Environmental

The Death of Tuan Tuan and The Puppeteering of a Giant Panda

Yuan-Chih Lung
Tuan Tuan, a giant panda at the Taipei Zoo, underwent euthanasia on November 19th after numerous epileptic seizures. Since the news broke that Tuan Tuan was sick with a brain tumor in September, his condition deteriorated, and experts from China also came to Taiwan for this reason. Chao Shian-Shao, the Taipei Zoo’s spokesperson, indicated that the zoo is committed to retaining Tuan Tuan’s living cells, such as sperm cells, somatic cells, and stem cells...
EnglishEnvironmentalNovember 2022Social Movements13 min read

Formosa Plastics Likely to Resist Legal Ruling Against Sunshine Project

Brian Hioe
A Louisiana judge struck down air permits for Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics’ 9 billion USD “Sunshine Project” earlier this month. The Sunshine Project would have occupied 2,500 acres of land, consisting of fourteen facilities, and would have become the world’s largest production facility for plastics and materials used for the production of plastics...
EnglishEnvironmentalSeptember 2022Social Movements7 min read

Taipower and Atomic Energy Council Clash Over Orchid Island Ruling

Brian Hioe
Taipower, Taiwan's state-run energy utility, won out in a recent ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court that exempted it from needing to pay 30 million NT for failing to remove low-level nuclear waste from Orchid Island. Low-level nuclear waste refers to items that have become contaminated with radioactive material or become radioactive through exposure, as distinguished from intermediate-level nuclear waste, high-level nuclear waste, spent fuel rods, or other nuclear waste materials...
EnglishEnvironmentalIndigenousJuly 2022Social Movements5 min read

Clashes Between Demonstrators, Suspected Gangsters in Miaoli Over Landfill Development Plans

Brian Hioe
Clashes broke out in Miaoli earlier this week over the Kunyu landfill, when local residents demonstrating the landfill’s construction were allegedly attacked by men that they allege were gangsters hired by the construction company. The clashes took place around 3 AM yesterday, in the early morning hours of Thursday. Eight were injured, consisting of five men and three women, including a student whose glasses were broken during the struggle...
EnglishEnvironmentalJuly 2022Social Movements7 min read

Authoritarian Nostalgia Plays Role in Pan-Blue Nuclear Advocacy

Brian Hioe
Pan-blue media personality Jaw Shaw-kung, one of the leading figures of the “Fighting Blues” within the KMT, recently took a strong stance against the Tsai administration’s energy transition policy. Jaw criticized the Tsai administration as overly reliant on LNG terminals and instead called for the extension of Reactor No. 2 and Reactor No. 3’s operational lifetimes, as well as the restart of the controversial Lungmen Reactor No. 4. Jaw’s comments are worth examining for how this sheds light upon the pan-Blue camp’s framing of Taiwan’s current energy issues...
EnglishEnvironmentalJuly 2022Social Movements7 min read

Taichung Steel Mill Regulations Target Air Pollution

Brian Hioe
The Taichung city government has made moves to rein in air pollution, with new regulations targeting steel mills having been submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency for review by Taichung’s Environmental Protection Bureau. The Taichung city government touts such restrictions as the strictest in the country and hopes that they will take effect before the end of this year...
EnglishEnvironmentalJuly 2022Social Movements5 min read