BBQ alternatives absurd
This climate change vaudeville act continues to descend into the theater of the absurd (“Alternatives to barbeque reduce carbon footprint,” Sept. 12, page 2).
So let me get this straight: the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is encouraging Taiwanese to reduce their carbon footprint by substituting the age-old practice of barbequing on the Mid-Autumn Festival with more healthy and “environmentally friendly” activities such as gambling and drinking bubble milk tea.
To continue in the same vein, I have a few more suggestions for the agency: Why don’t they encourage Taiwanese to drink more or maybe chew more betel nut? Why not? Hey, if the Taiwanese are going to be obese gamblers, they might as well be alcoholic, obese, betel nut-chewing gamblers. Human folly never ceases to amaze me. Someone needs to create an agency to protect the Taiwanese from the Environmental “Protection” Administration.
A note to the EPA: Try encouraging Taiwanese to reduce carbon emissions by driving fewer cars so you can clean up the horrible air pollution in this country.
A note to the Taiwanese: Reducing your carbon footprint to mitigate climate change is a waste of time because the climate has always changed and so-called global warming is an elaborate hoax whose scientific credentials are nothing short of what used to be called quack science.
Don’t believe it? Paul Watson, one of the founders of Greenpeace, was very blunt when speaking on the issue of climate change: “It doesn’t matter what is true; it only matters what people believe is true ... you are what the media define you to be.”
Or how about this piece of candid observation by the British Institute for Public Policy Research in a report entitled Warm Words: How Are We Telling the Climate Story and Can We Tell It Better?: “The task of climate change agencies is not to persuade by rational argument, but in effect to develop and nurture a new ‘common sense’ ... We need to work in a more shrewd and contemporary way, using subtle techniques of engagement ... The ‘facts’ need to be treated as being so taken-for-granted that they need not be spoken ... It amounts to treating climate-friendly activities as a brand that can be sold. This is, we believe, the route to mass behavior changes.”
The EPA will never be persuaded otherwise because you can’t reason someone out of a belief they never reasoned themselves into.
As for the Taiwanese: Keep barbequing, especially that cow on Kinmen.
JASON LAMANTIA
Jhongli City,
Taoyuan County
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has its chairperson election tomorrow. Although the party has long positioned itself as “China friendly,” the election is overshadowed by “an overwhelming wave of Chinese intervention.” The six candidates vying for the chair are former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), former lawmaker Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文), Legislator Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強), Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), former National Assembly representative Tsai Chih-hong (蔡志弘) and former Changhua County comissioner Zhuo Bo-yuan (卓伯源). While Cheng and Hau are front-runners in different surveys, Hau has complained of an online defamation campaign against him coming from accounts with foreign IP addresses,
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on Saturday won the party’s chairperson election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes, becoming the second woman in the seat and the first to have switched allegiance from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to the KMT. Cheng, running for the top KMT position for the first time, had been termed a “dark horse,” while the biggest contender was former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), considered by many to represent the party’s establishment elite. Hau also has substantial experience in government and in the KMT. Cheng joined the Wild Lily Student
When Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced the implementation of a new “quiet carriage” policy across all train cars on Sept. 22, I — a classroom teacher who frequently takes the high-speed rail — was filled with anticipation. The days of passengers videoconferencing as if there were no one else on the train, playing videos at full volume or speaking loudly without regard for others finally seemed numbered. However, this battle for silence was lost after less than one month. Faced with emotional guilt from infants and anxious parents, THSRC caved and retreated. However, official high-speed rail data have long
Starting next year, drivers older than 70 may be entitled to a monthly NT$1,500 public transportation and taxi subsidy if they relinquish their driver’s license, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced on Tuesday. The measure is part of a broader effort to improve road safety, with eligible participants receiving the subsidy for two years. The announcement comes amid mounting concern over traffic safety in Taiwan. A 2022 article by CNN quoted the name of a Facebook group devoted to the traffic situation called “Taiwan is a living hell for pedestrians,” while Berlin-based bne IntelliNews last month called it a “deadly
RSS