Nearly 2,000 people took part in a march in Taipei yesterday promoting vegan eating habits. They urged the government to introduce vegan diets into schools to help reduce methane output and to meet government goals to achieve net zero and a sustainable lifestyle.
Participants held signs with slogans and wore animal-themed costumes to help promote awareness of the issue and to encourage respect for life.
“We want more people to be more aware of a vegan diet,” said Chang You-chuan (張祐銓), director-general of the Sustainable Healthy Diets Research Institute, the organizer of yesterday’s parade.
Photo: CNA
It is encouraging that some in politics have been holding public hearings on such issues, Chang said, adding that there is still a long way to go to promote vegan diets.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), who attended the event, said that he agreed that vegan diets were essential to achieving global sustainability and pledged to promote related issues in the Legislative Yuan.
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, animal husbandry produces significant carbon emissions, so promoting vegan diets, or at least plant-based diets, would go a long way towards reducing carbon emissions, former New Power Party Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said.
The government is expected to revise its 2030 carbon reduction goals from 24 percent plus or minus 1 percent to a higher level, Taiwan Citizen Participation Association founder Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said, adding that the exact figure would be made known in January next year.
Ho predicted that the government’s intended nationally determined contribution for 2032 would definitely exceed 30 percent.
Vegan diets have a lower carbon footprint than meat-based diets and are the most straightforward way to realize the government’s net zero goals, Chunghua Global Vegan Association consultant Chiu Chung-jen (邱仲仁) said.
The government should be more active in promoting vegan diets, especially in encouraging schools to implement a no-meat day, said Chang Chia-pei (張家珮), head of Meat Free Monday Taiwan.
No animal is willing to voluntarily die for the human race, Kindness to Animals CEO Pan Ting-tse (潘定澤) said.
Animals are our neighbors and friends, and we should not kill our friends and eat our neighbors, Pan added.
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,
PEAK MONTHS: Data showed that on average 25 to 27 typhoons formed in the Pacific and South China seas annually, with about four forming per month in July and October One of three tropical depressions in the Pacific strengthened into a typhoon yesterday afternoon, while two others are expected to become typhoons by today, Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Lee Ming-hsiang (李名翔) said yesterday. The outer circulation of Tropical Depression No. 20, now Typhoon Mitag, has brought light rain to Hualien, Taitung and areas in the south, Lee said, adding that as of 2pm yesterday, Mitag was moving west-northwest at 16kph, but is not expected to directly affect Taiwan. It was possible that Tropical Depression No. 21 would become a typhoon as soon as last night, he said. It was moving in a
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