Seoul fights with waste

Many districts in Seoul, residents are waking up with odors. Containers that collect the food waste are overflowing.  Since January 7, food waste management firms are refusing to take out the garbage, asking an increase over 50 percent charges. Korean government has prohibited the firms to dump food waste into the ocean starting this January.

Even though Korean government joins the London Convention and Protocol in 1993, it allows the waste management firms to throw garbage into the ocean due to the lack of landfills and concern for the ground water contamination. Also the cost of dumping garbage into ocean is 90% cheaper than burying it in the land. 

However, since the Korean government decides to follow London Convention & Protocol this year, the battle has started.People are suffering from insanitary condition in their area, and children are exposed to the health risk. 

City of Seoul has 25 districts, and the heads of 16 districts got together last week, and requested Central Government to step in and settle the feud.

A city spokesman said,"Under the current system, each district office renews a contract with a disposable firm every year. The city government is not involved in contracts".

Ministry of Environment will hold a committee to discuss the matter on coming January 17.

It is sad that our government acts on the Protocol finally after 20years since it joined. Even sadder is that only a week's practice, the step to save environment faces the huge problem of cost.  I sincerely wish that the issue will be resolved in eco friendly terms.

* London Convention and Protocol

The "Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972", the "London Convention" for short, is one of the first global conventions to protect the marine environment from human activities and has been in force since 1975. Its !--object--ive is to promote the effective control of all sources of marine pollution and to take all practicable steps to prevent pollution of the sea by dumping of wastes and other matter. Currently, 87states are Parties to this Convention.

In 1996, the "London Protocol" was agreed to further modernize the Convention and, eventually, replace it. Under the Protocol all dumping is prohibited, except for possibly acceptable wastes on the so-called "reverse list". The Protocol entered into force on 24 March 2006 and there are currently 42 parties to the Protocol.

Source: The Korea Times, The Cho-Sun Daily, The Joong-Ang Daily, etc.

Image: Google image.

Is global warming a sham?

In Korea, we have the coldest winter ever. Snow has been falling on and off over the winter, and the temperature goes down around minus 17 degree Celsius. I had school cancelled in December twice because of the snow storm warning.Many people around me wondering, saying, "The globe is supposed to be warming, right? But why it's so cold!!"

Scientists are saying that a local cold day has nothing to do with the long-term trend of increasing global temperatures. Overall, since the mid 1970s, global temperatures have been warming at around 0.2 degree Celsius per decade. Weather shows its own ups and downs over the long term period so we are expecting to see record cold temperatures even during global warming. 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) also explains that low levels of Arctic sea ice during the summer are causing more heat to be absorbed in the Arctic during the fall, and changing atmospheric circulation patterns, blowing cold Arctic air into Northern hemisphere in winter. Thus, somehow the current bitter cold days are a byproduct of overall global warming trend. 

I have to bungle up myself to go out. Well, to avoid that in the future, I guess I have to be more eco-conscious on daily life. 

Image: Google image

Source: NOAA, CS monitor, etc.

World coolest green buildings

We have been talking about the importance of green building, green construction or sustainable building which is environmentally responsible and resource efficient. 

I would like to introduce some of the green buildings which are known for ingenuity.

1. GreenPix Zero Energy Media Wall in  Beijing,China 

 GreenPix is a 2000 sq. foot color led display, visible from three miles away. It's powered by a photovoltaics that harvest solar energy during the day and uses it to eliminate the screen at night. The building performs as a self sufficient organic system. It show the most extreme example of sustainable technology applied to a building.

2. Million Glass Bottle Temple(Wat Pa Maha Chedio Kaew Temple) in Thailand

The entire temple is built out of 1.5 million recycled bottles. Apart from being reasonable price and beautiful in sustainable way, the use of recycled glass allows enough natural light to avoid electric lighting. The temple is located 370 miles northeast of Bangkok.

3. Driebergen-Zeist Railway Station in Netherland

The revolving door at this rail station is unique. When travelers pass through, they are not just catching their trains, they are making people power. Each door powers a generator that saves the building about forty six hundred kilowatt hours of energy per year.

4. Hemp House in South Africa

Hemp is the most resilient, versatile, and fast growing carbon sinks on earth.

The hemp house is the example of the lightest carbon footprint possible. The house is cooled, heated, and ventilated, and powered by solar energy. This ground breaking home achievement is regarded as much as the Nelson Mandela's peace efforts by the government officials in South Africa.

