The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday announced a campaign to encourage people to reduce their carbon footprint — offering prizes including new cars in return for signing a pledge that includes taking public transportation.
Until the end of the year, anyone can participate online by signing the EPA’s “10 no-regret promises to reduce carbon emissions,” filling out a carbon footprint self-evaluation form, or sharing tips on cutting one’s carbon footprint.
Participants will be eligible to win prizes including a Toyota Yaris or Toyota Prius in drawings.
In addition to the drawings, a panel of judges will select the best carbon reduction tips submitted by the public and give the winners 27-speed bicycles.
“The EPA will host prize drawings all year, picking winners in June, August, October and December ... Prizes include 35 folding bicycles, DVD players, three Toyota Yarises and a Toyota Prius, as well as 5,400 gift certificates,” EPA Minister Steven Shen (沈世宏) said.
But driving contradicts the EPA’s “10 promises,” one of which is to take public transportation.
Asked whether it was contradictory to offer cars as a reward for participating in the campaign, Shen said: “We should consider that [the prize winner] will own the car, but will not necessarily use it every day. If a person owns a car, it can boost the economy ... While they can take public transportation as much as possible, they can also drive the car whenever necessary.”
The 10 promises were unveiled by the EPA last June and include keeping air conditioning at a reasonable temperature, unplugging electronics when not using them, purchasing household goods that are certified as energy-efficient, not driving at least one day a week and riding a bike instead.
Shen said that while the EPA had the goal of getting people to stop driving, “people still yearn to own cars, so we are offering a hybrid car and another fuel-efficient model as grand prizes to encourage people to cut emissions.”
Although 420,000 people have signed the EPA’s pledge since June, when asked how big of a cut in emissions the EPA hoped to achieve through the campaign Shen said: “The result of this will need to be evaluated over time. We will not know the actual emission reductions until the event is over.”
To learn more about the campaign, visit ecolife.epa.gov.tw/default.aspx.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
RSS