Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh Tuesday urged Taiwan residents to cut per capita carbon dioxide emissions to a mere one quarter of their present output. That would see a reduction from the current 12 tons per year to just 3 tons.

The former president of Academia Sinica, Taiwan's highest-level research institution, also said, "If Taiwan moves toward a 3-ton society, it will truly be on the road to globalization."

For Taiwan to cut its per capita CO2 emissions to 3 tons, "we will have to change our attitudes and learn to live the simple lives of our ancestors," Lee said.

He said energy conservation and CO2 emission cuts will not be achieved by a few slogans or cutting meat consumption, but will require a true awakening to the seriousness of rising temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions.

"We have to make great efforts; otherwise, we'll be unable to face the next generation," he said.

According to Lee, rising temperatures are far more serious than imagined, and he said that if temperatures rise by 3 degrees, the Earth will approach a crisis point.

Lee said that he is not trying to sensationalize the issue, claiming "such a scenario is possible."

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 03/31/2010 page4)