On the early morning of April 23rd, Taitung Tzu Chi and Hotai Motor Co., Ltd. held a "Love Taiwan through Beach Cleaning and Plastic Reduction" event. The venue was the Taitung County Seashore Park in southeast Taiwan. A total of 33 participants took part, including Tzu Chi volunteers and members of the Feng Tian Junior High School basketball team. They wore gloves, held tongs and trash bags, and searched for beach waste on the sand and in the crevices of rocks. They hoped to make the east coast of Taiwan more beautiful and mark Earth Day.

Hotai Motor Group is committed to environmentally friendly and energy-saving products and services. Since 2019, they have been organizing beach-cleaning events with their dealers in coastal cities and inviting local public agencies, non-profit organizations, and the public to participate.

In 2023, they again held a beach-cleaning event to mark Earth Day. It was held at Star Gazing Square in Qixingtan Park, Hualien, and Wanshan Temple Seashore Park in Taitung. They invited employees, family members, car owners, residents, public agencies, and non-profit organizations to participate in the nationwide beach-cleaning and plastic-reduction campaign.

Nearly 390 people signed up for the events at both locations. They participated in removing marine debris, demonstrating their commitment to protecting Taiwan's coastline. To extend the benefits of the event, Hotai Motor Group also gave money to the Environmental Education Public Welfare Fund based on the number of participants.

In Taitung, 23 Tzu Chi volunteers responded to the beach-cleaning and plastic-reduction campaign and invited 10 Feng Tian Junior High School basketball team students to participate. Coach Guan-Yu Chen (陳冠宇) said that the students received much support from charitable organizations and parents. This was an opportunity for them to give back to society and learn the importance of keeping the environment clean. Through this activity, they learned the importance of loving the earth and protecting the environment, a difficult task. Many students who live near streams or beaches also realized the importance of environmental protection after the cleanup.

A total of 125 people participated in the beach cleanup event at Taitung Seashore Park. At the end of the activity around 9 a.m., they had collected a total of 651 plastic bottles and 145.2 kilograms of waste, including cigarette butts, polystyrene, fireworks debris and beer cans.

Director Gao-Rui Chen (陳高瑞) of the Toyota Eastern Taiwan factory in Taitung said that, to mark Earth Day, they had organized a friendly Earth and environment activity; Hotai Motor Group mobilized 16 locations across Taiwan to participate. Gao thanked Tzu Chi Foundation for joining them in this effort.

Tzu Chi volunteers often say: "Doing environmental protection is planting good karma." Hopefully, our planet will become more beautiful, and everyone can work together to make our home a better place.

Tzu Chi volunteer, Han-Lun Chang (張漢倫) , said being a Tzu Chi volunteer means that every day is Earth Day. Seeing companies invest in environmental protection is a common good. Volunteers participated in cleaning the beach to attract more people to join the cause of cherishing the Earth.

A Jing Si Aphorism says: "True environmental protection is about loving the mountains and oceans, and cherishing all living things."

Join Tzu Chi. Let us cherish the Earth together through action.

Story by Ting-Qian Luo and Yi-Qian Chen