As an island nation surrounded by the sea, Taiwan’s way of life is closely intertwined with the ocean. However, due to a lack of awareness, people often overlook the pressing crisis of marine pollution and its impact. To raise greater attention, Accton Technology has planned a series of marine conservation activities, including an art exhibition, a coastal cleanup lecture, and a beach cleanup event.

First, we combined environmental conservation with art by collaborating with the art class of National Guo Fong Junior High School in Hualien to showcase woodcut prints on marine protection themes. The exhibition will run for three months, using the connection between art and environmental issues to inspire employees’ awareness and actions in safeguarding our blue planet.

To make the concept of marine conservation more concrete, we invited HiinStudio to give a sharing session, helping employees gain knowledge of marine protection and understand its importance. On September 13, International Coastal Cleanup Day, we further rallied 63 employees and their families to participate in a beach cleanup activity at Shuiyue Bridge in Zhubei, Hsinchu County. Through these efforts, the idea of conservation is no longer just a slogan, but a collective action that employees can take part in together.

Before taking action, raising public awareness of current issues is essential to generating deeper resonance. As the opening to Accton’s coastal cleanup initiative, we used art as a medium to transform distant environmental concerns into a more approachable creative language, sparking greater attention and dialogue.

For this “Pure • Clean” art exhibition, Accton borrowed six woodcut prints with environmental themes from the art students of National Guo Fong Junior High School in Hualien and displayed them along the company’s corridor for three months, from June to September. The students’ works focused on environmental and marine conservation, vividly portraying the challenges our planet faces: dolphins entangled in plastic waste, cities built upon whales, and the environmental destruction brought about by industrialization. Each of these artworks highlight the inseparable connection between human lifestyles and the natural world, showing how our choices determine the way we coexist with nature.

Yet, to inspire true action, public attention alone is not enough. Expert insights and synthesized observations are also needed to make marine conservation a practical and actionable goal.

To help participants of the beach cleanup gain a deeper understanding of the environmental crises facing our oceans, we invited HiinStudio to host a lecture, focusing on what actions we can take within the broader context of marine conservation.

The media has often shown heartbreaking images of sea turtles dying after swallowing plastic bags or straws, or being fatally entangled in abandoned fishing nets. These images remind us that marine debris not only threatens the survival of marine life but also reflects the profound impact of human lifestyles on the environment.

However, marine debris is merely the “result.” The true “cause” lies in the waste generated by our daily lives. Many of us assume that throwing garbage into a bin ends the problem, but improper treatment or landfill practices can still allow waste to be washed into the ocean by rainfall. According to annual beach cleanup data, most of the top ten categories of marine debris are closely tied to dietary habits, showing a strong connection between lifestyle choices and marine waste.

Take a common example: ordering hotpot delivery can generate an entire set of single-use waste, including a plastic carry bag, disposable bowl, plastic lid, sauce packets, chopsticks, and chopstick wrappers. While these items seem convenient, they carry long-term consequences, polluting the environment and even posing health risks. For instance, plasticizers released under high heat may accumulate in the body over time and lead to health concerns. Thus, changing daily habits is the key to reducing marine debris.

The lecturer also encouraged us to reflect on our choices. While it may be impossible to eliminate plastic use entirely, we can practice more “plastic-reducing actions” by changing small habits. For example, reusing clean plastic bags from breakfast, carrying reusable utensils and straws, or actively refusing single-use items. These seemingly minor changes, if practiced consistently over time, can significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste that ends up polluting the environment and our oceans.