I’ve been way too busy/stressed lately to write much of anything, but taking a moment during this 颱風假 (Typhoon holiday) an article entitled “EPA shuts down ‘ghost money’ furnace at temple” caught my wandering eye:
Citing air pollution, the Taoyuan County Government’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) posted a notice sealing a Land God Temple’s (土地公廟) furnace that was used for burning “ghost money” on Wednesday, shocking many locals.
…
“For the Environmental Protection Administration to seal the furnace is not only hard for the villagers to accept, but how would the Land God feel about it?” he asked.
Although the temple does not have an administrative board, it represents the religious beliefs of nearly 1,000 village residents, Chang said, adding that the sudden sealing of the furnace upset villagers, as it prohibited them from practicing the traditional, everyday ritual of burning ghost money and incense.
The bureau fined the temple NT$5,000 for violating the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法).
The bureau said a notice was posted at the temple at the beginning of the month, requiring that an administrative board be organized to maintain the temple and prevent pollution if the furnace were to remain in use. However, in the three weeks prior to Wednesday, no one took on the responsibility, forcing the EPA to seal the furnace, it said.
The bureau said that there would be even more air pollution next month with the ceremonies of the upcoming Chungyuan Festival (中元節), or Ghost Festival.
Since some ghost money contains carcinogens, people could instead celebrate using environmentally friendly alternatives, such as worshipping without incense or virtually burning incense or paper money via the Internet, bureau officials said.
So, those at the temple are burning offerings to the Land God, and the EPA is saying the environment (arguably, the scientific equivalent of the “Land God”) doesn’t particularly appreciate the pollution.
I’ve often wondered if all the ghost money being burned twice a month has any affect on the environment. Guess I have my answer.
4 comments:
I read this one too and it struck me as a very poor example of newspaper reporting.
Why pick on just one temple? Are all temples breaking EPA regulations?
There just has to be more to this story.
Yeah, the article really didn't give a glimpse at the "big picture." I'm sure -- or at least, I hope -- this temple isn't the only organization whose pollution has been cited by the EPA.
I was thinking of that when reading another article yesterday about suicide being the no. 2 killer of young people in Taiwan. Not once in the article did it mention what the number one killer was, nor did it give an statistics.
I was particularly interested in this article, though, because I've long wondered if burning all that paper had negative effects on the environment. It seems my hunches weren't misguided.
I see them burning lots of ghost money. I think the smoke is more visible, but some burning paper? I don't think that's anything to worry about.
I clean the balcony once a week, there's always a film of gray black powder that builds up. (Scooter?)Brake dust? Tire Rubber? Ghost money?
"Taiwan will touch you heart!"
*cough splutter wheeze*.
Still I'm not worried to much about ghost money, it's what i don't know about that worries me. And not just in the air, in the imported beef, etc.
The best you can do is find the time to exercise to get what u breath in out again.
I read a similar article in the Herald Tribune about the pollution caused by the Lantern Festival (02/20)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/20/asia/lantern.php
(I'm not sure the link still works, though...)
Or maybe read my modest review of the article on my blog:
http://ceriseintaipei.blogspot.com/2008/02/today-is-lantern-festival-in-taiwan.html
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