5. Casa Dominguez in California

Casa Dominguez is south LA project which aims to be the first multifamily affordable housing project in Los Angeles county to win lead platinum certification for the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design(Leed) for Homes, which is the highest rating given by the U.S. Green Building Council.

6. Ann Demeulemeester's store in Seoul, Korea

Belgian Designer's Korean flagship store has green roofs and living walls, and use foliage to cover both the external and internal wall surfaces. The architect wants to incorporate as much nature as possible.

Image: Google image

Source: Youtube. Web.

Going green during the Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner. In Korea, many streets are decorated with red and green ornaments and Christmas trees are set in major places.

When I lived in the States, our friends and neighbors went to the Christmas tree farms to pick up the freshly cut pine trees. When the Christmas season was over, the trees were put out for the disposal.

I always thought buying an artificial Christmas tree would be eco-friendly act. Artificial trees can be reusable many years and can be packed up after the season, and the price is quite reasonable than the real trees. But my assumption appears to be wrong.

An environmental consulting firm in Montreal conducted a research. The result said that you need to use the artificial tree for, at least, 20years to be eco-effective than the real tree. The measurement comes from considering human health and green house gas emission. Most artificial trees also contain PVC(Polyvinyl chloride) which emits carcinogens while making and disposal.

In general, the research tells that using a real Christmas tree every year has little effect an environment compares to an artificial tree. 

Well, we have an artificial Christmas tree at home here in Seoul which means at least 20 years we have to use it to lighten our Christmas. :)

Korean Popular Singer, Jang-Hoon Kim, fights for the desertification in China

Jang-Hoon Kim, a popular Korean singer, who has worked hard to promote sovereignty of Korea over 'Dok-Do', has a forest named after him in the province of Ningxia, China.

He has participated in an event to fight for the desertification in China. Mr.Kim has planted 12,000 trees since May, 2012 in the desert of Ningxia and inner Mongolia. To honor his act, the government of Ningxia appoints him as an honorary ambassador for the environmental protection of Ningxia and names the newly created forest after him.

Source: Cho-sun Daily, Joong-agn Daily

Image: Google image

Urban Air Project in LA

The world we live in is full of advertisements.  You start a day with ads on the newspaper, when you chat with your friends on the web, ads are every where. Even when you are in the car, the billboards are full with letters and colors.

My friend who lives in LA tells me a news regarding an interesting eco-project, called 'Urban Air'.  The project plans to change outdoor advertising billboards into green bamboo gardens. Each Urban Air installation will feature live bamboo plants. Stephen Glassman, a LA based artist, has initiated the project since 2010. He is collaborating with environmental engineers, billboard fabricators and other many specialists to set the first prototype in LA. Eventually Mr.Glassman plans to build Urban Air gardens all over the cities in the world.

Many people doubt that how long the air garden would survive in the polluted air of LA. The same doubt came on to me as well frankly. But the first step is the important one for the change.

It will be really cool that, in a traffic jam, if you look up in the air, and the bamboo garden will hang in a sky and greet you well.

Image: Google image.

Source: Facebook, LA news 

Global Warming Affects Farmers

After a very cold and snow-less winter, the United States warmed up almost instantaneously. As temperatures soared into the low 20s (in Celsius), millions of farmers started their growing season nearly 6 weeks early, in hopes for a better growing season. For almost two weeks, the weather was perfect. Winds from the South brought adequate heat and moisture. Moreover, the jet stream moved upwards, thus removing the stream of cold air. Unfortunately, this spell of utopian weather stopped this week. Without a moment's hesitation, cold high-speed winds came in from the North, bringing dry, freezing air. Snow started to fall in some regions of the Mid-West while most of the country was trapped in a cold air bubble. This sudden malignant change destroyed saplings and crops mercilessly. In a week, estimates state that farmers seem to have lost millions of dollars with the death of most of their plants. Officials blame the melting ice in the North, which keeps the ocean temperature cool, which in turn lowers the temperature of the air. The melting of ice in the North Pole is, obviously, due to global warming. People release an abnormal amount of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, thus increasing the average world temperature gradually. Thus, the ice on the North pole starts melting. The situation explained above is just one of the ways that global warming is harmful. It is important for humans to stop it, regardless of the cost.