Antinuclear

Taipei, April 6 (CNA) Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said on Thursday he will officially submit a proposal for the holding of a national referendum on food safety if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration lifts a ban on the import of food products from radiation-affected prefectures in Japan.

The proposal has obtained more than 120,000 signatures, Hau said.

In addition, if the DPP government opens Taiwan’s market to ractopamine-containing pork from the United States, the KMT will mobilize the public to protest at customs offices, he said.

Under the Referendum Act, the authorization of a referendum requires that no less than 0.5 percent of the total electorate at the last presidential election sign a petition.

Because there were 18.78 million eligible voters at the last election on Jan. 16, 2016, Hau’s proposal needs to be supported by at least 93,900 signatures and then approved…

The last global coral bleaching event that inflicted a degree of damage comparable to the one we are now experiencing occurred during 1997 through 1999. Back then, global annual surface temperatures hit a peak of 0.85 degrees Celsius hotter than 1880s averages and ocean temperatures in many regions hit a range of 29-30 C or more. This warming-spurred event generated never-before seen wreckage among the world’s corals.

(Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures are again warming as the Equatorial region progresses toward a predicted 2017 El Nino. Sea surface temperature anomalies of 1-2 C above average are now very widespread with embedded hot spots that contain 2-4 C above average temperatures [see above map]. These anomalies are enough to continue a global coral bleaching event that has now lasted for four years. Image source: Earth Nullschool.)

The 2014 to 2017 Global Coral Bleaching Event

In 2014, annual average…