When ecological conservationists and officials in Taiwan campaigned for the 31st anniversary of Earth Day yesterday, some environmentalists called on citizens to live simple and economical lives.
Activists from the Homemakers' Union and Foundation (主婦聯盟) yesterday sold cloth lunch bags in Taipei to promote reusing recyclable materials rather than plastic bags.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The lunch bags are made by housewives living in central Taiwan in areas heavily affected by the 921 earthquake.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Activists from the foundation said that selling the bags promotes a more environmentally and economically conscious lifestyle and helps victims of the earthquake.
Chan Man-li (陳曼麗), board chairwoman of the foundation, told the Taipei Times that Earth Day was not the only chance for people to treasure natural resources.
"If people's environmental awareness is raised, they can fulfill their ideas of environmental protection every day," Chan said.
In Taipei's Ta-an Forest Park (大安森林公園) yesterday, officials and conservationists held an activity called the "2001 Earth Day, Embracing the Earth" (二OO一世界地球日，擁抱地球), to encourage members of the public to experience nature.
At the opening ceremony environment, agriculture and education officials held a forum to where they called on people to treasure the planet.
Environmental Protection Administration head Hau Lung-bin (
Chang Hung-lin (張宏林), an activist with the Taiwan-based Society of Wilderness (荒野保護協會), said that the diverse activities designed for the Earth Day event were intended to help participants experience nature and learn to treasure it.
The society displayed rock samples collected by its members from remote mountain areas in Taiwan to offer children living in cities a chance to observe geologic textures.
With the assistance of record companies, they also played music accompanied by calls of diverse animals in Taiwan and the sound of waves and tides recorded on the eastern coast to illustrate the beauty of Taiwan.
The idea for Earth Day evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962 in the US. At that time, a group of concerned senators felt that the state of the environment was simply a non-issue in the country's politics.
On April 22, 1970, a nationwide grassroots demonstration was held on behalf of the environment. Demonstrators lobbied senators to draft laws pertaining to clean air, clean water and endangered animals.
Since then, concepts that emerged from the first Earth Day have influenced environmentalists, conservationists, politicians and businessmen all over the world, including Taiwan.
In the industrial sector, Applied Materials Taiwan yesterday took children to visit the Taipei Astronomy Museum.
Applied Material said that its environmentally friendly machines for producing semi-conductor materials efficiently reduce the emission of perfluorocarbons (PFCs), into the atmosphere. Semiconductor manufacturing is a large source of PFC emission.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS