Looking for short-term solutions also requires vision

I am a lone man in the desert. My market stand is baking under a scorching sun. On the table, sitting in a tub filled with crushed ice, are cool bottles of Perrier mineral water, sweating in the midday heat.

A Taiwanese entrepreneur crawls past my stand. He is dressed in a tattered suit, collar wide open, dragging his body through the hot sand, too thirsty even to sweat. He glances at the ice-cool green bottles "Water…?" he asks hopefully.

"Perrier", I say proudly. "Only ten cents a bottle".

The parched man looks ahead, thoughtfully. "I only drink Evian water".

"Water is water", I say. "When you're dying of thirst, every drop helps".

He nods towards the distant horizon where the low slopes of a brown crest are shimmering in the haze. "I have heard there is a large Chilled Evian Water Emporium beyond those hills. Fountains filled with Evian, even. You can swim in it if you like. Or so they say".

I look at his parched face, the scraped knees peeking through holes in the pinstriped trousers, the faraway hills. "Ten cents a bottle, " I say again, "Ice cold. Once you're rehydrated, you could run there."

The man nods politely. Without another word, he sets out towards the horizon, his knees leaving a trail in the sand.

This is Taiwan's energy policy in a nutshell, its eyes on a faraway dream beyond the horizon: countless new wind farms will magically appear at sea, all grid issues will resolve themselves overnight, electric vehicles will become cheaper than bicycles tomorrow.

Having a strategy to go electric in ten years is not a reason to ignore other solutions that are available right now. We need actions to save the planet, not dreams, and we need them today, Taiwan!