Taiwan unveiled the Pan-Pacific Adaptation on Climate Change (PPACC), an initiative aimed at helping the region deal with the effects of climate change, in Paris on Sunday.
Several nations in the region are facing similar challenges as a result of climate change and Taiwan has the technology to deal with those issues, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Wei Kuo-yen (魏國彥) said at the launch.
The Asia-Pacific region needs the PPACC to help it prepare for climate change, Wei said.
The PPACC is to cooperate with the Center for Collective Intelligence (CCI) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, the EPA said.
Taiwan’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Management Office has also signed a letter of intent with the CCI’s Climate CoLab on future cooperation, it said.
CCI director Thomas Malone said at the launch that Climate CoLab’s partnership with the EPA is its first in the Asia-Pacific region, which is at high risk from the effects of climate change because of its dense population.
The EPA said its office would work with Climate CoLab, which brings together people from around the world to work on climate change issues, to hold a series of events and contests to solicit ideas from the public.
Wei is in Paris for the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to which Taiwan is not a party.
He is the first Taiwanese minister to take part in a UN climate change summit and is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with environmental protection officials from other nations during his visit.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
WAY OF THE RUKAI: ‘Values deemed worthy often exist amid discomfort, so when people go against the flow, nature becomes entwined with our lives,’ a student said “Run, don’t walk” after your dreams, Nvidia cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) told National Taiwan University (NTU) graduates yesterday, as several major universities held in-person graduation ceremonies for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. “What will you create? Whatever it is, run after it. Run, don’t walk. Remember, either you’re running for food, or you are running from becoming food. Oftentimes, you can’t tell which. Either way, run,” he said. Huang was one of several tech executives addressing graduating students at Taiwanese universities. National Chengchi University held two ceremonies, with alumnus Patrick Pan (潘先國), who is head of Taiwan
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be