Facing the challenges of global warming, the concepts of environmental protection, sustainability, and energy conservation have become increasingly important. The Taoyuan City Education Bureau encourages schools to promote green campuses, enabling children to develop a habit of caring for the environment from a young age. At Shuimei Elementary School in the Yangmei District, a three-day interactive eco-education program was conducted, allowing students to learn through doing and integrate environmental education into their daily lives.

The school's curriculum focuses on environmental education, covering topics from recognizing campus plants to environmental protection and resource recycling. It has also established a rainwater collection system to utilize collected rainwater for watering plants and flushing toilets. Last year, the school applied for food education, creating a vegetable patch for each class and promoting leaf composting, successfully achieving organic farming.

This year, Shuimei Elementary School successfully hosted a three-day eco-education event in collaboration with Tzu Chi Foundation's mobile eco-education vehicle, "KOKO Net Zero Green Living Center." The event saw participation from all teachers and students of the school and affiliated kindergarten and even invited students from Ru Yuan Elementary School and Yangmei Municipal Kindergarten to join in the celebrations, experiencing interactive learning about energy conservation, water-saving, and sustainable development on a day-to-day basis.

The "KOKO Net Zero Green Living Center" is a mobile eco-education center converted from a 40-foot shipping container, specifically designed to promote "net zero emissions" and "green living." During its time at Shuimei Elementary, the program was integrated into the school's environmental education courses, featuring eight major thematic sections like "Carbon True More," "Happy Cow," and "The Story of Water Cube," which guided students through enjoyable learning experiences regarding carbon emissions and sustainable development concepts. During the event, Tzu Chi volunteers worked closely with the school's teachers and students to plan and execute various educational activities.

Principal Wang Pai-tu of Shuimei Elementary expressed gratitude for the arrival of the mobile eco-education vehicle, stating, "The presence of the eco-education vehicle demonstrates the educational altruism spirit of the Tzu Chi volunteers, providing our students an in-depth understanding of the importance of environmental protection and sustainable development."

Student Wen Tsai-chieh commented, "Thank you to the volunteers for their detailed explanations, which allowed us to learn a lot about environmental protection. In the future, I will definitely carry reusable utensils and an eco-bag. I'm particularly interested in the human-powered generator, as riding a bike can generate electricity. At home, I choose to use a fan instead of air conditioning and try to walk to school to reduce energy consumption. We should cherish energy and not waste it." Another student, Lin Hsuan-jui, remarked, "What surprised me the most is that KOKO expressed through sign language that humans are foolish for producing too much carbon dioxide. I believe that using a fan can reduce air conditioning usage, and through recycling and avoiding littering, we can implement environmental actions in our daily details."

Shuimei Elementary School thanked Tzu Chi's "KOKO Net Zero Green Living Center" for its support and stated its commitment to continue promoting environmental education, instilling an awareness of environmental protection and sustainable development in students to be practiced in daily life.