A survey released by the Taiwan Public Opinion Studies Association yesterday on environmental protection showed that 63 percent of people felt that environmental protection was more important than economic development.
The poll, conducted by Shih Hsin University, was held from May 28 to May 30 and involved 1,078 individuals.
Compared with a report on a similar topic in 2009, close to 15 percent more respondents said the priority should be environmental protection, while 70 percent said environmental protection was more important than handling traffic congestion.
The poll touched on knowledge of environmental protection, environmental consciousness, quality of the environment and individual action.
About 80 percent of respondents said they supported environmental protection and there was an observable rise in awareness and support for environmental protection.
Although respondents’ contact with information and activities about environmental protection was lower than in 2009, about 90 percent of respondents said they were willing to take action to help the environment.
The report said the score respondents gave themselves on their accomplishments regarding the environment — including caring for, learning about and attending events on environmental protection issues — averaged 63.2 percent, with nearly 20 percent giving themselves a failing grade.
Wang Ching-ming (汪靜明), a professor of environmental protection at National Taiwan Normal University, said the report showed the public had developed a strong belief in the need for environmental protection, but still failed to take action.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) told the press conference the nation was like a vehicle and that if the economy was the engine, environmental protection was the chassis.
If the chassis were damaged, it would be difficult for the vehicle to continue operating, Tien said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,