Fine Dust Warning in Korea

Today, the sky was so hazy and dark, I thought whether snow or rain would be on the way. However, when I turned on the morning news, it said that the the Korean government issued fine dust warning again.

The first ever fine dust warning was issued last December. Although Korea has affected by Yellow dust from China during the spring, fine dust warning in winter time is new and indicates further climate problem in Korea.

It originates from wintertime coal use in China, threatening people's respiratory and immune systems. Government warns that elderly people and children should stay home. 

?Westerly winds blowing from China?s northern regions bear a cloud laden with serious levels of metals, including lead, cadmium and arsenic. We recommend people to wear face masks when there are fine dust warnings,? said Lim Young-wook, assistant director of the Institute for Environmental Research at Yonsei University?s College of Medicine.

Hand sanitizers and anti-bacterial detergent sale has skyrocketed to 636 percent in the past month on year. I for one also carries hand sanitizers everywhere these days.

Although, I feel like every body is very alert with climate problem, the CO2 consumption has increased continuously according to the related agency.

While looking out to the gloomy, gray sky, I once again acknowledge the imminent danger of the climate problem and the action we continuously have to take.

Images: Google images

Source: Korea Herald, Arirang TV, etc.

Caroline Kennedy addressed concerns over Dolphin Hunting in Taiji, Japan

The pictures shown on the news papers and TVs are disturbing and horrible. The oceans colored red, endless array of dead dolphins..

I am talking about the cultural tradition of Japan's southern small sea-town, Taiji, which has received many protests from the world for years about its 'Dolphin-hunting'.

Recently, American Ambassador to Japan, Ms.Caroline Kennedy tweeted on January 18th that she was deeply concerned by inhumanness of drive hunt dolphin killing and United States Government opposed drive hunt fisheries.

The environmental activist group, "The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society", a Washington based non profit group,  stream-videoed the whole hunting event. According to the diverse media sources, fishermen have taken 37 bottle nose dolphins to be sold into aquariums and parks, and 200 around dolphins are still in the cove to be killed. Among the captive dolphins, there are baby and juvenile albino dolphins which are worth millions. 

The dolphin hunt in Taiji first got global attention when the documentary "Cove" which describes the event received award from the Oscar in 2009. At the time, many petitions were rounded on the net.

However, from the local point of view,an unidentified Japanese fishing industry official told reporters that the event was completely legal and a cultural tradition. The official added that the cruelty of dolphins hunting was similar to eating other animals such as cows, pigs or other living creatures.

I remember that I signed a petition to stop dolphin hunting early last yearhowever, it seems nothing has changed since then. One thing that got me totally taken aback while searching the news was that people's interests of marine mammal in the aquarium was the huge source of dolphins hunting. The Cove guardian group spokesperson mentioned that people should say no to the marine mammal exhibition at the zoo and aquariums over the world. Recently, major parks in Korea stopped showing 'Dolphin' shows. I think it is a big progress. 

The image of slaughtered dolphins stuck on my head and going to be that way for a long while I guess. In the mean time, I will try to voice out my concerns throughout the diverse forms of media on the net.

Images: Google images

Source: The guardian, The Atlanta post, Sydney Morning Herald, CNN,etc.

http://livestream.seashepherd.org

Formula E racing and Mr.Leonardo Di Caprio

Have you heard about Formula E racing?

Formula E racing, officially the FIA Formula E Championship, is a class of auto racing competition for one-make, single seat, and electrically powered racing cars. The series was confirmed in 2012, and the series will be starting in coming september through 2015.

Lately, in Vegas, the first ever electrically charged race car has debuted during the Consumer Electronics show. Around the nerdy, excited crowd, the Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag said, ""We are a championship on a mission, and the mission is to have more electronic cars on the street.People love motor sport, but they also care very much about the environment. So  together, it's a great combination."

Another cool news regarding Formula E racing is that renowned actor and environment activist, Leonardo  DiCaprio partners with Venturi Automobiles to enter the Championship.

The race will feature the cities like Peijing, London and Los Angeles.

I am sorry that Seoul is not one of the candidate cities however,  the involvement of Mr.DiCaprio will boost the interest over the hybrid and electronic cars all over the globe.

Formula E car -test drive

Club Meeting: 2014 and Onwards

The Eco-Save Club held another meeting today and all our members came together to reflect upon our activity in 2013 and to prepare new ways to further our cause in the coming new year.

One issue that we all noticed this past year, especially in our schools, was the massive waste of printer and copy machine paper. Students often forgot to print double-sided and pressed the “Print” button multiple times out of impatience, resulting in many sheets of wasted paper. In response all our members have been hard at work creating notebooks from recycled scrap paper for the past few weeks. By placing our logo on the front covers and distributing them to peers at our respective schools, we hope to remind our peers that every sheet of paper they waste leaves a deeper scar on our endangered forests.

In order to further raise awareness at our schools, our members have also created one-page leaflets to pass around amongst our peers.

We left the meeting room with high hopes and we plan on working even more diligently to let those around us know about the harm inflicted on our planet.

Environmental Working Group(EWG) has been promoting the danger of Genetically Modified Organism(GMO).  Popular actress Marisa Tomei is a spokesperson for the group.

Cheonggyecheon & Red Cross Awareness Campaign

Cheonggyecheon at night

Cheonggyecheon at day 

Red Cross Charity Event Volunteering

Red Cross Charity Event Preparation Stage

Downtown Seoul view from Cheonggyecheon

Cheonggyecheon Before

Cheonggyecheon is a 5.2 mile long, public recreation place in downtown Seoul, restored tremendously as a Seoul city government's 3 year project. The project's biggest achievement has been preserving environment for natural habitats and clean water. Now Cheonggyecheon has become the center of cultural and economic activities.

I participated at an charity event held by Red Cross which promoted awareness about the under-previlieged.  I played violin with fellow Red Cross Orchestra members to welcome the people who have participated the event.

While I was at Cheonggyecheon, watching people go by, I felt the beauty of balancing the nature and skyscrapers..  Cheonggyecheon is a great example of  the future of modern urban city development model.