Greenpeace urges Korea to give up nuclear energy

Mario Damato, executive director of Greenpeace East Asia, talked on the organization's flagship Rainbow Warrior at Incheon Port that Korea should stop developing nuclear power plants citing worst ever Japan's nuclear accident.

Greenpeace monitored radiation on both sea and land for about two months near the earthquake-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. They discovered the radiation levels of sampled marine life, vegetables and soil were much higher than official limits, raising serious concerns about continued long-term risk to people and the environment from contamination. 

Greenpeace will visit potential nuclear plant sites and do the anti-nuclear energy campaign until June21.

Source: The Korea Times, International Herald Tribune

Greenpeace new office in Seoul, South Korea

According to Mr.Mario Damato, the Executive Director of Greenpeace East Asia(GPEA), Greenpeace will launch a new office in Seoul, South Korea and work on creating positive change for the environment in Korea.


Its main activity will be focusing on nuke plants in Korea. Also, Mr.Damato says Greenpeace will not concern 'Four river development plan' in Korea because the plan itself is a regional matter.

Rainbow Warrior will be visiting the port of Inchon on coming June4 and June5 as a part of East Asian tour.

Source: Chosun Daily, Greenpeace home

Eco-Generation Green Interview with Ricky Kim(리키 김)

Mr. Ricky Kim is an actor, model and TV personality in Korea. He has appeared in 'Dream Team'(Season2) these days, and become very popular.  He's originally from Kansas, and he tells the Eco-gen about his take over environmental issues.

Eco-Generation Street Campaign

Today, we participated in a large street campaign with other Eco-generation ambassadors. This two-and-a-half hour long activity took place in Itaewon, a small part of Northern Seoul. The campaign began at 1:00 P.M. From then to about 2:20 P.M. we all ate a nice, fulfilling lunch at a nearby Outback Steakhouse. Since there were almost twenty people, we had to use about ten connected tables and eat from about forty different plates.



During the massive lunch, all of the eco-generation ambassadors discussed how to promote environmental awareness through campaigns, green articles, videos of interviews with environmental experts, and possibly advertisements. We stood out in the cold weather on a raised platform next to a major metro station. There, we handed out pamphlets about our organization and gave an explanation to each passerby. Although some of those around us ignored us and rejected our offers, we were still able to raise awareness among many other people. During this time, I learned many different creative ideas on ways to raise awareness among the general public about all the environmental issues we are facing with every day and in the near future.



 The most important part was the street campaign since I felt many different emotions. Many foreigners seem to care more about the environment compared to the passing Koreans. Out of about fifty passer-bys, only twenty took interest. We seriously need to work on raising awareness.







(In the left photo) This is me standing next to my teacher, whom I surprisingly met at the metro station by pure chance. We took a photo together on the raised platform.

Biodiversity survey results

  We have gathered all our survey results, based on a public of about age ten to twenty, and have analyzed them by making three circle graphs. The first graph (Q1. What is biodiversity?) apparently shows us that the general public does not know about the biodiversity that well; only a third of the people polled knew what it was or heard about it. The second graph (Q2. What is biodiversity related to?) is at least good news since everybody can infer what biodiversity is related to. The last graph (Q3. How much of the world’s plant diversity for food and agriculture has been lost during the 20th century?) brings the worst news for only 15 percent of the public could answer the question correctly. Therefore, in the next meeting we are going to decide what to write in our personal letter to UNEP Korea or possibly the Seoul Metropolitan Government. An option we are considering is to convince the organization to include environmental awareness in the regular school curriculum.

Meeting on Biodiversity Survey

Biodiversity hotspots, such as tropical rainforests in South America, coral reefs of the Equatorial Pacific, and river ecosystems, have been gradually fading away over the years. Even in Korea, the precious wildlife around the Han River, Nakdong River, and many other major rivers are being destroyed every time a factory is built around it. Therefore, in order for us to take action on preserving biodiversity in these areas, we have decided to take a short, but crucial poll. This survey will help us determine how much of the general public knows about these issues.

Therefore, we have decided to have several online meetings amongst ourselves. In the process, we will make graphs and decide on an action plan to help relieve this perilous and aggravating situation, including writing a personal letter to UNEP Korea.

Biodiversity Essay Competition - II

There are several major problems facing the world. One of them is a reduction in the earth’s biodiversity. Biodiversity refers to the variety of life. Natural diversity in ecosystems provides essential economic benefits and services to human society, particularly food and clothing. Without biodiversity, the ecosystem would not be able to sustain itself. Considering the unpredictable future from climate change, biodiversity is a key element to the survival of humans. Even so, reckless human activities have driven a vast number of species towards extinction, thereby threatening human survival.

Agricultural biodiversity has been dramatically changed. The livestock industry, in particular, has experienced a transformative change from small family ranches to large-scale, intensive production, heavily dependent on a very narrow range of high output breeds. As a result, local animals have been driven out. Many breeds with diverse, unique characteristics, such as disease resistance or tolerance to extreme weather, are facing extinction. These breeds include species of the Siberian Yakut cattle that can survive in freezing temperatures and the Namaqua Africander sheep that can survive without water for a long time. If a virus breaks out, attacks our “cattle factories,” and wipes out all the cattle, our hope should lie in a virus resistant breed. If the temperature of the earth drops to freezing point due to climate change, the Siberian cattle species would be our only hope. Without diverse breeds, humans will no longer be able to eat meat.

Overfishing has driven blue fin tuna to extinction. Blue fin tuna is a popular ingredient for sushi. Sushi’s growing popularity has increased the demand for the fish, and hence, the price of blue fin tuna has skyrocketed to over $500,000 per fish. This has caused an increasing number of fishing vessels to adopt highly developed, modern technology. These vessels can detect any trace of blue fin tuna from the deep water over a great distance. People are consuming more tuna than the sea is producing. As a result, its population will not last long. Without an international commitment to preserve this species, humans will no longer see it in the near future.

Here is a great historical example to show the enormous power human activities wield over the nature. The almond we know right now was originally from a poisonous plant. Lots of people died because of not knowing this fact. One day, a boy ate an almond, but he did not die because it was not poisonous. This accidental discovery of the non-poisonous almond led people to begin planting non-poisonous almonds. Therefore, the non-poisonous almonds kept on growing in number and the poisonous ones were crowded out until they no longer exist. This tells us that if human activities focus on a species or a breed and intensively cultivate it, the others will disappear. That is why we need to take diversity seriously.

A real problem lies in our lack of concern for the diversity issue. Many of us do not realize its significance, but the problems have steadily started to get bigger and will seriously affect our lives in near future. In order to stop animals from becoming extinct, we need to wake everyone up to make them realize the imminent disaster from the loss of biodiversity.  By Yeokyoung Alberta Yoo