Environmentalists yesterday urged Matsu devotees to refrain from setting off firecrackers, or burning incense and joss paper ahead of an annual religious festival next month to reduce air pollution.
Campaigners gathered at Nanyao Temple (南瑤宮) in Changhua City — the first stop of the annual Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage, one of the most celebrated religious activities in Taiwan — and presented a bouquet of flowers to Changhua Mayor Chiu Chien-fu (邱建富), urging people to replace incense and firecrackers with flowers.
Environmentalists measured air pollution levels inside and outside the temple with handheld devices, and recorded concentrations of PM2.5 — particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter — of between 50 micrograms per cubic meter and 60 micrograms per cubic meter outside of the temple.
Photo: Liu Shiao-hsin, Taipei Times
However, concentrations of PM2.5 reached more than 200 micrograms per cubic meter near incense burners inside the temple, illustrating the severity of air pollution caused by incense burning.
According to Environmental Protection Administration criteria, PM2.5 levels higher than 54 micrograms per cubic meter are considered hazardous.
Changhua Medical Alliance deputy director Chen Chih-yuan (陳志遠) said during an anti-pollution campaign in Nantou’s Puli Township (埔里) last year that PM2.5 levels were about 15 micrograms per cubic meter, but the level soared to 319 micrograms per cubic meter after a local temple set off fireworks in celebration of the birthday of a god.
“Air pollution caused by religious activities can be more serious than haze in China,” Chen said.
Taiwan Healthy Air Action Alliance founder Yeh Guang-peng (葉光芃) said burning incense generates benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which can cause respiratory diseases, while particulate matter resulting from incense burning are smaller than bacteria and can easily enter the human body.
Fight for Health Women’s Group executive director Yen Shu-nu (顏淑女) said environmental protection is not in conflict with religions, and replacing ghost money with food offerings or charitable deeds has become a common trend.
“There are 91 temples in the city, but only 15 practice environmentally friendly worshiping. We called on the city office to encourage more temples to follow suit and reduce air pollution,” Yen said.
She said the group asked the city office to monitor air quality during the whole pilgrimage and to make public data collected to serve as a basis for future pollution reduction efforts.
Chiu said the office has instructed temples to reduce the number of incense burners, use fewer and thinner incense sticks and build environmentally friendly furnaces to burn ghost money.
The Changhua County Government has provided temples with electronic firecrackers to reduce the use of traditional fireworks during religious activities, Chiu added.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS