To mark Earth Day today, local governments and several environmental groups are holding “green” awareness events.
Greater Tainan’s Environmental Protection Bureau will host an event at the Eternal Golden Castle (億載金城) that will feature music performances and booths promoting environmental protection concepts and “green” consumption tips.
The bureau is also promoting a second-hand clothing exchange at the event, inviting people to bring old clothes for trade.
So far, more than 2,000 articles of second-hand clothing have been collected for the exchange, the bureau said.
The Taitung County Government is also getting into the spirit by hosting a bazaar with booths for second-hand products. The government said 10 percent of the proceeds would be donated to the Taiwan Environmental Information Center.
The National Taiwan Science Education Center said it would hold a series of hands-on science experiments, general science lectures and educational games, while giving out 500 free azalea and sweet-scented osmanthus saplings to visitors.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) will hold an event at the Taipei Water Park in which instructors will give free environmental lectures.
Entrance to the water park, one of 12 EPA-certified environmental education facilities, will be free from 12pm to 6pm today.
The EPA said people who visit any of the nation’s 12 certified environmental education facilities or attend environmental educational activities between today and Oct. 22 would receive a lottery ticket, giving them the chance to win prizes such as digital devices or folding bicycles.
National Tsing Hua University professor Juju Wang (王俊秀), who is also president of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, said that sustainability was a matter of daily habit.
Wang urged the public to be part of “the ‘green’ collar,” saying that this is not a social status issue, but a lifestyle that one can choose to lead.
Eating non-genetically modified foods, wearing natural fibers and taking public transportation are a few ways to create a sustainable economy, he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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