Turning out the lights

They say it's the little things that make a difference... and that's what Earth Hour is all about :)

This weekend, I was host to a small group of fellow tree-huggers who all agreed to come over and partake in some fun by candlelight. My little apartment was a small part of the 3,937 cities and towns in 88 countries that switched off their power for one hour on Saturday for a happier planet. :)

Earth Hour is really spreading as a global phenomenon since Sydney Australia first made the switch -off- 3 years ago. With World Wildlife Fund spearheading the project, Earth Hour has become the world's biggest environmental event- raising awareness about the small choices we make as individuals that add up to make a big difference!
I was really proud to read that Canada was among the top participants in Earth Hour this year, coming third after highest ranking Phillipines and Greece. Toronto Hydro reported a drop in usage of 15.1% in that hour, compared to 8.7% last year! Gooo Canada :)

Unfortunately the trend towards greater environmental awareness in other western nations does not seem to be catching on very fast here in Korea. It's true you can find a handful of 'green' or organic products in the British-owned Tesco grocery store. Heck, there's even an organic food store near my school, which charges a whopping $13 for a small box of imported Nature Valley cereal... But for the most part, Earth Hour went by unnoticed by the vast majority here. Searching through the English "Korea Times" online, I couldn't find more than a brief mention of E.H. in an opinion colomn on global warming. *sigh*

Although Korea is a very small nation, which is short on space, bereft of natural resources and therefore *seemingly* with a greater need to 'think green'... more often than not it seems to me to be a country at war with the environment. Take grocery shopping for example. You will not find a box of cookies in one bag, or an entire sleeve of crackers wrapped up together. Nope, no way. Cookies? Each one is individually wrapped. Crackers? Well, you get those wrapped in tiny packages of 6. I was almost ripping my hair out the other day when I walked through the produce section and saw APPLES of all things, wrapped individually in plastic!! Why Korea, why?

The recycling program here isn't too bad.... in some places. If you live in an apartment building, there are seperate bins out front for paper and plastics, and even compost. Many of them look to be largely mixed up though, and I've heard through the grapevine that a lot of it is incinerated anyways. Although houses are not very common place here- a friend outside the city tells me that in her neighbourhood there's no recycling at all. period. The same goes for my schools- paper, cans, bottles- all garbage garbage garbage.


At there aren't many SUVs seen here- mostly tiny little Ticos puttering around... and the huge number of apartments of course is much better than the urban sprawl seen back home.


But still- the word needs to be spread! My first thought would be to make environmental awareness fun- I am in a school after all. What better place for a Korean Roots & Shoots chapter? You'd think I could easily start a fun after school club here, right? Not so-- any spare time kids have is already maxed out with private schools and academies... piano, English, science, tae kwon do, you name it. It's sad there's no time left for volunteering and helping out for kids here.

You're a great place Korea- if only you were just a little more green...