Environmentalists yesterday urged Matsu devotees to refrain from setting off firecrackers, or burning incense and joss paper ahead of an annual religious festival next month to reduce air pollution.
Campaigners gathered at Nanyao Temple (南瑤宮) in Changhua City — the first stop of the annual Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage, one of the most celebrated religious activities in Taiwan — and presented a bouquet of flowers to Changhua Mayor Chiu Chien-fu (邱建富), urging people to replace incense and firecrackers with flowers.
Environmentalists measured air pollution levels inside and outside the temple with handheld devices, and recorded concentrations of PM2.5 — particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter — of between 50 micrograms per cubic meter and 60 micrograms per cubic meter outside of the temple.
Photo: Liu Shiao-hsin, Taipei Times
However, concentrations of PM2.5 reached more than 200 micrograms per cubic meter near incense burners inside the temple, illustrating the severity of air pollution caused by incense burning.
According to Environmental Protection Administration criteria, PM2.5 levels higher than 54 micrograms per cubic meter are considered hazardous.
Changhua Medical Alliance deputy director Chen Chih-yuan (陳志遠) said during an anti-pollution campaign in Nantou’s Puli Township (埔里) last year that PM2.5 levels were about 15 micrograms per cubic meter, but the level soared to 319 micrograms per cubic meter after a local temple set off fireworks in celebration of the birthday of a god.
“Air pollution caused by religious activities can be more serious than haze in China,” Chen said.
Taiwan Healthy Air Action Alliance founder Yeh Guang-peng (葉光芃) said burning incense generates benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which can cause respiratory diseases, while particulate matter resulting from incense burning are smaller than bacteria and can easily enter the human body.
Fight for Health Women’s Group executive director Yen Shu-nu (顏淑女) said environmental protection is not in conflict with religions, and replacing ghost money with food offerings or charitable deeds has become a common trend.
“There are 91 temples in the city, but only 15 practice environmentally friendly worshiping. We called on the city office to encourage more temples to follow suit and reduce air pollution,” Yen said.
She said the group asked the city office to monitor air quality during the whole pilgrimage and to make public data collected to serve as a basis for future pollution reduction efforts.
Chiu said the office has instructed temples to reduce the number of incense burners, use fewer and thinner incense sticks and build environmentally friendly furnaces to burn ghost money.
The Changhua County Government has provided temples with electronic firecrackers to reduce the use of traditional fireworks during religious activities, Chiu added.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS