New Taipei City’s Pinglin and Shuangxi districts have been promoting low-carbon tourism for several years. This year they are working with travel agencies and mass transit operators in breaking with the group tour model and changing to individual tourism. Cheng Ta-wei, director of the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau’s Low Carbon Community Development Center, said there must be communication and discussions with district offices, and various packages established with local businesses, which will be available as early as May.
Promotion of low-carbon tourism began during 2008 in the Pinglin area. People must register ahead of time, and then on the day of travel meet in front of the New Taipei City government to take a mid-sized bus to Pinglin, switching upon arrival to a local golf cart or other low-carbon vehicles. Starting under the former Taipei County government and since it was upgraded to New Taipei City, between NT$6 million and NT$7 million has been set aside annually for the project.
Cheng also said that travel agencies are extremely willing to work with them, and the reaction is usually positive when it comes to companies that already had routes going to Pinglin such as the Sindian Bus Co. On the other hand, since low-carbon tourism has been operating in Pinglin for several years, there was already an established way of doing things. In order to change anything there must be discussions with district offices and businesses to come up with even more attractive tourist itineraries. The reaction in Shuangsi District has been quite positive, and “low-carbon tourism every day” can be expected some time in May.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY KYLE JEFFCOAT)
Photo: He Yu-hua, Liberty Times
照片:由時報記者何玉華
新北市坪林、雙溪推動低碳旅遊多年,今年擬與旅行社、大眾運輸業者合作,打破團體旅遊模式朝自由行轉型;環保局低碳社區發展中心主任程大維表示,還要跟公所溝通,研議與商家搭配做不同的套裝選擇,最快五月上路。
坪林區從民國二00八年開始推動低碳旅遊,參加的民眾須事先報名,活動當天在新北市政府集合後,搭乘中型巴士前往坪林,再轉乘使用當地的高爾夫球車等低碳運具,從前身台北縣政府到升格後的新北市政府,每年編列新台幣六、七百萬元。
程大維表示,旅行社配合意願高,加上類似新店客運等本來就有行駛坪林的路線,反應不錯;不過,坪林經營低碳旅遊多年,已有既定模式,新的改變還要與公所、當地商家商討,推出更有吸引力的套裝行程,雙溪區的反應則相對樂觀,「天天都低碳旅遊」的做法,可望於五月上路。
(自由時報記者何玉華)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110