The lazy person's guide to saving the world!!

Things you can do from your couch

• Save electricity by plugging appliances into a power strip and turning them off completely when not in use, including your computer.
• Stop paper bank statements and pay your bills online or via mobile. No paper, no need for forest destruction.
• Share, don’t just like. If you see an interesting social media post about women’s rights or climate change, share it so folks in your network see it too.
• Speak up! Ask your local and national authorities to engage in initiatives that don’t harm people or the planet. You can also voice your support for the Paris Agreement and ask your country to ratify it or sign it if it hasn’t yet.
• Don’t print. See something online you need to remember? Jot it down in a notebook or better yet a digital post-it note and spare the paper.
• Turn off the lights. Your TV or computer screen provides a cosy glow, so turn off other lights if you don’t need them.
• Do a bit of online research and buy only from companies that you know have sustainable practices and don’t harm the environment.
• Report online bullies. If you notice harassment on a message board or in a chat room, flag that person.
• Stay informed. Follow your local news and stay in touch with the Global Goals online or on social media at @GlobalGoalsUN.
• Tell us about your actions to achieve the global goals by using the hashtag #globalgoals on social networks.
• Offset your carbon emissions! You can calculate your carbon footprint and purchase climate credit from Climate Neutral Now.

Things you can do at home

• Air dry. Let your hair and clothes dry naturally instead of running a machine. If you do wash your clothes, make sure the load is full.
• Take short showers. Bathtubs require gallons more water than a 5-10 minute shower.
• Eat less meat, poultry, and fish. More resources are used to provide meat than plants
• Freeze fresh produce and leftovers if you don’t have the chance to eat them before they go bad. You can also do this with take-away or delivered food, if you know you will not feel like eating it the next day. You will save food and money.
• Compost—composting food scraps can reduce climate impact while also recycling nutrients.
• Recycling paper, plastic, glass & aluminium keeps landfills from growing.
• Buy minimally packaged goods.
• Avoid pre-heating the oven. Unless you need a precise baking temperature, start heating your food right when you turn on the oven.
• Plug air leaks in windows and doors to increase energy efficiency
• Adjust your thermostat, lower in winter, higher in summer
• Replace old appliances with energy efficient models and light bulbs
• If you have the option, install solar panels in your house. This will also reduce your electricity bill!
• Get a rug. Carpets and rugs keep your house warm and your thermostat low.
• • Don’t rinse. If you use a dishwasher, stop rinsing your plates before you run the machine.
  • Choose a better diaper option. Swaddle your baby in cloth diapers or a new, environmentally responsible disposable brand.
  • Shovel snow manually. Avoid the noisy, exhaust-churning snow blower and get some exercise.
  • Use cardboard matches. They don’t require any petroleum, unlike plastic gas-filled lighters.
  
  

  Things you can do outside your house

  • Shop local. Supporting neighbourhood businesses keeps people employed and helps prevent trucks from driving far distances.
  • Shop Smart—plan meals, use shopping lists and avoid impulse buys. Don’t succumb to marketing tricks that lead you to buy more food than you need, particularly for perishable items. Though these may be less expensive per ounce, they can be more expensive overall if much of that food is discarded.
  • Buy Funny Fruit—many fruits and vegetables are thrown out because their size, shape, or color are not “right”. Buying these perfectly good funny fruit, at the farmer’s market or elsewhere, utilizes food that might otherwise go to waste.
  • When you go to a restaurant and are ordering seafood always ask: “Do you serve sustainable seafood?” Let your favorite businesses know that ocean-friendly seafood’s on your shopping list.
  • Shop only for sustainable seafood. There are now many apps like this one that will tell you what is safe to consume.
  • Bike, walk or take public transport. Save the car trips for when you’ve got a big group.
  • Use a refillable water bottle and coffee cup. Cut down on waste and maybe even save money at the coffee shop.
  • Bring your own bag when you shop. Pass on the plastic bag and start carrying your own reusable totes.
  • Take fewer napkins. You don’t need a handful of napkins to eat your takeout. Take just what you need.
  • Shop vintage. Brand-new isn’t necessarily best. See what you can repurpose from second-hand shops.
  • Maintain your car. A well-tuned car will emit fewer toxic fumes.
  • Donate what you don’t use. Local charities will give your gently used clothes, books and furniture a new life.
  • Vaccinate yourself and your kids. Protecting your family from disease also aids public health.
  • Take advantage of your right to elect the leaders in your country and local community.

Eco Save Club sponsored exhibition in New York, Winter 2015

Exhibition venue: Flushing Town Hall, New York
Period: November 25-30, 2015
Title: AT-MOST-FEAR

Part of an environment awareness campaign.
Following the successful campaign in summer 2015 in Seoul, S.Korea, the NGO , Art & Love launched the NewYork exhibition sponsored by interested parties(including Eco Save Club).
The exhibition drew lots of attention from the local communities, and  Flushing Town Hall Gallery invited at least two more years of exhibition from Art & Love.

The 5th Environment Festival at the Gwang-Hwa-Mun Square, Seoul City, on October 31, 2015

The 5th Environment Festival, sponsored by the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Education, Seoul special city government, the Seoul special city Education department, and the NGO 'Art & Love' was held at the Gwang-Hwa-Mun square. The event was planned to promote public awareness on the pressing environmental issues. The fellow Eco Save Club member, Alberta Yoo participated the event as a committee member of the NGO 'Art & Love', the organization to invite public attention through members' art works.

President Obama's speech on Keystone XL remarks

For years, this topic has occupied a huge portion of our country's climate discourse. And after explaining why this pipeline "would not serve the national interest of the United States," the President called attention to the broader climate challenges facing America and the global community heading into international climate negotiations in Paris this December:

"…we’ve got to come together around an ambitious framework to protect the one planet that we’ve got while we still can. If we want to prevent the worst effects of climate change before it’s too late, the time to act is now. Not later. Not someday. Right here, right now."
Here's the full text of his remarks -- they're worth a read.

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. Several years ago, the State Department began a review process for the proposed construction of a pipeline that would carry Canadian crude oil through our heartland to ports in the Gulf of Mexico and out into the world market.

This morning, Secretary Kerry informed me that, after extensive public outreach and consultation with other Cabinet agencies, the State Department has decided that the Keystone XL Pipeline would not serve the national interest of the United States. I agree with that decision.

This morning, I also had the opportunity to speak with Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada. And while he expressed his disappointment, given Canada’s position on this issue, we both agreed that our close friendship on a whole range of issues, including energy and climate change, should provide the basis for even closer coordination between our countries going forward. And in the coming weeks, senior members of my team will be engaging with theirs in order to help deepen that cooperation.

Now, for years, the Keystone Pipeline has occupied what I, frankly, consider an overinflated role in our political discourse. It became a symbol too often used as a campaign cudgel by both parties rather than a serious policy matter. And all of this obscured the fact that this pipeline would neither be a silver bullet for the economy, as was promised by some, nor the express lane to climate disaster proclaimed by others.

To illustrate this, let me briefly comment on some of the reasons why the State Department rejected this pipeline.

First: The pipeline would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to our economy. So if Congress is serious about wanting to create jobs, this was not the way to do it. If they want to do it, what we should be doing is passing a bipartisan infrastructure plan that, in the short term, could create more than 30 times as many jobs per year as the pipeline would, and in the long run would benefit our economy and our workers for decades to come.

Our businesses created 268,000 new jobs last month. They’ve created 13.5 million new jobs over the past 68 straight months -- the longest streak on record. The unemployment rate fell to 5 percent. This Congress should pass a serious infrastructure plan, and keep those jobs coming. That would make a difference. The pipeline would not have made a serious impact on those numbers and on the American people’s prospects for the future.

Second: The pipeline would not lower gas prices for American consumers. In fact, gas prices have already been falling -- steadily. The national average gas price is down about 77 cents over a year ago. It’s down a dollar over two years ago. It’s down $1.27 over three years ago. Today, in 41 states, drivers can find at least one gas station selling gas for less than two bucks a gallon. So while our politics have been consumed by a debate over whether or not this pipeline would create jobs and lower gas prices, we’ve gone ahead and created jobs and lowered gas prices.

Third: Shipping dirtier crude oil into our country would not increase America’s energy security. What has increased America’s energy security is our strategy over the past several years to reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels from unstable parts of the world. Three years ago, I set a goal to cut our oil imports in half by 2020. Between producing more oil here at home, and using less oil throughout our economy, we met that goal last year -- five years early. In fact, for the first time in two decades, the United States of America now produces more oil than we buy from other countries.

Now, the truth is, the United States will continue to rely on oil and gas as we transition -- as we must transition -- to a clean energy economy. That transition will take some time. But it’s also going more quickly than many anticipated. Think about it. Since I took office, we’ve doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas by 2025; tripled the power we generate from the wind; multiplied the power we generate from the sun 20 times over. Our biggest and most successful businesses are going all-in on clean energy. And thanks in part to the investments we’ve made, there are already parts of America where clean power from the wind or the sun is finally cheaper than dirtier, conventional power.

The point is the old rules said we couldn’t promote economic growth and protect our environment at the same time. The old rules said we couldn’t transition to clean energy without squeezing businesses and consumers. But this is America, and we have come up with new ways and new technologies to break down the old rules, so that today, homegrown American energy is booming, energy prices are falling, and over the past decade, even as our economy has continued to grow, America has cut our total carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth.

Today, the United States of America is leading on climate change with our investments in clean energy and energy efficiency. America is leading on climate change with new rules on power plants that will protect our air so that our kids can breathe. America is leading on climate change by working with other big emitters like China to encourage and announce new commitments to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. In part because of that American leadership, more than 150 nations representing nearly 90 percent of global emissions have put forward plans to cut pollution.

America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change. And frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership. And that’s the biggest risk we face -- not acting.

Today, we’re continuing to lead by example. Because ultimately, if we’re going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we’re going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them and release more dangerous pollution into the sky.

As long as I’m President of the United States, America is going to hold ourselves to the same high standards to which we hold the rest of the world. And three weeks from now, I look forward to joining my fellow world leaders in Paris, where we’ve got to come together around an ambitious framework to protect the one planet that we’ve got while we still can.

If we want to prevent the worst effects of climate change before it’s too late, the time to act is now. Not later. Not someday. Right here, right now. And I’m optimistic about what we can accomplish together. I’m optimistic because our own country proves, every day -- one step at a time -- that not only do we have the power to combat this threat, we can do it while creating new jobs, while growing our economy, while saving money, while helping consumers, and most of all, leaving our kids a cleaner, safer planet at the same time.

That’s what our own ingenuity and action can do. That's what we can accomplish. And America is prepared to show the rest of the world the way forward.

Thank you very much.

-- President Barack Obama

Environment Awareness Exhibition: At Most Fear

"At Most Fear", an exhibition created by the NGO, 'Art & Love', was held at Seoul City Hall exhibition center and Kepco Art Center, respectively in August, 2015.

The same exhibition is scheduled to be held at Flushing Town Hall, New York, NY from November 25th to 30th, 2015.

The exhibition was held to promote awareness on the climate change issue and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and endorsed by the Minister of Environment, Mr.Seong-Kyu Yoon.

Our fellow Eco Save Club members, Alberta Yoo and Ji-won Cindy Kim participated at the exhibition. Eco Save Club also became a sponsor for this meaningful and important event.

Pope Francis' latest encyclical on Environment

There are many fine things about Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato Si,'" not least because it adds poetry to an issue that is saturated with technocratic and political heaviness. His opening paragraph immediately puts the reader in a different space, reminding us of our interconnectedness with all of life on earth. By quoting St. Francis of Assisi, he describes the earth as our sister, "with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us." Not the normal terminology in a document on climate change. He goes on to evoke an image of our small blue planet, whirling in an infinite blackness as a common home. No matter what color, religion, nationality or gender, we are all in this together. 

The drama of a warming world unfolding before us requires us all to act now and face the future with honesty and determination. The content and its directness is refreshing and combines anger at injustice with hope that we will find a solution.

The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change.

"The Roman Catholic Church is global, it is unified and it has one figurehead who is respected as a statesman. There is no other institution in the world like it."

The first thing to understand is why this intervention is important. The Roman Catholic Church is global, it is unified and it has one figurehead who is respected as a statesman. There is no other institution in the world like it, religious or secular. It speaks to its billion members distributed around the globe with a unified voice through a regulated network. Go anywhere and attend a mass and you will be able to follow the ritual, despite language and cultural differences. 

Yet there are distinctive local flavors that anchor the faithful to church that is at once universal and parochial. It is a unique institution, with a leader who has the pulling power of a superstar. Love it or hate it, the Roman Catholic Church is a phenomenon.

There are other important considerations. The Roman Catholic Church shares with other faiths the ability to galvanize people to act from a spiritual well founded on love of God and neighbor rather than political doctrine. When an issue is viewed through spiritual eyes, it is seen differently. 

A new dimension comes into play that touches deep recesses, demanding we bring our humanity into play, not just our intellectual or political affiliation. It seems a cliché to quote Gus Speth, the former dean of forestry and environmental studies at Yale, but no one has really put it better:

I used to think that top global environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that with 30 years of good science we could address these problems. I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed, and apathy, and to deal with these we need a spiritual and cultural transformation.

In walks Pope Francis onto the climate change stage.

The messages of the encyclical are stark. Climate change will have "grave implications" for all of humanity, rich and poor, but mainly the poor who are already struggling to cope with the inequalities thrust on them by over consumption and indifference of the richer nations: 

Many of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms, simply making efforts to reduce some of the negative impacts of climate change.

He blasts those who deny the evidence before their eyes and has no patience with apathy or inertia. When it comes to acting for "the common good," (that deeply Catholic phrase that is at the heart of the church's social teaching), there is no get out clause. Members of the Catholic hierarchy who have denied climate change arecastigated:

The attitudes that stand in the way of a solution, even among believers, range from negation of the problem, to indifference, to convenient resignation or blind faith in technical solutions.

The Sin of Wastefulness

The encyclical doesn't stop at just climate change though. Refreshingly we are reminded of the sin of wastefulness, greed, pollution and, joyfully for me, loss of biodiversity. 

Each year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant and animal species which we will never know, which our children will never see, because they have been lost for ever. The great majority become extinct for reasons related to human activity. Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right.

In some ways the most important thing "Laudato Si'" has done is turn the scientific, opaque and frightening climate change issue into something three dimensional and human. The simplicity of the language appeals directly to the moral center of a loving, complicated, chaotic yet broken humanity. Quite simply it says look around, grieve for the damage, reach out to those who are in need, love the earth and all its wonderful life forms and change for the better. He sees our response to the destabilizing of a warming world as a journey which will challenge us to our core but will ultimately bring about peace and justice. 

Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.

If only such poetry were more commonplace in this very disturbing debate.

By Mary Colwell Author, “John Muir: The Scotsman Who Saves America’s Wild Places.” and Producer, BBC’s “Shared PlanetOriginal article from the "Huffington Post"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-colwell/pope-francis-climate-change-poetry_b_7615558.html

Coral Reefs are in danger

The coral reefs around the world are getting damaged by the warm water around them. 
Most coral reefs can only handle temperature as high as 29 degrees Celsius. Nevertheless, recent temperatures of sea water has been going over 29 degrees. If the temperatures goes higher than 29 degrees, the coral release the algae living in their tissue. The name of this process is called "bleaching" because it makes the coral turn white. But more importantly, this increases the chance they will get diseases and die. Corals and the algae that live in them need each other to remain healthy.

Coral reefs have been in danger for many years. Human actions such as polluting, overfishing, and construction damage them too, but climate change is the biggest threat to the corals. Scientists also blame the acidic water for the reason to cause the corals to die. Acidic water is caused by oceans absorbing the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which comes from climate changes. The acidic water makes it hard for the corals to get calcium which they need for growing shells.

However, thankfully, it looks like the corals and algae will settle in with the temperature change quickly. 

"It's not all doom and gloom for the corals," marine biologist Andrew Baker says. He adds that they can respond to bleaching in several different ways and "very quickly, within a few years."

Reported by Cindy Kim

KEYSTONE XL

Celebrities in the video:Daryl Hannah, Lance Bass, Frances Fisher, Francesca Eastwood, Malin Akerman, Emily VanCamp, Sara Gilbert, Rachelle Lefevre, Dawn Olivieri, Bryn Mooser, Ed Begley, Jr., and Darby Stanchfield

TransCanada is trying to build the Keystone XL (KXL), an 875-mile pipeline that would transport up to 830,000 barrels of dirty tar sands crude from Alberta, Canada. This pipeline is part of an effort by the oil industry to export millions of barrels per day of tar sands from Alberta through the United States to international markets. Extracting tar sands is one of the most destructive projects on earth. Reliance on tar sands oil hinders our ability to avoid climate disaster.

The US now faces a clear choice: promote the oil industry's interests by green-lighting the most carbon-intensive, destructive oil on the planet, or demonstrate a bold commitment to addressing climate disruption and promoting clean energy solutions by saying NO to Keystone XL.

Reported by Alberta Yoo

Antarctica Ice Meltdown

Now in 2015, ice in Antarctica is melting faster than ever. This shocked a lot of scientists because they didn't expect ice melting proceed so fast like this. Now melting all the ice doesn't just melt in a day. Scientists estimate that it will take 200 to 100 years for all the ice to melt. However, a small amount of ice melting can cause the melting rate to increase. So even a bit of ice loss can lead to further warming of the ocean surface, which can lead to even more ice loss.

Since 1975, the ice melting over the world especially Antarctica has been growing at an amazing rate. This can affect a lot of people in this world. Since there are many citizens living in coastal areas, there is a possibility that there can be more floods. Agricultural areas will also be harmed due to this ice meltdown. In addition, the sea creatures in Antarctica will affected very badly. Lastly, the biggest reason that this is such a huge problem is global warming and climate change. The thinning of the ice and the water getting warmer is transferring the temperature into the air. Antarctica is supposed to be a very cold place but with this meltdown, the climate going up every year. These animals such as penguins are adapted to the cold weather and ice but if that goes away, they will eventually perish.

posted by Justin Chung

"Do we have a good plan to fight climate change that's as good as the plan we had for HIV?"

Jim Yong Kim, the former president of Dartmouth college and current leader of the World bank had an interview with the Guardian.  In the interview, he said that battles over water and food will erupt within the next five to ten years as a result of climate change.  He urged scientists to join together to come up with a solution to fight the climate change as activists and scientists did for 15 years to develop a treatment for HIV. He threw a question to the climate change community, " Do we have a plan that's as good as the plan we had for HIV? " The answer is no at current unfortunately. President Kim mentioned that there was not enough basic science research going into renewable energy. There have not been ways of taking discoveries made in universities and quickly moving them into industry. There have not been ways to test innovative ideas. He added that the climate change community kept saying what he meant by a plan. His answer was a plan that is equal to the challenge and will convince anyone that climate change community are really serious about the issue. President kim said that there were four fields that the World bank could help specifically regarding the fight against the global warming: Finding a stable price for carbon, removing fuel subsidies, investing in cleaner cities and developing climate-smart agriculture.  He also predicted that since the water issue was critically related to climate change and carbon is the currency of climate change, fights over water and food would be the most significant direct impacts of climate change in the next five to ten years. His interview with the Guardian reflects general people's disappointment over the climate change community's results over treating the issue. Though people are really committed on the issue, the slow change and the cooperation among the scientists overall lead the kind of interview the World bank president gave to the british paper. I hope his challenge and urge to the climate change community will refresh people's commitment over the issue and also remind ordinary people how the danger is close and imminent. Image: Google image Source: the Guardian, the climate change project, youtube etc.

Jim Yong Kim: You can't lift people out of poverty without growth, Interview with the Guardian

Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank president, talks to Guardian economics editor Larry Elliott about Kim's days as a demonstrator against the bank. Kim shares the bank's priorities on climate change and clean growth, and gender equality, and discusses the prospect of a Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) bank to help meet massive infrastructure needs in middle-income countries.