Cheng Kung Toastmasters Club - Language Exchange

Issue Discussion by NCKU Toastmasters,10/19/07 The Cheng Kung Toastmasters Club’s weekly Intelligent Issues Discussion Group was established in 2005 by the club senior members. It offers a mutually supportive environment for club members, officers, and guests for them to exchange ideas, thoughts, and different perspectives about well-selected global issues which are chosen by weekly facilitators. This program is already well designed to serve the members well and it is complementary to Toastmasters’ public speaking programs. In response to the issues of Global Warming brought up by 2007 Nobel Peace Price winner, Al Gore. We discussed an article about “Green Motors & General Motors (GM)” That article was a reaction to the emerging green-tech market ” almost as soon as the  the Nobel Peace Prize winner was announced. In fact, the issues about environmental protection have been discussed not only in our study group but have been and are discussed widely throughout the world.  The meeting got started with jokes, some life experiences, and warm up talks. There was mainland Chinese student , an American professional speaker, and many other Taiwanese NCKUers from freshmen to graduate students sitting together to talk about how GM is surviving in the fast changing global market. This is a topic because GM underestimated the drivers' appetite for leaner, greener cars. Nowadays, the environmentally conscious consumers are becoming the majority of the car buyers. People around the globe are trying to save money on oil and are hungry for fuel efficient vehicles, therefore car makers should be rethinking their corporate strategies and product lines to manufacture more green products instead of producing high-margin but gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs. "There is a myth out there that GM is a technological laggard, but that's not true," says John DeCicco, senior fellow for automotive strategies at the advocacy group Environmental Defense. "They just chose not to emphasize those kinds of products in their corporate strategy." Nevertheless, GM's cautious approach, in the past, stranded its brands  while its competitors positioned themselves as smarter and greener.Nowhere was that clearer than in GM's foot-dragging on hybrids, which use combination gas-electric engines to reduce fuel usage an average of 45%, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "Hybrids are an interesting curiosity," said Robert Lutz, GM's vice chairman of product development, in early 2004. "But do they make sense at $1.50 a gallon? No, they do not." Lutz was right then, and even with gas prices closer to $3, midsize hybrids are expensive and may not save most drivers much money. But to consumers, the equation was and is simple: hybrids = environmentalism.  From this article “ Green Motors” , we discussed  how corporate strategies should be made to sustain or even improve the market share by deeply understanding the customer-driven industries. We need to look at the whole supply chain from top to bottom, we need to make sure resources and providers are still thriving, to the customers, we need to observe and perceive through surveys how customers’ decisions are made when buying a car so that we can strategically plan for emerging businesses.   Some people in the discussion group talked tons about environmental protection. In my opinion, it's important to let more people not only become more informed but also to act on this issue. Some people may think this is difficult and takes too much time and money to do it. However, if we don't do it now, for sure, we will lose a lot in the future. Actually it's not too hard to realize these endeavors. There is one thing you can do right now: Keep your life as simple as possible! Do not waste your money on unnecessary things.
         "Speak it out!" is not only a slogan but also an action. We need to just start from ourselves. Tell your family, friends, and even your neighbors. And you will be amazed that so many people want to know more details. Luckily, there are more and more people all over the world that are starting to pay attention to these environmental issues. The more people that get involved, the more power we possess to change the world !  
         The most important role may be the governments’. How do we influence the governments’ decision making concerning protecting our environment? One way, is, in a forthright manner to vote or contribute money to the legislator who is concerned about these issues and who will effectively take actions on them. The industrial side will also play an important role. Since much of pollution is produced from manufacturing, the best way to improve it is to set up the criterion within regulations and make sure every company to MUST meet these standards.
        Last but not the least, change your life right now! Turn off your appliances if you are not using them. Eat more vegetables! It's not only good for the environment but it is also good to for your health. Spread the word! Why are you still sitting there? Get up and go do it!!We also discussed some new types of power production which is more environmental-friendly than gasoline, such as solar energy, fuel cells, wind energy, and other ideas. These new types of energy are all under research and development by huge research institutes and they have been applied in some machines that are used in our daily lives. What we need now is an effective government that sets farsighted policies or develops ways to cooperate with enterprises in the development of green energy and making certain these products have more parity. Besides, to advocate the concept of green issues and to educate the public is the responsibility we all have to protect our environment. Do what Al Gore (Nobel Peace Prize Winner) did. He devoted himself to educating people about facing that inconvenient truth, global warming! We need the advocator. Through our discussion I learned excellent ways for spreading concepts to the public. You can start from your community by making a speech or sharing movies concerning green topics. Through these ways, and more, we can make people become aware and think to about global problems.   Global Warming is increasingly discussed nowadays. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes: "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations" via the greenhouse effect. An increase in global temperatures is expected to cause the sea level to rise, increase the intensity of extreme weather events and change the amount and pattern of precipitation. Especially for Taiwan, facing up the serious global problems can help this beautiful island to survive in the future. If not, will Taiwan be immersed in the deep Ocean?    “We know the science, we see the threat posed by changes in our climate, and we know the time for action is now.” (California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, USA)                        “The evidence is sufficient that we should move towards the most effective possible steps to reduce carbon loading of the atmosphere.”(Newt Gingrich, Former House Speaker, USA)                         So, what I am saying; it is not meaningful for us to still argue about the real reasons for Global Warming, no matter what the reasons are or worry about human actions. Actually, no one on earth will escape the huge disaster in the future!   Obviously, the most important thing is to change the common people’s minds in their daily lives, and for them to protect their environment efficiently. Then, we must decide to educate, better, the minds of the common people. The first step, is by giving up our own bad habits which are harmful to nature. We need to be more patient and give more useful educational information and trainings to others. Maybe it seems like a trivial thing, but I believe it will bring fruitful harvest in the long run. Hopefully everybody will have the strong awareness and useful skills of environmental protection in their minds in the near future Through discussion, I formed a clearer idea of our concerns. It was time to diversify our thoughts and also to develop more structured positive ideas. In the discussion group, we talked a lot about the film “The Inconvenient Truth”, therefore, I would like to move the “green agenda” to further focus on the author, Al Gore. Gore is this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, and I think that he shares something in common with the Nobel Peace prize winner of 2006, Yunus. I think they are both dreamers in practice, and they don’t just care about their own achievements. They treat themselves as a real member of the society, so they are willing to face the social problems or the would-be-truths in the foreseeable future. And then they applied their knowledge and influence to improve many situations. I really admire them for their courage and determination. They are indeed honest agitators!  ~Special thanks to Bill, Jimmy, Christy, Baugi, Jocelyn, and other group members for your contribution to this great discussion.~