The Kaohsiung City Government vowed yesterday to cut the city’s carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2020.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said that although the city government and residents had joined hands to improve the environment over the years, the city’s annual greenhouse gas emission per capita still topped the nation at 22 tonnes — much higher than the nation’s average emission per capita of 10 tonnes.
“But this is not the fault of Kaohsiung residents. This happened because the central government favored northern Taiwan over southern Taiwan for many years and made Kaohsiung a base of manufacturing and energy supply,” she said.
CHANGE TODAY
“We should change the situation today,” Chen said, adding that she had asked the city’s Education Bureau and school principals and teachers to develop a series of courses aimed at raising students’ awareness about reducing carbon emissions in their daily life.
Chen said she hoped the utilization rate of the city’s mass transportation system would reach 30 percent by 2020 while the city’s carbon emission would have dropped by 30 percent by that time.
She urged local business leaders to take the initiative to cut their firms’ carbon emissions.
“Otherwise, global warming may cause an unemployment problem for the city in 10 years,” she said.
DOCUMENTARY
Chen’s call came after she watched the environmental protection documentary ±2˚ (正負2度C), with environmentalists and the film’s producers at the World Games Stadium on Friday night.
Chen said the documentary was the first of its kind to discuss the issue of climate change from Taiwan’s perspective.
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
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