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.

2013 United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation

2013 United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation

Pollution in the Hudson River from
an upstream golf range

2013 is the International Year of Water Cooperation designated by the United Nations. Each year, the UN decides to promote an eco-friendly concept by designating each year with this idea. For example, 2012 was the International year of Sustainable Energy for All and 2014 will be the International Year of Family Farming.

Water is a resource that is shared by all countries of the world. The substance is essential to life, food production, economic growth, and environm

ental preservation. Since water is becoming more scarce, nations must work together in managing water.

Here are some interesting facts:

• 780 million do not have access to clean water
•  Six to eight million die each year due to water-related crises
• Aoubt 2.5 planet Earths are required to ensure that every person on Earth can live the average North American/European lifestyle
• 300 to 800 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in environments without enough water

Endangered Species-European Bison

Because of my little sister, our family had a visit to Seoul Grand Park  Zoo, the biggest zoo in Korea.
Many people were out to enjoy the breezy autumn day.

Among the animals we explored, some endangered species got my attention.
First one was European Bison. I was familiar with American Bison which often appeared on many movies and TV programs. Bison was also a wildlife in Europe and threatened to be extinct was a news to me.

According to the information on the net, Out of mammals living on the European content, the European Bison is the largest. The European Bison once lived in the forests all over Europe, but as the human population grew, the forest were destroyed and European Bisons were hunted. They were also used as food in World War 1. They once became extinct in the 1920s.

About 50 European Bisons survived in zoos and wildlife parks. In the 1950s there was a movement to increase them and return them to the wild. They escaped extinction, just in time. However, even now, there are not too many European Bisons.

Gyong-po-beach, Gang-neong, S.Korea

Gyong-po beach is a popular vacation place for Korean people, located east coast of Korean peninsular. However, the beach hits hard this Summer because of the nuclear scare from Japan.

I visited the Gyong-po beach during the Korean thanksgiving break. Since the weather turns into cold, not many people showed up at the beach;but, the remnants of summer were everywhere. I got up early and tried to pick cigaret butts, wrapping papers from sweets and so on with my parents. I felt a bit sad that people did not concern the environment over this beautiful beach.

Ero, the concrete demolition robot

Seoul, the capital city of S.Korea, is filled with new construction. You are able to come upon building demolition every corner of the city. The dust and debris it creates are many times unbearable for the residents.  I find this interesting robot while I am reading an eco-article on the net.

ERO is a Concrete Deconstruction Robot designed to disassemble concrete structures and enable the building materials to be re-used for new pre-fabricated concrete buildings. ERO uses water jets to crack the concrete surface to disassemble concrete and sucks up the mixed debris. It cleanly separates the waste mixture and packages the cleaned material. What was previously waste, now turns into labeled packaged asset to be transferred right away into concrete pre-casting stations to be re-molded into new building blocks.

ERO seems eco-friendlier than the existing methods of current demolition.

Fantastic eco saving inventions

Bio-fuels, Solar panels and wind turbines are few names among the huge environment saving inventions. While I am reading through eco-news, I come upon these interesting inventions.

1. Breathing Bike

Artist Matt Hope has created an ingenious pedal-powered air filtration system that provides clean air to the rider as it moves. Using an IKEA perforated garbage can, moped helmet, fighter-pilot breathing mask, wheel-powered generator, and home air filtration system, the entire contraption uses human energy to clear the air. The city like Beijing, where the air pollution rate hit the record high, Breathing bike might help the citizens from a health issue when riding.

2. Smog eating street

Scientists from Eindhoven University of Technology installed smog-eating concrete onto a city block in Hengelo, Netherlands, finding that in ideal weather, it could reduce air pollution by up to 45 percent.The researchers coated one part of the street with titanium oxide — a photocatalytic material known for its air purifying qualities — and another part of the street was paved with normal paving blocks to act as a "control street." The parameters measured included traffic intensity and nitric oxide, nitrogen oxide and ozone concentrations.The study found that the nitrogen oxide air pollution was decreased by 19 percent over an entire day.Although the titanium-oxide coated pavement is around 50 percent more expensive than normal concrete, the researchers believe it could be a very feasible solution for inner city areas where they have a problem with air pollution.

3. Concrete canvas shelters

Concrete Canvas Shelters(CCS) are rapidly deployable hardened shelters that require only water and air for construction. A CCS25 variant can be deployed by 2 people without any training in under an hour and is ready to use in only 24 hours. Essentially, CCS are inflatable concrete buildings. CCS have a range of applications in both civil and military sectors, as emergency key infrastructure for disaster relief or frontline operations. 

As what we have seen from the movies become reality, I hope those inventions will be part of our lives in the near future.

Je-ju Island, UNESCO Conservation site

I would like to introduce Je-ju Island, where I have stayed last one month, a new seven wonders of nature. 

The island is home to both polar and tropical animals. It is home to 77 types of mammal, 198 species of bird, 8 kinds each of reptiles and amphibians, 873 types of insect and 74 varieties of spider.

The island has recorded a total of 2,001 types of vertically distributed sub-tropical and polar vegetation.  The temperatures are rarely drop below zero degrees.

It is the Korea's largest volcanic island with more than 90 percent of its total area covered with basalt. The island boasts magnificent views, and is also famous for wind and horses.

The local government is doing its best to preserve the nature and limit the development which may harm the eco-system.

New York City: Success and Failure

New York, one of the largest cities in the world, has had both environmental successes and failures due to its high population density. The dense population and infrastructure limits the usage of automobiles and, as a result, increase the usage of public transportation. In fact, the city’s inhabitants facilitate the highest mass transit use in the United States. The city houses 2.7% of the nation’s population but only accounts for 1% of the greenhouse gas pollution. It is also one of the most energy-efficient cities in the United States, despite its massive population. For a city with more than 8 million people, New York has a relatively small footprint.

Smog in New York City

Unfortunately, even though New York’s environmental footprint is small compared to its population, the city still has a massive impact on the environment. The heavy air pollution caused by traffic has made Manhattan a county with third highest cancer risk in America. In addition, ozone and particle pollution is heavy from the smog. Finally, the enormous population has led to garbage disposal problems. However, the city government is fully aware of these problems and they have acted quickly in order to curb any further environmental damage. For example, New York now operates the largest hybrid-fueled bus fleet in the nation and plans for a biodiesel plant in Brooklyn has been announced. I hope to see the city government continue to work tirelessly to solve the environmental issues of the city.

Korea's carbon free island, 'Ga-Pa-Island'

Gapa Island is located between Je-ju Island and Mara Island, the southernmost island in Korea.  It currently has 310 households and is an islet of Je-ju District.

After being named as one of the new seven wonders of nature, Je-ju Island plans to go green 100% by 2030.  It hopes to stop using fossil fuels and use renewable energy sources to meet all the energy requirement of its residents. To achieve this goal, Je-ju island is going to build wind farms, solar power plants, and offshore sea turbines.  And, Gapa Island is chosen as a pilot program.

Gapa Island previously received its power from diesel generators, which produced over 780 tons of green house gas emissions each day. In cooperation with local and central government agencies, Gapa Island has now changed over to carbon free energy grid. It is run 100 percent by renewable energy sources from wind turbines to solar panels. Every household on Gapa Island is equipped with solar panels and energy efficient power generators. 

Mr. Yang, Yeong-Bu, an Gapa Island resident, mentioned in an interview that his utility bill went from $44 a month to 90 cents a month.  Gapa Island's elementary schools are also benefitted from the new supply of renewable energy. They can enjoy digital devices at an extremely lower cost.

Gapa Island is the first step in 'Carbon-free-Je-ju Island 2030' project. With Gapa Island's success, Je-ju Island hopes to become a global model of self sustaining green island.

Images: Google images