SustainNU

As part of Northwestern's Sustainability efforts, the University will observe Earth Hour on Saturday, March 30, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Earth Hour is a one-hour voluntary “black-out” that launched in 2007 in Sydney, Australia to unite millions of individuals, businesses, cities and universities around the world in taking action for wildlife, rivers, oceans, forests and our climate.

Earth Hour is a global event. It symbolizes that each of us, working together, can make a positive impact on climate change. This call to action is intended to create awareness around energy reduction and give everyone the opportunity to contribute.

Northwestern will turn off landmark lights such as signage on the Chicago campus and the Crown clock tower light on the Evanston campus.

Students can join this movement during spring break trips, at home or on campus. And to help conserve energy during Earth Hour and throughout spring break, students should remember to turn off lights and devices before leaving campus.

You can support this effort by:

* Turning off all non-essential lights
* Taking the stairs for exercise instead of the elevator
* Turning off your monitor if you are not using your computer
* Turning off and unplugging all small electrical appliances not in use (i.e. chargers, coffee makers, radios, toasters, etc.)
* Taking this time to reflect and appreciate the world you live in
* Spreading the word on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram As an ENERGY STAR® partner,

Northwestern promotes these practices as year-round conservation efforts. Make it a habit to turn off all non-essential lights, look into composting food scraps and unplug devices not in use. Enjoy the outdoors by biking or walking to work or class. Please join us March 30 for the global celebration of the climate change fight, and take part in your own home to make positive impacts on the Earth. Find more sustainability tips on the sustainNU website.

Sincerely,


Posted by Alberta Yoo

Earth Hour 2019 Korea

 

from WWF-korea (www.wwfkorea.or.kr)

Earth Hour 2019 switch-off will take place on Saturday 30 March at 8:30 p.m.

 

 

On Saturday 30 March 8:30 p.m. local time, skylines around the world will go dark as millions of people celebrate Earth Hour to show their commitment to protect the planet. As nature declines like never before, coupled with the ever-present challenge of climate change, Earth Hour 2019 will focus on raising awareness on why nature matters and inspiring global action on conserving nature.

From the Eiffel Tower to the Sydney Opera House, and the Empire State Building to Burj Khalifa, thousands of landmarks will switch off their lights in solidarity for the planet, to raise the awareness about the importance of nature and encourage individuals, businesses and governments worldwide to be a part of the solutions needed to build a healthy, sustainable future – and planet – for all.
 

“On one hand we have the moral responsibility to live in harmony with nature, on the other nature is vitally important to everyone’s daily lives; we depend on it for the food we eat, the air we breathe and the water we drink, and so much more. But we are pushing the planet to the limit and nature is severely under threat,” said Marco Lambertini, Director General, WWF International. “Earth Hour 2019 is a powerful opportunity to start an unstoppable movement for nature to help secure an international commitment to stop and reverse the loss of nature – a New Deal for Nature and People as comprehensive and ambitious as the global climate deal.”

 

This year is set to be another important moment for the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment, with more than 180 countries and territories coming together to highlight and invite action on the environmental issues most relevant to them. Ecuador, for example, is pushing for a no-plastic law in the capital Quito, and Finland will be challenging over a quarter of the country’s population to eat a more balanced and better diet. Morocco will educate people on the importance of saving water and making every drop count. Indonesia is encouraging 5 million young people to adopt a greener lifestyle. The hundreds of initiatives around the world will inspire awareness and action on the importance of nature and if we act now, together, we have the opportunity to protect and improve our way of life.

 

WWF is partnering with the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity to create connect2earth.org where people, companies and organizations can find tools to push for action on nature. Through Earth Hour’s mainstream appeal, the voices of many millions of people around the world will be needed to push nature up the global agenda. People can speak up for the planet by pledging their support on Voice for the Planet calling on world leaders to agree a New Deal for Nature and People. The petition will be presented at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity COP in 2020, when a new set of global targets on nature will be agreed upon by governments.

 

In recognition of the critical role young people will play in creating a more sustainable world, WWF is also partnering with Zinkia Entertainment Ltd, creators of popular cartoon character Pocoyo, and the World Organization of the Scout Movement to inspire 50 million Scouts worldwide to help tackle the planet’s most pressing environmental challenges.

 

In the past decade, Earth Hour has inspired millions to support and participate in critical climate and environmental initiatives, helping drive climate policy, awareness and action worldwide. Among its highlights, the movement helped create a 3.5 million hectare marine-protected area in Argentina and a 2,700-hectare Earth Hour forest in Uganda, ban all plastics in the Galapagos in 2014, plant 17 million trees in Kazakhstan, light up homes with solar power in India and the Philippines and push new legislation for the protection of seas and forests in Russia. Just last year, French Polynesia moved to protect 5 million square kilometres of its seas to preserve ocean ecosystems.

