感想。
2. 請事先閱讀文章以及主持人所提的討論問題，並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 全程以英語進行，參加者應具備中等英語會話能力，對任一討論問題，能夠以 5 到 10 句英文表達個人見解。
4. 在正式加入之前，可以先來觀摩三次，觀摩者亦須參與討論。正式加入需繳交終身會費 NT$1,000。

[Kooper]

There has been alarming frequency of extreme weather conditions occurring around the globe and Taiwan, needless to say, is no exception; we just got off the hook from water shortage, thanks to recent good rainfall. Now could be a perfect moment learning water harvest techniques developed since ancient times. Besides all the spectacular constructions, what equally impressed me from the speech is the attitude demonstrated by dessert residents: they truly cherish their water resources and make the fullest use of them.

[Iris Wu]

Toshi will post questions soon, in the meantime, something related maybe we can think about:
- what is El Niño? Is it the same reason causing the drought in California and Taiwan?
- What other modern water harvesting techniques can you think of?
- California Is enforcing some water conservation mandate by imposing big fine and Taiwan launched water rotationing to fight drought, which policy can be more effective?

Just to brainstorm, how we can better deal with the water crisis?

[toshi]

Questions for discussion have been updated!
Sorry for my late!

[Kooper]

Building dams used to be viewed as an effective way to conserve water. It however doesn't come at no price. I just learnt from a TV program that a village and an elementary school submerged under Feitsui Reservoir. A thousand or so residents were forced to leave their home town and could never come back. Their connection to their root were cut and the local community was destroyed. The terrain and ecosystem were also permanently changed. The same story happened to people who used to live in Three Gorges, China, just at a much larger scale. Considering all the side effects it has brought and the sacrifice that local communities have made, does it still make sense to build more dams?

[Rock]

My favorite.

[Luis Ko]

honestly, i can't even get it, after reading the script..

[Kooper]

honestly, i can't even get it, after reading the script..

No worry Luis. Toshi will explain it to us!

[Rock]

[Luis Ko]

wow~ the map above might have said a lot about the topic, if not all, so, guess Rock really knows a thing or two about it haa~

[Rock]

Sorry, I live in Keelung. This water problem is not an issue to me. We don't conserve water in a place where rain falls 200 days a year.

[toshi]

Attendance Figures: 15

- Host：Toshi

- Participants： Alice, Amy, Bella, Iris, James, Jody, Kooper, Liwen, Luis, Robert, Sabrina, Tina, Tom, Wen-han

Thank you for coming! Hope you enjoy the night!! ^^

[toshi]

Some mentioned information for your reference:

1. Antikythera Mechanism 古希臘類似天文鐘
2. 糯米砂漿
3. 印加的石牆建築
4. 熱島效應
5. 具儲水、降溫、防災、降低空汙和生態永續的道路鋪設工法

[Iris Wu]

Sorry, I live in Keelung. This water problem is not an issue to me. We don't conserve water in a place where rain falls 200 days a year.

Want to get away from it? Be careful what you wish for!

A friend of mine lived in San Diego, California. She said once her husband, a water expert, was going to attend an international conference on DROUGHT; on the way there, he called her and said, “Help! My car is stuck in a FLOOD!”

Extreme weather could happen in both directions quickly!

[Luis Ko]

during the meeting liberty was mentioned. as a sceptic i doubt there's real liberty out there in the world, otherwise we wouldn't have law to regulate how people behave.
in my opinion, our freedom is always confined, especially when it comes to the benefit of the society or, of a country. furthermore, as a sceptic i also doubt that most of people, if not all, would be so unselfish sacrificing their convenience and comfort simply for saving resources, without any compulsory rules or what. if people can freely use something without stress, then there will be stress of the thing. people easily take easy things for granted. guess my suspicion can be somehow verified by the map Rock posted on the thread.
so, i quite agree with James idea that those who waste too much water or energy, in other words, consuming too much, should be fined. at the end of the day, money does matter. but then again, how to concrete it that's another story lo~