Environmental advocates yesterday said that they are to launch a protest against air pollution in Kaohsiung next month, calling on the candidates in the city’s mayoral by-election to join the event and propose solutions to pollution.
About a dozen representatives from environmental groups at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei urged people to pay more attention to Taiwan’s worsening air quality, especially in the nation’s south.
The protest is to be held on Aug. 9, said Lee Chien-cheng (李建誠), spokesman for South Taiwan Air Clear, one of the organizers.
Photo: CNA
Kaohsiung has become a city with the “three highs,” Lee said, referring to high levels of carbon emissions, air pollution and lung cancer.
People want an inhabitable Kaohsiung with clean air and a healthy environment, as opposed to a lot of energy-intensive and high-emission industries, or “cancer wards,” he said.
Kaohsiung residents face severe environmental hazards, which should be immediately addressed, he said, adding that hopefully the candidates in the Aug. 15 election would present clear platforms on the matter.
Taiwan should catch up with South Korea’s efforts to combat global climate change, Air Clean Taiwan chairman Yeh Guang-perng (葉光芃) said, citing goals that South Korea set during the COVID-19 pandemic to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
The central and local governments must unite to reach a consensus on a timeline to phase out coal use before completely eliminating it from Taiwan’s energy portfolio, Yeh said.
The future Kaohsiung mayor should have the vision and ambition to transform the city to a low-carbon, sustainable city, instead of following its old industrial development model, which relies heavily on coal for energy, Yeh said.
On Wednesday, Air Clean Taiwan said that it would launch an anti-air pollution protest in Taichung on Aug. 8 with other groups.
Additional reporting by Peng Wan-hsin
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
RSS