People in Taiwan may be much familiar with protest of building waste dump after announcement that Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has to find a new place in order to deposit daily municipal waste or to build an incinerator due to an excess of industrial waste. It is a common issue concerning not only the site choosing to be the dump or incinerator, but also the acceptability of residents in the neighborhood underlying the concerns of health and living environment. However, people in Taiwan may now be pondering whether they should stand against building a dump or an incinerator near their houses.

　　In fact, there were a few notorious events caused by dumps after the guarantee that Taiwanese government had promised to take care of local residents, which poses the negative illustrations for people to accept building dumps in our back yard. People living next to dump was disrupted by side effects of having a dump in neighborhood. With bankrupt of reputation, EPA now need to earn back Taiwanese's trust. Only with earning back the trust from Taiwan residents, EPA or government can carry through their new policy and plan.

　　On the other side of a coin, EPA and the groups of environmental protection have devoted their effort in constituting laws and regulations as well as supervising the behavior of enterprises. The main purpose of waste management has already been changed into reducing industrial waste instead of reducing toxicity of terminal waste. The aim of EPA policy nowadays is "reduction in beginning" and "recovery of resources" to associate with the tendency of "zero waste". It is likely to decline the mass of waste in the past decades, which had presented in transparent information from EPA.

　　Taiwan has improved our ability to reduce mass of waste; however, environmental engineers and scientists are not satisfied by reduction of waste and they keep dedicating to environment tasks to develop new technologies of waste management. We are able to be proud of those efforts done by scientists, EPA, and government during past decades and in the coming future.

　　Taiwanese we must ask whether the living environment around us is as better as our expectation. Even though EPA have dedicated in reducing waste and keeping an eye on industry, we have to clean up the contaminated sites which caused by some rogue factories or enterprises or polluted by unintentional behavior without any regulation in the past. Until now, there are over 700 soil and groundwater contaminated sites in Taiwan presenting by EPA, and these sites are waiting in line for control or remediation.

　　There is no doubt that combination of chemical and engineering had created a well perspective of remediation. As extensive research on development of biotechnology, combination of environmental engineering, soil science, and biotechnology must be a potential perspective for remediation of contaminated soil or groundwater in the later several decades. EPA in Taiwan has been making huge funds to integrate various research fields in order to find out suitable strategies for some particular polluted sites. It is very likely that we are capable expecting a clean, harmless environment later.

　　It is believed that environmental engineers and EPA are required to take the task of environmental protection, but the truth is every person who lives on this ground should be accountable for our environment. Regrettably, there is a great partial Taiwanese do not fell like paying attention on environmental protection, let alone take responsibility of environment protection. We Taiwanese need to be reeducated about the damage which done to our environment in order to maintain a long-lived earth for our posterity.

　　Sir Nicholas Stern said the evidence that human-induced climate change was occurring was "crystal clear". Stern also advised the government about the economic threat posed by global warming. Taking the statement brought from Stern, we have to ponder on not only changing our extravagant living style which tread on the neck of earth, but also regulating policy of energy and industry. Given that we people ignore the importance and imminence of global warming, which will take us much higher cost a few decades later. Taiwanese must face to the environmental problem seriously while we still have a chance to lessen the influence of climate change. EPA here plays a fundamental role in environment-citizen relations, and can be the main key to arouse consciousness of environmental protection in every Taiwanese's mind.

　　The mission of environmental scientists has evolved from water treatment to the full spectrum of the environment, ranging from water to soil and waste. The discipline has expanded to the other areas of expertise with greater effort to solve environmental problems. As participants in the world, we all should take this responsibility of environmental protection to maintain the beauty of Earth.