The difference between the ocean perspective and the land perspective
abuschengWhat do you think is the biggest difference between the ocean perspective and the land perspective?
What do you think is the biggest difference between the ocean perspective and the land perspective?
I am posting this honors thesis in the Formosa Plastics Global Archive to promote accessibility of my findings to study participants.
Mini, Lego-like building set depicting the Formosa Plastics Group Museum in Taoyuan, Taiwan. Purchased from the museum souvenir shop and assembled by Zoe Friese.
Global map of Formosa Plastics activity sites, highlighting China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the United States as primary locations of facilities.
Artificial display of an indigenous person doing traditional weaving of fabrics in the Formosa Plastics Museum, located in Taoyuan, Taiwan.
CIEL's report is the first I have encountered to attempt to give a comprehensive analysis of Formosa Plastics and its impact on communities. The report breaks down the corporation's story into several sections: its origins and convoluted corporate structure, its primary products and common health risks of production, documented legal violations, and environmental justice threats. Together, the 100-page document covers significant ground, yet is readable in under an hour. It includes key statistics that are understandable without extensive background. I believe this report, as a mode of communication, finds an outstanding balance between accessible language, analysis, brevity, and detail. Activists and researchers alike should strive for the same qualities in their knowledge-sharing strategies.
Given the vastness of Formosa Plastics' influence, there are many ways to tell its story to the world. As environmental justice activists and researchers, how do we describe a company and its negative impact when there is so much to say? Limited by time, word count, and the audience's attention span, we must decide what goes unsaid. As a result, we could write countless answers to the same question, "What is Formosa Plastics?"
In this published academic case study, I introduce Formosa Plastics through a local lens--specifically, through the eyes of a grandmother-turned-activist in the small town of Welcome, Louisiana. Her family's history with social justice activism, as well as the area's connection to centuries of slavery, make the environmental racism of Formosa Plastics' Sunshine Project especially salient. Although Formosa Plastics is a global force, telling its story on the microscale is an equally important perspective. After all, in Sharon Lavigne's eyes, her small town is her world. How many of these little worlds have Formosa Plastics destroyed as they wreak havoc across international borders?
A traditional Chinese summary of the StoryMaps webpage associated with my thesis research findings.