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.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
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NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
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