Climate change a rights issue
In March, the UN published an article titled “Only 11 Years Left to Prevent Irreversible Damage from Climate Change.” Now why does this concern me? I’m merely a 14-year-old who is stumbling and trying to get through high school. I’ll tell you why.
In 2030, the damage will be irreversible. When I’m 25, I’ll have to live in a world where climate change has altered our lives forever — water shortages, food insecurity, forced relocation — with all 7.5 billion of us.
You all probably know the numbers, but I want to voice them one more time. The world is losing 413 gigatons of ice sheet per year. Our sea level is rising by 3.3 millimeters per year. Our global temperature has gone up by almost 1.2°C. We’ve shattered the records of the warmest temperatures on this planet in the past 19 years.
In 2017, there were 18 million new displacements because of weather disasters. Thousands of people have been forced to relocate. They are helpless and even homeless. Is climate change an environmental issue? I think it’s an issue of human rights.
I want to share a story with you. A story about a species native to Taiwan that might go extinct: Taiwanese white dolphins. Because of climate change, the broken habitats, the air pollution, they might die out.
And the same will happen to us too, if we don’t act now. New research has made it clear that Taiwan will be one of the first islands to be fully submerged in the sea as a result of climate change.
We will be the first mass wave of climate refugees. We will suffer the same fate that the Taiwanese white dolphins are suffering right now, and we will be facing death tolls we have never imagined before.
So I urge you to act. I urge you to act to save both the Taiwanese white dolphins and ourselves.
We know that government officials want to get re-elected and citizens want the easiest way out, but if we don’t do anything now, it will be too late by 2030.
Let’s reduce our carbon footprint. Take the bus more, waste less food. Taking small steps is more than enough. And ask the government to focus on making policies regarding green energy as well as zero waste.
Then we can walk toward a rosy future.
Emma Liu
Taipei
President William Lai (賴清德) attended a dinner held by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) when representatives from the group visited Taiwan in October. In a speech at the event, Lai highlighted similarities in the geopolitical challenges faced by Israel and Taiwan, saying that the two countries “stand on the front line against authoritarianism.” Lai noted how Taiwan had “immediately condemned” the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas and had provided humanitarian aid. Lai was heavily criticized from some quarters for standing with AIPAC and Israel. On Nov. 4, the Taipei Times published an opinion article (“Speak out on the
More than a week after Hondurans voted, the country still does not know who will be its next president. The Honduran National Electoral Council has not declared a winner, and the transmission of results has experienced repeated malfunctions that interrupted updates for almost 24 hours at times. The delay has become the second-longest post-electoral silence since the election of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez of the National Party in 2017, which was tainted by accusations of fraud. Once again, this has raised concerns among observers, civil society groups and the international community. The preliminary results remain close, but both
News about expanding security cooperation between Israel and Taiwan, including the visits of Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) in September and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) this month, as well as growing ties in areas such as missile defense and cybersecurity, should not be viewed as isolated events. The emphasis on missile defense, including Taiwan’s newly introduced T-Dome project, is simply the most visible sign of a deeper trend that has been taking shape quietly over the past two to three years. Taipei is seeking to expand security and defense cooperation with Israel, something officials
Eighty-seven percent of Taiwan’s energy supply this year came from burning fossil fuels, with more than 47 percent of that from gas-fired power generation. The figures attracted international attention since they were in October published in a Reuters report, which highlighted the fragility and structural challenges of Taiwan’s energy sector, accumulated through long-standing policy choices. The nation’s overreliance on natural gas is proving unstable and inadequate. The rising use of natural gas does not project an image of a Taiwan committed to a green energy transition; rather, it seems that Taiwan is attempting to patch up structural gaps in lieu of
RSS