OCSA believes that beach cleanup is an educational activity

Over the last 6 months, COVID-19 had made a huge impact on most people's lives; it also creates an opportunity for nature to recover. A few months after the beginning of the epidemic, many rare wild animal species reappear, including whale sharks, which was seen not long ago at the open sea near Taiwan.

National Donghua University（NDHU）emphasizes protecting the environment; we aim to convey the importance of environment protection through lectures, application, and other teaching methods. With this concept in mind, the Overseas Chinese Student Association（OCSA）of NDHU held a yearly beach cleaning activity. The purpose of this activity is to raise public awareness, social responsibility, and encourage the act of protecting nature.

The members of OCSA are mainly overseas Chinese students from Malaysia, HongKong, Macau, and Indonesia. On May 23^rd, they went to Qixintan, a popular scenic spot on the east coast of Taiwan to carry out the beach cleaning activity. They wish to contribute to the community and to ensure the tourists have their best experience of this beautiful scenery. The volunteers were split into small groups; one by one, they picked up garbages that was stuck between pebbles. Despite the bad weather, nearly 30 volunteers completed the tasks after 3 hours of hard work.

Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental organization states that plastic pollution made the greatest impact on the environment; it cannot be fully decomposed, produce toxic chemicals, penetrate the soil, and bring long-term harm to the local water sources. It also leads to animal deaths due to accidental consumption. During this activity, we discover that in addition to the garbage left by vendors and tourists, there are also various kinds of wastes that flowed from the ocean onto the shore. The majority of the non-recyclable garbage is plastic, styrofoam, and fishnets, while the recyclable waste consists of PET bottles and glass bottles.

Qixingtan should be a place where the tourists can enjoy the mesmerizing beauty of nature, yet it is being badly polluted. The beach cleaning activity ended in one day, but the making of peace between nature and human beings still has a long way to go. OCSA hopes that this activity will raise students' awareness, inspire them, and to make reflections on this matter. The act of protecting the environment is not only for animal habitats but also for our future generation. OCSA earnestly hope that this land will continue to be protected and loved by the community. The first step to protect the earth is to reflect on the impact of our daily behavior to the environment.

The volunteers are being divided into groups

Many garbaged are left on the beach by visitors