Getting Pacific TaiwanPlus

Comedians are often encouraged to "punch up", or criticize those in positions of power, rather than "punching down", or ridiculing those less fortunate. So in countries where criticizing the government is dangerous, how does standup comedy fare as a political voice?
Trevor and Joey look into the growth of standup comedy scenes around Asia, comedy's role as a cultural force, and how jokes translate across both linguistic and political lines.

According to the World Health Organization, worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1990, while obesity in adolescents has quadrupled in the same amount of time. In Taiwan, more than half of adults and a third of schoolchildren are either overweight or obese, giving it one of the highest rates in Southeast Asia.
Joey and Trevor look into how these rates are calculated, which labels are unhelpful, and what we can do to lose weight on a larger scale.
www.cindyyangnutrition.com
www.instagram.com/coach.xiao.e
www.nesswellness.com

While you may be paying a low price for clothes produced as "fast fashion", the real price falls upon textile workers and our environment. 
Joey and Trevor chat about the advantages of a circular textile economy, the waste produced by major international brands, and where old clothes should go when we're done with them.
In this episode, we spoke to representatives from two companies trying to make a difference in the field of sustainable fashion:
https://www.threadingchange.org/
https://viasweat.com/
 

Taiwan's "Bilingual by 2030" policy, set in motion in 2017, aims to achieve a Taiwanese society fluent in both Chinese and English by the end of the decade. With this ambitious undertaking, the government hopes to more deeply connect Taiwan's workforce with the world, and to attract more international businesses to Taiwan.
Now that we're around seven years into this ambitious task, how is it going?
As mentioned in this episode, Taiwan's Ministry of Education has provided online resources for anyone interested in teaching English in Taiwan:
https://tfetp.epa.ntnu.edu.tw/en/tfetp/web/apply_now
And more English-learning resources can be found on the Hope English website:
https://www.hopenglish.com

Around the end of April and the beginning of May, parts of North America are set to see two different broods of cicadas wake up at once. It's a dual emergence between groups that meet only once every 221 years.
Trevor and Joey chat about the upcoming emergence event, why cicadas sleep for such exact amounts of time, and how the harmless insect has evolved to overcome even its toughest predators.

Mandarin pop music, or "Mandopop," is seeing increased listening in Taiwan, as one of the country's most famous musicians recently made history with global album sales. So, how does this affect the wider acceptance of music in Chinese, and how willing are people to listen to music in languages they don't understand?