 

Everyone can make a difference in protecting nature and it starts right here, right now with Earth Hour 2019. Visit www.earthhour.org to know what is happening for Earth Hour in locations around the world.

 

 from WWFglobal (www.panda.org)

YISS EcoSave FunFest Fundraiser

Over the past several months, the EcoSave club has carried out numerous lessons for different elementary classes.
On November 7th, the EcoSave Club achieved its first engagement with the YISS elementary school. In collaboration with Ms. Kelly Han and her kindergarten class, EcoSave members helped raise awareness among the younger generation on endangered species and habitat loss. The EcoSave club presented a lesson and a corresponding craft. The children’s artwork was then compiled into a poster that was later displayed in the school lobby.

In continuation with the teaching of elementary students, on March 16th, the EcoSave club worked with Ms. Kara Minor and her second grade class to raise awareness about global warming. Ms. Minor’s class had just finished a unit on weather, so the EcoSave club made sure to tie in this theme to the presentation for a comprehensive and engaging lesson. The children also completed a craft: groups were assigned different habitats to create with colored clay. The second grade students demonstrated great maturity and collaboration skill to construct beautiful artwork.

Finally, on May 18, the EcoSave club collaborated with Ms. Esther Stair to introduce her second grade class to the process of recycling. After giving a short presentation, the students participated in an activity involving trivia and “trashketball,” in which they had to sort a variety of different pieces of garbage into the correct container.

In October, the YISS EcoSave club fundraised at an event called Funfest to donate money to the WWF Tiger TX2. The game involved throwing a recyclable trash into the appropriate trash category (plastics, metal, paper, etc.)  

By Daniel Kim and the YISS EcoSave Club

Ocean Pollution Awareness Poem

The ocean is larger than any land we can inhabit, and it is beyond our scope of knowledge and private lives. Thus, it is convenient for us to search for excuses and isolate ourselves from the problem that we created for the ocean: our pollution. Yet, the ocean has always been a part of us and our world. As a result of our recklessness, we are actively killing 100 million marine animals per year and are also producing pesticides, oil spills, and metals such as mercury that end up affecting the marine animals that we end up consuming. As I have stated before, harming the ocean directly harms us. The ocean is indeed another tragedy of man’s mistakes and seems as if the harm we started is almost irreversible. However, the problem can be reversed.We only need not to lean on our own desire for comfort and convenience. Instead, we can take the initiative to prevent and reduce the harm we started. To that end, I offer a poem to highlight the ease in which these sentiments can be resolved by simply changing the way we look at things--that sometimes, it's simply a matter of thinking differently, positively, from the ground up. While this poem structure is by no means unique, I did feel it would be a poignant way to express the duality of thought involved.

Reverse Our Actions

The ocean is long gone!  

Don’t tell me that   

I can make a difference.  

Because after all

The ocean is dead, acidified with the Great Coral Reefs bleaching.

And I’m not reassured that

Bivalves and clams can build the calcium carbonate to build their shells

So I will remind myself that

the harm is irreversible

And we can not say that

Plastic bottles will be eradicated from our most precious resource

Because whatever effort we show

Oils spills like Deep Horizon and garbage stews like Pacific Trash Vortex will prevail

And it is not true that

The petroleum and fertilizers can be halted from running off the land now.

We can ponder that

the remedies for acoustic bleaching will succeed

Even though whales will still lose direction, with the loss of their primary sense of sound,

We will try to lie to ourselves, yet

There will be consequences

and don’t you know that when fish eats plastic,

We eat garbage that harms ourselves too?

So let’s stop dreaming of a false idea and believe that

The ocean can be saved.

By: Daniel Kim

The Second Market Mango Bazaar

On November 28th, the Open Hands organization held the second Market Mango bazaar at Novotel hotel in Seoul.  Market Mango bazaar was established to help  the villagers of Calawis, Phillippines become financially independent.
Similar to the first bazaar, many different products such as mangos from Calawis farm, foods, various clothing, accessories, and perfumes were sold. And to better reflect the festive holiday spirit, the bazaare theme was named 'Merry Charity-Mas'.
Ecosave Club helped out the event by selling clothing and shoes. And  the fundraised money is all used to fund the Mango business in Calawis. We hope the Calawis villagers can get a job and financially independent through the Mango Farm Village Independence Project.

 

ES Edible Bugs Workshop

On September 19th, the Ecosave Club got a great opportunity to teach Korean elementary students about the possibility of edible bugs as our future food and their benefits. The workshop was very successful and it felt great to see the little kids having fun with bugs.

by Ji Won Cindy Kim