Waste affecting marine wildlife

     Plastic waste entering the marine life has been a huge factor to the injuries and deaths of many ocean wildlife. As human daily lives are made more convenient by the use of plastic, more plastic waste has been discovered in coastal towns all over the world. Plastic is usually not visible right on the surface of beaches or rivers, but tons of it are found down underneath where most fish, dolphins, and other sea creatures live. Some plastic materials that are found in oceans are plastic bags, straws, and bottles. Unfortunately, lots of creatures get tangled up in things like plastic bags. They also consume plastic waste that can result in suffocation or a false sense of being full which can lead to starvation. In long term, these plastic pieces can break  down into smaller particles which are eaten by smaller species and is passed down onto the chain cycle. So in a sense, we’re eating our own waste.

     Plastic is not the only material that creates and issue in the oceans. For example, millions of balloons that reach the ocean are consumed by various sea creatures and bring great harm to them. Recently, pieces of a balloon was found in the stomach of a turtle. This is why most environmental organizations are making an effort to prevent mass balloon releases. There are a variety of ways that these wastes reach the ocean but it is mostly there due to human’s lack of concern for marine life. If more people take their time to think about how their actions can greatly affect the lives of animals, there would be less endangered animals.

Posted by Justin,Chung

If you are visiting Korea at this time, you will spot very cute paper made pandas-even 1,600 of them-at various places.

WWF(World Wildlife Fund) has invited 1600+ pandas to Korea. 

This event has been launched as a part of public art project to raise awareness on endangered species, panda.

The papier-mache work was created by the french artist, Paul Grangeon. The pandas have been traveling all over the world.

Now, the pandas will visit various cities all over Korea, then in early August, they will be auctioned in public, raising money for the conserving endangered species, according to WWF-Korea people.

Images: Google images

Reported by Alberta Yoo

Crying Babies Are Latest to Demand China Fix Its Smog Problem

Hunger, a wet diaper, wanting to be held, being tired—spend some time taking care of babies and you’ll know those are just some of the reasons they might be inclined to cry. Well, now you can add another item to the list: not being able to suck fresh oxygen into their lungs thanks to clouds of air pollution pouring from factory smokestacks.

At least, that’s the idea behind “Breathe Again” a clever campaign from Chinese air purification company Xiao Zhu. As you can see in the video above, the effort turns the spotlight on the harmful effects of chemical emissions on defenseless babies and small children by projecting their faces onto rippling plumes of industrial air pollution. The kids’ faces are contorted as if they’re crying out in pain because they’re being suffocated.

So, Why Should You Care? In recent years, China’s epic smog problem has obscured Hong Kong’s stunning skyline and caused officials in Beijing to put up billboards of a fake sunbecause the real one was no longer visible. But smoggy air is more than a visual nuisance. In some Chinese cities, 10 percent of the population suffers from asthma, and according to the Asia Asthma Development Board, China has the world’s highest mortality rate from the disease. On the video’s YouTube page, the project’s creators note that an estimated 500,000 people in China die every year due to air pollution–related diseases such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—and many of them of are children.  

Residents in the Asian nation aren’t the only ones suffering. About 7 million people die every year from the ill effects of airborne particulate matter, according to the World Health Organization. A study released in May from Columbia University found that inhaling air pollution may lower IQ in kids, and researchers at Harvard believe it may be a contributor to autism.

The Xiao Zhu video ends with a simple message: “Clean the air. Let the future breathe again.” Maybe babies struggling to inhale won’t cry anymore if their parents buy an air purifier? Of course, the solution isn’t quite so simple. Kids—and everybody else—will breathe easier when China gets more pollution-spewing cars off of its streets and highways and curbs emissions from power plants, steel mills, and other factories.

To that end, last year the Chinese government yanked millions of cars off the roads and began requiring 15,000 of the country’s largest manufacturers to publicly report air emissions every hour. To prevent companies from faking the data they report, residents can take advantage of a free air-quality measuring app to blow the whistle on egregious polluters in 190 Chinese cities.

The rest of us should certainly hope those efforts are successful. After all, given that 30 percent of San Francisco’s air pollution has blown across the Pacific from China, there might be plenty of babies on U.S. shores crying from inhaling secondhand smog.

Original Article by Liz Dwyer

Reported by Alberta Yoo

Eco Save Club Awareness Campaign at the Seoul Art Center

From May 11th to 16th at the Seoul Art Center, the biggest multi-performance center in Seoul, S.Korea, Eco-Save Club run an awareness campaign on pressing environmental issues. As a part of Art Korea 2015 Exhibition, our club rented a booth and welcomed visitors with any environment concerns. WWF(World Wildlife Fund)-Korea partly sponsored the campaign with 100 comic books donation. The comic books, which explains the environmental issues easy and friendly, were very popular among visitors,within the first two days, they were all gone.
Based on this successful awareness campaign, we will try to reach out to broader audience during the upcoming summer.

Reported by Alberta Yoo

Ocean Pollution: a Cruise Ship Pollute as much as 13 million Cars in One day

The cruise industry markets its ocean voyages as a chance for vacationers to “return to the sea” and forget their troubles onshore.

But keeping 5,000 people afloat, fat, and happy comes with hidden environmental costs.

The 16 major cruise lines plying the waters today generated more than 1 billion gallons of sewage in 2014. Thanks to lax laws, ships can dump that sewage straight into international waters—polluting the pristine ocean near cruise destination hot spots.

This year, the industry is expecting a record 23 million passengers to hit the high seas—meaning the problem isn’t going away anytime soon.

Original story reported by Taylor Hill

Reported by Alberta Yoo

Tips on how to conserve water

Photo source: http://endtimeheadlines.org/2015/04/how-many-people-will-have-to-migrate-out-of-california-when-all-the-water-disappears/

One of the environmental issues we face is shortage of water. Although water occupies 70% of the earth, it is evident that supply of water is decreasing rapidly. Water shortage is a crisis faced by all nations regardless of income, GDP and race. Unless everyone of us take the responsibility to consciously conserve water, the current water shortage will only increase which may eventually make water one of the most expensive commodity in the world. Our efforts to conserve water should start at home. The following are very helpful tips we can all practice at our home to conserve water. 

How to conserve water in your:

Kitchen
Laundry Room
Bathroom
General Indoor

Source: Water Use it Wisely (http://wateruseitwisely.com/)



Posted by Daniel Kim 

An Empty Landscape

     

     About 60% of giant herbivores - plant eaters - including rhinos, elephants, and gorillas are at risk of extinction, says a research. 

     A recent article in a magazine, Science Advances, blamed poaching and habitat loss for the analysis of 74 herbivore species. A previous study of large carnivores showed similar declines. Professor William Ripples from Oregon State University added, "The process of declining animals is causing an empty landscape in the forests, savannah, grasslands, and desert."

According to the research, the decline is happening by a number of factors including habitat loss, hunting for meat or body parts, and competition for food and resources. For example, with rhinoceros horn worth more than gold, diamonds or cocaine on illegal markets, rhinos could be extinct in the wild within 20 years in Africa, says researchers. 

The consequences of large herbivore decline include:

-Loss of habitat: for example, elephants maintain forest clearings by trampling vegetation.

-Effects on food chain

-Seed dispersal: large herbivores eat seeds which are carried over long distances

-Impact on human: billions of people depend rely on wild meat

The biggest losses are in South East Asia, India, and Africa.