Thousands of environmental volunteers in a number of cities and counties yesterday celebrated the Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) ninth year of low-carbon lifestyle.
"A low-carbon lifestyle means that you walk or bike instead of driving, recycle and reuse instead of disposing, plant more trees and use energy-conserving electric appliances in your home," Environmental Protection Administration Minister Winston Dang (
The low-carbon program was started by the EPA in 1998 to involve community volunteers in cleaning their neighborhoods.
When the program started, there were only a few hundred volunteers.
Their number has since grown to 150,000. Taipei County Bureau of Environmental Protection staffer Lin Yi-chen (林依蓁) said.
In addition to living low-carbon lifestyles, volunteers regularly participate in activities such as street sweeping and garbage sorting, she said.
Yesterday's event included several stalls showcasing greener products, from socks made of recycled PET bottles, children's rocking horses mad with old wooden furniture, to shopping bags made out of banners and flags.
At one stall, Ecomax Textile representative Ko Hsi-che (
"PET bottles permeate the soft drink market today because they are light, cheap and sanitary, but they take hundreds of years to biodegrade," Ko said
"Our company has been working on giving the bottles second lives and turning them into something useful and environmentally friendly," he said.
On the Taipei County Government's recent proposal to lower carbon emission by having some government employees work four days a week instead of five, some volunteers felt it would decrease the efficiency of the government.
"Also, if [government employees] drive their cars somewhere during their extra day off, the carbon emission problem will remain," a volunteer commented.
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
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