The non-profit Society of Wilderness yesterday encouraged the public to turn their lights off for an hour tomorrow to join the International Lights Out Campaign on the Summer solstice.
Shih Chun-jung (施純榮), secretary-general of Society of Wilderness, said the same campaign would be launched simultaneously in Hong Kong and Beijing.
“The lights will be out in these three places from 8pm to 9pm,” he said.
ELECTRICITY USE
Shih said the state-run Taiwan Power Co had monitored electricity use when the campaign was held two years ago, when people were asked to switch off their lights from 8pm to 9:10pm.
The move helped save 30,000 kilowatts-hours of electricity, he said, equaling 187 tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions, the same as would be emitted from driving around the nation 187 times.
To help promote the campaign, the Star Group TV network, produced and broadcast an animated film.
STARLIGHT SOCIETY
Meanwhile, the society will host starlit concerts or star-gazing events nationwide to motivate more people to go outdoors during the lights-off hour.
Sun Wei-hsin (孫維新) from the National Taiwan University’s Institute of Astrophysics, said the nation’s west coast would often be unable to see many stars because of serious light pollution from so many artificial lights.
He said there is an indicator to gauge the severity of the light pollution.
“Between the stars Altair (牛郎星) and Vega (織女星) you can see the Milky Way faintly,” he said. “If we can see the Milky Way, we are free from light pollution.”
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
RSS