In ancient folklore, Phoenix symbolizes harmony, and
“Wutong” is the tree on which phoenixes would stay.
Wutong Foundation works in partnership
with individuals, private sectors, schools, government,
and other NGOs to promote fun and easy tree-planting programs
so to bring healthy trees back into cities.
You can be part of the green force of phoenixes by participating or supporting the green programs.
While intensive human activities contributes to global climate change, Wutong Foundation brings innovations to promote urban greening so as to raise public awareness toward the issue. In order to achieve the purpose of bringing green back into cities, we seize opportunities to work with people from diverse backgrounds and with domestic and international organizations. Just as seeds need soil, your support will help the green seeds grow.
Thanks to Taiwan High Speed Rail and Taiwan Railways, travelling in Taiwan is easier ever than before, both for human and saplings. Every year in spring, Wutong organizes a native sapling giveaway event at Taiwan High Speed Rail and Taiwan Railway stations. We offer travelers a sapling to take to his/her destinations so as to make Taiwan a greener island.
Seedlings under a big tree have little chance to grow: lack of space and light inhibits them from growing up. In an urban environment, transplanting seedlings under big trees becomes essential to allow seedlings have the opportunities to grow and get healthy.
Planting trees in the cities is more crucial than in rural area. Wutong Foundation aims to bring green back into the cities and planting trees is one of the major ways. The most suitable season to plant trees in Taiwan is from end of winter till spring when the soil is moisture and the weather is cool. Therefore, most of our planting-related activities are conducted during this period of time. You may choose to donate or join the planting tree force to support our actions.
Wutong Foundation provides tree related courses for both elementary and junior high schools. In a 40- to 80-minute session, students learn about tree physiology, caring techniques and be encouraged to come up with their own solutions on how to improve urban tree health. Train the Trainer program is available for teachers who wish to exercise the course at his/her classes. Please feel free to contact us.
The relationship between living things and the environment is closely knitted. People live in the cities, who have little chance to appreciate nature, may lost their senses toward the delicate variation. Wutong Foundation curated exhibitions to provide ecological knowledge to the public. The exhibitions are designed to be both knowledgeable and interesting and the topics varied from plants, insects, ecosystems and more. Exhibitions are also enriched with specimens, interpretations, books, fun activities, speeches, and seminars.
Wutong Foundation was honored to co-host the Forest and Me exhibition organized by the National Science and Technology Museum and the Department of Forestry and Resource Conservation of National Taiwan University from January to May 2017. In addition to introducing the concept of "Forest X Food", an on site mini food forest was presented and tree-related programs were offered to the exhibition visitors.
Trees are right by our side awaiting us to experience them through our five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and heart. By learning more about trees, we shall enjoy them more. The first “Tree of Life” exhibition co-curated by Wutong Foundation and Taiwan Forestry Research Institute (TFRI) took place in Hsinchu and were then introduced to Taipei Daan Forest MRT Station, Taipei Jiankuo Floral Market, Taipei Botanical Garden, Nantou Experimental National Forest, Kaohsiung National Science and Technology Museum, Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area and are still travelling around Taiwan.
What makes a tree branch strong enough to support itself upright for hundreds of years? The answer can be found by observing the inner world of trees through barks, branches, roots, and structures inside out. "The Inner World of Trees" has been curated nearly 10 times all around Taiwan and is waiting for future invitations of curation.
There are several life forms that human beings try so hard to perish and cockroach is on the top of the list since long ago. Cockroach appeared long before the dinosaurs and can be found almost all over the planet. Through evolution, they have acquired the perfect body structure to survive in the harshest condition. While the dinosaurs went extinct, cockroaches survived till this day and are still active all over the world. Learning to get along with them seems to be easier than trying to destroy them. The Cockroach Exhibition was co-curated with the National Museum of Natural Science and was the first exhibition of its kind in Taiwan.
Wutong Foundation introduced the project "Forest X Food" to link tree planting with food, and thus increased the public's willingness to join hands-on tree-related activities while enjoying the harvest. By building and maintaining a community food forest, the sense of community can be deeply strengthened as well.
Natural forest is the primary source of traditional nutrition for most populations in the world. It is more diverse and productive than monoculture and it provides outputs all year round. A food forest is a three-dimensional, sustainable and symbiotic system derived from a natural forest, with a major difference in the species planted within: the ones in a food forest are mainly edible to human.
Proposed and designed by Wutong Foundation, the Hsinchu Food Forest demonstration site is located in downtown Hsinchu City, on a public land provided by the city government. The local community is involved during the establishment and took the responsibility of managing the food forest starting 2018 January after one and half years accompanied by the foundation. This is the first food forest demonstration site in an urban environment in Taiwan accomplished together by the government, non profit organization, and the local communities. The site is also proud to have entered the top 30% among the 330 submission presented in the Solution Search Contest - Farming for Biodiversity, held by RARE, UN Environment and IUCN, and was invited to present the solution at the 23rd UNFCCC (COP23) in Bonn.
The Zhubei Food Forest is located on a public park near the High Speed Rail - Hsinchu Station, within an "air purification" park governed by the local Environmental Protection Administration. It was an educational site started in 2013 when Wutong Foundation first introduced the concept of a public food forest into Taiwan. While Hsinchu Food Forest offers a visual demonstration of a food forest, this site is more dedicated to educational events regarding food forest management techniques. However, due to regulation, no structures or facilities are allowed in the park, nor highly dense plantation. And thus, workshops regarding food forest technique have been taken places instead of setting up a visual food forest on the site. We thank all local communities, schools, private corporations and the government officials who have taken part in the food forest programs and enjoyed its delights together.
Through attractive thematic and hands-on workshops, participants can apply the concept of food forest in-depth. Experts and academics are invited to share their valuable knowledge and experience, allowing participants to start their own food forest in their community.
Communities all over Taiwan were invited to design their ideal food forest. The winners received a tool set to bring their design to reality. Their valuable ideas can be seen in the Hsinchu Food Forest demonstration site.
”Dare to Dream” is a series of lectures that covers several environment-related topics, including "Eco-life", "Eco-city" and "Green Economy." The under meaning of the phrase “dare to dream” in Chinese implicitly expresses something impossible to achieve. However, the phrase literally means positively as the starting point of a beautiful change. Wutong invite speakers from Taiwan as well as from other places of the world to share their experience of real cases. Seeing is believing, we believe that by taking actions, "dare to dream" will then be dream come true.
Buckminster Fuller, the American architect, designer, and inventor once said: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” Wutong Foundation invites you to dare to dream with us.
The way we conduct economic activities and the way we use natural resources are damaging the planet. Therefore, the ultimate solutions of environmental problems are behavioral changes. In 2014, we probed into the Taiwan’s economic history and revealed several alternative economic models across the world, bringing up discussions on the possibilities of sustainable economy for Taiwan.
In the effort to inspire people to learn and to think of an ideal sustainable city, we gathered a variety of practical cases of urban greening from local and international, including sustainable architectures, green high-rises, transition towns and many more.
All over the world, there are many groups or individuals who coexist side by side with the ecosystem in their unique way. At the same time they enjoy the taste of living without sacrifice the comfort of daily life. We hope that the dozen of cases we introduced will spread like green seeds and sprout all over the earth in Taiwan.
From documentaries and cartoons to cinema movies, a wide range of topics related to environment are broadcasted during the Green Film Festival. Every year during summer/autumn, you are welcome to enjoy the green movies with your families and friends.
Watching movies to reduce carbon footprint was made possible at the Film Festival on Green. This outdoor festival invited people to turn off the lights and air-conditioner at home, and come outside to enjoy a movie while picnicking on grass. In addition to a wide range of inspiring movies, the very year’s project "Hsinchu, a Bee-Friendly City" was also filmed into a 40-minute documentary and broadcasted for the first time at the festival. This short documentary documented the actions of the citizens in their effort to create a bee-friendly city, hoping to inspire others on how governments, communities and non-profit organizations can work together to create a better environment. The 2017 Film Festival on Green was not just a series of movie shows, it was also an environmental movement by itself. People who have participated in the events were also the actors and actresses in the documentary.
By encompassing topics such as urban farming and public land use, our food forest project in 2015 echoed the urban farming policies and land justice voices that were advocated all around Taiwan. In order to offer a broader perspective for the public and the government, documentaries and movies covering stories of urban farming from the world were played at the 100-year-old theater in downtown Hsinchu.
Is there an alternative economic model that can support the environment, labors, as well as profit-makers? Through several films and post-interpretation lectures, we took a close-up look at the historical, financial and legal aspects of the economy in hope to understand how economy impacts the land and people. The purpose of the films was not to make judgement but to raise the public awareness on the pros and cons of capitalism, and look for possible alternative models that will sustain.
Through the three topics: "Environmental change and crisis", "Impacts of modern economy" and "Nature conservation", to analyze environmental issues from multiple angles. Each featured movie is a representative piece that provides a quick understanding of the major challenges which human society face today.
Environmental issues affects all people on earth. Wutong Foundation is not only committed to promoting urban greening through educational activities, but also to actively expands global connections. Each year, foreign friends and volunteers are invited to Taiwan to share ideas and experiences on environmental movements, and through interacting with different sectors, we inspire further projects and actions.
In addition, the Foundation is involved in tree-planting events in other countries, and our members are actively establishing links all over the world through on-site visits, like in Malaysia, Inner Mongolia, Myanmar, Hong-Kong, Cambodia, Japan, Singapore, China, Germany, the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
Wutong Foundation provides short and long-term job opportunities for international volunteers. We had partners from Hong-Kong, France, China, the United-States of America, and the United Kingdom. Currently, we have colleagues from Hong Kong and France. We hope to expose ourselves in a diverse environment so as to encourage thinking out of the box.
Together we can build greener cities, Contact us now!