Large-scale demonstrations and parades aimed at raising public awareness of the pollution crisis threatening the survival of the next generation will be held on Dec. 8 in eight cities and counties around the country, organizers said yesterday.
The "Anti-Global Warming" demonstrations are being organized by individual members of the intelligentsia and more than 150 environmental protection groups including the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU), the Society of Wilderness, the Homemaker's Union and Foundation, and Taiwan Academy of Ecology, TEPU Secretary-General Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said.
Ho said the event is organized out of concern with Taiwan's lack of progress in cutting domestic emissions of carbon dioxide, as proven by failed efforts to push for the first-reading of a draft law on greenhouse gas reduction in the legislature.
The event is also aimed at discouraging the private Formosa Plastics Group (
If the project is given the green light by the government, it will lead to an increase in Taiwan's carbon dioxide emissions by 15 million tonnes per year, Ho said, adding that such an amount would drive Taiwan up the global ranking of per capita carbon dioxide emissions from its current position at 22nd.
Citing the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change resolution, Ho said countries around the world are being reminded that global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced significantly by the year 2015 because a global temperature rise of 2oC could cause disasters threatening the survival of all creatures on the planet.
Starting Saturday, "anti-global warming" rallies will be held in eight cities and counties -- Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua, Taichung and Hualien before the large-scale march on Dec. 8.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
A Taiwanese software developer has created a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model to help people use AI without exposing sensitive data, project head Huang Chung-hsiao (黃崇校) said yesterday. Huang, a 55-year-old coder leading a US-based team, said that concerns over data privacy and security in popular generative AIs such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek motivated him to develop a personal AI assistant named “Mei.” One of the biggest security flaws with cloud-based algorithms is that users are required to hand over personal information to access the service, giving developers the opportunity to mine user data, he said. For this reason, many government agencies and
The National Fire Agency on Thursday said a series of drills simulating a magnitude 8.5 earthquake would be held in September to enhance the government’s emergency response capabilities. Since earthquakes cannot be predicted, only by continuously promoting disaster prevention measures could Taiwan enhance its resilience to earthquakes, agency Director-General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章) said in a news release. The exercises would be held to mark annual National Disaster Prevention Day on Sept. 21, the aim of which is to test Taiwan’s preparedness and improve its earthquake resilience in case of a major temblor, Hsiao said. As part of those drills, an earthquake alert would
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