The Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy (TAISE) on Thursday published the results of a survey, which showed that the majority of Taiwanese said the government is not paying enough attention to issues related to climate change and that the nation’s future energy use should not exceed the current level.
The nationwide survey conducted in March polled people’s views on climate change, the nation’s energy policies and commitment to reduce carbon emissions, as well as on nuclear energy.
The results indicated that 63.1 percent of Taiwanese have discussed climate change and its impact with family and friends, while 62.6 percent of respondents said the government should place more emphasis on climate change.
Among the six municipalities, Taipei residents are the least impressed with government efforts to help Taiwan adapt to climate change, with 72.4 percent of people saying that the government should do more about the problem.
Regarding the government’s efforts to promote energy conservation and carbon emissions — a policy first introduced by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration almost seven years ago — 60.9 percent of people said they are not satisfied with the nation’s performance on energy efficiency over the past five years, and that its results in curbing carbon dioxide emissions are “less than optimal.”
People who live in southern Taiwan are the most critical of the government’s efforts to save energy and reduce carbon emissions, with 86.5 percent of people saying that efforts in these areas are insufficient.
Asked whether they adopt practices to save energy and cut carbon emissions in daily life, 58 percent of respondents said that they have room for improvement, marking an increase of 5.3 percentage points compared with results from last year.
Taoyuan and Kaohsiung are the two areas where the most people think they could do better in conserving energy and cutting carbon emissions, with 69 percent of respondents saying that they are very mindful of their responsibilities.
Meanwhile, 53.7 percent of respondents said that, even with their safety guaranteed, they would still oppose nuclear energy, while 71.9 percent said they support the currently implemented “floating electricity prices,” where the government adjusts energy prices according to international fuel prices.
Drawing on findings by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and a George Mason University survey, both conducted in 2013, the TAISE survey indicated that Taiwanese are more concerned about climate change than people in the US, with 90.7 percent of respondents saying that they think climate change has taken place, compared to 63 percent of those surveyed in the US who hold the same opinion.
Furthermore, 85.2 percent of Taiwanese say that they hope to receive government subsidies when they purchase energy-efficient products, such as photovoltaic panels and electric scooters, while the proportion of people in the US who feel the same way is about 71 percent.
The survey collected 1,093 valid samples from Taiwanese adults across the nation, with a confidence of 95 percent and a 2.96 percent margin of error.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS