Large-scale demonstrations and parades aimed at raising public awareness of the pollution crisis threatening the survival of the next generation will be held on Dec. 8 in eight cities and counties around the country, organizers said yesterday.
The "Anti-Global Warming" demonstrations are being organized by individual members of the intelligentsia and more than 150 environmental protection groups including the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU), the Society of Wilderness, the Homemaker's Union and Foundation, and Taiwan Academy of Ecology, TEPU Secretary-General Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said.
Ho said the event is organized out of concern with Taiwan's lack of progress in cutting domestic emissions of carbon dioxide, as proven by failed efforts to push for the first-reading of a draft law on greenhouse gas reduction in the legislature.
The event is also aimed at discouraging the private Formosa Plastics Group (
If the project is given the green light by the government, it will lead to an increase in Taiwan's carbon dioxide emissions by 15 million tonnes per year, Ho said, adding that such an amount would drive Taiwan up the global ranking of per capita carbon dioxide emissions from its current position at 22nd.
Citing the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change resolution, Ho said countries around the world are being reminded that global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced significantly by the year 2015 because a global temperature rise of 2oC could cause disasters threatening the survival of all creatures on the planet.
Starting Saturday, "anti-global warming" rallies will be held in eight cities and counties -- Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua, Taichung and Hualien before the large-scale march on Dec. 8.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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