Officials from Taiwan paid a visit to Maplewood on Sunday, after being referred by Justin J. Harris, the International Environmental Program Specialist for the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC.

The Taiwanese contingent, headed by Tzi-Chin Chang, Deputy Minister of Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), was interested in sustainable initiatives in the United States.

"They asked Justin if there was anyone here doing intensive work on the municipal level," said Fred Profeta, Maplewood Deputy Mayor for the Environment. "He knew about this program called Sustainable Jersey, which I've been instrumental in starting." The program, which was in the works for five years and launched in February of 2009, is for all municipalities in New Jersey.

"It's what we call a municipal certification program," continued Profeta. "Municipalities must get a certain number of points to be certified sustainable and to qualify for financial aid." The Web site, www.sustainablejersey.com, offers information on how to meet the criteria.

So, when the Taiwanese officials arrived in Maplewood from Manhattan, they were eagre to discuss environmental programs.  In addition to Mr. Chang, their delegation included Yueh-Yuan Tu, Chief Engineer of the Taiwan Power Company; Dr. Robert Yang, Senior Advisor to the Industrial Technology Research Institute; Dr. Lih-Chyi Wen, Research Fellow at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research; and Hone-Ling Sun, Special Assistant to the Deputy Minister. They were accompanied by Mr. Harris of the EPA.

The delegation was greeted at Town Hall at 10:00 a.m. and stayed in Maplewood until 4:00 p.m. "We showed them some of our historical murals and I gave them a talk about the history of Maplewood," explained Profeta. He and several Township committee members took the delegation on a tour on one of Maplewood's bio-diesel jitney buses.

"We showed them the sites and some of our environmental accomplishments," he added. "Went to the new police station which is LEED Certified. We had a conference there, where we told them about Sustainable Jersey and they shared what they're doing."

The Taiwanese officials, Profeta shared, are particularly concerned about global warming because they are an island nation. They realize that as the temperature warms, the sea level goes up, and that's not a good thing for Taiwan. "We told them that we're convinced that the best way to influence individual behavior by people is to do it at the local level, with local government," said Profeta. "That's because we're closest to the people. But the plan is to continue the dialogue with the representatives from Taiwan."