Hundreds of campaigners yesterday took to the streets in Taipei to demand government action to ensure clean air and to raise awareness about the threat of global warming.
The demonstrators convened in front of the Environmental Protection Administration in Taipei, where environmental activists, academics and event participants gave speeches. Some participants said they came from Yunlin and Kaohsiung.
Former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) said the international community is not doing enough to meet the Paris Agreement goal reached during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) this month to cap global warming at 2°C and drive the figure down to 1.5°C if possible.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Lee said that carbon reduction goals proposed at the Paris meeting would lead to a global temperature rise of 2.7°C 30 to 50 years from now, and he urged Taiwanese to cut their annual carbon emissions per capita of 11 tonnes.
Lee said that if the international community is to achieve its goal of capping the global temperature increase at 1.5°C, people must achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050, meaning the amount of carbon dioxide produced should not exceed that which can be reabsorbed.
National Taiwan University Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene professor Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權) urged the government to shut down coal-fired power plants and not to “terrorize” people by saying that doing so would cause an energy shortage.
Photo: CNA
Chan said scientific studies have shown that the nation would have enough energy without coal-fired power plants.
He said that Taiwanese consume more than 10,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per capita each year, while Germans and Japanese use between 7,000 and 8,000kWh per capita, indicating Taiwanese could adopt a more energy-efficient lifestyle.
The crowd later moved to the Presidential Office Building, with some participants holding up elaborate props and playing music.
Photo Credit
The three vice presidential candidates also discussed their parties’ commitment to cutting carbon emissions.
People First Party presidential candidate James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) running mate, Republican Party Chairperson Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), touted her experience helping people fight companies creating pollution during her time as Hsinchu County councilor and pledged to push legislation to work toward yesterday’s appeals if her party is able to form a caucus after the Jan. 16 elections.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Jennifer Wang (王如玄) said that environmental issues cannot be neglected during the pursuit of economic development and that the if she and KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) were elected, Chu would set up a task force to deal with environmental issues.
Wang said the KMT would lobby for the cancelation of the preferential electricity prices the government offers corporations.
Democratic Progressive Party vice presidential candidate Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), formerly an Academia Sinica vice president, touted his credibility to tackle environmental problems, noting his experience advocating against the construction of Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co’s (國光石化) naphtha cracker and his collaborations with prominent academics, such as Lee and National Chung Hsing University environmental engineering professor Tsuang Ben-jei (莊秉潔), on studies concerning carbon reduction and epidemiology studies concerning health hazards associated with PM2.5 — airborne pollutants measuring less than 2.5 micrometers.
Association of Yunlin Art, Culture and Ecology member Lin Fu-yuan (林富源) said that Chen needed to answer how he would tackle pollution caused by the Formosa Petrochemical Corp naphtha cracker complex in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮), whose environmental impact assessment was passed when the DPP was in office.
Unable to give an immediate response, Chen said he would take Lin’s opinions to the DPP for an internal review.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS