Government Policy – “Back and Forth”

 

Government Policy  –  “Back and Forth”

Sangwook Alex Ahn

Biodegradable plastic businesses are devastated because the Ministry of Environment of Korea issued an administrative notice in November last year stating that it will not give eco-friendly certifications to biodegradable plastics.

Biodegradable plastics are plastics that decompose naturally in soil or sea water and plastics and containers made from them have been certified as eco-friendly. Unlike standard plastics, pit decomposable plastics (PDP) decompose naturally within a few months, drawing attention as an eco-friendly material.

The problem is that there is no separate collection system for biodegradable plastics. As a result of increasing dissemination without separate collection measures, environmental groups have raised criticism that “the policy of distributing biodegradable plastics is actually greenwashing.” The Ministry of Environment eventually changed its policy.

Countries abroad foster biodegradable plastic industry. European countries such as Italy and Austria ban the use of plastic bags except for biodegradable materials and offer manufacturers of biodegradable products a tax credit of 20,000 euros. In Germany, local governments are purchasing biodegradable plastics by obligating manufacturers of biodegradable plastics to collect them within minutes and requiring consumers to separate biodegradable plastics separately. The Chinese government has also banned the use of non-degradable single-use plastics in the four major municipalities and 27 provinces since last year.

I think it is very regrettable that Korea has changed its policy and abolished the eco-friendly certification of the biodegradable plastic and has put regulations while the overseas market is growing. 

References

Chosun Daily News

Food-Upcycling Apps

 Check Out Food-Upcycling Apps

By. Sangwook Ahn

 

About 40% of America’s food supply is not sold and uneaten each year. So much food is rotting in fields, put down the drain, or being shunted to incinerators and landfills which causes climate change. All the resources, water, energy, fertilizers, pesticides, land, labor, and transport are wasted as well. But new food-upcycling apps are changing all that.

 

Hungry Harvest, Imperfect Foods, and Misfits Market sell discounted wonky produce. Olio, encourage shaving between neighbors, FlashFood, Till, and Too Good to Go focus on food recovery by salvaging the foods headed for dumpsters at restaurants and retailers.

 

Too good to Go has roots in the European activist community and was launched in Copenhagen in 2016. The company hit the U.S in 2019 and has over 2 million users across a dozen cities who have resulted in 1.6 million meals here. Users can purchase deals on surprise bags from local businesses: they range from coffee to barbecue, desserts, pizza, sandwiches, and even canned goods near their best-by dates.

 

The FlashFood app allows shoppers to select discounted groceries, which saves them $340 per year on average. “Food waste is a very time-sensitive issue. You’ve got a very small window to redistribute that food so nothing good goes to waste – digital solutions are the way to do it.” according to Leadbeater, Fresh Food’s VP of marketing.

 

These apps can solve hunger and environmental and food waste issues simultaneously. However, some say food waste could be solved more fully and equitably if it were tackled at the community level, with neighborhood farms, local and regional food cooperatives, regenerative agriculture networks, and community-supported agriculture models.

First Fundraiser in 2022

2022 First Fundraiser

Sungjoon Choo(Grade 9)

With Christmas, New Year, Valentines, and Easter all in one season, winter is truly the most jovial time of the year. We children look up to this time of the year from summer break, while thinking of drinking hot choco on a snowy day unwrapping presents. However, many fail to acknowledge that the children who pursue their dream are not even in the 1 per cent.

 In neighbouring countries, the majority of the children work as hard as they did any other day; the holiday season is merely a luxury they can never afford. Lamentably, of these children, a significant amount does not have a birth certificate, which is the bare minimum for one to be considered living. According to CBN News, approximately, 7.5 million children do not own a birth certificate because of the dearth of money in each household. In order to solve this problem and connect this issue with the conservation of the environment, we came up with the idea of a fundraiser. 

Ultimately killing two birds with one stone, we raised awareness by selling stickers, posters, and water bottles that promoted the safety of the environment, and by selling these products, we raised an adequate amount of money to help children in the Philippines get their birth certificate.     

Because this fundraiser was the first event of the year, we struggled to reach the correct level of enthusiasm sufficient enough to sell the products at first. Moreover, this was the first time for many members to ask random people in the street to buy products. It felt significantly awkward and demotivating at first getting rejected and hearing the word "no."

 Nevertheless, we persisted. As hours passed, our skill of presenting information became more concise and as a result, more people came to our station. As a team, we sensed synergy. We became much looser and less prudent. Rather than being stagnant and keeping ground on one side and pleading people to come, we went to them which ultimately made all the difference.

At the end of the day, this event gave me a different passion. Without any exaggeration, I truly felt empowered by the acts of educating the public about urgent issues circulating in this world. Furthermore, it made me think that even if the people we encountered didn't buy our products, they most likely became aware of the environmental issues and prominently, the children in the Philippines. 

Overall, the first fundraiser was candidly a great success and was a great stepping stone for the best results to come in future events the Eco- Save club prepares for.  

Zoom Meeting Regarding Online English Tutorials

Zoom Meeting Regarding Online English Tutorials

Sangwook Alex Ahn

To continue with our efforts to help the children at the Cheryl Learning Center, Ecosave members had a zoom meeting to help the youngest of the children to start learning English by making easy English tutorial videos. 

I had thought that most of the Filipinos were somewhat fluent in English as the Philippines is recognized globally as one of the largest English-speaking nations with majority of its population having at least some degree of fluency in the language. English has been one of the official languages and language of commerce and law, as well as the primary medium of instruction in education.

However, some Filipinos cannot speak or write English at all. Those groups of people are called “indigenous people,” group of people from tribes or people that live in the mountains and villages. Also, the adults/parents who haven't had the opportunity to go to school and children who are in a poor family.

The children of the Cheryl Learning Center would conform to this case. I should think that knowing English is very important to these children because it will increase their chances of getting a good job. Also, as the language of international communication, the media and the Internet, it is important for socializing and entertainment as well as work.

I am sure that for these children learning English could undoubtedly change their future. Therefore, our members and I will try our best to help these children to learn English hoping to at least initiate and stimulate their interests. Yes, we can change lives.

This day, we made seafood jjajangmyeon topped with edible mealworm powder.

We filmed a video of the process of cooking this dish in order to also promote the idea that it would be good for Korea to also develop insect foods preferred by consumers and start exporting them as K-foods to foreign countries. 

yum~ 

 by Ella Nakyo Hong 

Eco-Friendly Trend in Businesses 

Sungjoon Choo (Grade 9)

It is a well-known fact that climate change is not something we can nudge off; it is an urgent problem that needs to be dealt with. Evidently, the main cause of such disastrous problems is humans.

When modernization started to occur, we rapidly took full advantage of nature. We started to use up the soil, cut down trees, and mine coal. Through this process, technology developed at a rapid speed; however, the environment was damaged. 

A decade ago, the economy did not care about the environment. We saw many blue-chip companies deliberately cutting down trees to make innovative products and customers buying those products without any concern. However, in the 21st century, if a company destroys nature in the process of creating a product, it is the headline of the nine o clock news.

Society used to believe that if a company is eco friendly it was a plus. Now, it has become the norm. It is now a common trend for customers to purposely buy eco-friendly goods; according to the Consumer Sustainability Survey in 2019, 72% of consumers bought more environmentally-friendly products than five years ago. Adding on, it stated that 81% of those interviewed said they planned to buy more sustainable products over the next five years. 

 

By looking at this graph, we can see that the sales are constantly moving up. 

 

It is now the 21st century and with immense development technologically our environment is deteriorating. Hence, we as consumers should follow the trend of buying eco-friendly products and incentivise all companies that actively try to help the environment. 

 

Education for Children at Inarawan and Paopawan

Last summer, to see how we can further support online learning of the children at CherryI Learning Center, Ecosave members did a zoom meeting with the children at Paopawan in Philippines.  One thing that surprised me is the children could barely speak English. The teacher at CherryI Learning Center helped translate between English and Tagalog.

After the meeting, Ecosave members created videos teaching a Korean contemporary Christian song, 'His Love' as well as a video teaching a dance to the popular BTS song 'Butter.'

The videos were sent to CherryI Learning Center, and we recently received feedback on them. It was very heartwarming to see the children dancing to the music. We also got the  feedback that the children found the videos teaching 'His Love' very helpful. 

It is great we can do something to help the children and to hear that the children feel we care about them.  

I hope we can visit and meet them in person soon.

By Grace Hyunjoo Lee